Scouting out the Mission Bay jetty

Several of my friends are coming to town in the next few weeks, so I thought I'd scout out the Mission Bay jetty to see what's biting. Today would have been a good day to kayak before the wind picks up tomorrow, but it felt good to enjoy a weekend without dealing with all that gear.

I worked my way over the rocks until I was 3/4 of the way to the end. I haven't really fished the ocean side of the jetty, so I started on that side using half a shrimp on a #6 hook. It got picked up right away by a small kelp bass. I caught another one later on the channel side.

Kelp Bass (Paralabrax clathratus)

After a few minutes of not getting bites I moved over to the channel side. There were a lot of small savage bites, and it took me a while to finally hook the culprit, a non-giant giant kelpfish. They're a pretty reliable species from the jetty, but I only catch one or two per session.

Giant Kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus)

The species of the day turned out to be black perch. I caught 7 of them all together, and they were especially colorful. The juveniles were very dark all over, and the adults had a purple iridescent sheen, vertical bars, and blue and orange on their fins.

Black Perch (Embiotoca jacksoni)

One of them also had nice blue markings on its face and side. And of course you can't forget the orange lips and black mustache!

The small savage bites were continuous, but I didn't really want to downsize my #6 hook because I was hoping for a cabezon for my lifelist. Eventually though I'd hook up with the little biters, which were either juvenile black perch, opaleye, or rock wrasse.

Opaleye (Girella nigricans)

One of the rock wrasse males was the largest I've ever seen. I didn't realize they got that large! I also caught intermediate phase females and smaller males.

Rock Wrasse (Halichoeres semicinctus)

To wrap up the day I moved back to the ocean side and used up the last of my bait. Unfortunately, the only fish I hooked up with were garibaldi, which are a protected species and can not be fished for intentionally. I kept casting to new spots, but apparently these guys are in charge of that side of the jetty, because I couldn't find any other fish. *All of the garibaldi were caught incidentally and released unharmed.*

Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus)

One of these days I'll catch a cabezon from one of these jetty sessions. However, even when I don't catch something new, I always enjoy the steady action and the lineup of interesting species.