4-21-14 LJ Ding Dong Ling

[Zfish03]

Short report:
Weather- kinda sucked. Gloomy, windy, and very choppy beyond the point.
Water- 60-61, clear.
South-southwest current, a bit strong but fishable.
Bait- Mini-macks, iron and squid

Full report:
Hit the shores with my friend and his new PA in hopes of finding some big game fish. Unloaded my kayak and realized I forgot my mirage drive... Sucks but I wasn't gonna call it a day just because of that, so I drove back to Carlsbad while my buddy made bait till I got back.

We saw some bird activity but they appeared to be liars. No marks or bites.
Went over some great structure and rock fish marks in 180-230ft. When life gives you rock fish, fish for rock fish.

Current, swell, and wind was getting nasty but we were able to pick up a few. I was hoping for a ling and have been trying to get a respectable one out of la jolla for over a year. So I dropped a mac down while my friend pulled up rock fish with frozen squid. Eventually I got tired of no hits and wanted to pull in some more fish so I grabbed the biggest squid I had and sent it down. Almost immediately I got slammed and the thing pulled drag... could it be Felt like I was reeling up a bucket and then I saw a mouth lol.

The ling was 30'' and weighed a little over 8lbs. PB ling for LJ
-pictures on the water didnt turn out good :/ This one doesn't do it justice but oh well.

Coughed up a big octopus. I tried using it for bait during a few drops later


Dinner:
My friend and I harvested one of the large spanish mackerel for sushi, never tried but figured why not.

It was awesome!

The spread: mixed rock fish and ling


I call this the Trifecta: Ling, barber pole, and vermillion- in one taco