North County report

[konakaiyak]

hit up north county on Monday and the weather was really nice with flat surf. after a little searching found a stone in 80 feet of water with some action. Got 5 bass, 4 of which were hefty legals and 4 nice rockfish one after another all on plastics before the bite slowed down. No pics but im sure you all know what they look like. I wouldn't bother posting a report but i noticed all the fish i hooked were coughing up squid. I'm new to fishing in socal and don't know alot about making squid but i wonder could there be a bed nearby? What do you guys think? Any advice on finding the beds on sonar? Anyone in North county want to go paddle and look?

Mahalo
Steve

[YakDout]

http://www.wonews.com/t-SouthernCASa...de_111213.aspx

[konakaiyak]

i wasnt fishing anywhere near there but I might check that out thanks!

[supaboy1981]

Eh Steve!! Its Jonathan!! If the weather permits, sunday would be a god day for me!

-J

[supaboy1981]

KONA, you gonna show em the stuff from Hawaii? I'm dying to here what these guys have to say

Sent from my Nexus 4

[GregAndrew]

Since rockfish generally don't stray too far, I would bet that the Squid were close by. They may or may not be bedding at any given time. You might find them at any place in the water column also. They are going to return the weakest signal you can meter since the only thing you can bounce off of is their beaks. On a black and white screen individual Squid will be tiny light grey marks. On color screens they will also be tiny and the color you have set for weakest returns. Small to medium sized groups may look like schools of finbait, but still have weak color (I still look for single pixel marks around the edges of these schools to help rule out Anchovies and small Lizzard fish). Large groups can look as thick and hard as just about anything out there if they are thick enough. If they are bedding you will probably find them in 60 to 125 feet, although I have caught them on beds as deep as 250 feet. Get a Squid gangion and send it down. I like to pause for a few seconds between jigs to allow a few to latch on. They can be tough to catch at night sometimes, and other times when there is light nearby.

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

Since rockfish generally don't stray too far

I know you said "generally" and I agree, you are correct...just a little fun fact I learned this year. Tagged rockfish have been found to travel HUNDREDS of miles and survive catch and release from 300+ feet. If Owyn sees this he can tell us a little more.
But Greg is right, little guys locally, coughing up squid is a good indicator of some near by

[konakaiyak]

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

Since rockfish generally don't stray too far, I would bet that the Squid were close by. They may or may not be bedding at any given time. You might find them at any place in the water column also. They are going to return the weakest signal you can meter since the only thing you can bounce off of is their beaks. On a black and white screen individual Squid will be tiny light grey marks. On color screens they will also be tiny and the color you have set for weakest returns. Small to medium sized groups may look like schools of finbait, but still have weak color (I still look for single pixel marks around the edges of these schools to help rule out Anchovies and small Lizzard fish). Large groups can look as thick and hard as just about anything out there if they are thick enough. If they are bedding you will probably find them in 60 to 125 feet, although I have caught them on beds as deep as 250 feet. Get a Squid gangion and send it down. I like to pause for a few seconds between jigs to allow a few to latch on. They can be tough to catch at night sometimes, and other times when there is light nearby.

GregAndrew thankyou for the awesome advice and info! I just got back into town from the Islands and will put this knowledge to use the next time out. Mahalo and Happy Holidays!

[TJones]

but over here , no pics . . just playing . on the hummingbird units, the squid will appear as purple fuzz . thanks for timely report .

If you're lucky it might look like this