[frozendog]

On the rocks and reefs at daybreak, of course.

Low tide was at 6:15AM at -0.9ft.
High tide was at 12:20PM at 4ft.
The water was a mess. Off color and tons of floating kelp left over from the big waves. I would have liked to have waited a couple of days to give the water a chance to clear up, but this was the only foreseeable day with relative calm water. I started fishing here.



Not a great spot but if you fish hard enough and move around, you can usually find a fish or two. That's the good news. The bad news - you catch more greenling here than rockfish. But they are fish. When I first started fishing here, it was all rockfish and cabs but now about half rockfish and half greenling. Greenling appear to be moving farther south down the coast. Pretty fish, fun to catch, but not what I want for dinner. So, you can guess what I caught.



Two 15" greenling were both caught on frozen squid. Greenling are more agresssive than rockfish and will grab your bait before a rockfish. One was gut hooked so I kept it for my 80 year old neighbor. The other one was released.

I moved on to spot number two about 1/2 tide.



The water was still dirty close to the beach but it looked cleaner farther out. No bites at all for awhile then I found the right rock and caught two nice black and yellow rockies casting out far to the edge of the kelp. One was caught on squid and the other on a chunk of smelt.



I was a little disappointed with spots one and two. There were no cabs in close. Lately that's where they have been biting. I just assume that they moved out with the rough and dirty water. Or, I just didn't get my bait close enough to one to get its attention. I finished the day at high tide at spot number three (no picture). I only had two bites. The first one dropped the bait but not the second one. He took off like a torpedo. Unfortunately, it was a small torpedo. Turned out to be a 19" lingcod - too short, but it got my heart pumping. The fish was caught on a chunk of fresh smelt casting out to a rock. Released as it was too small.



That was it. No more bites. The fish weren't hungry, but I was. Headed home for a late lunch.

Hadn't had any fish and chips for awhile, so took the black and yellows to the Dutchman's in Morro Bay a couple of days later. Those black and yellows don't look like much when you catch them. But they make good eating. Mrs. Kittyfish's favorite.

[Rockfish Ninja]

Nice report, thanks for posting.
Yes, B&Y's (& browns) are tasty & have better texture than greenlings.

But check it out... greenlings are a nice mild fish if you cook them correctly. I've done some culinary work over the years and all the head chefs I've worked with taught me that soft fish like fillet of sole (& greenling) should be fried in breadcrumbs or panko instead of batter to balance out the texture. I caught a nice one last year, used crumbs and it was good. Plus the mild flavor was good for Japanese style fish broth.

[bigunindaboat]

We feel the same about the sea trout, just too many small bones and that perchy texture doesn't do it for me. Another great report!

[Salty Nick v2]

Nice fishing in murky seas. I am not a big greenling fan either - from the propensity to swallow your bait and gut-hook themselves, to the difficulty to scale, to the tiny bones and the soft meat. If it weren't for those reasons, the meat isn't that bad though.

I'd take black-and-yellow rockies over them anyday!

Salty.

[seabass_seeker]

Greenlings, still on my to-do list. Do they have those bones that come out perpendicular to the spine?

[bigunindaboat]

[seabass_seeker]

Hmm no wonder they call em sea-trout. I always thought it was based on looks alone.

[CatchinKelp]

I bagged a kelp greenling once on base at VAFB. All of the above is true. Nonetheless, it is fresh fish and if it was the only thing I caught on a day, I would still bag another.

Seabass, one of these days we will go fish MB or even the jetty at PSL. I found out from the lady working at Patriot Sportfishing that it is not off limits to the public as I thought. It's just you have to time it so you don't get caught out by the tide.

Thank you, FD, for posting your ongoing adventures here.

[MsCMSchultz]

Mrs. Kittyfish mighty lucky; i may not reply to your posts, but i read and learn from them.

[Jay K]

A great read, FD.

I'm only speculating, but I suspect greenling is similar to atka mackerel (hokke) in consistency and would greatly improve in taste and texture after salting, sun drying then grilled over charcoal.

I know Chinese restaurants in Portland retail live greenling at $15-$20/lb - certainly not an inexpensive delicacy.