buggin' and Fish ID
 

had a last second text from a friend to go bugging/fishing on his 13' whaler. got to dock and loaded 9 nets. brought 2 rods, some BH lures, and some squid. in water at 7. got to the spot at 8. fished until 12.
45 minute soaks with fishing in between. macs as bait. fished wilmington harbor.

total count
--24 legal bugs (top 4 were 6, 7, 10, 13lbs... most released because they had spermy sacks on them.. and we tossed back the big 4 to continue breeding)
--50 legal rock crabs (tossed them all back)
--10 sculpin to 14"
--10 calicos to 16"
--8 sandbass to 15"
--1 fish that looked like a largemouth bass (had a large mouth too.. no pix kuz it was small)
--10 mystery rockfish to 16" (big fat dark looking thing in pic.) fish ID please.

first... here are 2 pics of mystery rockfish.
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...psb2001961.jpghttp://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78166251.jpg

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5011ab81.jpghttp://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ef70cd5.jpg

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps93096855.jpghttp://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps26241824.jpg

10lb bug
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8a4c1012.jpg

13lb bug
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...psd40bb1e3.jpg

Wow! Nice haul. WTG guys!

Janine

Great example of sportsmanship to throw the top 4 back in to reproduce...WOW

looks like it was a great night of fishing and good on you for throwing a few back to keep lobsters around for the future.

You guys rock! :luxhello:

WOW...very impressive!

grass rockfish

:sifone:

thanks for the replies and the fish id! i was thinking it was a grass rockfish except the big guy was really dark colored. (we caught a bunch of smaller ones that were clearly grass rf)

we released every fish safely, and out of the 24 legal bugs, we only kept 6 total. it was just fun pulling on nets filled with life, and most females had those sacks on them which is a really good thing to see.

nice calicock vince! what a toad, i need to get back out there.

Good chit Vince! Good karma going to you guys for sure for tossing back those monster bugs!

good karma indeed! we went with a third member who has never caught a bug before.. and got limits before 8pm. bigger girls were sent back home.

Awesome, looks like a great night!!