Sunday, February 26 2006
I got a little time out from the family this morning, to go fishing. New storm coming in today. First I drove down to look at Newbrighton beach, where I parked and rigged up with the spinning gear. I also put a new line on the spinning reel.. a few days ago I had gone down to manresa for a quickie, and after about a dozen casts I watched the sinker, clips, and my last good surf-miki fly off into the drink without the line attached (yes, I had opened the bail and everything -- line had gotten brittle). So it was time for a new line.
Aaanywaaay. The surf was too wild at newbrighton, and tons of kelp junk in the water (as usual) so I drove down to the Seacliff pier to try my luck there. As it turned out, I caught a fish: I was on the right side, casting my little glo-grub fly here and there. this time I had cast along the pier and was retrieving it slowly. The line went dead and heavy, and I assumed it was a big chunk of kelp or something, but when I got it to the surface I saw it is a ray or a skate of some kind. It had gotten snagged on the top, poor thing. A guy next to me had a crab net, so we hauled it up, photographed it and let it back down again. It was something over 2 feet long, with two rows of sharp spines going down its back.
Ok, so I've caught another fish this year. Can anyone ID this guy for me? I can't seem to find a picture of one. ( lars "at" gruk _dot_ net ).
On the way out I got interviewed by a fish and game employee. I tried a little surfcasting, but it was too rough. A dying petrel (I think) was on the beach.