HELP! Black Sea Bass ?'s

Hehe, I can share common-name frustrations.  I deal with that a lot at work trying to sell fish.  As bad as fish might be, they're still not nearly as bad as reptiles...

I keep wanting to downgrade my equipment for black rockfish, greenling, and what not, but then there are those heavy hitting surprises, like cabezon, that could put some of that lighter gear into a heavy sweat.

I keep wanting to downgrade my equipment for black rockfish, greenling, and what not, but then there are those heavy hitting surprises, like cabezon, that could put some of that lighter gear into a heavy sweat.

Just do it.  It's a lot more fun.

-Allen

#1- I've been using 4-6" rootbeer colored plastics w/ a 1/2 - 5/8 oz. lead head and I've been using braided leader line and 8 lb. tess. Am I in the right ballpark here?

I would go no less than 12 or 15 lb test when fishing for rockfish and expecting the occasional ling. 25lb test top shot is my go to for rockfish & lings.

#3- I've been bouncing my jig off the bottom while drifting along the rocks, but notice one guy who is dropping anchor about 20 yrds. away from rocks w/ a light spinning setup and working his jig along the rocks. He seems to usually do better than me. What size rod and reel should I be doing this with taking into consideration that I often hook into lings by accident and don't want to get too light?

I have used a freshwater bass setup for rockfish and it's a blast! I think that if you hook into a nice sized ling or cabby though, you might not have enough backbone to wrestle it out from the rocks. For a target depth between 10' to 50', I use something similar to a light setup for steelhead, pretty much what Madoc stated above.

#4- Do lings go after the same setup as black sea bass or am I just getting lucky?

For the most part, Yes.

Thanks again... all great advice, sounds like there's alot of guys doing different things that work.

Has anyone thrown a fly at a black rockfish?

Under the right conditions black rockfish will even hit flies on the surface.  Clousers and other streamers work well.

I have a buddy that's going to try a wet fly next time we go out.  I think he uses floating line and then uses sinking line for the last 10 or so yrds. He looks to have a medium size purple/pink fly.  I will be watching in anticipation.

Well happy fishing this weekend everyone!

I keep wanting to downgrade my equipment for black rockfish, greenling, and what not, but then there are those heavy hitting surprises, like cabezon, that could put some of that lighter gear into a heavy sweat.

If you really want to go light, ditch the whole friggin rod and reel and just use a handline. It's the most fun fishing I've ever had. I'll never use a rod and reel for jigging ever again.

J

Under the right conditions black rockfish will even hit flies on the surface.  Clousers and other streamers work well.

It's actually a lot of fun catching them when they're chasing baitfish to the surface and boiling all over the place. Just about anything you throw into the middle of all the action will get hit.