Rockfish/Lingcod 4/7/24

[Salty]

Hit the water at about 5am Sunday with 2 goals in mind: Get my first lingcod of the 2024 season and get limits of vermilion while the 2023 regs still apply for the Southern Management Area. Ended the day with 1 Lingcod(26.5"), 4 vermilion, 2 bocaccio and 1 Sculpin. Mission accomplished! Picked up a new Daiwa Saltiga Levelwind as a dedicated rockfishing reel and it worked great. After I got limits of Vermilion, I moved to several different locations to try to find different species, but I kept pulling them up. Used the descender to release at depth and finally called it a day after getting a couple bocaccio.

Super nice day on the water. Water temp 58. Minimal swell. Bait was easy to find. 6-8" greenbacks. A little cold offshore wind in the morning, but it cleaned up after sunrise and was dead still for several hours straight making for smooth, glassy seas. Plus I got the fish I was after. Can't complain about that!

[dorado123]

nice work!
never had lingcod on my kayak one of my bucket list
glad weather is nice, where did you fish ?

[MITCHELL]

Meat. And another good 👍 day

[FISH11]

Thanks for sharing the detailed fishing report. After reading and feeling jealous, I'd say, that it turned out to be a perfect fishing day. Enjoy the tasty meals!

[PapaDave]

Nice catch, I'm still working on catching both Vermillion and Ling Cod from my kayak, just gotta find them...

[Saba Slayer]

Good job on the Ling
I was out today and had to drive away from a couple of spots just filled with small Reds.
So sad we're going to be set at two in possession for the rest of the year soon.
I guess it's not easy finding fish for a DFW count survey in this big Pacific Ocean LOL

[JohnMckroidJr]

Great photos! Congratulations on a mission accomplished!!

[PapaDave]

Originally Posted by Saba Slayer

Good job on the Ling
I was out today and had to drive away from a couple of spots just filled with small Reds.
So sad we're going to be set at two in possession for the rest of the year soon.
I guess it's not easy finding fish for a DFW count survey in this big Pacific Ocean LOL

You do realize the current limit on reds is four fish...

[Saba Slayer]

Originally Posted by PapaDave

You do realize the current limit on reds is four fish...

Two fishermen = 4 Reds each and a chunky Flag rockfish too
Thanks for the jealous reminder

[JohnMckroidJr]

I miss the good old days when 15 fish of any species was the limit. This was a nice limit taken at Cherry Banks back in 1979.

[daperrin]

With Reds going to 2 fish and Sheeps going to 2 fish it has definitely become 'recreational' fishing these days as you can't even get enough for a decent set of tacos for the family

[Salty]

@dorado123 Thanks! You'll get yours eventually I'm sure! One thing I've learned: They are not shy of bigger bait... On this day I was fishing in Redondo Canyon

@MITCHELL The blue fillets area always an interesting surprise. Thanks!

@FISH11 Very true. There are so many days when the weather and fishing suck, it's nice when everything comes together for a change

@PapaDave Thanks! They're definitely down there

@Saba Slayer Thank you sir The 2 limit on reds is a bummer for sure. Like you mentioned, there definitely doesn't seem to be a shortage of them out there! Seems they know that too since they're requiring descending devices on board. Almost as if they know we're all going to have to be sending back a lot of reds this season... Nice haul by the way! Love the colors on those flag rockfish. Last one I gave to my girlfriend and she said it looked like Nemo and she almost felt guilty making hot pot with it haha


@JohnMckroidJr Thank you John! Hoping to see more of your Florida trophies soon! Also, very cool photo from '79. Wish i could have been fishing then, but I wasn't even born for another 8 years! Missed the boat on that one, both literally and figuratively haha


@daperrin Definitely frustrating. Seems like when I want to find reds, I find everything else. When I want to move away from reds when I have limits, that's all I can find!