santa cruz 6/19- one nice rf

    Saw a bit of bait break surface on the way out of the harbor about noon.. Fished a few hundred yards outside the black point buoy for a nice brown rockfish,caught on a feathered jig with a bit of squid in a hoochie.. Fished 2/3 of the way to the mile marker and that rockfish was about all that happened entire. Nice and cool out there though. Saw birds swimming and diving outside black point kelp on way in.
    My seat strap broke with  a loud snap as all the attaching threads broke at the same time. Thought I'd broken a padeye. I bought the seat in august 2006,  I push back   to get my butt off the deck for  a while(the kayak blues), not what it is designed for I guess. Now I've got a lot of sewing to do.
   Included a few Watsonville fire pictures taken about 5 o'clock.

Ha! Those are sweet pictures of the fires. Could see them clearly from Monterey too. Thanks for posting those.
And thanks for the report too!

I was at the fire on Friday...It sucked!

I was returning from Monteray w/ the family when @ about 1:30 pm we saw a fire along the road. it had spread about 30x30 ft and was into the trees. we thought WOW, that sucks.......Then about 100 ft down the road we saw another spot fire, not as big though, but headed for the trees as well.

As we drove north we saw where some Asshole had set fires every 100 ft or so along the road. the spot fires were progressively smaller as we drove. Two other people had pulled over to call 911.

The last few fires were only about 10x10 and hadn't gotten into the brush, but what could I do?.............. I had eight hot spots to deal with and here I am in my shorts and sandals...no tools to work with.

All those homes and animals.............Well the fire sucked!

Slammer

I was at the fire on Friday...It sucked!

I was returning from Monteray w/ the family when @ about 1:30 pm we saw a fire along the road. it had spread about 30x30 ft and was into the trees. we thought WOW, that sucks.......Then about 100 ft down the road we saw another spot fire, not as big though, but headed for the trees as well.

As we drove north we saw where some Asshole had set fires every 100 ft or so along the road. the spot fires were progressively smaller as we drove. Two other people had pulled over to call 911.

The last few fires were only about 10x10 and hadn't gotten into the brush, but what could I do?.............. I had eight hot spots to deal with and here I am in my shorts and sandals...no tools to work with.

All those homes and animals.............Well the fire sucked!

Slammer

Sorry to highjack, but those sorts of fires are often caused by someone's wheelbearing burning up and throwing sparks, esp. on a trailer, as you can't always hear the racket a burning bearing is making!!!!

Rustic Andy

i see why you are called "rustic", rod/reel combo looks like a museum piece!

i see why you are called "rustic", rod/reel combo looks like a museum piece!

you got the wrong dude there chris. rustic andy is not the poster, that is casey.  but I noticed that item too,  . well, its been proven time and again that you don't need the latest in gear to catch a fish!

My strap pulled off too, after I re-sewed it, I smeared some Goop on the stitches that my life jacket rub against to help keep it from happening again.

oops, might have to call him rusticcasey7.  that gear reminds me of an older eccentric kayak angler from linda mar.   i think his name is john, he uses a 3 foot rood, a penn squidder and octopus for bait.  as i recall, he paddling skills were excellent.

I liked those photos.  The fire of course is horrible, but I think great pix. Paddling a yak after popping ones seat I know not to be much fun.  Hear is what my "friend's" say to me when that happens. "1 800 Jenny." Or, one of my favorites, "mix in a salad". Bet you would of had some more nice Rockies if your back support did not let you down.  I'm sure you have solved the issue, and are ready to go again.
Tight lines.

  That reel is a penn 85.  Not vintage, rather, an "oldie but goodie". I think you would have to spend a lot of money to get something comparable that is new. I love the drag on it, now if only a fish would give it a run again soon.

   I fixed the seat with sail thread, and now the repair is the strongest part.If you buy sail making needles, go online. I bought inexpensive made in China ones , and they are cheap in more ways than one.
 

Cool report - too bad about the fires.  I like the oldie but goodie gear.