Moss Landing 9/6

Well I finally have a working camera so it's time to start with the reports. I am basically new to kayak fishing (May 09) and ocean fishing as well. I have fished a ton of freshwater C&R for mostly bass though I have caught just about everything else.   

Went out today with my brother and tried for some halibut. Arrived at the north jetty at about 6:00am and it was foggy. So we took our time rigging up and it cleared up enough to launch.

The blurry brown things are sea otters.


My brother Adam in his pimped scrambler.

Drifted the whole time from 12-30' fow south of the jetty. We stayed on the flat that starts around the last set of the marine research buildings and fished it to about half way between Salinas River State Beach and Molera beach. Fished squid and fresh caught bait w/6oz sinkers. As far as the bait we caught mackeral and giant smelt on the good old sabiki. 



The smelt on top was huge. The bait tube is 3" in diameter.

Other than that a slow day no hali bites. The hunt continues...

-Tim

On my way to Monterey the a few days ago - 3rd? - I stopped at the bait shop in Moss to buy bait.  The counter man suggested I try for halibut just below and west of the Hwy 1 bridge, I had other plans, but it sounded interesting, tho the traffic rushing by would be annoying - unless I caught one.  I'd check the regs carefully before I did it.  And the current/tide tables.

Thank you for the nice report and pictures Tim.

I've heard that Monterey has Live Bait. channel 8 boat name HonkyTonk. or Royal Polarus Seafoods.  $30 for a half scoop, maybe could split it between 2-3 yaks???

On my way to Monterey the a few days ago - 3rd? - I stopped at the bait shop in Moss to buy bait.  The counter man suggested I try for halibut just below and west of the Hwy 1 bridge, I had other plans, but it sounded interesting, tho the traffic rushing by would be annoying - unless I caught one.  I'd check the regs carefully before I did it.  And the current/tide tables.

I've never heard of that but at this point I'll try anything. The only problem is that on a sunday there's way to much traffic and fishing pressure on the jetty(s) to really take a good shot at it. As far as regs everything west of the bridge is still fishable from the shore but I don't know about from the boat.  I've always thought about fishing the pylons of the bridge for rockfish but never tried it.

I've heard that Monterey has Live Bait. channel 8 boat name HonkyTonk. or Royal Polarus Seafoods.  $30 for a half scoop, maybe could split it between 2-3 yaks???

I catch it or otherwise use squid. I would think that keeping the bait alive from the bait shop/boat to the fishing grounds would be a challenge w/o an on board bait bucket.   

Great report and pics.   

You're lucky you went in the morning. I was paddling Elkhorn Slough in the afternoon, and the wind was around 30 knots. The incoming wind waves combined with the outgoing full moon tide to make some crazy standing waves. It was like whitewater kayaking in there.

I heard that the flaties are hitting hard between the SC harbor and the wharf again. I find that when the bait isnt around the pastics are the next best thing. I have always had a bite using a 6 inch clear curly tail grub w/ silver flake at the wharf  "still getting my gear ready for my first yak fishing episode". They love those things!

that is a beautifully done report. short,sweet and complete. thank you meat hunter.