Mendo Coast

 Went up the Mendo coast with Bluefin17 to get some abs and start the rockfish season. The low tide made the vis crappy so we gathered up some 8"+ and started to fish our way back.
 I hooked a gopher on the first drop so I was ready for wide open action- wrong! We did hook a number of fish greenling,browns,black and yellows,coppers,blues, and blacks. Joe caught the only lingcod and had another come unpinned . I might have had one on but never saw it. Then I got a big pulldown and thought I had a ling, but it was a 25" red  . We kept 4 fish each and hit the road.

Fat fishes there shim WTG! What did they weigh in at?

Z

Mark,
Thanks for going with me, even though fishing wasn't that great, I had a lot of fun out there.  2 of the abs actually turned out to be 8.5", not bad for those conditions.  I lost a good size cabezon right at the end, never set the hook because it was coming up as dead weight, not one pull until I saw it was a fish, and a pretty good size one.  Oh well.  Fishing was actually quite slow, although between the two of us, I think we had quite a variety, a ling, a female rock greenling (rock greenlings have blue mouths), cabezon (lost), a copper, a massive vermillion (reminds me of SoCal pre-cowcod area closures), black-and-yellows, blacks, blues, gophers (including a 14"er), kelp greenlings, a china.   Sorry, no more pics.  I wonder if the bite was off due to the mixed swell??? Who knows, it was just great to be in and on the ocean.

That's a fatty red, Shim!  Nice report, guys.  Glad you had a fun trip.   

Geez, I'm waiting to hear the weight on that red, too--what a beauty! More importantly, sounds like you guys enjoyed an NCKA day on the water--fishing/catching, sharing, camaraderie. Gotta love this forum!

Janice aka "Big J"

I was so tired when I got home it was all I could do to unload,wash gear and clean fish. I never even thought to weigh the fish. :smt044My rapala scale was sitting on the table as I put my rods away.(oh well)

NICE RED!!  I would love to see one like that out diving.  Let's get together soon.
Dave

Nice vermilion!

Here's an estimate for the weight...



25 in = 635 mm  (Note that this fish is off the scale!!)

0.00001458 * 635 ^ 3.04 = 4832.697915 g

4832.697915 g ~= 4.83 kg ~= 10.65 lbs.

This is just a general estimate.  Better estimates are out there for some fish if you have a length and girth measurement.

Nice Red Mark! 

That is a nice Red!!  But, whats up with the fishsniffer pose??   If that thing was behind you in the pic it would still look huge!  Is that your rockcod aoty entry?  jtf..

 Thanks for the info Brian, it was my largest sebastes to date. I froze the carcass for crab bait but I have to remember to carve out the otoliths first.
  JTF, it's a pseudo fish sniffer, notice my elbows are still bent! I really thought it was a nice ling until I saw red. Did you do the Ana Nuevo avoid smiley trip?
 Seems like I've been hooking more reds and coppers. Both rockfish trips this year I've gotten a nice red and a copper.

Bent or staight...that thing is HUGE!!     Wish i get something like that when i bust my SALT-cherry.

The fish! i'm talkin' bout'!!

Very nice fish and report.  That red looks like a granddaddy.

Nice report Shimmy and Joe! Missed the two of you in San Diego. I'm trying to get Andy to go to Van Damm on Thursday for some rock action. I'll let you know!

CHEERS!

Nice one Shimmy!!!!