Fish Bay - 10/27

Earlier this week I saw a great minus tide approaching and that it was due to hit in conjunction with good conditions, so I invited two great family friends, Bill and Geoff, to join me on a hike to Fish Bay Saturday afternoon.  They accepted and I told them we'd hike a mile or so from the truck at McNutt Gulch south toward the mouth of the Mattole.  When my partners arrived at my place yesterday Bill asked about the tandem yak in the back of my truck.  I showed him my Roleez sand wheels and assured him that hauling the boat with some cargo on board would be a "piece of cake" - he had his doubts!  We headed over the Wildcat and past the Cape sharing stories and I gave history and fishing spot info as we passed many of my favorite fishing, beach-combing and abbing hangouts discovered in the past 15 years and more.  Bill, a hunter, spotted many deer and a grouse on the way over, and we saw a fox and fatty skunk on the way back.  We arrived at McNutt Gulch, loaded the yak and some packs and headed down the beach.  Bill's Geoff's dad, and was the senior member of our trio by 20 years+, so Geoff and I shared time hauling the Roleez-mobile, and we stopped a few times to look at the reef, check out shells, and get some photos by the beached buoy on the way down.  Geoff especially dug the cool buoy!  I caught some crap for my calculation of "about a mile" - which always happens when I force people into a sand trudge!     ...and we arrived at Fish Bay around 4PM.  The tide was dropping from an 8.4+ at noon to a -1.8 at 7PM.  We suited up to head out on the reef for fishing as the tide dropped.  Geoff grabbed his gear and announced that he'd beat us to the reef I'd pointed out by hiking to it through the channels.  I warned him of one chest-deep spot, and Bill and I got the boat loaded with fishing gear.  We dragged the boat over some seaweed covered rocks and into Fish Bay.  MAN, I love being in a yak on Fish Bay!  It's only a few acres of navigable water, if that, but it's a cathedral to me.  Bill and I paddled over to the reef, and it was his first time on a yak.  He's a surfer, so it came real easy.  We pulled up to the reef where I'd seen two locals catch a huge cabezon a decade ago, put our gear up on the rock, offloaded and pulled the yak up.  We were getting baited hooks in the water as Geoff made it out there.  I gave him a good ration of crap for thinking he could beat us out there!     As we fished the outgoing tide (not ideal!), Bill and Geoff both remarked on the awesome features and wilderness feel of Fish Bay.  We were all getting taps on squid, chovies, and some ab guts, but only Bill hooked up - 2 pound grassy.  I paddled back over to grab the last of the ab gear, my camera and other waterproof bag stuff, and a cold one, then headed back out, picked up Bill and delivered him across the Bay to start hunting for abs.  Geoff wanted to keep fishing for a while, so I geared up and joined Bill.  Plenty of people have picked abalone at Fish Bay in the years since the reef lifted up 3' in the big quakes of '92, and it was hard for Bill, a pure rockpicker (no mask, no weights, no fins) to find many abs as the tide wasn't out all the way yet.  I moved around the corner and dove in about 6' of water on one of my farmer spots where I located some old growth years ago and know I can always go back to.  The water was clearer than usual - 2-3' of vis!  That's unheard of at this spot, especially with the 10'+ tide change!  I really enjoyed the vis as I relocated an awesome crack with 9"+ abs lining it.  I plucked two 9.5"ers and headed back over to where Geoff was just getting in the water.  I pointed out some good spots for him to pick around and went over to hang with Bill.  Bill ended up picking a nice ab and passing on some others, and the really good opportunities for rockpicking were only showing up as we had to leave as it was getting dark.  We got dressed, loaded the yak back up, and hit the beach.  Walking back from Fish Bay to the truck in the dark brought back fond memories of doing so back in the day...  I still think it's only a mile or so!  Bill and Geoff were stoked to get a guided tour to somewhere they'd never been, and we all drank in the contentment from a hard workout on the beach, good time in and on the water, and excellent company - oh yeah, and another cold one at the truck!

 

When life-is-good......it's wonderful.
Yeah...
     Yeah...
          Yeah....

Judd

Super Bitch'in Eric! Looks like a lot of fun. Oh, so much time...so little to do....wait, reverse that!

CHEERS!

nice pics eric, those guys in the tide pool look like they lived there, like otters or something!

J

Yes they look like kelp critters there, totally at home. Looks like a great way to spend some family time. Great pics as always Eric.

..another one of AKs' great times out.  Well written and documented Eric. 
so that's where Santa spends his vacation time! ..in the kelp beds.