Newport 3/25

[William Novotny]

Me and Josh (easyday) fished the am at the newps. Went out and made some macs to use for halibut then went back by the moorings to start our drift. We both got slammed pretty hard early on. Joshs mac getting shredded and my leader getting bit off just above the top hook (Trap rigged). The current started to die off so we headed outside to get some taco meat. Went straight to my spot and started marking huge piles but nothing would bite. Tide was pretty slack at this time. Moved to a few other numbers I have marked. Tiny taps. Nothing really too interested in our offerings. Kept making the rounds between all my known spots until the tide and current picked up again. Then we started getting hits. Still had to work our asses off. Highlight of the day for me was when I dropped on a pile and my rod got slammed hard, instant bendo, solid hookset and from all the headshakes and runs I knew it wasn't a rocky. I wad really hoping for me first legal ling but I wasn't complaining when I got about a 5# goat to color. Man those things are a great fighting fish. Called it a day around 2:30 with about 10 decent rockfish between the two of us and my goat. I took home the goat and 2 nice Reds for tonight's dinner. That sheepshead are some really tasty fish. You would think they would have tough flesh from how Hardy they are, but it's just the opposite. Delicate white flesh that cooks super fast and will fall apart if you look at it too hard. I got 2 HUGE fillet and broiled one along with the rockfish with lemon, butter, garlic and cilantro and the other fillet I cubed up and made some ceviche for the next day. I was impressed with both the flavor and texture of the fish. Both the broiled and ceviched fish came out great. I was stoked because I had had a tough time with the preparation of this specific fish in the past. The Secret is to fillet and skin them as soon as you can. The skin will taint the meat. This is a fish you want to eat super fresh. Don't even bother freezing sheephead. Now I look forward to catching my next one.