Cape Mendocino - 7/21

Couldn't resist the opportunity to yak offshore at the Cape again this morning.  Slept in til 0615, checked the buoys and contemplated until 0700, hit the road by 0710 and on the water by around 0815.  Choppy conditions, but the predicted 5-10 knot south wind was light to 5 knots.  Got out past the kelp bed and jigged a fast south to north drift.  Right off the bat I got a good adrenaline rush as I saw a dorsal fin 30 yards outside of me!  I quickly realized it was dolphins, and I welcomed their company.  Got a couple of pics of them surfacing 40-50 feet away, then after I put the camera away two of them buzzed me, surfacing and blowing about 8-10 feet behind me!  I jigged an 8" plastic in yellow and had a ling to the boat pretty quickly - ~30"er - and it popped off as I was reaching to do it myself.  After that it was slow and hard fishing due to the hard drift and increasing south winds.  I lost two 6 oz. leadheads to the reef and had a few heavyish fish on over the hour or so.  I needed to get a few fresh fish for the in-law's annual Fortuna rodeo barbecue today, so I used a shrimpfly then a smaller (3.5 oz.) Megabait to quickly boat the makings for our feast.  Had to head out in order to make the rodeo parade by noon.  My 7 year old and her friends have a tradition going:  egg/milk dip, panko/breadcrumb coating, build up trays of meat for the fryer(s).  They're good workers!  (I only paid them a buck apiece!)

Nice.  Great looking kids and they are obviously having fun!!

nice fishin for food Eric. Did you do any in-shore fishing near the rocks?

Great shot of the dolphin, I can NEVER get their picture.

Did you do any in-shore fishing near the rocks?

No, Hawk.  I tell myself I'll stay near shore when I'm solo, but when I get there and it's sweet I get all wrapped up in going out to the reef.  I'm gonna have to force myself to stay near shore one of these times though, since I hardly ever catch a cabezon outside - need that AOTY score!     Actually, I'd be content salmon fishing for the rest of the year.   

Eric