Eel River Estuary w/ video

I scouted the lower river from Pedrazzini launch up to Fulmor road and back Sunday afternoon.  Covered five and a half miles where I saw a dozen and a half seals, one group of 4 otters, no fish rolling but one big adult being eaten by a seal.  The river, as always, was awesome, and it's such a friendly paddling environment down there.  I enjoy the time I spend down there each Fall.  What a plus that the launch is less than 5 minutes from my house.   

I pulled a Little Cleo around here and there, but the absence of any fish rolling indicated that a bite would be tough to come by.

For what it's worth, I've caught very few fish down in the estuary over many years of trying, and the ones I've caught were half pounders.  The reality of this fishery, for a guy honestly fishing a lure that would need to get bit (as opposed to dragging it across a known school of salmon), is that it's very rare to get whatever combination of special circumstances it takes to get that legitimate bite!  It DOES happen, but it's rare.  I've landed several adults farther upstream, and it's always been a legitimate bite on a Little Cleo. 

 

Thanks for the moments of peace,

Dale L

That is truly beautiful country. Just the chance at a big fish is worth the time invested.

Great video and pictures like always Abking. Thanks for sharing.

Jedmo

    Abking, Beautiful scenery. I especially like the camera in the picture-picture. Another great video....especially about 2:10 seconds in where the kayak just seems to be drifting through the water...way cool.

Thanks, Guys.   

I especially like the camera in the picture-picture.

Yeah, Allen, I gotta have backup!     That Olympus has proven to be a frustrating liability when the battery suddenly dies.  I can count on one good trip after charging it, then it'll always poop out and go from a "green" (full) battery icon right to a flashing, empty, red battery icon with a line through it, like, "WARNING:  BATTERY FAILURE IMMINENT!", which does occur rather quickly.     So if the water isn't in the air (wind, waves, both...) I'll get the non-waterproof Sony out and continue filming, as I had to the other day.  It started raining right when I had to get the Sony out!     It was light and stopped about 2 minutes later, so I was able to get the rest of the day's footage with the Sony on the tripod.  I have an extra battery for it, and it has a much better indicator of battery life - I can always see how many minutes of filming or photoing I have left.  I've had quite a few digi cams over the last 5 years, and the Sony's have served me well.  Each of them was probably having some kind of problem or another by about 10,000 pictures.  If I ever get freaky about how much I've spent on digi cams, batteries and memory cards I start calculating how much money I've saved on film and developing, not to mention the time to do it, and the freedom of taking so many more photos and videos is just a creativity dream come true (and a trainwreck of data to store!   ).  I love this shit!   

That Olympus has proven to be a frustrating liability when the battery suddenly dies.  I can count on one good trip after charging it, then it'll always poop out and go from a "green" (full) battery icon right to a flashing, empty, red battery icon with a line through it, like, "WARNING:  BATTERY FAILURE IMMINENT!", which does occur rather quickly.    

Really have to agree with you on the battery issue for the Olympus.  unreliable power supply.  Completely hamstrings you to have to conserve battery when you'd rather be snapping like paparazzo.  really screwed me over in Tahiti.  Sweet looking trip, though, can't wait to make it up there sometime

I was thinking of selling my Optio to get an Olympus, since I really like having a viewfinder. Sounds like I should wait until they fix the battery issue.

since I really like having a viewfinder

Take another look at the photo above, Bill - there's no viewfinder on the Olympus I have.  I don't like that.  Sometimes it's hard to see the LCD screen...

Just the peace and solitude is reason enough to keep giving it another try.  What a beautiful place Northern California is, I love where we live and play......

Norm

since I really like having a viewfinder

Take another look at the photo above, Bill - there's no viewfinder on the Olympus I have.  I don't like that.  Sometimes it's hard to see the LCD screen...

One of the Olympus underwater models has a viewfinder. I think it has the same battery problem, though.