Homer report. 6/19 something different

Tried homer. No kings. One 2 pound halibut I released. BUT at the end of the day, I found something even better!!!!!

It's rare but I found a school of juvenile black cod!!!! Yah baby!!!! I've never had the little ones but people tell me they are as good as the big ones...especially smoked.

Managed 24 of them before I ran out of bait. We will see but if they are as good,  this is s huge score. Caught 20ft down in 100 ft of water.

Nice job rudy smokem up thanks for posting 

I'm curious, are black cod considered "Other Finfish" for management purposes in Cook Inlet. I've peeked at the regs to see what if they have any specific regs, but couldn't find anything. Interesting, since there are bag limits in other areas, Southeast for sure, and maybe PWS. Curious what inspires the management difference. Perhaps the vast majority of black cod in Cook Inlet are juvenile, and not found in enough concentration to garner much attention from sport anglers.

That's a great haul Rudy, I'm jealous. Black cod is one of those that I've always wanted to catch from my kayak, though I have to admit I've always imagined doing it in 1000' of water. Hope the rest of your time on the water this weekend is as productive, and interesting.

Cool looking fish.  I like the colors.  Hope they taste good.

I am fairly certain that I also caught a few of those black cod today. I fished off of Tonsina Beach and got one hard take down from what I think was a butt, but it didn't stick. :/

 At the time, I thought they might be juvenile Pollock or something, but I really wasn't sure so I let them go. They were hitting my salmon rig 20-60 feet down in 100-200 feet of water and they were there in huge numbers. I switched to a huge circle hook to try and fish through them but they still somehow got hooked. I even snagged one in its back while reeling in to check my bait.

I learned my lesson! From now on I will have to take better pictures of fish that I want to identify - the one picture I have is super blurry and no help at all.

Looking at your pictures, though, I would say I am almost 100% certain that that was what I was catching. I wish I kept them!

Haven't tried then yet but looks just like black cod fillets. Will report when I try them. 

Caught one out at Tonsina creek area, used it for bait, cut in half picked up a 25  pound halibut. Didn't know I had a young black cod....

Caught one out at Tonsina creek area, used it for bait, cut in half picked up a 25  pound halibut. Didn't know I had a young black cod....

Next time don't cut it in half .... use the whole damn thing! Black cod make really good halibut bait. You just have to decide which you want more for dinner. =)

Starting to wonder what does not make good but bait

Starting to wonder what does not make good but bait

There is one more ultra secret bait I ave heard about from good sources.  I also have an observation to back it up.  I have kept it hidden and in my back pocket for years but since I haven' tried it yet, I will spill the beans in hopes that maybe someone will...

FRIED CHICKEN

The story I have is we were at big lake a decade to more back eating fried chicken trying to catch dollies and burbot.  We were just tjrowng the bones down the hole not thinking anything about it.  We peer down the hole and a few really nice sized dollies were picking the bones off the bottom and trying to eat them.  Buddy hooks a chunk of fried chicken onto the hook, sends it down.  BAMMO!  24 inch Dolly comes up.  The things that make you go hmmmm......

There are odder baits than fried chicken.  On Flathead Lake, the locals use Johnsonville maple syrup flavored sausage as bait for lake trout.  And it works.

That's exactly what I did... except the butt couldnt get his mouth around it. Must have been not worth catching any way : )

Caught one out at Tonsina creek area, used it for bait, cut in half picked up a 25  pound halibut. Didn't know I had a young black cod....

Next time don't cut it in half .... use the whole damn thing! Black cod make really good halibut bait. You just have to decide which you want more for dinner. =)

That's exactly what I did... except the butt couldnt get his mouth around it. Must have been not worth catching any way : )

Caught one out at Tonsina creek area, used it for bait, cut in half picked up a 25  pound halibut. Didn't know I had a young black cod....

Next time don't cut it in half .... use the whole damn thing! Black cod make really good halibut bait. You just have to decide which you want more for dinner. =)

Exactly! Keeps the little ping-pong paddles from wasting your time. =)

I think I 'll make a Seward run to see if I can get a few (yummy) sable fish, when I was younger we used to catch the juveniles just outside the small boat harbor. Should be a few Reds milling around also. Seward is so much closer than WG and I am still in recovery from the last 3 weeks playing so not feeling a 6 hour drive from the Valley. I am just watching the weather.

AKrod, how are you targeting these? trolling rig or cut bait? New fish for me.