Skipjack Joe - 7-20-2005 at 09:23 PM
We caught several of these beauties at San Lucas Cove this summer. Feeds on pinhead sardinas under the diving terns. Took small chrome lures.
They fight like jacks and have the stamina of sierras. They seemed to often travel with the young roosterfish. They're not in Gene Kira's fish ID
webpage.
Has anyone seen or caught anything like it before?
Bigjaw Leatherjacket
baitcast - 7-21-2005 at 08:29 AM
JOE........You will catch alot of these guys in baja norte,Gonzaga is loaded with them,but not as big as you have there.
BAITCAST
Thanks
Skipjack Joe - 7-21-2005 at 11:04 AM
Muchas gracias.
After your post I googled it up and even found it in Kira's website. That's it exactly. It turns out that those wicked looking dorsal spines are
toxic!! It's a good thing I told my son to keep his hands away from that area. There a sharp spine behind the anal opening that also looks menacing.
About a decade ago I was catching these small pompano-like fish from shore just near Pt Abreojos that looked like these fish but were much smaller,
about the size of a large perch. Anyway, I just grabbed some with my hand to release the hook and felt a sharp pain from their tiny dorsal spines. No
big deal, I thought, I'm constantly being jabbed by rockfish. But this turned out different. The pain was deep and continued for weeks. Now, I'm
thinking that I may have caught some juvenile bigjaw leatherjackets.
Speaking of toxic spines. Alex caught this same individual 2 days in a row from the same spot at Calamajue. Notice the black stone beach there. We
always use 2 pliers when releasing these fish.
Skipjack