Carmel 7-14

I got to sneak out and fish for the first time in about a month. This was my first fishing trip as a DAD...but there were a lot more firsts today too!

Caught my first keeper ling in a while. Caught my first sanddab from a kayak (I don't know why they've eluded me for so long), and I caught my first shark!

Me and Jeff launched from the south end of Monastery beach around noon (lil Joe Duke was up all morning being fussy so I got a late start). It was the first time I've paddled Jeff's tandem with him. Another first...it was also the first time he's had two people on that thing in the ocean. Its an OK Aegean that he got used for cheap. It seems like it could be fast but we couldn't keep the thing straight for longer than 50 feet at a time. 

We paddled out to find our honey hole from earlier this summer. It was difficult to find without a fishfinder. I don't think we ever did find the big pinnacle. But we were "in the ballpark."

We had a short window of time to fish so I brought minimal tackle: just a few scampis, shrimp flies, and leadheads. Had one rod rigged with a rootbeer scampi on 3oz head and the other rod rigged with a white scampi on a 4oz head. Both rods had a three-way swivel and a shrimpfly above the scampi.

We got the standard blues and olives. But then I pulled up a nice ling on the white scampi. Had a nice blue on the shrimpfly above it too. Measured the ling about 5 times just to be completely sure it was legal...I've caught a bunch of 23.5 inchers there! Put it on the game clip, stoked. It even coughed up a big fat smelt for me to use as bait.

We talked to Alien on the water for a couple minutes. Then saw Ark and Marmite as they paddled in too. They were done for the day. Meanwhile, we had kinda just started fishing. I'll get out there early enough to fish with you guys one of these days.

After moving a few times, still trying to find the secret spot, pulled up my first sanddab. "Huh, thats weird...guess we AREN'T over the rocky spot anymore!" 
Then I got another. And another!
Meanwhile, Jeff is catching blue after blue. I think he wanted to get a sanddab. They're good eatin!

Jeff hooked into something substantial so I put my rod aside and readied the gaff [EK custom gaff that performed flawlessly on my ling eariler BTW]. He finally got it up to the surface and we saw it...a shark! Holy crap! Do I gaff it?! Nah, its too small. I tried to grab its tail and get the hook out but it was tough to handle in a tandem kayak. So...I handed the pliers to Jeff and said, "Good luck! I'm going back to fishing!"
As he's dealing with his shark, I get hit HARD! I'm fighting this thing up from about 150 feet and its taking drag and shaking its head violently. I really hoped it was a halibut.
I finally muscled it to the surface and realized it was another shark! An even bigger one! Heck, twice as big! Holy crap again!

It took me a while but I finally got the hook out and released my shark. I did get a couple quick pics of my first shark though!

After the commotion we paddled in close to the kelp line and got a few more rockfish. Nothing big though. We paddled back to the launch (kinda zig zagging) and landed on the beach at 2:30. We hustled to get our gear back in our cars because I had to get home for daddy duty!

I kept the ling and 3 sanddabs. Jeff let everything go today. I owe him a sanddab...totally forgot to give him one when we left. I'll try to get it to you tomorrow dude!

It was easy to load up because we only had his kayak to deal with. Thats part of the reason I didn't bring one of my kayaks. Well...that, and, the fact I sold my truck and have no way to transport my yaks! D'OH!
My wife and I bought a family SUV for my wife to drive lil Joe Duke around in. She wanted a Chrysler Pacifica so thats what we got. Its OK. But my consolation prize is pretty cool: now I will drive her car, a 2006 California Edition Mustang, number 031 of 400. We got it for her in Nov 05 for her 31st birthday [get it, 31 years old and its number 31/400! Yeah, its sweet...and now its all mine...AHAHAHAHA...thats my wicked, cackling laugh!]
 
Hosed down my gear and cleaned the fish when I got home. For now, I go back to super dad. But hopefully I'll get to go fishing again soon. At least this trip was exciting enough to keep the fire burning for a long time. Because it may be a long time.
Ha!

PK

Nice Report, Glad you got out.  Thats a good sized spiny dogfish. 

Congrats on the legal ling and lil Joe Duke.  I've gotten into the dogfish before as well.......find one and you'll find his friends....

out of curiosity, anyone ever eat a dogfish?

I heard that because of the lack of cod, english 'fish' and chips is really dogfish and chips.

so I think they are edible, but I never ate one.

I've read the same thing about english fish and chips, but I too have never eaten one, I released the only one I'Ve ever caught, as I had no idea they may be good eating.

Cool report with kinda exotic species.  Nice pics too.

Way to go on being a dad!  Congratulations, Daddio.   

Nice fish PK. And congratulations to you on being a dad!! 

Good going on the tandem.
I've only had the spiny dogshark once. It was kept due to a bad gaff shot, was only suppose to pierce it's lip but the hook went the other direction. Bleed the shark right away and gutted it right after. Kept it in the saltwater. Gave the fillets to my sis who made her own version of curry rice, but with wild rice instead of white. It was one of the best fish dishes I've ever had, besides the wolf eel stirfried in coconut curry with green beans and red onions.
And I would keep one again, to me it was better than  a Leopard shark.