I'm toasted!  What a day!

We have, drumroll please, a repeat champion again!

Matthew Mayes came in with a 31 inch lingcod and a 20 inch rockfish to take the title of AOTD at GSXIX - his second win in the last four competitions.  Allan Sanchez held the lead all morning, coming in with 49 inches that included a 23 inch cabezon - he ended up in 2nd.  Chris Coleman and Chris Mayes tied for 3rd at 48 inches, and the aMayesing Bros solidly backed up what has become legendary status with their team score domination - likely only rivaled by the Saufferer brothers over the years, who had a respectable finish today tied with each other at 45 inches. 

The wind came up and booted everyone off by around 1245, and it was off to switch gear kits and get the Gyotaku fish printing Extravaganza pumping!  Brandi did another fabulous job directing a strong team of volunteers as we had heavy participation from both kids and adults as well as some general public and campground staff.  The kids each got a new fishing pole as prizes for their participation, and the entire group got to have interaction with and appreciation for the Gyotaku scene since it was conducted right where we also had the raffle and potluck.

Wrapped the Gyo right before 5, got the raffle set out - with Captain Jake Mitchell tackling the heavy lift of selling all the raffle tickets, with help from his son Mason.  It was Jake's 2nd year in a row doing that for me and for the Gimme Shelter community, and it was awesome having Mason join in.  The potluck also got fired up right at 5, and Ricci/Fishworks' taco shack scene came together right then too.  As usual, the community brought top notch grub made with love and shared with pride, and I can safely say that I don't think there's any way that it's possible that everyone there wasn't totally satisfied with a buffet style, extended dinner and party scene.

By 615 or so I started the awards and other recognitions by getting all the kids who printed fish to come up on stage and receive their fishing poles - it was definitely one of the highlights of the entire event, with happy kids receiving schwag that ties them right into the heart of the entire event, just for participating.

I worked the crowd for a while by telling people to eat up the food and to do another lap through the raffle because there were a ton of great items and some good odds of winning.  It was time to give out some thank you abalones, and four of them went to Ricci Chavez, his dad Rick, and their two faithful Taco Shack helpers:  Steve and Brian Takagi.  The guys did an outstanding job with the Shack, and everything went great!  Other thank you abs went to Sean/Piscean Artworks, for his generosity and support for the community through his art over many years; captain Jake and his son Mason for their support and time devoted to our gig; and to Paul Chang, who brought raffle items as well as laminated name tags with lanyards for all competitors.

Had a few more tacos and wet my whistle with a beer, and then it was time to award the AOTD with his new 44" oldgrowth redwood Trophy Trough, a custom-tagged ten inch abalone shell, the ceramic mini Hawg Trough and two seats on Captain Jake's boat - the Seahawk.  Matthew's a great champion, and, as has occurred at basically every Gimme Shelter, I cannot think of someone more deserving of the win.

With the new champ crowned and the crowd worked over for all raffle tickets I could get them to purchase and all the food I could get them to consume, I executed what turned out to be a really great raffle. 

Last week I had emailed the entire roster of participants for GSXIX and let them know that the forecast looked fine for us to be able to fish.  Many (everyone, hopefully) could see the different forecasts pointing toward heavy north/NW wind, but the swell height was low.  I explained that north and NW are largely blocked at the Cove, so even if there was wind slop coming in from previous days of offshore heavy afternoon winds, I was confident that we would have our chances to fish.  In that email I also appealed for two things:  one was to let people know that I'd not had much engagment regarding raffle items that people might bring.  This is largely my fault, as the tournament thread on NCKA and any other social media (FB) that I was putting out about GS just didn't seem to get much traction - it's not how it used to be, and that's fine.  The response I got from appealing to the people was very strong.  A bunch of folks stepped up and brought quality raffle offerings - it was highly appreciated, but, as I've noted happening over the years, record keeping on all of the raffles items, who brought them, who won them...etc. doesn't end up well documented.  Again, my fault - I'm busy executing, and it all just flows.  I'll say this:  the generosity in our community is awesome.  Captain Jake's son Mason ended up winning some nice gear, and the crowd was hooting and hollering as he racked up the makings of an awesome kit.  What's so cool about it, is Mason is like 10, and Jake just got him a kayak!  Destined for greatness, and, again, so deserving - everybody was cheering!

The second thing I appealed for, in that email to the participants last week, was to know whether anyone wanted to get in on a guided trip on Friday for pre-fishing and a Shelter Cove refresher/intro trip.  In the past, with very active participation in a prolific thread about the event, it's been pretty easy for me to fill a short trip with four participants for Friday morning, but, again, the thread was pretty slow this year - that's fine.  I was about to just cancel Friday, since I'd only heard from one person interested, but my email brought out 3 more to add for the trip.  I was able to execute a plan to show my Friday guests around, catch some fish (so many lings) and earn a few bucks doing what I love while feeling good about passing on info on Cove layout, safety, wind, current, tide, the tractor, species, history...etc. in a way that I intended as strong guidance in not only how to make the most of their fishing but also their overall understanding of the Cove scene.  A big thanks to my guys who did the Friday trip.

