Huh? Me? I wasn't gone, I was uhhhh...Here's a Tutorial!

[jrodda]

I haven't gotten out fishing much this summer. I snuck in some perch fishing on a handful of beach trips with pals. I've probably only soaked once or twice all summer. I got a little gun shy when they closed LA county parking and most of VC, then I was slow to the holster when they opened.

I'll tell ya though, I've been working, and not paying rent, so I might have doubled my rod arsenal. Oops. And I got an inflatable boat with a 6hp Mercury 4 stroke. Double oops. Then I quit that dang job that was keeping me off the water! Not an oops! Now I have some free time for some species hunts. Soupfin, and believe it or not, corbina, are my current high priority tasks.

Anywho, I'm posting because I went with my dad up the coast to break in his new rod, and then I realized I could break in one of my new setups. His Penn Squall 15 and a Shimano Compre 8' H Musky stick. My Okuma Komodo 364 and Graphtech 8' 15-30. Critter fishing wasn't exactly the idea behind these setups, but they have clickers and they can toss more than a couple ounces, so why not?

Got to the beach at 1900, last light. I was trying a c-rig with a sputnik and a 4/0 octopus, 15# leader cuz I haven't finessed any critters in a while. My dad had a Dropper looped 7/0 circle with a sputnik.

Didn't take long for me to get on the board with a classic clicker screaming bat. This was about 22" so I decided to keep him for bait. Stunned him with the bolt cutters to the head.

[/url]

30 minutes go by and then I get another bat. This one was a little bigger, closer to 28", released. I have a tiny cooler and honestly the 24" should last me several 7gill runs when it comes time in the winter.

Shortly after the 28"er I get another, and this one is dogging me a lot more, but it's the size of the first one.

Then my dad gets on the board with a lil shovel to break in his new setup.



Funny thing with this shovel. My dad was talking to this dude who was on a different wavelength, for lack of a better term. He was asking my dad questions that were from left field. I go to unhook the shovel, and the guy goes, "Can I smell it?" I say of course you can, dude. He got his face within half an inch of the shovel, took a whiff, and then backed off. I'm very glad the shovel didn't slap him in the face.

I landed a good size thornback that swallowed the hook right after, and then my dad was ready to call it a night.


There was some demand to show how I cut my rays when I take them for bait, so this time I was able to remember in time and broke it down a little bit for ya'll. It's going to be different styles of cuts for different size ranges of bats, but this has been my preferred size to harvest (22"-28").

I cut the wings, dispose of the torso first.



I'm putting these on a 10/0 octopus hook and casting them, so keep that in mind. When I initially cut up the wings for storage, I want each chunk to be worth 2-3 pieces of bait, which I think is good for a 1 man trip. You're gonna strike out more often than not while 7gill fishing so I try to thaw out as little bait as possible so I don't waste much.

I prefer about 1-1.5" average thickness for a bait. Obviously the wing tips don't make that, but I try to keep the wing tips in mind for a bigger profile and keeping each chunk castable at around 4-6oz.



Each section here is worth about 2-3 baits. The wider triangular part doesn't have the thickness that I like, but I don't have the data to confirm or deny its value as bait.





Vacuum packing is nice and tidy, but I think this is a hardier bait for freezing than mackerel.





Viola, "scallops" for days!

Jeremy

[Latimeria]

He was asking my dad questions that were from left field. I go to unhook the shovel, and the guy goes, "Can I smell it?" I say of course you can, dude. He got his face within half an inch of the shovel, took a whiff, and then backed off. I'm very glad the shovel didn't slap him in the face.

This just made my morning!  hahahaha

Great read boss!  I can't wait to see your results on the bat ray.  I've only used it once and it really does stay on the hook well.  That is definitely a good amount of shark trips right there!

[vdisney]

Wonder where you been Jeremy, good to see your name on a report

[SevengillTheVC]

Those shovels sure do smell good! LOL. Hope you get a grinner on the scallops!