Trinidad - 7/13

Great hookup with Hawk today in his home waters of Trinidad.  I was lucky enough to boat a 21 pound 35.5 incher early, and, as Hawk said, we thought we were in for a great day from there forward, but it just didn't happen.  Saw powerboats around us hookup and land a few hogs and heard later that the fish came in even closer and shallower after we'd already paddled out 3.5 miles to get to the fleet!  I feel very fortunate to have hooked up and landed a fish since long distance trips like that obviously require so much more time in transit that you almost have to have that luck factor of hitting a bite.  We both presented similar bait:  DeepSix, dodger/flasher, chovie/herring on a double-hook slip rig.  Lately the fish have been out at 300 FOW, which is around 5 miles out, so it was nice that they recently moved into 150' which is where I got mine.  It was somewhat frustrating to hear later on the beach that the powerboaters that had run inside of Hawk and I after I hooked up had scored in 120' of water at only 20 -30 pulls - and we were going 70 pulls!  The bait-balls we were working though were awesome fun, and the chance was there.  We covered over 10 miles today on both of our GPS's.  Thank you to Hawk - as always, great to be on the water with a good friend who's also a pro. 

Oh yeah, the conditions were awesome...  as if I should have to say anything to a group of people who should be great studies of the forecasts, conditions, trends, and flat ass calm opportunities such as today.  This morning at 5:45 I checked the buoys and Cape Mendocino was the highest on the entire California coast at around 3' I think!  It was a FAC day up and down the coast.

It definitely wasn't the flattest I've ever seen though, by any means.  

 BTW, I pyschedelicized that last photo to show me with a blue X-Factor like the one I have coming in the mail this week. 

Maybe it's time to get a blue kayak if you want a salmon?... 

You're turning into a real salmon killer Abking.. gonna make the change pretty soon Salmonking?? Thanks for letting out the info about what you used and where. I really find it interesting to hear what works on what day since sometimes it makes total sense and others it's just WTF!  I like the surf leash fish stringer as well! I always have one in the yak as well and they're a pretty good multi use tool.

Z

Abkings paid his dues and put more time on the water fishing than a lot of us put together. Salmon, Ling, Abs, I hate to be a fish under his boat this summer. He has the blessings of Neptune and his minions.

Great Pics and congrats on the salmon!