"Put spikes on your bait cage and you don't get it back."
Haiku #234b
Not much to report
Although calicoes are here
(perch that is) piles too.
Sittin' Pretty In Ocean City
Forgive me Tlaloc for I have sinned. It has been 5 days since my last blog entry. I keep waiting for something momentous to occur and it keeps not happening.
Broke out my brand new (old) Ocean City 1600 just arrived from e-bay-land. Check this out... it came in the original box, circa 1950:
Caught two pile perch with this sucker today... on the original line (pictured!)
The original warrantee says the minimum charge for repairs is 25 cents. Think they'll still honor it? Wait... does Ocean City Mfg. Co., even exist? A cursory perusal of the infernets shows us that Ocean City Mfg. Co., went out of business in 1963--after a productive 40 year run. Their big-game reels are evidently highly coveted, but their bait-casters... not so much. Let's face it anything that sells for $2.75 on E-bay ain't highly coveted. Not sure why this is. Thing works like a charm. Caught two pile perch on it today.
Ran into Mr. L. at work yesterday after not seeing him for several months. He had just lost his home made crab trap (fashioned expertly from an old bicycle rim and a piece of scrounged netting) to the notorious bull sea lion who frequents the downtown piers. I've seen this same sea lion do this before. I'm not sure why he hates crab traps with such unbridled fury, but I suspect that he only destroys the traps he is unable to steal bait from. Kind of a spiteful type of thing... Mr L.'s trap is an impregnable anti-sea lion fortress. It has barbs and spikes all over it (to keep sea lions from tearing at his bait cage). I guess the big bull was trying to make a point: put spikes on your bait cage and you don't get it back.
Anyway, as per usual, here's a shot of Mr. L.'s home made tackle. This time a totally un-ecofriendly, recycled sinker. You thought lead was bad for the environment? What would the Monterey Bay Aquarium Al Eco-Qaeda folks have to say about this?
Not the most eco-friendly sinker, but effective nonetheless.
When I questioned Mr L. about the advisability of using batteries for sinkers he said:
"Ha! Ha! This water very dirty Kirk. Battery is the best thing in it."
A salient point if ever there was one. Spoken by a man who commonly catches his dinner here.
Calico Perch
The noble calico surf perch, Amphistichus koelzi
On the cleaner side of the perch spectrum... lots of big, sparkling calico perch in the waters off the San Mateo County beaches--or I should say the sandy areas adjoining rocky out-croppings at the north and south ends of those beaches. Big ones too! Nice fish. Saw quite a few at Pescadero this weekend. Be advised: if you are casting more than 20 feet from the rock you are standing on you will not catch a calico perch. This is the same advice I will now offer to those who may find themselves, against all reason, pursuing pile perch in the bay. If you are casting more than 12 feet from shore you are casting too far. The pile perch (aka: split tail) are in close to the rocks. (Yikes, who am I the Brian Hoffman of surf perch?)
Okay. Time to scram.
From high above those turbid waters teaming with minor game fish species, this is Lombard Of The Intertidal... signing out.Pile perch, Rhacochilus vacca (doesn't vacca mean cow? If so, shouldn't we be calling this thing a cow perch?)
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