hey north coast guys;i.e. eric and mendohead

my abalone friends and i are camping at salt point this weekend. rockfish is closed, i am hoping to catch a salmon. i figure i will launch and troll until i find some. any advice?

Get out early and find some bait balls...  I've had mixed luck in past years typically starting in mid July with salmon holding in nearshore baitballs.  It's totally hit or miss, but I've caught salmon 20 feet from the kelp beds at times in areas where bait tends to naturally school up.

If you find a pile of bait, try mooching around or trolling through it if it is a big one it and try to get out in the gray of morning for your best chances.

The big problem with the nearshore baitballs is there will be a lot of black, blue, and yellowtail rockfish hanging around them as well.

The times I've caught salmon up there have usually been those days when you drive up and see heavy evidence of bait with birds crashing and schools of sealions openly feasting on baitfish.

Good luck...

Dear fellow Yaker:

    No clue, never been there, did'nt buy the T-shirt. have a safe trip . I'm doing Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. Jenner has a cool resturant "Rivers End" which has a killer view from the deck!
                                                                                          Ernie

http://www.ilovesunsets.com/
             

Underwater Park:
The park includes one of the first underwater parks in California, Gerstle Cove Marine Reserve, where marine life is completely protected. The cove affords shelter for the hand launching of small boats and divers come to the cove to explore the wonders of the undersea world

http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=453

Look for flocking birds diving into the water. That means there is a bait bal being worked by salmon. Fish 30 or more feet deep. The chinook will be under the coho. The coho are fast and work the bait, the chinook catch the bait that the coho wound and miss.

It's a bit early but you could get lucky.

Also keep an eye out for dolphins, I think they are referred to as pilot whales but they are brown and around 15 long. They swim in synchronized pairs. When you see them there is often salmon nearby. If they are near the breakers and swimming down the coast, then maybe no salmon around.

If you see bait then try mooching, but if you don't see bait, troll changing your paddle speed, to let your bait rise and fall. This is to vary the  depth of your bait to find fish, often you will get hit on a falling bait as it nears or hits bottom.

Same thing goes for mooching, vary your depth, every few minutes reel your bait up a few feet or let it down.

Best bet is to catch a live herring or smelt or bait fish and fish it live. Otherwise, I would go with a double hook hoochie rig with maybe a plastic squid. Hook the bait so it has a jerky spin, This way you can mooch or troll without  changing setups, but you have to use circle hooks for mooching.