My boys were out for spring break Friday the 29th, and radlations (Mike) had a day off of school, so I thought I’d take them rock fishing again since it’s been a long time. It was only Mike’s second time from the shore. I had scouted a spot that was fairly kid-safe, and already confirmed that there were fish in the area.
So we met up with Mike early friday am. When we got out to the water, conditions were perfect up until about 10am when the wind started blowing from the south then we moved around to more protected area.
But back to the early am...Had my boys using a lighter type of setup. Spinning reels with 80lb braid line and 50lb mono leaders on 8 1/2 foot poles. With this setup, you get a good fight on the lighter pole, but you are not constantly breaking off your line. It was low tide when we started, and I had them fishing in really close between rocks. I was tossing out far into the kelp with my usual setup of 12' pole with conventional reel and 150lb braid, but it's hard to fish while taking care of the boys.
Waiting...
“When will I catch a fish?”
No fish yet. I'm getting crabby.
My youngest had set his pole down to play with a crab or something, and I noticed that it was moving suspiciously. When he checked it, it was fish on! With a little help from me, he was able to land the biggest fish of the day, a 21" cabzilla. He never let us forget who got the biggest fish. Funny how those big fish sometimes bite so gently, and you don't know you have a fish until you start to pull.
A little while later and he got another 16" cab.
The older boy was feeling the pressure. Meanwhile radlations (Mike) was busy learning what to do, but he had a few bites.
A bit later I noticed my older boy with his eyes as big as dinner plates and he's reeling and struggling. He fights it all the way in and landed an 18" cab. He got the best fight of the day. Those lighter poles look like fun. Think I'm going to start carrying that setup with me to fish the close in stuff.
One more short cab for him, and then the wind picked up, and line control became impossible. I did manage to lose a couple fish in the kelp before moving.
Once we had moved, the boys were tired of fishing so they amused themselves by throwing pieces of ice-plant at me constantly and laughing their butts off until I threatened to use them for bait. I managed to finally fish and got three nice b&y's in about an hour. Mike was hard at work figuring out that kelpy fishing but managed to get some bites. He only uses barbless hooks, so I don't know if that has anything to do with his luck.
We finally left Mike there with the rest of my squid and 2 donated b&y's about 12:30. He got more bites after we left but could not hook up. Just paying his dues I guess...
The boys had a great time and caught fish, and they want to do it again, so it was an awesome day. |
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