California sheephead

🎣 A Fun Day of Fishing at Santa Barbara Sea Landing! 🐟 Today, we went fishing for rockfish aboard the Coral Sea out of Santa Barbara Sea Landing! Before heading out to our fishing spots, everyone rigged up a small rod with Sabiki jigs to catch baitfish. We caught lots of mackerel, which we kept in the live bait tank for later use. One of the deckhands filled a bucket with seawater, added a bag of bread, and mashed it all together to make bread chum. We then headed to an area with depths of 50–110 feet to look for schools of live bait. Whenever we spotted lots of small baitfish, we used the bread chum to attract them closer. Before long, everyone was catching mackerel and sardines one after another, while the two deckhands worked nonstop to scoop up the fish and put them into the live bait tank. That was a great learning experience! I learned how to use bread chum to attract baitfish and catch mackerel and sardines. Now I know how to do it next time! Once we had enough mackerel, the captain headed full speed toward the YT (yellowtail) and WSB (white seabass) fishing spots. During the previous two weeks, the weather had been hot, and the live bait had been dying off and getting badly bitten. Despite that, the fishing had been fantastic, with lots of 5–35 lb yellowtail and white seabass being caught! The captain and deckhands were excited and hopeful that everyone would hook into a big fish. They reminded us to use at least 40–50 lb leader when targeting big fish with a 7/0 hook, and to make sure we set the drag correctly. Hearing all that definitely got everyone excited and looking forward to some big action! When we finally arrived, the boat stopped, and the captain announced that we could start fishing with live bait. Everyone put on large mackerel, hoping to land a 30 lb yellowtail or white seabass. We waited and waited, but there wasn't even a bite! 😅 Some of the mackerel were so big that when we reeled them up, we could see bite marks on them. After waiting for a long time and moving to three different spots, we still hadn't caught any yellowtail or white seabass. 😭 Eventually, about half the anglers continued using large mackerel, while the other half switched to squid strips and shrimp. It didn't take long before those using squid and shrimp started catching red rockfish, whitefish, and calico bass! Seeing that the bite was pretty good, I immediately switched to a smaller setup using whole squid and shrimp with a 30 lb leader. I started catching California sheephead, and they kept getting bigger as the day went on! 🎣 Then came the highlight of the day: I landed the jackpot fish—a big, beautiful California sheephead! It was the most impressive-looking fish on the whole boat! 🐟🏆 Another angler had just started using a 30 lb leader but had the line bitten through twice by big fish. After switching to a 40 lb leader, there were no more break-offs. Even though some lines were broken and the fish were biting hard, we still managed to catch plenty of fish. Losing a couple wasn't too disappointing when there was so much action to enjoy! 😊 I brought home some fresh calico bass, and my spouse and kids all said they were delicious. We steamed them, and they were gone in no time! Nothing beats sharing fresh-caught fish with the family. Seeing how much everyone enjoyed the fresh fish made the whole trip worthwhile. I'm already looking forward to using my jackpot free-trip ticket on my next adventure. Hopefully, next time I'll get another chance to hook a big yellowtail or white seabass! Until next time, tight lines, everyone! 🎣🐟

Not the fish I said but nice new rod though.

Nice hit

Fish on sheep sheep. Tight lines. Thanks the Mother Nature. Sheep tasted so good. Happy able to go fishing before the storm. Be safe out there.

3 small sheepshead and some opaleye, not too bad, a fish is a fish