SD bay Bonita Mayhem!!

[Sheephead]

Went out of sd bay 11/28 and was violently disrupted by thousands of cormorants flying 1-2' above my head. Thought they were going out for the day or trying to poop on me but soon realized they were after the schools of anchovies bonita were schooling up all along the south side of the naval base by the mouth. There was thousands of wolfpacks in the 40'/50' depth. Made for a short but fun day with Ultra light tackle. So much action I literally couldn't take a break from catchin fish to open my water bottle. Nothing like being towed by a 2lb bonito and fighting each one for 3-5min. Gained confidence in a new lure and brand: Ima Jerkbait which was easily capable of calling the bonito up 40' to jump out of the water and crush my bait as soon as I did the 2nd twitch. The bite died off with the tide 6am - 9:30am. Very little action the rest of the day while trying for halibut other than a huge slam and instant break-off with 30lb mono. Got PLENTY more than in the photo but kept enough for the next lobster outing. Anyone hitting up the bay next week?

[Iceman]

That looks like fun! Just an FYI on Bonito, in case people were not aware, especially when harvesting for lobster bait.

2008 so some may be out dated.


http://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/thr...fornia.118119/

[C.W.C.]

Was that the Bass box, or the Inshore? I just became a MTB subscriber too, & was wondering if that 1 came with your November box? I know everyones box is slightly different, just curious..I really like getting odd stuff I would never buy to get me out of my comfort zone..Here was this months selection I got:




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[Aaron&Julie]

Yeah, just so you know the next time, you can only keep 5 bonito that small, and 5 more if they are >/= 24" long from the fork of the tail to the nose.
A ticket ruins a good fishing day, almost everytime.

[taggermike]

Sounds like fun. Hearing the bonies are back in the bay is great news. I grew up here in SD and over the years there have been some ripper bites in the bay. A few times all the way south in the J st marina. I remember fly lining chovies with my dad on little bass rods n getting worked.
They are good bug bait but put a couple on ice and they're good eating. Mike

[maquinapescado]

Would have been a great day to bust out the fly rod.

Bones make great ceviche and really good bug bait.

[kjsdad619]

Nice Job Ryan!

[Sheephead]

Originally Posted by Iceman

That looks like fun! Just an FYI on Bonito, in case people were not aware, especially when harvesting for lobster bait.

2008 so some may be out dated.


http://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/thr...fornia.118119/

Thanks for the heads up! Had no clue there was a size limit on bonito.

[Sheephead]

Originally Posted by C.W.C.

Was that the Bass box, or the Inshore? I just became a MTB subscriber too, & was wondering if that 1 came with your November box? I know everyones box is slightly different, just curious..I really like getting odd stuff I would never buy to get me out of my comfort zone..Here was this months selection I got:




•

The jerkbait was from this months bass box. I've been using the bass box to catch spotties lately which has been working great except trying to get a spoty to eat a plasmatail worm I just changed over the the inshore mtb since the bonito are in and hoping for some cool new lures! Those shrimp lures you got are insane btw! Hope you like them as much as I do.

[Sheephead]

Originally Posted by Aaron&Julie

Yeah, just so you know the next time, you can only keep 5 bonito that small, and 5 more if they are >/= 24" long from the fork of the tail to the nose.
A ticket ruins a good fishing day, almost everytime.

Thanks for the knowledge! I've never kept bonito before except on half day boats which I'd catch 90+ in a day and the deckhands kept all of them so I assumed there was no limit on size or bag possession for them. Out of curiosity, not that i'm going to do so now that you've told me the rule, but do Fish&Game even care about people catching bonito? I've never seen someone get a ticket for bonito but if they went out to the peir they could easily wright 30 tickets in an hour... More or less ticket the half day boats. Thanks again for the informative post, really appreciate it!

[Sheephead]

Originally Posted by taggermike

Sounds like fun. Hearing the bonies are back in the bay is great news. I grew up here in SD and over the years there have been some ripper bites in the bay. A few times all the way south in the J st marina. I remember fly lining chovies with my dad on little bass rods n getting worked.
They are good bug bait but put a couple on ice and they're good eating. Mike

Wow, that's ridiculous! The furthest back I've seen bonito so far is the marina in liberty station. I might have to pickup fly fishing soon, that sounds like one hell of a time if you catch bonito!

[Aaron&Julie]

Yeah, the DFG will care a lot about them and any fish with regulations. Break the rules, that's revenue for them just like the CHP.

BTW, I used to also kill bonito (easily over 50/day) in the bay (back in the day, early 1970s), but it was in Redondo harbor. Then there was no limit of any kind.

In the last few years bonito have been much more scarce until this year, not great numbers but decent ones. Besides the DFG caring about bonito, there are many of us sportfishermen/women who do. Especially those of us "in the know" that if bonito are bled (cut gills) and chilled right away, they are one of the best eating fish in SoCal, and can be eaten in the biggest variety of ways. If I catch bonito, and I have plenty of mackerel for bug bait, the bonito are going to be eaten by humans not bugs. Smoked it's as good as it gets up there with albacore. Raw same thing, up there with tuna, and I even prefer it over hamachi (yellowtail), which I love. Cooked any other way it's damn good too. Marinade and grill on the outside BBQ, awesome.

Just food for thought when you catch your next batch of boneheads, just remember, bleed and chill. If you're on a kayak, where chilling can be tricky, bring along a LARGE fishing towel, keep it wet and cover the fish that are on the deck, this works great for all fish. Otherwise if you don't mind storing inside your hatch, keep them next to the hull, the cool ocean water should keep them cool enough.

Back in the 60s and 70s, some may have put bonito down, like some may do to mackerel nowadays, almost classifying them as a trash fish. That's before bleeding became popular and because on sport boats, they'd go into a gunny sack, in the sun, and end up very mushy like 'cuda do. Now they are considered a good catch on the sport boats, rightfully so.

So make the most of this prize, enjoy the fight (best lb for lb in the world), the lighter tackle the better, and Bon appétit!