Andrew Molera SP 8/25 plus camping fun

We had about 30 join us for our annual Big Sur family oriented group camping trip.  Last year I took Stuart and his friend Dave to Lime Kiln for a few hours of C&R fishing where we hooked and released several Cabazon and other rockfish.

This year, Stuart and I hit Andrew Molera Saturday Morning.  We arrived at the trail head at about 6:30 after a quick camp breakfast of coffee and oatmeal.  Stuart did not have wheels so we double stacked the yaks on my roll-eze.  That made the haul much harder  but we split the effort and doubled up on the small inclines so it was not too bad.  Right after we rounded the corner I dropped down on some structure and pulled up a small olive that I released.  Stuart is a fairly new fisherman so with my extra rod and a Mackeral SPRO jig I instructed him to drift in the kelp hole we were in right up to the edge of the kelp.  I was snagged when Stu starts yelling at me that he has fish on.  I get over there to see a huge Vermillion with the iron lour propping its mouth open so it could not close it and the hook hanging on the outside of the fishes mouth.  The fish could not open or close its mouth as the lour was wedged in vertically.  I grabbed the lip gripper and pulled in the 22 inch 10lb vermillion, then worked the lour out.  Sturart's biggest fish ever.  Look at the pride on his face, priceless.

We continued fish and both landed a nice variety of rockfish including olive, blue and grass rockfish.  At one point while over school of blues who would not let my lour get to the bottom my Mega Bait with extra stinger hook was nailed on the way down at about 20 foot depth.  I figured it was a big blues because of the shallow hit but it fought hard and I was pleased to see a 27-inch Lingcod when it came to color.  I made the mistake of pulling the head out of the water before getting ready with the net or gaff and Mr. Ling went nutso.  I got totally splashed as he tail walked over the nearby kelp before I got him on board and silenced him with the fish be cool stick.  Awsome fight and lots of fun.  It was just past 9 and we had plenty of fish for lunch but continued on for another 30-45 minutes to end up with 9 keeper rockfish including the vermillion plus the ling for our combined stringer.

We met some NCKA guys on the way in who where heading out to free dive and fish.  Sorry I forgot your names.  How did you do?  The conditions out there were fabulous.  Small swell, no wind to speak of and ankle slappers at the launch and landing.  We has some people take some photos on the beach then hauled back up to the cars and were back at camp by 11.

After cleaning fish and serving fish tacos to 30 for lunch (thanks for the Chipole Tarter Sauce recipe Scott, everyone loved it).  We  rested and played in the river before the dinner feast of steak and chicken supplemented with pot luck side dishes and smores for desert.  A great time was had by all and I was too tired to make a report last night.

Here are some photos.

     

That is just awesome, sackyak!!!
I LOVE the group campgrounds at Pfeiffer. Looks like you guys had an epic adventure too!
Congrats on the big red, stuart!

Thanks for the great report and pics!
PK

That is actually a private campground owned by All Saints Church, also very nice and it includes the "kitchen sink."    It is hard to get so I reserve up to a year or more in advance.  We did see some small fairly aggressive fish in the river maybe baby steelhead.  I could not get photos of them.

sackyak those pics of the red ones make me want to use up a precious fishing day on rockies

Looks like a great time

Etienne, how many can that camp ground hold? Maybe we can do a Chef Memorial Derby there next year?

Etienne, how many can that camp ground hold? Maybe we can do a Chef Memorial Derby there next year?

Joel -

I think AM is in the closure area due to go into effect in a couple of months. 

Etienne -

WTG on the ling and that verm is outrageous. sorry I missed the party. Still looks good for this weekend. May bring the Sandman with me.

Scott

Scott

Great trip and report sackyak! a year in advance!? that's what I call "PLANNING"    and fish were caught too?  can't plan for that...it just "happens"    

Great report, Etienne.  Ventana brings back college backpacking memories...  thx~   
 
Eric

hey sackyak,

i was one of the guys you ran into out there - good to meet you! 

that was our first time at molera and we will not soon forget the experience.  weather was perfect all day long and we didn't have any wind to deal with.  visibility was about 25' and water temp was 54-55F.  we ended the day with 11 reds and a couple olives between the 3 of us.  the reds went from 4-7.5lbs.

it's a real bummer this place is closing down soon. 

ken

hey sackyak,

i was one of the guys you ran into out there - good to meet you! 

that was our first time at molera and we will not soon forget the experience.  weather was perfect all day long and we didn't have any wind to deal with.  visibility was about 25' and water temp was 54-55F.  we ended the day with 11 reds and a couple olives between the 3 of us.  the reds went from 4-7.5lbs.

it's a real bummer this place is closing down soon. 

ken

W$ll, it's obvious from both of your reports that rockfish are critically scarce and endangered at Andrew Molera!! 

(biting sarcasm)


Etienne, the vertical jig story is precious!!!  Would love to have a pic of that, but #1 for you was getting the fish secured before that lure popped out.  Too much, man!

Allen

That is actually a private campground owned by All Saints Church, also very nice and it includes the "kitchen sink."   

Oh, my bad. I remember when we talked about it and thought you said it was at the group camp at Pfeiffer. That looks like a nicer setup if it comes with a kitchen! Nice!
I might have to fish there this wknd if the swell+wind allow.

Ono,
Nice job on the fatty reds! 
But no lings? Just messin with ya, those are some nice fish.
And welcome to the club!

PK

Nice collection of reds Ono.  We called it early because we were camping and needed to maintain WAF or we would have stayed out longer.  We did score big with the massive fish taco feed though and I gave Stuart the rest of the fish to take home so that I can fish again next week.

Sorry Allen no pic of the vertical jig except in my memory but I was happy to string him up especially for Stu.  I need to remember to take a pic when something weird like that happens.  I was so excited for Stu it did not even occur to me.  It is amazing with the low fishing pressure down there that they decided to close it especially with all the quality fish down there.  I think it was an easy target because no one really fought for it as it is remote and not a common destination.  I wonder what the fishing is like south of Andrew Molera as I think it is the edge of the pending MPA?

Hi Ono,
 You have the right idea...why just sit in a kayak hoping for good luck when you can go down and make your own!
 How deep did you have to go for the reds? With that catch one would think you would have run into some lings, no?
 Steve
a fellow spear-yaker

Hey Etienne, I am jealous. I want to be invited, how could you forget?   

sin coast,

thanks for the welcome to ncka.  i've always lurked around but figured i'd chime in this time.

bajareefer,

to be honest, a lot of those reds were caught by my friend that was hook and line fishing.  this was the first time he out-fished us (divers) and he ended up with the big fish of the day too!  the reds would not stay off his megabait! 

that said, there were still tons of reds around to shoot.  we found them anywhere from 35' out to about 55' but we didn't check anything shallower so they might be in closer too.

as far as the lings go, we weren't looking for them.  i prefer eating reds over lings so that's what we were targeting.  also, the bottom at molera is covered in palm kelp so i rarely even touched the reef so we didn't hunt the holes.  the hunt there involves dropping down on top of the palm kelp and hovering.  the reds sit under that palm kelp and when you drop down, they pop out to check you out.  pretty cool seeing those big dudes materialize.

ken