coral street 8/2

not much to report, got there early and launched with Nathan.  Two others came shortly after us, and Sackyak came a bit after that.  Sin Coast arrived at a very civilized hour. 

Nathan and I kept 5 smallish gophers and blues between two of us, enough to experiment with a new whole grilled fish recipe I had come across.

Nathans new Icom floating radio was a casuality of the day.  I noticed him paddling around in a pattern.  He realized it was gone but not sure when he lost it.  As we had been potholing in the kelp it was a lost cause.  3rd trip, $170.  Ouch.  Really a pisser as everything else is leashed, but not the radio

So just cuz it floats, doesnt mean you can see it.  Next time around, a big yellow float.  But then the radio doesnt need to float.  Cheap radio, here we come!

Yeah, that was a bummer about the radio! Lesson learned, I guess. After packing up, I had a good idea....we should paddled around making loud noises on our radios, hoping to hear ourselves in stereo from the lost floating radio! But alas, once the yaks are on the car, there is no turning back.
I paddled north towards Sackyak. Man it was foggy! I didn't paddle very far because of the fog AND mixed swell. That roller coaster ride was not fun. Fished from 10-12 for 6 assorted rockies. I caught 4 consecutive blacks, which I hardly ever see down here. They fought really well too. A gopher and black-and-yellow rounded out the day's catch. All released. The blacks fell for a 2oz blueback crocadile spoon (none of them touched the shrimpfly surprisingly). The gopher inhaled a shrimpfly and the B+Y took a chartruse 1.5oz Pline Pulse-raiser jig.
Made it home in time to get cleaned up, eat lunch, and hit the beerfest. Where I hung out with Gelbyak and his buddy Mark. Great to meet you Kurt! I had no idea there was so much to learn about beers.  When we go fishing together I'll have to make an effort to bring something better than my standard Coors Light....mmmmmmmm beeeeeer!

I had a good idea....we should paddled around making loud noises on our radios, hoping to hear ourselves in stereo from the lost floating radio!

I did try to call it as I looked for it, squelch etc but underwater, I think the sound is dampened.  I have almost got my $ out of this though, threatening a middle schooler with a giant rubber ducky float on all his equipment.   

hard to be cool like that I guess

sincoast, how did your fish your crocs? jigging or cast and retrieve somehow?

Oh, I have a very specialized technique that is specific to crocs. It is a jigging technique that utilizes the shape of the spoon. Those crocs have a concave body shape and produce a lot of wiggle.
-Drop it to the bottom and get the slack out.
-Give it 3-4 short firm jabs (yo-yo) as you slowly raise the rod tip about 18 inches (works better with braid). This causes it to look like a wounded fish struggling toward the surface. If done properly, the spoon should dart from side to side as it climbs vertically. This part is hard to explain. Maybe I need to make a video or something. This action often produces bites, but I do it moreso to draw attention to the lure.
-Then lower the rod tip fast enough to create some slack. This allows the spoon to flutter back down, again looking like a wounded fish. The rockfish will almost always hit it during the flutter drop, so monitor the slack for any type of inconsistency (slack stops going out, slack goes out too fast, etc). Lots of times, they grab it and swim away with it in their mouths. With most spoons (megabait, hexbar, etc), I like to maintain contact with the lure as it sinks back to the bottom, but the slack allows these crocs to get a nice flutter action.

Of course, I also remove the hook and attach a shortened hoochie trailer. And garnish with a chunk of squid. I haven’t used assist hook with crocs but they’d probably increase the bite to hookup ration for those fish that hit it on the flutter drop.
They are also killer lures to troll because they get a nice wide wobble that is efficient at kayak-friendly speeds. One of my favorite lures because of their versatility. I have a metal-only box for steelheading with about 20 Crocs and 20 Cleos, but they’re smaller than the ones I’m using for rockies.

My wife bought me floats for everything after I killed my 2nd cell phone. I met up with a mutual friend several days ago. I'll catch up with info when I see you. Hope to see you soon closer to home.