Howdy from North Central Washington State

I'm "the other Bill" and I've been lurking in the shadows for the last couple of months; enjoying reading your posts (until the recent--Joel (':smt014') Ken). One of the reasons your site has been interesting to me is that I have friends and family that live down in the area (my dad lives about a block from Lover's Point in Pacific Grove). Since I've been living in the PNW for over 30 years (and am originally  from the East Coast---home to the striper) I know most of the fish your talking about. I currently live east of the Cascade Mountains, in the Methow Valley. We have some of the best trout and steelhead fishing in the state. (But the river closed today--
(':smt010')) I'll post some pictures when I figure out our new scanner. I also regularily get over to the west side of the state to fish, and once or twice a year to the N. Oregon Coast.

I've been a fishing addict since my grandpa first took me out at age 3. (Fortunately, my wife and family is mostly understanding, though also a little hook-shy.) I own a bunch of small boats (a canoe, a river kayak, an inflatable kayak and a couple of dinghies). I used to build wooden boats and a few years ago picked up a kit (the Wineglass Wherry) from Pygmy Kayaks.
(http://www.pygmyboats.com/PRICELIS.HTM) . The rationalization for getting this, instead of a kayak, was to be able to fit the whole family; but               the family is getting too big .   Now I'm tempted to design my own SOT woody kayak. (Sorry Sean, but wood/composite materials are a lot lighter and stiffer than the polyethylene.)


 TL

Welcome other Bill!   Hopefully you can make it down here this summer or we can organize a trip up north.

A wooden SOT would be sweet! I would love to see some pics of one.

I was there for about for about 36 hours in October -- for a funeral-- my Italian godfather's father's funeral. (There were 3 generations of Bills in that family.) BTW --my godfather Bill lives in SJ, too.

It was the first time I had seen my dad's new place in Pacific Grove.  Very sweet location; there's a park at Lover's Point with water access (protected from the west- mellow "surf", adjacent parking (if you're early). Hopefully, next time I can take more time and bring the whole fam.

Pisco-No worries, I love Pygmy boats.  My father in law lives on Hood Canal and every visit includes a trip to Pygmy.  I have always wanted to build on myself.  

Wood (the original composite as it is sometimes called) is hard to beat in many areas.  For efficiency and down right sexy appeal you can't beat a classy wood hull.  However if I ever do have a Pygmy, I will use it on the days I am not launching from a rocky beach to go konk a bunch of bloody fish on the noodle. Like eveything plastic has its place, and the abuse of yak fishing is a good application.  I would cut my arm off before I took a hole saw to a wood boat to install a flush mount...it would just be WRONG!    

Welcome...and we need pics!

Does anyone fish regularly from Monterey?  There are few reports for the area.

Launching from Lover's Beach would be cool; easy access to what I assume is decent Rockfish.  I'd also like to try launch from Del Monte Beach this year and try for halibut.

In any case, welcome to the board, Pisco.  How did you hear about NCKA?

Umm dude I am his godfather...

Just kidding.

Sean  --

I would cut off my arm before I took a hole saw to a wood boat...

... I plan to use a self-feeding Forstner bit!

Trees may be sacred to me, but not wood as a building material. It happens to be much more user friendly for a DIYer than roto-molded plastic. While I did some traditonal wood boat construction and restoration, most of what I did was "stitch-and-glue" or "cold-molding" with epoxy saturated fabric (usually fiberglass) over a wood-core. (Sometimes when we wanted extra protection on a bottom we would use kevlar; Joel might want a boat completely wrapped in kevlar!:smt070) They were incredibly tough boats!  Also, seeing as we look at your surf the way you look at the La Jolla surf, I don't think I want any rod holders protuding from my hull if I go through the spin-cycle on a landing. Most people playing in the surf up here wear helmets.

Kevin -- There is a Randy's Charters that operates out of Monterey; you can find them on the Fishsniffer site. Apparently, they sometimes stop at Pt. Pinos (about a mile, if that, from Lover's Point). I think it would be possible to do a one day, one way to Pebble Beach (or the reverse, depending on the prevailing winds).

My dad and a friend of his build redwood strip canoes back in MN.  The technique is pretty simple, and the largest cost is the epoxy.  I think it costed something like $300 to build a beautiful canoe that could then sell for $2500 - but it took almost 80 hours of work to finish it.  Lots of sanding and finish work on the trim and seating, ect.

Once I have a back yard to work in, and a tablesaw (to cut wood strips) I may try to make a fishing oriented SIS kayak using the same method.  Been thinking I might be able to use styrofoam strips instead of wood, maybe have the mother of all scupper holes behind me with a motor bracket.

Hello Pisco Sicko!

I split my time between Seattle and San Jose.  I've been looking for more people to kayak fish in Washington.  Haven't found too many yet, and I haven't been able to get a kayak up there yet.  But that will change soon.  I'll post here when I'm looking to head out up there in WA  Perhaps if we get enough interest up there we can talk Bill into hosting our own board for up there ... for now, I'll just hijack this board if that's all right with Bill.

-Allen

Hijack away man, its cool with me.

Stillwater cove is a local hotspot that kayaks use to catch rockfish in the Pacific Grove area. It is north on 17 mile drive and you turn right at the Pebble Beach lodge and go to the tennis court. You can park and launch there. They just ask that you don't park near entrance of the buillding.