False Halibut (6/19)

[Latimeria]

Steve and I decided to give it another shot.  Our Plan A this time was to actually find mackerel and catch a baitwell full of it!

Plan A, Mission accomplished!



Now we just had to catch some fish with them.  We left no stone unturned today and covered a hell of a lot of water.  I did find bass on the little swimbait to get on the board.



Steve got on the board with a nice Turd Roller.  All lit up and colorful!





So many dry spots.  Bait was around, but nothing pushing it and I couldn't meter a thing.  We were cruising by a generally newer area when we saw 3-4 pound calico actually grey hounding out of the water like tarpon smashing bait!  We shot over and I hooked up asap with some brutes following the hooked one.  Only got one of them in the boat for a CPR, but of course it was the smaller of the group.



We had a buddy out that we were keeping in contact with in case one of us found the fish.  In the meantime, we started drifting for Halibut as we had all this fresh bait and have only used a couple of pieces so far.

Then, I hear the scream of my clicker and I was on.  First thought was WSB or Yellowtail as it had some serious weight to it, but then it morphed into more of a halibut feel to it.  I had Steve get the gaff ready in case, but to my dismay, it wasn't what I was hoping for...





Not long after and it was Squatch's turn at the elusive False Halibut.  Even when you knew what was hooked, you were still disappointed to see it wasn't a halibut.





We make another long run and catch up to my buddy who is not trolling any longer and sends me this picture!



Bottomed out his 50# scale... Ugh... we then fished that area for a while with not even a sniff of the baits.  All we were doing was scratching at some mid-grade calicos.



Man, we were working hard for very few fish, but were hopeful something would pick up!  We started our way back and stopped at some structure hoping for a lingcod.  Bite was pretty instantaneous for me, but Squatch had some bad smelling bait or something.



I got back to back beautiful Calicos.  Big Calico eating big baits!


No Lingcod or Halibut, but some pretty healthy Calico.  My biggest of the day that I thought was a Lingcod at first.



Needless to say, it was way past the time we usually pack up and leave, so we called it quits and headed back.  Of course, the boat starts acting up and now alarms are screaming and the boat is trying to stall on me.  GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! I just had it fixed!
Well, we limped in and got it on the trailer without having to call VA, so that was good I guess. 

Total for the day was only like 8 calico, 2 turd rollers and 2 leopard sharks...  Pretty tough fishing to say the least.  My buddy only got one hit, but it happened to be the right kind.
Oh well, time to see what's wrong with the motor now and try to have a nice Father's Day.

Thanks for reading!

[jrodda]

All bait and no gamefish is the story of my life, at least you were thrown a bone with some decent bass. That seabass though, wow.

And those engine troubles are so exasperating, hope it's a quick fix. It's good seeing your curmudgeon reports.

[sasquatch]

You were scratching the bass. I was itching for one.

Slow fishing but great scenery.

Stupid fake halibut.

[skrilla]

1 kitty each?!?! Unlunky yet impressive. 

[Latimeria]

1 kitty each?!?! Unlunky yet impressive. 

Yep. We moved on after the second one.

[Tim524]

 The shoulder is healed up and now the boat is limping Hope it's a quick easy fix I 'm taking The Ass Rack out tomorrow, hope we do better than last time

[vdisney]

Of course, the boat starts acting up and now alarms are screaming and the boat is trying to stall on me.  GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! I just had it fixed!

Can't even begin to tell you how bummed I am for you...............