Went fishing w/o yak

I'm burnt from way too much storm related work in the past 4 weeks--it was sooooo therapeutic to be on a rock today.  I fished the minus tide at an old favorite that we used to fish pretty often in the pre-yak days.  I was surprised to see that a huge sandstone section of the rock had caved in to the best fishing hole and filled it!     I fished the outskirts of that but couldn't find more than about 1.5'-2' of water.  It made me think I like these brutal regs to actually catch 5 fish in 45 minutes!  10 years ago it was hot like that, but then about 6-8 years ago the long-line live-fishers came in-shore, forced off the slope by fed regs, and they took so many cabs and sea trout (greenlings) that I'm sure that's why the regs on them are so tight now.  Anyway, I have been doing better off the rocks in the past couple of years after a few years of un-heard-of skunk trips.  Today I caught 2 olives--both around 1.5#, released; 1 black rockfish--around 3#, released at the end; 1 sea trout (kelp greenling, female), 14", swallowed the hook; and for the capper right at sunset and right as I was thinking "a cab has got to come in for this ab gut...", an 11# cab!  It was a great fight.  All from 1.5'-2' of water right in front of me--that's what it's all about.

WOW Nice one!!!!

could you let us in on your secret fishing hole?  just general vicinity would be OK.

Location:  Pacific Ocean...     OK, I'll be more specific:  A couple miles south of Cape Mendocino.  I have been fishing and diving over there for about 15 years.  There are some good spots, and there are lots of not-so-good spots.  I would have to look back at my journals over the years to figure how long I've been yakking there--I think it's about 7 years.  At low tide I have a great rock that I yak to and fish off of--I can wade to it at an extreme minus tide, so is that legal?  I already figure the answer is contingent on how uptight the warden is...  I've only been checked by DFG over there twice over the years.  Yesterday I was just on foot.  I see it like this:  if I have all my gear on my boat and I paddle to a rock I could walk to, my boat is just packing my gear...  If I actually waded to the rock and towed my boat behind me it would probably be seen as using my boat to fish.  This is so lame.  I have never been one to shout out support for my, biased side of a matter, but here I will:  boaters without engines/people boating under their own power should be able to go fishing in the ocean any time that people from shore or divers from boats can go fishing.  To figure in any way that yak-fishing is depleting resources significantly over shore-based anglers and divers is ridiculous. 

Agreed, Abking.......but I'm glad I don't have to try to beat your 11# Cabezon!............

wow! how do you prevent getting hung up?

I'm fishing literally at my feet.  Look at the photo (I've been trying to post this with the photo and it's stalling out--look for photo in next entry).  I put my line with weight at the end, two hooks about 10 and 18" above it (rockcod rig) right out where those ropey kelp things are.  We're talking right in front of me in no more than 24-28" of water.  I had to lay the rod down with the tip in the water and leave slack line to allow both baited hooks to remain out of sight--the water vis was about 2-3 inches...  Once the ab gut and anchovy chum got out into the surrounding water I got one fish after another.  I've had similar experiences.  Back when I was just getting hooked on rockfishing my dad told me on multiple occasions:  "you only need about 3' of water to catch a cabezone."  I never really listened until one summer when we were camped down past the Punta Gorda lighthouse.  I was fishing off a nice rock that accessed some deeper water (4-6').  I was casting out into a kelp bed.  I kept losing gear.  Meanwhile, I was washing my hands at the foot of the rock after each time I baited up with ab guts.  Finally, after losing a few riggings, I said, "screw it, I'm going to put my bait in right here where I've been washing my hands" - it was about 2' at the most.  Me and my buddy Jim proceeded to catch 6 nice fish in a row at the foot of that rock in 2' at the most.  Ever since then I've looked for spots where I can drop right into 2-3' of water, chum it with a few hookfuls of slimy ab gut, and often I'll have excellent results.  It's a fun kind of fishing, but you have to expect several skunk trips per year if you go much.  I had 4-5 trips out of 19 this year where I was skunked from the rocks.  Sometimes the surge, tide, or other factors such as bait or tackle failure will de-rail you... 

I've been trying for a while and can't attach the fishing spot shot.  I'll try from work where I can shrink it down...

Rather than create a new post I'll take this opportunity to share my 2005 compilation since I just put it together from last year's journal.

12 abbing trips - 18 abs.  8 out of 12 trips by yak.  Three 10"ers, 2 by yak.

Not much Dungeness crabbing - 2 trips, kept 4/6 legal Dungies...

Rockfishing from shore - 19 trips, 27 caught, 13 released.  Kept 2 blacks, 4 greenling, 1 cabezon, 7 olives.

Spearfishing - 3 times, speared 2 blacks one day.  Hit and lost the big black another day!

Yak-Fishing - 13 rockfish trips.  219 caught, 165 released.  Kept 35 blacks, 1 cab, 8 lingcod, 3 reds, 7 blues. 

Lingcod - caught 38, released 30.

Salmon - 3 trips by yak - kept 21.5# and 10.5# kings from Shelter Cove in July.

It was a great year, but I don't have the species-range that Sean and others have.  I think the Angler of hte Year competition is great and looks like so much fun, but I can't do it because my wife would catch on that I'm branching out into so many other species!  I will be audience and enjoy it.  I extend this offer:  anyone from this board should contact me if you're coming this way--I'll do my best to hook up with you personally or hook you up if I can.

Thanks for the offer, abking.

Since I too do 95% of my fishing in only the ocean, I am aiming for one of the species bests.  I wonder if I can justify taking a drive up there to get my winning cabezon!

Pat

so many species, so little time,  . 

Wow! 

Awesome numbers!

I just moved back up not long ago from Shell Beach,Ca..  Theres a great reef right off the shoreline rocks down there that you can fish the same way.     

Eric:

Thats plain awesome...gotta try that!

Hi, Abking. I am wondering that Mindo coastline bears the same regulations as that of San F areas. This is, rockfishing season is closed until July. Lingcod season is closed from December.  If not, can we fish in Mindo coast during this period? That sounds fun. 

eric, nice sturgeon you caught!

the regulations for shore fishing and boat fishing are different.

you should read them for yourself, but note that abking was fishing from shore, not from a yak.

best,

j

Yep open year round for share based anglers and divers.
There is even a cool picture this year helping us to tell between a canary and a vermillion....