Andrew Molera SP puts out 7/28

I met up with Ark and Eric (eyeatbay) this morning about 5:45 at the trail head of Highway one to Andrew Molera SP Beach.  We were  on the trail by 6:15 or so and launched by 6:45.  The walk was easy with a rolleze cart.  The first 20 feet are the steepest but smooth and there is only one spot with a large 8-in dia. root that you have to lift the yak over.  The launch was perfect with no wind very low tide and small small waves.

Eric and I paddled out around the big rock and to the north then waited for Ark to catch up.  I pulled up a grass rockfish on each of my first two drops in about 14 fow and knew it was going to be a good day.  We kept paddling on and then stopping and waiting as we were impatient and Ark had not been as ready as us to start out.  We picked up fish at just about every stop.  The started out small and medium Blues and Olives but got bigger further out later.  The reef was intermittent with kelp and sandy bottom mixed in, there must be some nice halibut down there.

I started keeping fish with my first 20-inch vermillion rf.  After that I lost count of the endless double hookups on blues and olives tried to rig heavier to avoid them.  As the morning progressed the wind steadily increased starting before we were halfway across the huge kelp bed.  After the first part of the paddle, it was kelp tie or loose gear because of the wind.  We never made it out of the generally huge kelp bed or to water more than about 67 feet.  We made it a good way to the far edge of the kelp before it just did not make sense to keep going against the blow so we gradually let the wind drift us back, for a while stopping then working really had to work to make cross wind progress.

I ended up with a nice stringer including three reds, one huge copper two olives (all of these about 18-20 inch and one blue about 14 (poor little guy the only blue I kept out of probably 25.  .  The stringers were heavy the landing was smooth as I surfed a clean 2.5 foot wave into the Big Sur river mouth.  I bled my fish in the river on the beach.

After locating the wheels and loading up, Ark and Eric arrived shortly for the honorary photos and hike back to the car.  I was on the beach by 10:30 and those guys were 15 minutes behind me.  The wind literally kicked us out and the bite had clearly stopped.  the hike back was not as bad as I expected, pleasant even.  I was on the road home by 11:30 and stopped at Garrapata SP to see Pete (Usagi and two others who's names I forgot, thanks for the dough-nut hole).  They were loading up yaks after fishing so we yakked about yakking and fishing and here I am on the internet instead of cleaning fish.  The photos will have to wait until that chore is done.

Great fishing and good timing in terms of hitting a narrow slot in the swell/wind.  It was also fun fishing with you guys again.  Let me know next time you are in the neighborhood.  .  Photos to come.

Andrew Molera  7/28/07

Here is a fishing report at Andrew Molera (Saturday). We (sackyak, ark and eyeatbay) hooked up yesterday and we decided to give a try at Andrew Molera. In short, we had a good day.

In the morning, no wind and no swells = super calm. Launch & landing were a piece of cake. Easy fishing in the early morning. See pic below:

But, it did not last long.  Wind came up early around 8AM. Although I planned to hit a few spots, we basically hanged around one area. Breeze was a little too fast, so we had to tie our yaks to kelp strings, in order to fish. The place was productive though. We pulled up nice reds at every stop.

The wind was blowing hard around 10AM. We called off the day shortly after. NW wind pushed us to the beach  . Otherwise we would be in trouble.

I ended with a string of fish (4 nice-looking reds, which have about the same size=~20”, 2 18” olives, 1 radish greenling and other RF). No Cab today. Ark left FF at the car, which affected his performance. He kept one fish. Sackyak had a nice string of fish. Pics are below:

That place is excellent. Thats where I got blown off the water and got poison oak. Nice stringers guys

The place is very fishy. The area of reef at the bottom was massive. Unfortunately, the place will be closed soon. If you want to try, better go before it is closed for good. Enjoy reading ...

A few more pictures: Big Sur River ( Ark wading through clear water), Fish in river (rinsed).

Thanks for good company.

I
am
SOOOOOOO
jealous
!!!!!!!

Thanks for the pics and report,
PK

Nice report.  I need to hook up with someone down there before it closes.

It was really nice fishing with you guys. Fishing could've been better for me since all I was catching were small blue/blacks and kelp rockfish. Wish I hadn't left my FF in my car but its a heck of a hike back to go get it.
The water conditions were really calm during the launch as the guys have said. The wind came up a bit early. We were projecting it around 11am but it came around 8am and became pretty unbearable around 10:30am when we decided to head back. The place is awesome but untamed and can be unforgiving on the unprepared. Its a good thing I and Etienne came with Eric since if we had made the mistake of fishing the southern grounds, we might have not been able to paddle back up. The water was pretty choppy coming back in and it was a pain trying to change the direction of the yak since the wind was blowing hard.

This is one spot that requires that you do your homework before coming in to fish it. Thanks Eric for the vermie and taking us there.

way to go gentlemen.

So what is it about Sackyak and gale force winds?

great report guys!

can you fish south from that launch after the closure?

is it totally dead or is there a way to fish from it?

those are some nice quality fish, cool guys.

so they're gonna close soon? when?

what kind of fish was that in the river? salmon???

james

Here are my photos.  I do not think you are allowed to fish the Big Sur River?   Sin Cost should know.

The river I believe is CR only.

Nice...

Sorry I couldn't join you guys, I'm working on my WAF points which are in serious shape by the way.  Could you believe I didn't tell the wife and daughter about the GWS at BH?  Oh yeah, what I figured was that if they didn't know I could fish without them raising an eyebrow.  Hey, let me continue this discussion under General Talk.

Gary

Quality stringers!.....