Elk Tourney Report 8/12/06

Great Pics! thanks for posting them so everybody can get a taste of the trip.

erik's winning ling looks big to me!

Those are some whopper coppers too,  those are some of the best fighting rockfish. I think they are
one of my all around favorite fish: looks, fight, eating.

glad you guys survived the weather I looked at the weather map friday night and saw a gnar local gradient
up there, one bouy north of you guys had 34 knot winds that night! I think if you fished there you can
fish anywhere, the tourneys this year seem like extreme kayaking classes not fishing tourneys!

J

Wow, what a tournament! It was awesome meeting everyone.  Well, the fishing wasn't that great, but it was great being out there in the big swell with 50 other kayakers! Defintiely the biggest swell I've been in a kayak!  I felt sick all day but I wanted a new kayak and stuck it out.  I finally got a nice copper (scwafish posted a pic of it above) that went 5.7 lbs. I got it in only 35 feet.  I thought it was a ling because it was taking drag!  I did have one good ling on that came off when I reeled in half a 6" swimbait. 
A big thanks (as always) to Sean and his family, especially Elsie(sp?) who gave up a trip to the beach to hang out with my wife Andy and our 4.5 month old daughter Ella.  Andy was appreciative of the preview of when Ella is older. Walrus and CPKayak, Pat and Randy, I hope Ella didn't keep you guys up too much.  This tourney served as our test camping trip with the young one and I think it was a success.  Andy can't wait to go again next year.  Nice meeting you Bill, bring your wife and daughter next time if possible!
Really can't say enough about how much fun it was, so Ill let everyone else chime in,
Joe (bluefin17)

Oh yeah - MAJOR thanks to whoever moved my paddle out of the surf zone and left it higher up on the beach. I realized I was paddle-less as I was packing up my truck 5 HOURS later. I remembered exactly where I left it and thought the worse.

Luckily when I got down to the beach I found it moved up by the cliff.

So, I owe somebody big time! 

Dustin,its Karma!so do good and good will be done to you...

what can i say! i had agreat time and thank you to all my friends it made it a great weekend! hope to fish with you guys soon!

chef

I was really bummed not being able to make it. Sounds like it was good food and people were great as always. Bummer about the weather. My truck had to be worked on. I had the dealership do the first oil change since it was free. They had cross threaded the oil filter on and simply torqued it down and partially stripped the threads. This didn't become apparant until thursday night when I tried to get it off.

Those were some narly swells for sure!

-Brian

I had a great time. I've already got my wife thinking that we should turn it into a three day weekend next year. No more of this daytrip stuff for me.

While I only kept 3 fish, I'd have to rate the fishing as excellent. I kept a decent sized copper, a small gopher that wouldn't swim back down, and a 3 lb plus blue. I released two underlings, at least a limit's worth of blues, and a couple more small gophers. I also had a hitchhiker that I never saw, on a 12" blue that I was using as live bait. All this in just a few hours, while dealing with 4 lost rigs and a backlash from hell that I got while trying to unsnag. If I had been targeting just blues, I have no doubt that I could have limited out in half an hour, culling all fish under 3 pounds. I had them hitting a bare hook they were so voracious. And a 3 pound blue on a trout rod is a hoot, I will be fishing for them like that again.

Thanks again to Scwafish for making this happen, and for Bill for the site.

Next year!!

Scott

This pretty much sums it up...



Right click the link and select "save target as"... it'll be faster that way.

LOL!!   


MolBasser

Thanks to everyone, had a great time.   

I meet Zilla on Wednesday at Van Damme. Thursday we did a morning  and afternoon session at Van Damme for 2 fish each.  Camped out at Mendocino Campground Thursday night and meet up with Tote, Becky and Chub.  We had an excellent dinner of fresh Abs and rockfish.

Friday went to Elk, set the campsite and headed out on the water.  Conditions were bigger than Saturday with 15 MPH winds.  At one point Brad clocked us at a 1.7 mph drift!  I managed 1 ling which weighed in at 9.7 pounds and donated it to chef for the Cerviche.

Saturday even though the swells were smaller, the confused sea had me feeling almost sea sick. Stuck it out till around 12 and managed only one underling.



John

John,  sounds like you had a hell of a week.  Nice seeing you again. Maybe we can hit linda mar soon.

jason

Looks like you folks had a great time. I'm bummed I had to miss it.  last year I made a stink about popularizing such a secluded spot, but having fished it quite a few times in the past year i have not observed any real significant increase in fishing pressure.  So, to kind of suck it up, i was wrong.  I drive by there quite often too, and have never seen the hoards I feared. If all sportfishing were done by kayak, there probably wouldn't be many problems.  Glad everyone had fun.

Got to Mendocino Wednesday and set up camp. Went ab diving Thursday morning and started the day by blowing out my knee on the launch.
Made the hill at Elk a royal beotch! Thanks to CHUB and Becky I made it up and down with all our stuff.
Hooked up with Zilla and Jdyak on Thursday and had a blast!
Friday we all headed over to Elk.
CHUB, Jdyak, Zilla ans Chefstephano did a pre-fish Friday. Have a great pic of them heading out on another camera I will post later.
Saturday got an early start to some big water. Becky held out until about 10 and CHUB made it to about 11. The water got the best of them. I stuck it out and had some good fishing right up 'til the end. Really surprised I didn't give in to the nasty seas.
Caught several rockfish, but no contenders. Did come home with some nice fillets for fish tacos tonight.
Had a wonderful time fishing and socializing with everyone. Food, friends, and fun. What more can a person ask for? Just a fantastic group of people and a fantastic event. Thank you everyone for making it such a great event.
Here are some pics:

Tent City:


Parking:


Big water:


CHUB in swell:


CHUB in chop:


Sorry if some seem blurry. Water was splashing on the lens.

Rock straight out from the launch:


Unknown Kayaker ( Give's perspective of the BIG water ):


Fish Print T's ( These turned out COOL!!!! )

More to follow

Forgot my biggest fish which I released.

WOW, that ocean is nuts!!

I change my prediction from lasting 15 min to about 5 min in those seas.

Kudos to all who can actually keep their lunch down (let alone fish) in those conditions.

MolBasser