monterey on saturday morning

went out to do some freediving and got some fish. got one 33" ling and a 22" cabezon. saw some sheephead and more lings as well. oveall fun diving and swells not bad. good visibility too. hope every weekend is like this! a baby seal was at otter cove. i think the parents were in the water. we called marine mammal ctr to let them know and they were gonna go rope the area off.

Nice job john.  How deep are you diving? 

Oh yeah, where's the numbers??

Stuart

Nice fish John.

Oh yeah, where's the numbers??

Stuart his wife has them.

Nice job john.  How deep are you diving? 

Oh yeah, where's the numbers??

Stuart

here ya go stuart, im not sure how deep since i dont have a depth meter, maybe 35-45 feet at deepest. i call this Ling Apartment:

36  37.594
121  54.624

enjoy!

So John, are there enough sheephead for Randy and I to mess with targeting them when we are out drifting for halibut, or will it be better for you just snap a piture or two of them for us all?

No picture of the cabbie?

Pat

So John, are there enough sheephead for Randy and I to mess with targeting them when we are out drifting for halibut, or will it be better for you just snap a piture or two of them for us all?

No picture of the cabbie?

Pat

hey pat, i think that area has a good population of sheephead. they all seem to be changing to male for some reason. getting big and lumpy. i saw one that was about 2.5 feet long and it was still changing, kind of big and pinkish.

my wife had a whale come up near her and it scared her!

the area is real good for rockfish and lings. i see them here from 15' to 55 ' because i cant go any deeper 

here is another photo of the seal and one of the ling and cabezon.

good times to be on the ocean!

Yeah, we will have to figure out how to entice the big lumpy red and black fish and keep the silly rockfish off our lures.  This will be fun!!!!

IMHO Sheephead is an inferior food fish. I speared one once.
I'll never take one again, nor eat if offered.

Aside from the primo fish (salmon, halibut, white seabass) I rank the food quality of the local fish like this:

Ling
Deep water rockfish (vermillion, etc.)
Greenling
Cabezon
Shallow water rockfish (blacks/blues/kelp)

Perch is not on the list (and sheephead would be below that)
I don't eat striped bass, but that's for other reasons.

vanim

IMHO Sheephead is an inferior food fish. I speared one once.
I'll never take one again, nor eat if offered.

Aside from the primo fish (salmon, halibut, white seabass) I rank the food quality of the local fish like this:

Ling
Deep water rockfish (vermillion, etc.)
Greenling
Cabezon
Shallow water rockfish (blacks/blues/kelp)

Perch is not on the list (and sheephead would be below that)
I don't eat striped bass, but that's for other reasons.

vanim

Vanim,

I see what you say but have you ever had good sheephead ceviche? To me this was my favorite while in baja. We had this with sashimi almost every night and I thought it was great.

I would have to rank greenling as one of the lowest because the filets are not really worth taking the fish for. I have never seen a greenling worth spearing in a long long time. with a limit of one of those guys its really not much fish to eat.

I would personally rank local ocean fish as follows for the top 5:

1) Calico Bass
2) Halibut
3) Ling Cod
4) Cabezon
5) Rockfish

i think it all depends on how you cook fish and prepare fish. i know i did not think much of bonito and barracuda til i was in baja when i had smoked fish made of those two. changed my mind a lot. of course if it was prepared differently and i did not like the taste that would have kept me away form it more.

all female sheepshead turn to males when they get big enough.

or at least that's what I read yesterday in vic dunaway's book.

J

For eating, I put cabezon first.........gosh I love fresh cabbie....any day now........

I've got to agree with Pat....Cabbies are yummy.  I'd put them right near the top of the list also.  The greenling size issue is valid, but they taste great also.

Agreed, Paul.  I've kept only one greenling.....because they are just too sweet looking.  It was delicate and sweet.