Salmon at Shelter Cove

Sorry, I'm guilty of not being in touch for a while--I haven't read many posts over the past few weeks, so all you So-Cal guys (south of Humboldt County) I hope you're doing well with the salmon, and congrats on finally getting your rockfish opener!  

I hit Shelter Cove last Saturday, 7/9, because I had some work down that way anyway, so I could get away with it!  I fished with my work friend, Kevin--set him up with a kayak and we set out to get a salmon having heard great reports on a beautiful day.  We got out about 1/2 mile and started trolling and Kevin announces 10 minutes later that he lost his bag of bait (anchovies) that I'd given him.  He was fine with bottomfishing right there.  I said, I'm heading out, and I was on my way.  I trolled to the whistler (about 2 miles out) and the boats there were bottomfishing.  I asked one boat where the salmon are and the report was spotty, running deep...  I had heard south of the whistler, so I did a loop in that direction.  Then the fog started lifting and I could see boats on the northwest horizon--it was the fleat, and I decided I must paddle there!  I trolled all the way out--about 3 to 3.5 miles from the launch (Scrambler XT).   When I got amidst the "fleat", I wondered, "are they mooching?  are they bottomfishing?..."  But as I got closer and right into them I realized that they were all trolling VERY slowly, with deep rigs on downriggers or lead ball release setups.  I had a small Deep-Six on with a flasher and double hook rig at 76 pulls.  I had been shallower at first on the way out because we heard they were shallow early, but then the boats I saw said they were deep...  So I'm at 76 pulls at around 3+ miles out and I decide to change to my other rod since it's rigged already with a larger size Deep-Six.  I set the first rod in my lap thinking, "I might as well let it mooch at 76 pulls while I rig the other..."  So I put a chovie on the other rod and lay it in my lap then pick up the active rod to reel it in, and there's a fish on!!!  It quickly goes top-water and shows nice color.  Powerboats in the area (hadn't seen any nets active sincie I'd been out there) were near enough to see all the action, and they were interested!  I hear one guy on his radio as I played the fish, "yeah, there's a guy here on a little boat that's got one on..."  I looked over at him and said, "iit's a kayak!"

So I land it, net it first try, beat it's head til dead, and get it in my hatch, and I'm like, "thank you, God!!!!!"  It was a rush! -- 21.5#!  

On the way in I trolled and landed another 10.5#er.  Still hadn't seen a net lift in the fleat, and the fish-counter guy at the boat ramp said my fish was the biggest salmon he'd recorded all day--they've been catching lots of 10-12 pounders.

It was so great paddling all that way and actually bringing home fish, and, I admit, it was so much more satisfying when I showed the power-boaters up in that timeslot!!!

If I wouldn't have had to hit that job sight I would have kicked it and picked up lings and rockfish too.

Shelter Cove can be awesome!

Nothing better than beating the PB'ers man! They where whipping us at Moss early in the season so it is time for a little revenge!  

AMEN!!! Nice catch!!!

How far is Shelter Cove from the Bay Area?

Shelter Coves on the southern end of Humboldt County, about 6 hours from SF. Its the southern edn fo the Lost Coast trail.
Well worth the drive.

Catching salmon is only sweetened by schooling the PBs...nice!