Hi all,

I'm up north for a brief time, visiting my daughter in Eureka.  For a variety of reasons I didn't bring the hobie this trip, but I did some scouting and a little fishing. Today I went north, did some fishing, but no catching ... but I do have scouting pics. 

This morning I had "brunch" with a local friend who's an avid fly fisherman.  He suggested I drive up 101 and take the turnoff to Gold Bluffs Beach.   So I struck out to check out the Lagoons, Redwood Creek and places north of the Mad River.

First, I stopped off at the Redwood National Park office on US 101, just north of Freshwater Lagoon. I  bought a detailed map of the area, complete with relief, roads, and trails.  They had one-page summaries of the "fishing regs" for Redwood Creek and Freshwater Lagoon so I grabbed those, too.  While there the ranger said the road to Gold Bluffs Beach was washed out so I scratched that off my list and drove up to Orick to check out Redwood Creek.

Redwood Creek - It was very high and very muddy, no surprise given all the rain.   I tried to drive down Hufford Rd. towards the mouth but soon realized it was no place for a Prius and managed to turn around on the narrow road.    Because of the rain there's a lot of water running across the road, draining from the hillside to the north. So I went back to the bridge and took some pix of the creek from the 101 Bridge and walked the banks.  It looks like an interesting place with parking near the bridge and good access for bank fishing on another trip, but not today.  It's obviously not a place for a hobie, but I wasn't expecting that. (See first pix. -- looking upstream while on the 101 bridge. 0221.jpg)

Freshwater Lagoon - I actually fished here today, briefly.   There's easy access and parking, but you need a boat (ramp at north end is easy), and I really wish I'd brought my hobie for this one.     It was so nice today, not like the two previous days.  There were two power boats and a canoe on the water.  I spoke to some them as they got out and they said they caught three trout on spinner baits.  I understand it's stocked by F&G.  I fished from the bank for a while but it's so shallow near the shore I gave up.  The two boats on the water appeared to be trolling out in deeper water.  This looks like a good spot, even for a yucky day.  (2 pix  0232.jpg, 0233.jpg)

Stone Lagoon - According the the Park Ranger, Stone Lagoon was about to breech near the south end.   My friend mentioned that, when it does breech, there's usually a steelhead run up McDonald Creek.   It hasn't breeched yet, but it does look imminent.   At first I tried a rather steep and narrow road labeled "beach access" off 101 near north the end of Stone Lagoon.  OOPS when I was almost to the beach suddenly there's way too much water to cross in the Prius and no way to turn around.    I had to back out, uphill on a narrow road.  (I took one dramatic picture looking south down the sand 0234.jpg) There's an easier access place on the south end, near the Stone Lagoon Visitor Center which was closed.  There's parking and a little boat ramp there.  I also clearly heard shotguns several times and I suppose someone was duck hunting but I don't know that.  I fished for a brief time at the boat ramp and then went on.  (See pix 0235.jpg, 0236.jpg)

Big Lagoon - The easiest access to Big Lagoon appears to be through Big Lagoon Beach and County Park.  There'a an exit off 101 for this. (see pic 0237.jpg)  It was getting on towards dark so I stayed in my car for this one.  There are easy signs off 101 that show how to get to the park.  There's a day use fee of $1.00 but there's an easy boat ramp and lots of parking.  I didn't fish it but it looks like an easy place to put in and fish. (see pic 0244.jpg)

So I've had a great time on this trip.  I've found some new places to bring my hobie next trip (June?) and I've learned a lot!  I'd love to hear from any local NCKA members who've fished these places and I really want to THANK the local members of NCKA who've written me offline, answering my newbie/tourist questions.  You guys are great and very much appreciated!!  VERY APPRECIATED!!!

I'n headed back to LA tomorrow. *sigh*

dB   (still a newbie with a hobie) 

This was great.  I showed my wife and her comment was -- "Truly this is fish p*rn."

My wife and kids bought me the Hobie Fish Finder Package for Christmas -- (yay!)    -- anybody ever install one in the little hobie, the Mirage Sport?  'cause that's the boat I have.   I will have to research how to do this.  I've never had a ff, ever.

 -- btw -- coming up to Eureka from SoCal this coming week.  Not sure if I will bring the kayak.  Convince me there will be something to do in Humboldt Bay from my kayak, besides freeze my **** off.

@ hamachijohn - Yes -- I'm usually targeting halibut when fishing Cabrillo.  For a while I was really good at catching short halibut there. I could catch up to three shorties per trip.  The shorties seemed to have moved out of this shallow water about a month ago, but I've not fished much the last 3 weeks.  I need to refine my technique to catch bigger fish. -- When I finally catch a legal one down here, I will send off sky rockets for sure! 

They are good to eat, though I prefer Calico bass.  There's a warning now about eating sand bass due to the high levels of DDT and PCB.  They used to warn only about tom cod.  I think if I caught I big sand bass in the harbor, and they do get bigger, I'd eat it.  We catch them on the party boats all the time.  I believe they still target them.  A lot of people, including my wife, are leery about eating anything caught in the L.A. harbor.

OK Here's that sunset pic from 11-5.  I won't make it out this coming Friday. I'll be up in Sacramento (fly up and back the same day).  I'll be looking out the window at the Sacramento River in the morning ...  But if the gods are with me I will be down here fishing on Saturday, probably out of Cabrillo again but I might go to King Harbor just for a lark. -- 11-5-2010 Cabrillo Sunset below.

I left out this part -- I actually took the FIRST lizard fish I caught, nose hooked it on a halibut bait rig, and dragged it around on the bottom for about 45 minutes.   It stayed lively the entire time, but no takers.  I've heard lizard fish make good halibut bait but not yesterday.

Another observation:  We had a 3.8 earthquake yesterday morning, epicenter very nearby Cabrillo. (Epicenter = North Long Beach on Newport Inglewood fault.)  Back when I used to fish the party boats frequently, earthquakes tended to shut down bottom fishing for a few hours ... anyone else observe that?  ANOTHER OBSERVATION - The harbor dredge was working closer to the ramp and nearby fishing area ... a real disturbance to the water and surroundings.  But it's been working in the vicinity for several months now.  It was just much closer.

re: going to King Harbor - I work over in Redondo Beach on Sundays, and checked out the launch site.  (I'm an oranist/choir director for my 2nd job). It looks to be both easy and convenient.  Since I'm done by 1 pm I've figured I could take the yak over on Sundays and fish out of King Harbor after church.  But I have not done that yet.  I got the boat in Mid August.  I've really only had it out at Cabrillo, and then Humboldt Bay, Mad River Estuary, and Trinidad.  I do need to venture further afield and there are LOTS of places down here to try.  I tend to fish Cabrillo most often because I'm grabbing a quick afternoon after work and want to hit the water quickly, not drive another 30 minutes.  Cabrillo is so close to the house and so inviting and I've seen legal fish caught from there.   I guess there's a thin line between persistence and insanity.

I think half the fun is learning how things work, reading the situation, learning what techniques to try. Having a place to post about the experience is definitely part of it too -- thanks to all who chime in.

dB

ps -- just for fun I did a google image search for lizard fish and found this one eating a sand dab

http://www.divebums.com/week/2009/Jul27-2009/lizardfish_tracy-clark.jpg