Shelter Cove - 8/12/21

I met Omar back in April when I was gearing up to paint my house.  He's part of the quality crew of employees down at PPG in Eureka - check them out for your paint and supply needs.  It turns out that as the paint mixes, community happens.  Omar engaged me about my Nor Cal Kayak Anglers t-shirt, and next thing you know we're arranging to book a trip where I'd take he and his buddies out for their first time kayak fishing the ocean!

We got our date in ink, and every time I saw Omar over the next few months, he would show me gear or ask questions that would help him to prepare for the trip.  I was stoked to have a guest show this level of enthusiasm, and it was cool to get to know Omar more before our day together - he even turned up at a job site where I was helping to paint a place in Eureka so I could check out a rod and reel he'd found at a sale. 

Omar used these opportunities to his advantage and ended up showing up for the trip with the right gear and an amazing attitude.  He'd brought along his bro-in-law, Liam, and another good buddy, Logan, and the three of them were so primed for an adventure on the water.  The weather cooperated completely - super flat conditions with no wind, and the fog lifted just enough to not need to use any navigation tools.

We joined a pretty good sized fleet for a Thursday and trolled the inside hoping for early chrome.  Liam scored first with a keeper lingcod, and then Omar was on one.  With only a couple salmon caught around us for the first hour or more, I felt our turn to get bit was due.  Then Omar was on!  I got up to him as he carefully fought what was a nice Chinook of over 20 pounds.  It made some runs, and he was keeping the pressure on, but about 5 minutes in the fish turned toward us, spit the hooks and took off!  It's a heartbreaking moment for sure, but Omar took it in stride and was stoked to have fought such a nice fish.  I get him baited back up, and he's almost instantly on another one!  This one went to the surface and peeled out in multiple directions, and, sure enough, it was a coho.  I leadered it up for the pliers release and we got going again. 

After another hour or so of hoping for another bite, we decided to move on to the reef for some faster action on the rockfish.  Our group got what we were looking for - the guys enjoyed a nearly wide open bite on blacks.  I stopped fishing and just sprinted back and forth baiting hooks, tying leaders and processing my guys' catches as they built up 2/3 to 3/4 limits on rockies.  We'd soon head back in for a another chance at a salmon and maybe a halibut, and their last rockfish slots were open in case a nice one showed up on the inside.

On most of my multi-guest trips there's someone who's catching more than the others.  This person is often deemed the "hot stick", and that would be Omar on this day.  He'd lost the big salmon, caught a coho and a lingcod early, and now he was hooking so many rockfish I thought I might run out of bait!  We had to basically drag the hot stick off of the rockfish grounds, but he ended up coming along willingly in the end because he wanted his chance at redemption on the salmon.

Back on the inside we were starting to feel the efforts of the day to that point - about 6 hours in, and it seemed that we may wrap the mission soon since the halibut didn't seem to be biting and no one was still trying for salmon in the area.  A few missed nibbles and a rockfish landed kept us interested, and then it happened - Hot Stick was on another salmon!

Omar had not just orchestrated this trip for his friends but he'd also made a friend of me just by being persistent and ebullient about our plans.  He'd made sure that everything on their end lined up with our agreement, communicated clearly, showed up early and was ready to stay late - always smiling and making others smile.  He'd fought and lost a brute and won the role of Hot Stick, and now he'd have his chance at not just redemption but the overall fulfillment that comes from thorough preparation combined with positive visualization and steadfast determination.  I couldn't have scripted it better.

As Omar fought his fish - me hanging on his bow and coaching him if he needed it, there was a tension in the air for sure.  Another lost salmon would surely lead to months and months of agony - I describe it as something that you think of every night as you lay down to sleep.  Lost fish stick with you.  But Omar has special powers - he knows how to overcome what may seem like setbacks by always finding the half-full part and not looking to fret over things beyond his control.  Omar knows how to engage life.

He played it well, and I was ready when he'd tired it enough to be lead into my net.  Omar had his king.  He'd share the fish just as we all shared the celebration, and I don't think it was lost on any in our group that what Omar had mainly shared with all of us all day - and over weeks and months leading up to it - was his joy and his heart.

This is another example of how mojo can factor in to fishing - especially salmon fishing, it seems.  And it's all part of the Magic of the Cove.

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Congratulations to Omar and the rest of the crew. It was great seeing you on the beach.

Those are awesome stringers of blacks too hell ya

Thanks for sharing. What a joy.
Recently heard it mentioned that salmon are special... have come to appreciate that more and more. Good stuff.. get em

Great write up as usual. Terry and I were watching your group when you were fishing out front and it looked like you were keeping busy. Keep up the good work and we'll do a trip later this season.

Great write up as usual. Terry and I were watching your group when you were fishing out front and it looked like you were keeping busy. Keep up the good work and we'll do a trip later this season.

Looking forward to getting back on the water with you and Terry.

What a great write up! Enjoyed the story!

Somehow missed this one!  But that's like finding a gem when you didn't know one was around!  Great (as always) report Eric!  Dang you do a lot for your clients!