Fishing

Casting Rod: St. Croix Wild River Steelhead WC80H
Conventional Rod: Lamiglas Graphite XSW66 MHS-2
Bait Caster Reel: Abu-Garcia Ambassadeur 6500 C-3
Spinning Reel: Daiwa SS Tournament SS 1300.
Line: Ande Tournament Monofilament Line
Hooks: Octopus style.

Finding new fishing spots is always rewarding and I really spend lots of time looking for them. Last January I was doing random depth finder runs along the bank of the tanker lane in Long Beach harbor. The lane furrows its way through the Long Beach Light gap of the federal breakwater and proceeds like a highway northeast through the harbor. The lane is 80 feet deep that has some physical features that make it a super spot for my favorite, the halibut. The natural random depth for the sea bottom area is 35 to 45 deep. Because of the hundreds of tanker and container ships that pass through the harbor, careful and continuous scrutiny of the lane is watched. It would be a disastrous situation if a container ship ever became stuck in the middle of one of the largest shipping lanes in the world.. So, they have a large cruiser like dredge that runs through the lane constantly sweeping into its hold the extra sand that drifts in. Then when its full the ship runs out a mile or so into open ocean and dumps it. The depth finder shows the bank of the lane like the drop off into the Grand Canyon. It is a 40 foot wall that lips up to about a 35 foot depth. So, with the constant sand movement and tremendous up welling currents caused by the irregular bottom contour it becomes one of the favorite ambush spots for the halibut. Halibut love to lay on the edge of the berm and use the upwelling currents to guide their quarry to catchable range.

This new spot metered a peak of hard bottom that stuck up about 6 feet off the top of the berm. I have located about five or six peaks like this and they have all produced quality size halibut. This spot had all the characteristics of the others except unlike the others for some reason, it supported a colony of pinbacks. The real name for these sand sharks is dogfish. We catch sand sharks all over the harbor in these deep spots but not pinbacks. The usual sand sharks are called shovelnose and smoothhounds. The pinback is very light gray with splotches of white over the top half its body. The main physical feature that separates it from all the others is the presence of a horn that protudes up from the front of each dorsal fin. Some say they are venomous and for sure if you are stuck you wont soon forget it. The dogfish was once fished to almost extinction because its liver is a source of vitamin A. By the end of 40¹s they were almost gone. Then vitamin A was synthesized and the dogfish was allowed to make their comeback. In the marine scene though, they can have a tough time of it. The females produce relatively few pups and they don¹t sexually mature until they are 20 years old and about 37 inches long. Males mature at 14 years and 30 inches long. It takes a pinback 20 ­30 years to reach 3 feet. And it is not over yet. The commercial fishermen just lately found that they are good eating. There is a commercial fishery that sends dogfish bellies to Germany where they are served as "Schillerlochen".

Fishing among the pinbacks is very interesting. Acting just like a very large halibut, they pick up the bait with a large "thump", run off a few feet and just like a large "butt" settle down and do nothing. As you lift the rod tip, you know they are there because of the dead, heavy resistance as that of a bottom hang-up. Many times they will suddenly run off 50 yards which is uncharacteristic of a halibut, maybe! The 30 pound "butt" I caught ran off like a yellowtail and I never in the world would have guessed it was a halibut. In fact I could have kicked myself as I horsed it in not realizing it was a halibut. It becomes interesting to pump up a large fish from the bottom and not really know what it is. Sometimes when you suspect a pinback, it¹s really neat to see that large brown door materialize. But it¹s okay to also witness the large white shape that rolls up around your line as it gets near the surface.

Tackle for the pinbacks is the same as for the halibut except it has to be heavier because of the depth. Usually, my philosophy with leaders is to tie as few knots as necessary because if the leader breaks it is always broken at a knot. Most of the time I block off a torpedo sinker with a small spilt shot and tie the only knot which would be the hook knot. Sometimes the fishing conditions require that I break the one knot rule. Sand sharks do not like to swim off the bottom very far, so in heavily infestations of sharks I use a dropper leader about 3 feet up the line from the sinker. The leader is about 2 feet long which gets it up over the sharks (most of the time not always) Halibut will swim up for bait and many times they have chased my reeled in bait to the boat. I use both spinning and conventional techniques depending on the circumstances. In shallow water spinning gear is the most efficient because of the light tackle approach. Recently I tried a Lamiglas Graphite XSW66 MHS2 rod and fitted with Daiwa Tournament SS 1300. I used Ande Tournament 12 pound test line. It lifted a 12 pound halibut about 10 feet off the bottom to gaff. Since though I feel that 10 pound would do the job without a problem. With the conventional tackle I use a St. Croix Wild River Steelhead WC80H with an Abu-Garcia Bait casting reel the Ambassadeur 6500 C-3. The C-3 is loaded with 12 pound test and works great over the tanker lanes.

Large brown baits like herring, sardines, tom cod and jack smelt are the best baits. The hook must fit the bait. If it is too small many fish are missed on the hook set. If the hook is too big it always spins around and sticks back into bait hiding the point of the hook. I can¹t count the times that I have retrieved a mutilated bait and find after a long battle my hook stuck deeply in the baits eye. There is no way that halibut could have been hooked. It is a frustrating situation and usually the tendency is to use a hook too large for the bait size. Thin wire Octopus style hooks are the best because they penetrate easier than regular sproat ocean live bait hooks. When you hook the pinbacks you will probably want to cut the leader rather than trying to disgorge the hook. They are more difficult to hold than pit bull dog.

I always release pinbacks as I would any fish that wont fit the frying pan. I suggest that you do likewise. They can be eaten by marinating them in your favorite red wine for two hours then throwing them away and drinking the
wine. Truthfully, I have never put them on the dinner table and don¹t plan to, but I love to catch them.