Massive thanks to my family, who supported me throughout and also kicked down hours of work helping with the Gyotaku and the potluck.  Big thanks as always to Brandi for being Gyotaku Queen.  Huge thanks to everyone who donated for the raffle, bought raffle tickets, brought killer food, shared their best energy with the community and showed Shelter Cove how we do it.  We got nice compliments from the Campground staff and other locals who checked out what we were up to, and my intention going forward is to include the locals in our activities as much as possible.  Again, super stoked with Ricci and his crew and their taco excellence, and highest praise for Captain Jake for stepping up to be an ambassador for the Cove in helping with the raffle and hanging out with us for the evening - young Mason winning all those prizes was so outstanding.

Last thing:  I just want to thank everyone who signed up.  I do my best to craft an experience that goes beyond expectations - that's as true for my guided trips as it is for Gimme Shelter.

Another year in the books!   

Pretty good scene going down at the camp.  Fish caught today.  Good Times.   

I fillet hundreds of fish every year, and I am a rib cutter.  I keep a few fillet knives, in case one breaks.  I found some name brand (Rapala?...) fillet knives on sale up in Trinidad at the Murphy's Market a few years ago - ten bucks each.  I bought a few.  They work fine.  I also cut fish for a few seasons with a longer knife (don't know the brand) that I scored at a garage sale.  I don't feel like the brand matters much.  I aim to efficiently fillet all of the fish from a guide trip and end up with really pretty fillets, all bagged up and loaded in my guests' coolers to end the day.  If my knives are too sharp I cut myself more.  I keep them sharp enough to do the job, and I get lots of compliments on the quality of the fillets as well as the lack of meat left on the frames when I'm done.

I honestly don't really get having a fancy fillet knife, when any long blade can get you nice results.  It's more about focusing on becoming a better filleter, IMO.

I'm just hoping enough fish are caught to feed the masses

No worries, bro!   

My secret to catching rockfish and lingcod is to troll for halibut. It works every time!

Not to give up too many 'trade secrets', but...  this.

Getting all geared up and looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Safe Travels and see y'all at The Cove on Friday.

 

What's the best link for a forecast for the cove?

Right here, sir!   

NWS has consistently shown this type of call over their past several forecast iterations:

FRI
NW wind 15 to 20 kt. Seas 6 ft. Wave Detail: N 6 ft at 6 seconds and NW 3 ft at 11 seconds.

FRI NIGHT
NW wind 15 to 20 kt. Seas 7 ft. Wave Detail: N 6 ft at 6 seconds and NW 4 ft at 13 seconds.

SAT
NW wind 15 to 20 kt. Seas 7 ft. Wave Detail: N 6 ft at 6 seconds and NW 4 ft at 11 seconds.

Here's one of my "trade secrets", that I try to pass on to others in many stories that I've written about Shelter Cove days where I was freaked out about going forward with a guide trip in the face of a forecast for 15 to 25 knots with gusts to 35 knots, north or NW.  Whenever you see the swell call at a pure N, as opposed to NW, the Cove has a high likelihood of being sheltered from the significantly higher sea state that's being generated by offshore winds.  With the swell itself only being 3 @ 11/4 @ 11, and the "Wave Detail:" first number being a pure N, I'm confident that at least the morning will be fishable.

When it blows all afternoon offshore, the sloppy seas will often linger into the next day, no matter how calm the wind is in the morning.  That type of scenario is what I'm expecting - fishable mornings with somewhat sloppy water off the point and out at the Whistle, and the wind may or may not come in to the point Friday or Saturday.  Fog is likely, but sunny and warm sound great!

It's the Cove.  Bring your game, expect a challenge, enjoy it all!   

Looking forward to seeing everybody.

Do you have sonar?  If not, then get it.  A basic unit is only around $100, and it's about $30 for a battery and another $30 for a charger.  Fishfinders are easier to install than you might think.  The information provided by sonar is a gigantic advantage in this sport, and having depth is also a crucial safety factor when fog, current, wind and lack of mapping have you wondering about your exact location.

Trap rig with the two J hooks is the way.  I tie my own with 1/0 hooks for salmon, and I'm less picky about hook size for other targets.

I like to fish shallow and avoid barotrauma in my catches, but it depends where you're fishing - some places it feels like you have to get a bit deeper to have better odds of catching. 

Fishing by rocks that are visible is a way to find some rockfish, but it's also the case that everybody and their uncle who's fished there without sonar has gone right up to every rock that shows.  Finding reefs that don't have landmarks above the surface, pointing the way to hard substrate, are generally better places to fish.

Jigs, irons, shrimp flies, leadheads...etc. are the typical go-to hardware for dedicated rockfish and lingcod anglers, but they don't catch as many salmon, halibut or threshers.  Some days the 'conventional' gear does better than the trap with bait - especially for more variety in the rockfish, but most days the bait and trap will outfish most of the other stuff, for overall variety.  It's all about the potential to catch something better.

If you have sonar, make it a point to stop getting snagged so much!     ALL snag time = lost fishing time.

Good luck.