Having not fished since October, I decided to take a trip a few hours south to try and kick out one of the fish I wanted to prioritize this year. I ended up with 3 lifers total, despite it being an incredibly slow tidepool day. I think I caught 7 fish total for 6 species.
Pics:
1-2. Bonehead Sculpin – Artedius notospilotus – Species 173. The pink color of this guy was insane. The second pic is after I released it, to show how well it blends in with the Coralline Algae.
- Grass Rockfish – Sebastes rastrelliger – Species 174. This is one I’ve expected to catch randomly at some point, but not one I was particularly targeting. A welcome catch nonetheless!
4-5. Striped Kelpfish – Gibbonsia mentzi – Species 175. This was my main target for the trip, and one of my top California targets for a few years now, and it came from the last drop, into the last elk grass/rocky spot in the last tidepool of the day as the tide was coming in. I was about to admit defeat…
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Fluffy Sculpin – Oligocottus snyderi. I’ve caught these in the past, but haven’t caught any on hook and line in a few years now. This one was actually under a nearly dry rock above the low tide line.
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Tidepool Sculpin – Oligocottus maculosus. These are often the most common species seen in our local tidepools, but they were surprisingly absent yesterday. This was the only one I had seen.
8-9: Cabezon – Scorpaenicthys marmoratus. This is the largest species of Sculpin in the world (even though this one was tiny by Cabby standards.) they’re gorgeous fish when they’re little.
- Wooly Sculpin – Clinocottus analis. Another incredibly common species around the tidepools, I had zero surprise when this was the first fish to be found.
Posted by michaelrayspencer