Urban Outcast Music Discovery #13 - Old Enough by The Raconteurs (featuring Ashley Monroe & Ricky Skaggs) - The White Stripes were good but I think bluegrass looks great on Jack White and Co. I have been wearing a deep groove in this record, including keeping it on repeat for the writing of this entire post. Spare a moment of pity for anyone in hearing range, I struggle to average two words a minute...
False alarm, I lack the cleverness to fill the post with Star Wars references so its safe to continue reading. However, in an effort to climb out of the ever deepening hole that is my fishing diary I will be compressing six jetty trips into whatever this is:
Round 1: A beautiful evening on the jetty turned into a nature shoot as I only managed to land a mutant starfish. On the plus side there were pelicans, seals, sea lions I thought were dolphins, dolphins I thought were sea lions, etc.
Round 2: Sensei got the inside scoop on a new gear setup for the jetty and it was time to put it to the test. Surprisingly for only three years of fishing experience, I am hesitant to change my ways and so got to spectate as the fish were being reeled in one after the other (including a sea bass on the first cast). For my lack of faith, even a quick switch out to the new system didn't turn my luck. Its a little fuzzy but the final count was something like 8 to nil. The fish were a mix of black sea bass and kelp greenlings.
Round 3: The stars aligned and the combination of a 1 oz mooching weight inline with 3" gulp minnow on an offset hook was proving irresistible. The best part of this rig is its tendency to resist snagging on the rocks which can easily eat through $20 of gear in a couple hours. We were so impressed by the originator of this strategy that he was poached from his job and has joined us in the business of making biodiesel (true story, mostly).
The top fish is a beautiful example of the kelp greenling. By weight they hit much harder, are a tougher fighter than the sea bass and a couple times had me dreaming of a much larger lingcod lurking on the other side of the line. Bottom right is an example of the black sea bass. It was a novel experience to lose track of how many fish we caught and both species were personal firsts.
Rounds 4 & 5: Feeling like a pro, shifted the focus to lingcod and ended up snagging more stars than fish with no lings in sight. Plenty of time to stare at the waves and ponder the meaning of life... but fortunately I have podcasts instead! While they haven't been given their due in previous posts, podcasts make a lot of these trips possible. They are instrumental in keeping me from talking to myself and I get to annoy friends by pointing out useless trivia like: the bluetooth symbol on your phone is a merging of two nordic runes used for the Danish King Harold Bluetooth (thank you History of the Crusades). Hanging out on the rocks let me put a big dent in the backlog of Egyptian history podcast episodes. I am going to go out on a limb here and guess this is the first time that someone in the harbor has listened to the 4,000 year old fable of the Shipwrecked Sailor while fishing. Although if I am wrong, I really need to meet this other person.
Round 6: The ocean was quiet, too quiet according to Sensei. Maybe a good day for the predator fish but everybody else was probably hiding due to the glass smooth, clear water. We could stand a foot above the water on the ocean side of the jetty which gave me a good view of the tasty mussels (unfortunately not open for harvest when the waves are not life threatening). Very early in the walk out I hooked into a rare treat - my first cabazon, the king of the sculpin! Don't let the looks or blue flesh fool you, these fish are excellent eating. Not quite ling quality but close. I recommend a chili adobo/butter sauce to score some points with the spouse.