LJ 6/18. Skunk on YT w/ Rockfish Audible

[Gflann]

Gray light launch in pretty close to glass conditions. Magic Seaweed was spot on with the morning forecast. Supposed to be less than 10 kts all day with minimal swell.

Made a few spanish and one greenback in about 60’ of water in front of the tall condo complex. The Hump was packed with boats and kayaks so I decided to make my way over to the NW corner with a fly lined greenback. No significant marks or bait. Lots of guys complaining about not finding bait on Ch 69.

With slack tide approaching and both wind and swell being almost nill, I decided to audible to a further offshore trip to hit up some rockfish spots. I recommend getting a navionics subscription, downloading the app and using the relief shading to find some rock piles that the sport boats arent constantly slaughtering. Just mark them on the app and put the coordinates in your chart plotter before you head out.

Instead of making my own double dropper loop, I bought what I thought was a gimmicky rock cod rig. It has pink squids and some tassels w/ glow in the dark beads. I tipped it with squid strips. Not sure if it was the set up, the spots I selected or both but the Red’s were some of the biggest I have pulled up. Four over 3 pounds with the biggest at 3.8 pounds. It was pretty exhausting trying to set up perfect drifts over the spots I had marked. Lots of aborted drifts to reposition. Luckily the yields were worth it.

I usually avoid weekends, but this will probably be the last friday I launch at LJ and just stick to weekdays during the summer. Landed at high tide with almost no beach ramp left. The kayak tours took up a lot of space. I owe the guy in the green Outback and blue pull over a beer for stopping me from backing into a lady just sitting on the sand with her paddle board in the middle of what was left of the boat ramp at high tide.

Shook off the nerves from the close call and filleted up some solid filets from the tubby Red’s!

Can anyone ID the fish that found its way onto my sabiki?