Far Side of The Devils Cap

[PJ]

Short Version;

Andy Killed It, Scored 40 to 50 lbs of FISH!!!  I skunked it, fighting off that ole queasy feelin' I struggled to land 15 lbs but still had fun for sure!  Andy has the pics. I dunked my camera last outing.

Long Version;
Met up w/ Andy @ 6 a.m. & loaded my gear onto his trusty truck.  Marine forcast was for relatively calm seas but the short period windswell was suspect for sure;

...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 4 TO 6 FT
 AT 8 SECONDS. PATCHY FOG.

Driving down to the launch we could see the surf was down but the ocean surface looked like a washboard from the beach to the horizon. The high tropical-looking clouds gave us the impression that the wind would stay down for the morning at least. We decided to go for it figuring if you don't go you don't get it.

The boulder-launch was no problem for the patient but the occasional south set did come thru slamming against the moss covered rocks.  Once outside it was evident that the short period swell might play havoc with our stomachs but the water clarity looked pretty darn good.

We headed down toward the Devils Cap stopping briefly to test promising looking nooks here & there.  I believe Andy went 4 for 4 right off the bat?  Maybe more?

I had a decent stream of scraps with some good sized Browns that I kept tossing in hopes for some bigger fish.  Visibility was pretty dern good, 25'+.  Fat Blacks were all over & at times I could see schools of 20 to 30 of them balling around my bait.  I thru back quite a few of them believing I'd be loading up on the big ones, next time I won't be doing that.

After a while I hit a good 21-22" Verm, a couple more good Browns & a 19" Verm.  Then I was fighting that ole' queasy feeling & thanking god it wasn't foggy.  6 hours later I still don't feel right.

Overall it was a very good day as evidenced by Andy's haul.  His boat looked like it was listing to aft from the payload he had in his rear hold.  From a distance you could see him & a big pile of reds glowing behind him!  He can show the pics & fill in the blanks on that!!!

PJ

[Abking]

Nothing wrong with a good carnage mission now and then.  Thanks for the report, and I hope you feel better soon - that feeling sucks.

 

[Sc X factor]

I haven't felt that way since the last lk launch 2 weeks ago. First time in 20 years. Something about that southern swell that kills your inner ear. You must have enough fish to not wory about tossing back the odd black & blue. We still have to do a launch south of lk later when the swell is down. Any lings?

[PJ]

We still have to do a launch south of lk later when the swell is down. Any lings?

Andy had a good one, I never saw one but did have one good hit/fight that I lost into the kelp.  Could've been a Ling.

PJ

[rustic andy]

PJ summed it up well, it was bouncy and fishy.  I ended with a fat stringer of 5 verms to 22", 3 big browns, and a legal ling.  I threw back at least three fish for every one I kept.  There were plenty of gophers, and blacks out there too.  surprizingly few blues and no olives this round.  No threshers this time either! As usual the bite was variable, with periods of hot bite, and then nothing but gophers for awhile.   There was no end of places to fish, and we would have strayed farther if it was not for the nauseating mixed swell conditions.

PJ was using a  large fishtrap and kept getting short bites.  I was using a simple rig, a white torpedo weight with a shrimpfly, tipped with squid. That enabled me to get down fast past the blacks.  They were short biting, and they who get nabbed by this terminal hook. 

PJ- Per our conversation- I looked up Vermillions in Milton Love's book  "Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific" and a 19 inch vermie is 9 years old

Anyway, here are our stringers......

[kayakito]

Right on PJ look like you guys picked the right day. Hope this coming Saturday I will try to go get them.

 Thanks for the report.

[PJ]

Andy had the setup, I think Xfactor uses some sort of fancy contraption like that.  (I assumed my short bites were small fish but you know what they say when you assume)  I'm switching to something like that for next time.

PJ

PS Scott & I talked about doing some sort of multi day run (using dry ice in our tankwells w/ a small cooler) & camping.  That would be an excellent place to do it.  Miles & miles of otherwise inaccessible reefs. Just would need to find somewhere to camp.

[flipskid]

great trip.  drives me nuts when I am in here with out a window even and read all this stuff about fishing.  manana!  Where is devils cap anyway? 
JR

[Great Bass 2]

Man am I bummed I missed the trip. ECDD is such a cool place. Well done Peer and Andy!!!

Scott