cabo in shore report

[stevencabo]

It was Cris's turn to step up to the podium this afternoon. I was hoping to find the school of AJ's hanging out but they must of just been passing through. There were parrot fish everywhere we looked. That's where he found his pargo, mixed in with the parrot fish.
The vis was about 15 feet, green, with lot's of gelatonous material floating around. Not easy to see.
As we were swimming in, a big sea lion attacked his fish. He thought it was me pulling on his line so he kinda laughed and pulled back. His description of the return pull was " It felt like one of those horror movies when the guy gets pulled through a wall" Sounded like a strong pull.
The marks on the fish are all from the sea lion. Good thing pargos are thick scaled.

[stevencabo]

I got another amberjack today. The water warmed up to 74. The surf is churning up the green water. Vis was maybe ten feet. I saw a fish flash through the murk and dove down to check it out, it was my amberjack.
Cris got a gaff top sail pompano.

[stevencabo]

I went out today looking for more amberjacks and found these two critters instead. I also saw a school of more than twenty, of some type of pargo, swim underneath me on the bottom at about twenty feet. They weren't dogtooth, they were longer and skinneir with a different head, but a pargo tail. For a second, when I was diving down on them I thought "OOOhhhh yellotail" but no. I also saw, when I was getting in the water, a thick school of mullet being kept in check by a couple of nice sized Jack Crevalles.

[stevencabo]

The last couple weeks has brought alot of fish action in shore. I've seen sierra, pargo, amberjack and cabrilla. The water temp is around 75 with colder and warmer spots mixed in. The vis has been 10 to 20 feet of milky green water.
I called my dive buddy Cris in the morning to plan an afternoon dive. He tells me he just got out and had got a fish. He said that after wading through the thick school of mullet to get into the water, he was instantly surrounded by a school of about 7 rooster fish. He was maybe 15 yards from shore in about 8 feet of water.
We went out in the afternoon and I came back with this leopard grouper. An easy personal best. Cris had missed a shot at the fish during the dive and told me about him. I found him 10 min. later in about twenty feet of water. I dove down and could tell the fish was not shy because it didn't leave. I was just about at the end of my 20 second breathe hold when the fish finally settles down right in front of me about eight feet away, and stares at me. Even though it had a fat head I didn't want to take the head on shot. Three second later he turned.
Can anyone ID the bug in the mouth in the last picture?

[The "Fisher"]

Nice fish!! That rooster seems like a great find in 8 ft. What was the weight on that grouper.

[stevencabo]

I'd have to guess the cabrilla was maaaaybe 25 lbs. The rooster's are around right now, harassing the thick schools of mullet that have moved in.

[phil herranen]

Originally Posted by stevencabo

The last couple weeks has brought alot of fish action in shore. I've seen sierra, pargo, amberjack and cabrilla. The water temp is around 75 with colder and warmer spots mixed in. The vis has been 10 to 20 feet of milky green water.
I called my dive buddy Cris in the morning to plan an afternoon dive. He tells me he just got out and had got a fish. He said that after wading through the thick school of mullet to get into the water, he was instantly surrounded by a school of about 7 rooster fish. He was maybe 15 yards from shore in about 8 feet of water.
We went out in the afternoon and I came back with this leopard grouper. An easy personal best. Cris had missed a shot at the fish during the dive and told me about him. I found him 10 min. later in about twenty feet of water. I dove down and could tell the fish was not shy because it didn't leave. I was just about at the end of my 20 second breathe hold when the fish finally settles down right in front of me about eight feet away, and stares at me. Even though it had a fat head I didn't want to take the head on shot. Three second later he turned.
Can anyone ID the bug in the mouth in the last picture?

the bug is a isopod (sp) its basicly a giant seagoing parasidic pill bug
phil

[stevencabo]

Thanks for the ID. I forgot to take the bug out of the mouth, it ended up in the fish head soup.

[phil herranen]

here is another member of the family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod
phil

[njspearo]

keep it commin!

[Scott Diego]

Great reports. Thank you very much for sharing...

[freakin' gringo]

Are roosterfish good to eat?

[stevencabo]

Originally Posted by freakin' gringo

Are roosterfish good to eat?

I would say no, but I've never tasted them. It's very dark meat. I've talked to plenty of locals that eat them. If you know how to prep and cook it, which I don't, they probably taste fine.

[stevencabo]

Seems as if the hot weather has arrived a little early this year. In the last couple of weeks we've had quite a few days into the 100's. The water temps have been really nice in the mid 80's. The surf got pretty big over the weekend but it died down enough today to be able to go stick my head under water and look around. I had only been in the water five minutes and hadn't even gotten through the surf when a nice sized rooster fish, about 25lbs, circled me. I could see him showing off his stripes as I followed him with my gun. I watched him leave and I moved out of the surf into clearer water. I swam my usual route and saw lots of schools of different fish like green jacks, gaff top sail pompano and sierra. I saw three different schools of sierra. The first school came across me as I was reloading my gun after a missed shot on a small cabrilla. The second school there were only two. I got off a shot as they were moving away from me but missed. The third school I saw as they were swimming towards me. I got a shot off as they passed me on my left. Sierra can rip off fairly easy so I let this one run. I was pretty amazed watching my floatline go through my hands as the sierra went on a run. He gave a pretty good pull for that size of fish.

[PistoleroDelMar]

Nice Sierra!