About 7 years ago I returned to San Diego and bought my first boat that could safely make it out past the Islands and I didn't know anyone to fish with so I called my old neighbor Ed. He and I had fished some years before and we set up a trip to the RockPile.
I went down to Squidco and started buying all the stuff I thought I was going to need. You know, a large “crank” handle for my Penn 4.0, a bolt on plate to keep the reel level, 1 lb weights, 300 yards of 65 lb Dacron, and a bunch of ganions. Man, I was ready!
So Ed and I get to the RockPile one fine morning, and I start rigging all this stuff up. I am tying on ganions, hanging squid on hooks, making sure that the 1 pound weights are secure, but I keep getting distracted. I am getting distracted by Ed. I am getting distracted by Ed cause he already has 3 six to seven lb LingCod in the boat and I’m still frigging around with all this superfluous bullshit I find out I DON’T NEED.
So anyway, to make a long story short, I decided to let (I begged him) Ed teach me everything he knew about bottom fishing.
Here is what I discovered. Of course you have to fish where the fish are, finding them is a whole nuther matter
Fish the high spots
When you drop a jig/dart (picture attached) down to the bottom, the fluttering action as it drops makes it look like a wounded/injured baitfish. I lift it up 3 or 4 feet and let it flutter back down. If you do this 3 or 4 times and don’t get bit, your either not holding your mouth right or there are no fish there. This sounds easy, but there are some tricks to it.
1. You have to control the slack in the line. You have to “feel” that jig all the way back to the bottom, and still let it free fall. Takes a very delicate touch. I hold the slack line in my left hand while "following" the jigs decent so that I can just keep the slack out of the line and feel the jig. If you miss the hit, it only takes those fish a second to figure out that lead does not taste good, and it’s hard. If you do feel the hit, you can set the hook. I use a 6 oz jig, some of my buddies use 2 or 4 oz. I use all home made jigs (like the 1 pictured), unless I run out, I will buy some in an emergency. If I buy any, they are always orange, and always a brand name called “crippled anchovie”. Just my preference. I have used homemade jigs until most of the paint is beat off it and the Lings still slam it hard. PapaJ tied a couple of red shrimp flys above the jig and was pulling up 3 at a time.
2. You really should have some sort of woven line. Spectra/Tiger Braid is a brand I use. It does NOT stretch. 300 feet down is like fishing 10 feet under the boat, you can feel everything. I add 6 to 10 feet of 30 lb mono on the end of the braid. I do this so the line will break there when I get snagged on Mexico. When you set the hook, it really sets. Try to lift a 6 oz jig off the bottom at 300 feet with mono, just does not work, and you can’t feel anything. Even in 100 feet, like at the RockPile, I would never fish with mono. The spectra is thin, so I fill most of my reel with 30 lb P line and then fill the spool with the spectra. I use 65 lb test braid and an old Penn HS 505 which has a 6 to 1 retrieve, 300 feet is a long way to crank at 3 to 1
3. A lot of times you will get hit before the jig ever reaches the bottom. This is a good thing
Sometimes I will let the jig hit the bottom and lay there for a count of 3 or 5, and then lift hard. Lots of times I have hooked fish that have gone over to see just what the hell that was that just fluttered down to the bottom. But the best hits are when the jig is dropping. The fouled hookups will make you think you have a 10 lb fish on, only to find out you have a 3 lb fish hooked in the butt! If you get hit on the way down and it feels 10 lbs, it probably is. My buddie Jack lets his jig drop down, and if he is not hit immediately, he cranks it back up 15 cranks and then lets it back down again. He swears he catches more fish doing that.
4. Straight up and down is the key with the heavier jigs. If you are fishing in wind, you have to throw downwind of the drift, and time it so that when the jig hits the bottom, you are straight up and down. If the wind is blowing hard, you might get 3 bounces before you have to crank it up and throw down wind again. Try it, I think you will see that the greatest percentage of hits occur when you bounce the jig straight up and down.
5. Why not bait? I think you miss more fish. When you do, you have to re-bait. If you miss a hit on a jig, you just drop it back down and jig some more. If you feel the slightest bite on bait, is it now gone? You have to crank up to check your bait. I’m not gonna try and sell this one to anyone, but you won’t ever see me buy bait to go rock fishing.
6. I took C-NUT and ChesapeakCharlie down to the RockPile one year. When we were getting the boat ready, the water line for my bait tank just crumbled in my hand from dry rot from non-use. I never missed a beat. I handed the bait tank to one of them and told them to put it in the back of my blazer, and said that we didn’t need it anyway. Now, you have to realize I had never met these guys before this very hour, and they didn’t say a word, but they didn’t have too
The look on their faces said it all. Like, who is this dude that’s taking us fishing with no bait, and should I just go home now or……….
7. I laughed all the way to the RockPile
And we hammered the fish.
8. I just thought I would put some of these things that Ed showed me in writing and share them with you. I am by no means an expert, although I am getting there
I have found that if you find the fish, you can limit very quickly using this method. So, please add any ideas here, I surely will read them and even try them, as the Rock Cod season is fast coming as the tuna leave till next season……………
Hopefully he will get over it 
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