Newport 3/25

[William Novotny]

Me and Josh (easyday) fished the am at the newps. Went out and made some macs to use for halibut then went back by the moorings to start our drift. We both got slammed pretty hard early on. Joshs mac getting shredded and my leader getting bit off just above the top hook (Trap rigged). The current started to die off so we headed outside to get some taco meat. Went straight to my spot and started marking huge piles but nothing would bite. Tide was pretty slack at this time. Moved to a few other numbers I have marked. Tiny taps. Nothing really too interested in our offerings. Kept making the rounds between all my known spots until the tide and current picked up again. Then we started getting hits. Still had to work our asses off. Highlight of the day for me was when I dropped on a pile and my rod got slammed hard, instant bendo, solid hookset and from all the headshakes and runs I knew it wasn't a rocky. I wad really hoping for me first legal ling but I wasn't complaining when I got about a 5# goat to color. Man those things are a great fighting fish. Called it a day around 2:30 with about 10 decent rockfish between the two of us and my goat. I took home the goat and 2 nice Reds for tonight's dinner. That sheepshead are some really tasty fish. You would think they would have tough flesh from how Hardy they are, but it's just the opposite. Delicate white flesh that cooks super fast and will fall apart if you look at it too hard. I got 2 HUGE fillet and broiled one along with the rockfish with lemon, butter, garlic and cilantro and the other fillet I cubed up and made some ceviche for the next day. I was impressed with both the flavor and texture of the fish. Both the broiled and ceviched fish came out great. I was stoked because I had had a tough time with the preparation of this specific fish in the past. The Secret is to fillet and skin them as soon as you can. The skin will taint the meat. This is a fish you want to eat super fresh. Don't even bother freezing sheephead. Now I look forward to catching my next one.

[alanw]

Get some finished plate pics for Hook em Cook em

[J3FFro]

That's a nice looking sheephead. Wish I can go out n fish during the weekdays. Thanks for the report!

[NEEFFF]

ooooKilleMm!

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by alanw

Get some finished plate pics for Hook em Cook em

Dammit, I always forget about that!

[blitzburgh]

Nice job William!

[octico]

Nice report! Thanks for sharing. !

[chxh8me]

Nice goat! I still have yet to catch a mature male sheephead with those red and black colors. Some day.

[Loudog]

Did you catch that Bad Boy on Macs? Last year I picked up a small female but had to toss her back, I really want to catch a legal size male this year.

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by Loudog

Did you catch that Bad Boy on Macs? Last year I picked up a small female but had to toss her back, I really want to catch a legal size male this year.

Last year I picked up a legal male just about every trip out using squid on my rockfish spot. This year this is the first one I caught. I watched a video of a 28# goat being cleaned of its stomach contents and it had almost exclusivity all small snails inside. These fish eat small crustaceans (crabs, snails, lobster, shrimp) but will take cut bait if put in front of them. Another note: almost all the rockfish we pulled up were vomiting up shrimp and mantis shrimp. I'd suggest bringing out some scrimp and doing a double dropper with shrimp on one and squid on the other.

[Loudog]

Originally Posted by William Novotny

Last year I picked up a legal male just about every trip out using squid on my rockfish spot. This year this is the first one I caught. I watched a video of a 28# goat being cleaned of its stomach contents and it had almost exclusivity all small snails inside. These fish eat small crustaceans (crabs, snails, lobster, shrimp) but will take cut bait if put in front of them. Another note: almost all the rockfish we pulled up were vomiting up shrimp and mantis shrimp. I'd suggest bringing out some scrimp and doing a double dropper with shrimp on one and squid on the other.

Cool! thanks for the advice.

[William Novotny]

Just a question to anyone that has experience with average inch to pound weight on this species? He measured out to just over 21"

Lookin' mighty grizzly there Will! Nice hookset, right in the corner.

I don't know of a length to weight, but I would guess easily >3#

Spot on description of the meat too. Next time you get a fatty, try putting it in the steamer until its cooked through. Flake it with the two fork method and mix with spices, flour, egg and breadcrumbs and make "Crab cakes" out of it. It goes fantastic on eggs benedict with fresh sliced avocados.

[socal_matt]

Atta boy Will. Glad you were able to get some out there. I still have yet to get a sheepy out there.

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by Drake

Spot on description of the meat too. Next time you get a fatty, try putting it in the steamer until its cooked through. Flake it with the two fork method and mix with spices, flour, egg and breadcrumbs and make "Crab cakes" out of it. It goes fantastic on eggs benedict with fresh sliced avocados.

I gotta try that one

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by socal_matt

Atta boy Will. Glad you were able to get some out there. I still have yet to get a sheepy out there.

When you fishing next? Your spot is basically the same spot as mine give or take about 50 yrds

[fishyhutjr]

Originally Posted by William Novotny

Just a question to anyone that has experience with average inch to pound weight on this species? He measured out to just over 21"

The pic makes the fish look pretty small, but a 21 incher should be about 4-5 lbs.

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by fishyhutjr

The pic makes the fish look pretty small, but a 21 incher should be about 4-5 lbs.

That's what I was thinking. If you need a size comparison I'm about 300# and my fist is roughly the size of a softball haha. I'm gonna need to start straight arming my fish pics

[socal_matt]

Originally Posted by William Novotny

When you fishing next? Your spot is basically the same spot as mine give or take about 50 yrds

Didn't you get my pm? I'm gonna see if I can get a couple days off of work during the week of April 7-11.