Interesting fish from Scott's Creek New year's

I had to share this with you guys.  Talked to one of the Westside guys today who found an interesting fish washed up on the beach at Scott's Creek on New year's Eve, after surfing. 

I'm putting it in my Sentinel fish Report, but here's the sneak preview for the boyz including pix.


1/8/09
Saltwater Report

It is definitely wintertime in Santa Cruz.  Anglers struggled again last week to find welcoming conditions in which to fish our local waters, but one outdoorsman brought home a fish to remember.

Bernie Tershy surfed Scott Creek with his pal Joe Beek on New Year’s Eve.  What a great way to wind up another year. On their way back to the car, he noticed a rather large and bizarre looking fish struggling weakly in the surf.  Tershy has experience as a commercial fisherman and recognized it as a long-nosed lancet fish, a deep-water dweller that occasionally washes up on northern beaches. 

The long-nosed lancet fish, also called “the wolf of the sea,” is the largest of the deep-sea predatory fish growing up to seven feet long.  Its narrow body, soft muscles and large dorsal fin suggests it is an ambush hunter relying on short bursts of high speed to capture prey. Scientists are uncertain as to the reasons they occasionally wash up on beaches, but studies have shown it is not necessarily a result of parasites, ocean storms or pursuing prey.  Some studies suggest a correlation to La Nina events, when the equatorial Pacific Ocean surface temperatures are cooler than normal. La Nina weather patterns include cold, wet conditions in the Northwest U.S. along with drought conditions in the Southwest. Kind of like this past year.

Tershy says it was apparent the fish was not going to survive, so he took it home and provides us with a rare glimpse of an unusual denizen of the deep.  Tershy examined the stomach contents and found an eight-inch shark along with a “deep sea sort of fish that looked like a needlefish.”  Answering the obvious question without it being asked, Tershy added, “it was a soft fish, but it fried up tough.  Tasted pretty good. The meat was tough and bony.”

Ken Stagnaro had another successful outing fishing for more typical species.  The final tally for Saturday’s trip was 350 sanddabs and 160 big Pacific mackerel for 19 anglers fishing from the Velocity.  One young angler got an extra thrill when she hooked up to a giant Humboldt squid that ripped line from her reel before it released.  For big game hunters, both Captain Jimmy Charters and Reel Sportfishing will be chartering Humboldt squid fishing trips this season.

Surfcasting and pier fishing for perch is picking up.  Lars Johanneson caught and released a few barred surf perch from the beaches below Aptos this weekend, and Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait says anglers using shrimp bits were scoring barred surf perch and split-tail perch from the wharf this week.  Burrell adds a few starry flounder and sand sole were also taken in Capitola since our last report.

One of those washed up in Shelter Cove too - bizzare!

A number of years ago I saw a kid pole spear one at Reef Campground (Pedottis Reef).  He said it was actively feeding when he encountered it.  That's got to be quite the sight to see underwater!!!

-Allen

Wow...too cool!  Thanks for the sneak peek, Allen!

The guy in the close up looks like he's ready for it to spring to life any moment. That is one mean looking scary fish. Awesome.

A guy speared one in Carmel 2 years ago. It was apparently feeding too.

I wonder if the dude that found this one had a license hahahaha.

I wonder if the dude that found this one had a license hahahaha.

Better question is whether he was wearing it above the waste. 

-Brian G

Yeah, I had that thought as well, could not find any DFG regs concerning open season for the long-nosed lancet fish haha.  Wondered about publishing the 'hand catch"  I went for it because it's such a great unusual fish and newsworthy and presume DFG would have had to be there to prove if he didn't have license displayed.

Mainly I LOVE the fact that he ate it!  Awesome.

Allen

I also caught one at McKerricker Park beach north of Fort Bragg a few years ago.  My thought is that they're so weak that once they get caught in the surf they're doomed.  I also ate the one I got (after showing it to the local CDFG bios).  It wasn't that great.

Very interesting looking fish. Thanks for sharing Allen 

-FF

I can't believe he ate it!  Any fish that I catch by hand because it is so weak & close to death is not goping on my table

I got a salmon once at the Hook that was 'caught' in the tidepools. Around 10 lbs.  A close look showed it was injured, probably just missed by a sea lion,.  Big scrape and one eye gone, and no sense of direction.

A couple hippie guys were trying to herd it out to sea.

I showed up with my 4-year old and saw *lunch*.

Used the "bear paw" technique to flip it out of a shallow pool (this after a Keystone Kops chase), and took it home.

The hippie guys were aghast, they were trying to Free Willie, and I ate him.  But that fish wasn't going anywhere.  It's injuries were quite like that I inflict when I gaff, so I figured it was safe.  Quite tasty in fact.

Allen

There is a series of lectures about Deep Sea creatures at the Pacific Grove museum beginning next week. Here's the info:

Deep Sea Public Lectures at P.G. Museum of Natural History
    The multi-part Sea Creatures Rediscovered Lecture Series: An In Depth Look at Ocean Exploration is centered around Jason Bradley's luminescent photographs of deep-sea life, and aimed squarely for a general (non-scientific) audience. Next up is Greg Cailliet, of Moss Landing Marin Labs, who speaks today on "Studies and Observations of Deep-sea Fishes and Invertebrates of Submarine Canyons in Monterey Bay" (which is wilder than it sounds).
dates:    
    Sat, Jan 10   add to calendar
    Sat, Jan 17   add to calendar
    Sat, Jan 24   add to calendar
time: 2pm
price: Free
venue: Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History 165 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove
contact: 648-5718, [email protected]  http://www.pgmusuem.org

Mother Nature trumps the imagination........

Judd

I got a salmon once at the Hook that was 'caught' in the tidepools. Around 10 lbs.  A close look showed it was injured, probably just missed by a sea lion,.  Big scrape and one eye gone, and no sense of direction.

If you've seen the latest HD episode of Survivorman where he lands a four arctic char while on Baffin Island, AK, the biggest one had a huge gash in its belly.  He still ate the hell out of that thing.  Like he's fond of saying, "In a survival situation, anything goes."  hahaha