Never caught any rockfish before but have been following the posts for awhile now. I've worn the rockfish stripe and was determined to shed it. So I headed out of Newport Wed. a.m. to give it a try.
Great conditions, little cool in the morning but super flat till the wind came around 1:00p.m.
Found the rocky bottom but didn't meter any fish. Dept was 180 to 225'. Finally after about 1 1/2 hours felt the tug and got about a 15 inch red. I kept moving spots and landed another. Never saw them on the FF though. No pics due to camera battery.
On the way in at about 125' I saw a huge mark. I dropped the squid strips down and about 1 minute later I got slammed. I'm thinking shark but who knows. Took off like a banshee. Finally broke me off because the drag on my freakin' K-mart reel froze up. (Time to invest in decent equip.
)
All in all was super stoked in landing my first rockfish.