Weird Catch at DP 1/18

[Salty]

Launched out of the harbor in the morning and cruised around the buoy and headed north over to the kelp off Salt Creek, dropping my hookup bait every so often. Had a few really strong bites off the bottom that ran my line for a bit, but the hood wouldn't set. Before making it to the kelp, I feel some tugging on my line and assumed it was a small bass or something. When I got it to the side of the yak, was surprised to see this little guy (Pics below). I managed a saltwater aquarium shop for several years and I'm still in the industry, so I'm very familiar with these guys. But we usually only saw either the Peacock or Zebra mantis. This guy was MUCH bigger! I know they are out in the waters here, I've just never seen a native one up close! Needless to say I was surprised to hook one and even more so to hook one on a jig! Used extra-long pliers to get the hook upside-down and he was able to shake himself off with no damage. Pretty sure I saw him give me the finger on the way back to the bottom. Pretty new to kayak fishing, so maybe this is more common than I thought? Either way, it was just kind of cool.
After that, it was a pretty normal day. My buddy got a nice 19" calico, I got a small sandbass and a barracuda. There were some big 'cuda slamming my hookup bait, but not getting hooked. I could see them in the water below as they struck and they were attacking only the back of the bait, then running. So I switched to a colt sniper, but they had already lost interest and I couldn't find them again. Neither of us kept anything and all catches went back into the water pretty quickly.
Getting the mantis made me wonder though: You all have WAY more experience kayak fishing than myself. What are some of the weirdest or most unexpected things you've pulled up?

[socal.beach.bum]

I hear those mantis prawns are tasty

[FullFlavorPike]

Originally Posted by socal.beach.bum

I hear those mantis prawns are tasty

I've eaten different mantis shrimp before. Sweet and tasty, although the spiny shells stabbed me in the mouth and I got an allergic reaction so I had, like, huge blisters wherever they poked me

I'd probably do it all over again. Really tasty.

[igotpron]

I haven’t been out in forever. Has the kelp surfaced at salt creak? I miss the days of just tieing off to the kelp and fishing the pockets in between.


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[Salty]

Yeah, kelp is really easy to find. Even at the peak of the steep high tide the other week it was still folded on the surface. My buddy tied off on the kelp a few times, for both fishing and relaxing purposes lol. I was too busy searching for pockets and looking for that perfect position to drop A boat behind me landed a decent male Sheephead to. So it's good to know they were biting!

[igotpron]

Awesome!!! Thanks for sharing that with me. That’s the motivation I need to get out there.


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[Salty]

Happy I could help! I'll be heading out again tomorrow at sunrise. Maybe I'll see you out there!

[monstahfish]

How are you liking the passport?

[Salty]

Originally Posted by monstahfish

How are you liking the passport?

I'm loving it! It's my first kayak, so I don't have anything to compare it to other than a few awful rentals, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it! It rides smooth through waves, wind and chop, it's comfortable for 6-8 hours on the ocean and is easy to maneuver. My biggest complaint was the lack of storage in the hull, but just yesterday I installed the larger rectangular vertical hatch and now I can fit my collapsible cart in there. And I reused the 8" round hatch on the bow for even more storage. Was super easy to do and added tons of storage. I have a Garmin Fish Finder and transducer I'm going to install this week using the added cavity in the hull, so I can report back how easy that is to install and use once it's up and running.
I'd recommend calling around some shops and seeing if they have one you can demo. I actually got mine because I went to a shop to look at a used kayak (Malibu brand). And after talking with the shop manager I ended up taking out the passport and it was night and day. Of course, the Malibu was not pedal driven, but I also demoed a used Hobie Outback they had. It was really nice and had the 180 drive, but for the price they were asking, I decided a new Passport 12 (with warranty!) was a much better option.