Spitfire, Redondo Beach Sportfishing

Rode the Spitfire with Thomas and Tim for the rockfish opener (excluding lingcod and various protected species). After loading up with medium-sized sardines from the bait receiver and armed with plenty of frozen squid, we headed up north.

I fished the ol' Jigmaster with 65# Spectra/30# Yozuri fluoro and my 7' Tallus rod. The captain recommended the standard dropper loops with 8-10 oz. sinkers. For bait I used squid strips all day long.

The first drop was disastrous because of all the tangled lines. I believe it was my fault for not casting out from the boat and not using a heavier weight with the braid. :/ The good news is that those who were tangled came away with a fish on the end of their line. My braid was eventually cut but I was able to salvage my leader and terminal tackle. From there on, I switched to a 12 oz. weight and it was pretty much smooth sailing with just a few minor tangles here and there (although the guy next to us was causing some major problems with others--his spinner setup looked like a freshwater outfit with something like 8 or 10# mono.)

Thomas brought along his new rockfish outfit which consisted of Shimano's Lucanus jigs and Tescata rod (he didn't have the new Calcutta reel that would've completed the system and made him the absolute tackle whore, LOL!) The rockfish weren't biting on it and probably because of the competition versus squid, but he was very successful when we targeted sculpin.

We ended up with 20 fish between the 3 of us in a combination of vermillion rockfish (aka red snapper), starry rockfish, bocaccio, and sculpin. Thomas and Tim probably came away with 5 or 6 lingcod between them which were all released.

This is my second time aboard the Spitfire. I have to say I wasn't so impressed my first time around, but today the crew was outstanding. I'm looking forward to my next ride with them.

Starting the morning off right


Nice sized red


Many lingcod were caught (and released)


Our bounty


A delicious meal!