First Surf Striper

[FishOn!]

So heres the story. Me and my buddy Kevin decide to go to OC yesterday evening because there are supposed to be some nice blues running. We figure we might even get lucky and catch our first surf rockfish.

Not much action on Monday evening. We fished from about 8:00 -10:00pm. We caught a few skates and Kevin caught a 3 foot dogfish. We decided to call it a night and get some rest and catch the morning high tide.

The morning high tide was the ticket. We baited with fresh herring (Thanks Ele and Mike for catching them for us on Monday.)

We started out with 2 blues that were about 17 or 18". Kevin was busting on me about his blue being bigger when I got hit hard. I was yelling back that this blue was going to be bigger than both because this fish was fighting. When I get it close to the wash I see a tail, Whooooaaaaaa, that's a rockfish! It was a 25" rockfish and my first from the surf. I slipped it back into the water and watched it swim away when Kevin got hit. I could see his rod doing that slow hard head shake thing. We both knew it was a good fish. When he gets it close I see a huge tail coming through the wash. I leader the fish to the beach. It's a very nice 36 1/2" rockfish! Congrats Kevin on your first surf striper.

I caught one more rockfish about an hour later that was 22". We continued to catch some nice blues. Then as we were getting ready to pack up I got a big surprise. I get a hard hit, some good head shaking going on and then dead weight?? I'm thinking what the heck? Is this a skate that was head shaking at first? Then I think maybe the fish got tail wrapped. I was right and see that it is a shark. I think it's another dogfish and I grab it by the tail. Upon closer inspection I realize this is a baby SandBar shark. It must have been not more than like a few weeks old. It's teeth were just starting to form and were still paper thin. We took a picture and slid him back in the suds.

Sorry for the long story but It was a great day.

[trowpa]

Congrats!!! Was this the OC surf??

Last May I caught one of those Juvenile sandbars as well....surprised the heck out of me when i turned it around and saw all the teeth!

Good stuff!

[Coop]

Excellent report! Congrats on your first beach caught striper.

[FishOn!]

Originally Posted by trowpa

Congrats!!! Was this the OC surf??

Last May I caught one of those Juvenile sandbars as well....surprised the heck out of me when i turned it around and saw all the teeth!

Good stuff!

Yes, OC surf. I'm just glad he didn't have all his teeth yet because I might have been missing a few fingers!

[Randy Stinchcomb]

Good Job GuyCongrats

[ffemtreed]

Great to hear! Good report

[Sam]

Very nice! That is pretty exciting. Thanks for sharing.

[esoxangler]

Good job! You are giving me some hope for this weekend!

[FishOn!]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Right place right time I guess. We missed quite a few fish also. I got lazy and it cost me a nice fish. Had to retie a rig and didn't bother replacing the leader (figure the leader on the hook is long enough) WRONG!! I get a nice hit, set the hook and get a quick hard pull down and then everything lets loose. When I get the line in it is cut like a razor on my power pro (main line) above the rig. I figure if it was a blue it would have cut me at the leader but since it cut the power pro above the leader I'm thinking it was a gill plate from a nice striper. Oh Well, live and learn and keep those long wind on leaders!