AOTD 2008

Looks like a great day all-around!  Great conditions, nice fish and good people!  WTG- Jim for organizing.

Congratulations Allen!

Mike - did you land the salmon?  what size?

Take care - Bird

...after tossing&turning from 8:30 frinite -2:30am I arose from bed, got stuff unloaded/loaded, was on the road by 3 and pulled into the Fort@5:15!
I must say..that is one FUN drive. Deer, owl, raccoon nor jackrabbit would have kept me away! Wondering in bed, inbetween counting sheep(blues), I thought the ocean was gonna be rough, so I called the best intel I could at that time.
We had a plan if the blue was a no-go! 
Got near the coast and the fog was so thick I couldn't see 30ft...that means NO WIND!!  got to the park and Allen&Patrick just finished unloading. I raced to try to launch(follow) them, but they disapeared into the fog fast.

Pic1~ Hey! wait for me fellas!  see them paddling off into fogged-darkness!

I get out there and could see NO ONE!, only the cliffs, so i stay close until it cleared a little....hearing Allen anounce a BigVerm already, had me going deep to find the same, then planned to hit the shallower areas later when the winds pick up. No RedLove, just Blues and more blues on the teaser. Babysat a small blue on a jighead for 1hit that ripped it off, then tried it again with another for a snag&set-up lose. I lost more set ups today then ever(3)!
...when I did catch up to the 1-2 TagTeamers, Allen calmy says," i think I got a big one!", as he brings it to color, as I watch him flinch, like a doctor hammering your knee....and reaches behind him for the gaff.

pic2&3~ActionAllens' gaff&hoist job! 

....more pics and story to follow


 

COngrats Allen 

Jim, well done with the tourney

....so I ask him to lift the second place participants up for an OTWS!(not knowing at that time, they were to be the "winning" participants!
Allen..you are a Yak-FishHookingMachine!!  

pic1~ the winners!! all three of them (pic was taken at 6:52) we could have quit then and went for breakfast instead.

....I gave up on the babysitting ploy and stuck a BigOl'LingThing(Kalins10"Grub) on the end and searched for steep-doppin-structures...no love for awhile, then I followed Naoaki, as he went looking north for Patrick. As I emerge from a kelp-mat, I look at the F.F. to see it go from 30ft. to 60'.....I kick it into REVERSE, back to the 30ft mark, drop it down, hit bottom, feed it more line, feel it fall and then WHAMMO!  the kind of tug that pulls my pole 3/4 into the water. I give it a hard hook-setting pull and it just kept going deeper, I quickly loosened the drag a bit, so it wouldn't break off(AGAIN!) After a little game of TugOfWar(which I won!   ) ...after farming a few NICE ONES this season, I repeated in my head...keep its head under the water, loosen the drag, once you get it the net, lift it high&keep it high this time!...after completing these *VERY important tasks, in ORDER, I had me a 28"er in the yak!, along with a full-sized-regergitated Octapus, which i teast-tasted, pinned onto the jig and set it down for the remainder of the tour. It did not get hit.

pic2~ the taste test, kinda acidic for my liking.

No Verms, gophers, chinas nor cabbies were harmed during this adventure.Just a few released&feeling fine Blues...like 20 of them.

pic3~a pic ,of a previous pic.

...more pics and recant to follow

Nice post Adam. I wish I could have joined you guys! Maybe next year, this working stuff is way over rated. It's really put'n the hurt on my fishing.

.....it was so small i didn't even stow, fasten or put anything away as I knew it would be CAKE to get back on shore....well....i almost bit it, thanks to Naoaki for grabbin my handle or I might have lost it....my yak&gear was full of sand&salt.

The wind started blowing about the time we had to get out....perfect timing!

pic1~ the DorkMobile heading south on hwy1...with cult-like followers.

pic2&3~ the fryer and the grill

THANKS TO Jim for having this event!   and congrads to Allen for kicking our colective buts and for being myUPtoTHEminuteINTELreporter!  
or I would have been waiting for Mike to arrive up at LakeSonama(plan Z) to show me where I should be fishing and for what.

so glad they(NOAA) lied! & see you at ELK!!
 

Nice post Adam. I wish I could have joined you guys! Maybe next year, this working stuff is way over rated. It's really put'n the hurt on my fishing.

I know what you mean Mark,..sometimes you just have to step back and weigh your priorities out, THENcomeTOrealityANDgetBACKtoWORK!     

adam congrats on using that big kalin grub to catch something, I have one and have sent it down, I can feel fish bouncing off it like mental patients in a padded cell, but nothing has stuck to it so far.

yeah John, thanks! those things are just what the shop guy called them..
Zero or HERO! 
 I've had four on them (BigGrub) so far this year...that ONE actually made it to the net and stayed there.
..one headed for the bottom when I was F'n around and broke the whole thing off down at PigeonPt!
..had another BIGGER one on it, but unbuttoned at yaks side earlier this season at Ft.Ross.
..and a just-legal Ling up at SaltPt.
IT FELT GOOD to get it to STICK finally!   

WTG Allen and really like the BAJA hat.

Adam nice ling and effort. I like the surgical precision of your fillet technique. No underwater shots?

scott

No underwater shots?
scott

we've all seen blacks....that ling needed to get in the net...no time to play around...pure AOTY points.     

Thanks to Jim for putting on a great event, lots of fun on and off the water.

And a big congrats to Dad for sticking some quality fish, he has been on fire lately...


-Patrick

Don't fish north of the G.Gate much, thanks to Jim for puttin' on a sweet event and gettin' me to check out some new water!  Congrats, Allen!

    The stars must have been in perfect alignment during the day because catching a couple of fish was only the half of it. While touring  the kelp beds looking for openings I stopped on a likely spot, reached for my fishing pole and it was gone....lanyard and all. Tracing my steps I came upon my pole lying on top of a kelp as if some one had laid it there and forgot it. A new lanyard clip is in the works. Usually my fish release rod's weight is always hanging up on the kelp as it's always ready for immediate deployment. Never even used it Saturday as I don't think I fished in water deeper than forty feet.

Thanks for the re-cap and pics, fellas....and congrats to otobepelagic!

I gotta agree with Fishshism - Work is extremely overated. I've had four days off this whole month (three of those the Independence Day break) and my next day off is more than likely going to be August 1st, and only 'cause I took that day off over two months ago!

Oh well, all the overtime $ will have to go to pimpin' out the new ride.