Grismon Island 5:30 am weird fish.

[OneWhoFishes]

Fished around grismon island this morning got there at 5:30 am. Did not get any halibut but had fun catching small cuda 18 to twenty inches three of them. Was using a three inch plastic with a 1/4 once head. Got two nice calicos one @ seventeen inches the other at thirteen. three sand bass size not even worth a measure.

I caught this other fish that I have not seen before it was twenty six inches in length, it had a large head for its body, very large mouth, body color was an overall grey with small black spots a little smaller than a dime all over it. Any ideas on what it might be?
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[JapanRon]

Hey there OneWhoFishes,

If the body resembles a stretched out bass plus your color description, it may be a ling cod. OR..... you may have caught a baby California Black Sea Bass! Please don't be insulted if you are an experienced saltwater angler and can ID those fish without any help! I don't know how deep you were fishing and what the bottom was like but a lot of very nice lings have been caught in that length range (me included) on the party boats recently. Too bad they are not legal to keep right now at any depth. I caught a black Sea Bass only a mile or so off the los angeles lighthouse a month or so ago too.

Lings usually like deeper water and I believe rocky bottoms. I caught mine at about 90 feet recently. I suspect Grisson has a sand bottom and is not too deep but maybe they spawn in a different area than they usually inhabit or there are patches of rock and depth here and there.

Whatever, Congratulations, Good Job!

JapanRon
a.k.a. tsurikichi
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[OneWhoFishes]

Thank you Ron[]

No insult taken. Though I have caught a few ling cod I have never seen a black sea bass. Looked it up in an fish image file and there it was. Goota say if a baby fights like that I need to find it mom or dad.[]
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[Baytuber]

Way to go Erik! I launched from Cherry Beach at 7am and fished Grissom area around 8:30am. Were you fishing from shore?

Last night there were a couple of guys who went out to Grissom fishing plastics and they caught a lot of Sand Bass, Calicos, Sargo with Ghost Shrimp and a 2-3' Corbina!! All fish were released. The Corbina was caught right next to shore as they were coming out.

Kiyo
www.baytubers.com
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