Stillwater Cove, Carmel 10/22

Launched in the fog at 8:15 or so, water was a bit bumpy but not too bad.  Took my bearings so I could find the beach if it got too rough before the fog burned off, and headed out.  Fished inside the cove for about 20 minutes without luck, so I decided to be brave (foolish?) and head out further.  Made my way around the kelp beds on the northwest side of the cove until I hit open water.  With the visability around 150 yards, was kind of spooky...2-3 times I thought that the pelicans floating on the water were fellow yak fishermen.       The fog sure distorts your perception.

Anyhow, went west out of the cove and fished the kelp in front of the big castle-looking home that's outside the cove on the right.  Didn't realize it until the fog cleared a bit, of course.  Caught a couple of blacks and a pretty female greenling, but it was still a bit slow.  As the fog cleared I noticed a bunch of bird activity further north, so I pulled up and peddled over.  Ended up in the middle of a WFO rockfish mosh pit...blues and gophers jumping out of the water left and right (looked like gophers at least, they were brown).  Caught about 5-6 fish within 5 minutes and lost another 2-3 at the surface.   

The bite slowed again, and since the fog had cleared a bit I headed out across open water to the kelp beds that lie about 3/4 mile (? - no GPS) straight out from the "castle".  There was a charter dive boat on the north end of the patch so I stayed on the far side to give the divers some space.  As I peddled in the birds started diving again, and once more I was elbow-deep in blues & blacks.  Caught about a dozen pretty quickly, lots of doubles.  I was having a hard time keeping them off long enough to get deep, but eventually managed to hit bottom.  Then things got interesting...

Had a solid hit, stronger than the rockies I'd been catching.  Pulled up a 23" underling with gorgeous coloring.  Let him go and got back through the rockies again, when - WHAM!  My pole doubles over and the yak leans noticably to the left (that's port, right?).  I started thinking "Holy crap, did I snag a diver?" when I feel serious head shaking and my drag starts to spin.  So I begin a 10 minute battle to get this beast to the surface, all the while thinking to myself "I don't know what this is, but it's definately the biggest thing I've hooked...ever!"  I pulled and pulled, but it didn't want to budge.  I would have thought I'd snagged bottom if it didn't make an occasional run, taking back what little line I'd managed to reel in.  I tried loosening the drag a tiny bit in an attempt at wearing out my prey, but it's just shake it's head and run even more.  Finally, my lack of patience (and inexperience) got the better of me, and I decided to tighten the drag and try to muscle the bugger up.  That lasted about 30 seconds, then the line goes "twang!"     Broke off my brand new leader right below the swivel, taking my lures with it.  (If anyone catches something big out there tomorrow with a pearl split-tail grub and a bucktail hanging from it's mouth, at least let me know how big it is!)  I would have cried if I wasn't cursing and trying to retie my next rig.  Lingzilla or monster halibut, it would have been the first legal size I'd caught either way. 

In all, a good day nonetheless.  Got off the water right before noon, just as the wind was picking up.  C&R for most of the rockies, brough 4 nice sized ones home for dinner.  Only saw one other yak out there the whole day, a couple of guys in an orange tandem who stayed in the cove all morning.  Didn't get close enough to see how they did tho.  And of course, there was an accident in front of the flea market on 156 that backed up traffic for about 45 minutes.  I have the worst luck with that drive!

Heh Rabbit,

Good to hear that the rockfish are still having a nice summer and it sounds like the lings are moving back in.  I was shocked to see how foggy (on the web cam) Stillwater was when it was beautiful clear up here at the house.......just 7 minutes away.