Today I went to Hermosa Beach Pier, and as the day started, we caught small mackerel and bass. I little into the day my dad hooked up on a thornback ray, which was released. Then shortly after that, he hooked up to a halibut by fly lining a piece of mackerel at the end of the pier. The halibut was like 19 inches, so it wasn't legal to keep. (They have to be 22 inches.) We let that one go.
After a while, we caught more mackerel. Then I reeled up my conventional setup with my shrimp fly rig. (Keep in mind this reel and rod is meant for bass fishing) So I bring it up and I take off the shrimp flies. I put on a 1/4 ounce football jighead with half a fresh mackerel fillet on the jighead. It was literally my last cast when I felt something slam my bait hard! I took it and at first I thought it was a stingray or shark because of how hard it hit and ran, it ran about 50 yards. I brought it in and realized it didn't feel like a ray or shark, nor a bass or bonito...It came to the surface and realized it was a 5lb yellowtail! A fellow pier fisherman let us borrow his gaff and my dad gaffed this fish perfectly. It was my first pier yellowtail ever!
I also caught this fish on 15lb copolymer line.