Monterey rockfish 8-19

I launched from Del Monter Beach, near MBK, at 8am. Flattest ocean I ever paddled. No wind and zero swell.
I hadn't fished there before and I wanted to scout the area before the MBK Tourney next Sunday. Original plan was to try for halibut but we found some interesting structure; there are some shale beds out there near the yellow bouy. It started slow with a few blues, olives, and a starry rockfish. Then we decided to do some major searching with our fishfinders. Bingo! It was nonstop action on a wide variety of rockfish.
The big krocadile was killing it. But a lot of fish were also hitting the shrimpfly above it too. I also got a lot of fish on my special swimbait. Its a modified Gulp swimbait on a 3oz leadhead with a hoochie skirt. I'll attach some pics of these goodies.

Caught a new Personal Best vermillion from a kayak. It went for the kroc around 10:30 in approx 120 FOW.  I thought I had lingzilla on there but it turned out to be a double: big old red and a 14 inch copper. This beast measured 21.5 inches and weighed 4lbs 14ozs. It definitely looked like it could've weighed much more because it had a huge head and skinny belly.

Other highlights of the day included a double of a 23 inch lingcod and a 13 inch stary. AND almost my first white seabass! Well, I caught a big, weird fish and couldn't ID it. I took a picture and sent it to my friend then called him immediately. We ID'd it as an ocean whitefish. Very beautiful fish and the first whitefish I've caught. But, man, I totally thought I caught a WSB (even though I had resigned to releasing it because it wouldn't have been legal if it were a WSB. This one was about 19 inches and WSB must be 28 inches to keep.)! Well, at least now I get to tase whitefish for the first time.  
Jeff also caught a new PB vermillion, just 3 ozs smaller than mine. It was part of a double hookup and went for the 6 inch white scampi on a 4oz leadhead. He got it on the paddle back in. Thats always a great way to end the day.

I kept the big red, a copper, a brown, a blue, and the whitefish. All other fish made it back down safely, but I had to use the Shelton Release a few times. We both caught over 30 fish each. I got some serious bass thumb today!
The wind came up around 1 but it wasn't that bad. It was a long paddle back to the beach. I am too used to fishing in places where you only need to paddle like a 1/2 mile. We paddled a total of 6 miles today though.
Really glad I brought the GPS...got some reefs marked for the tourney now!

PK

Pic 1: the hot lures
Pic 2: the mystery fish
Pic 3: confirmed ocean whitefish
Pic 4: My big red
Pic 5: Jeff's stringer
Pic 6: major bass thumb!

Nice Verm dude! Need a buddy for the derby? 

Awsome report! and the trophy thumb!

that there is an ocean whitefish. great eating and means the water is pretty warm if you are catching them: )

nice fish, i am jealous!

john

Nice report, PK.  Good luck in the tournee!   

Nice red . . .I've never caught one on that side of MBK.  Now you got it all dialed in for the tourney . . .

Hey PK

way to go.

scott

Man did that whitefish taste good last night! I highly recommend eating this pretty fish if you happen to catch one!

I filletted it and made some fish tacos for dinner. Half Panko--half Zatarains Cajun breading, sprinkled with chipotle chilli powder, cayanne, and fresh-ground black pepper…then deep fried in peanut oil. Then drop them into some homemade corn tortillas w/freshly grated Tillamook pepper jack+sharp cheddar, fresh cabbage, mini pineapple chunks, and my wife's special sauce. Garnished with fresh-squeezed lemon and YUM!!!! I used to make the sauce but my wife said I usually made it too spicy so now she does the honors of making the sauce.

As you can probably tell, I prefer spicy! I even add a little Sriracha to each bite. Jeez, I am getting hungry just thinking about it. Mmmmmmmmm….feeeesssh tacos!
(-;
PK