NICE surprise while perch Fishin

[kayak456]

today i caught about 30 perch today at the beach behind my house in the south river.

i kept 8 perch to put in my crab pot

i was using one of my handtied rigs that consister of 20 pound mono with 2 dropper loops and #4 owner mutu light circle hooks.
reel of choice was a penn spinfisher 3500 loaded with 12 pound trilene mono on a 7.5 foot star stellar light surf rod

i was using fresh spot that i had caught early this morning on fishbites on the same rig, but with size 6 hooks.

anyway in the midst of the perch i got a hit and slowly reeled in and though i was hung, at first i though it was a ray, but after a 1 minute "fight" i beached this 26.5 inch rock.

after i saw the dorsal fin come out of the water i was scared the mini hook would come out but my trusy circle hook was firmly placed right in the corner of the rockfishes mouth.

what surprised me the most is that the rockfish was caught on a piece of spo the size of my thumbnail, when ive been catching smaller ones on topwater or live spot.

good luck!

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[zeebyrd]

Very nice surprise! It's fun fishing for one kind of fish and being surprised by another - especially a larger one. Nice rockfish.

[Shady]

Nice, my biggest Hybrid Striper (freshwater) was caught on a two inch bull minnow. Sometimes smaller bait = bigger fish...

[J.A. Veil]

Good catch Andrew. When fish are hungry they bite on lots of things. You had a suitable bait at the right place and right time. You certainly put in a lot of hours fishing. You definitely improve your odds by being out there so often.

[Fishinfool]

Another beauty!