Report: Westport 8/29

Report: Westport 8/29 (about 30 mins north of Fort Bragg)

As mentioned, I'd been wanting to try out the fishing there for a long time (looks great on the maps and it's not fished much due to the challenging surf and distance from any boat launch) but even a 3' swell on this beach makes a launch and landing challenging. I don't know why I'm drawn to try new places so much, but I am.

Paul (123engineering on this board) met me at the campground office when it opened at 8am -- they let us in for the day for free because we're locals (or close enough).

Even with the super low swell (only 2', which is almost unheard of around here) the surf looked a little dodgy, as it's a relatively steep beach right on the ocean (no bay). It looked a little better a couple hundred meters to the north so we carted up there. I still managed to mess up my launch and got slammed by a wave breaking right on top of me -- I don't have a lot of experience with tough surf launches and it showed. Paul might have a video of this.

I regrouped and we got out there and tried and mostly failed to catch any sand dabs for bait.  Then we went for bigger game over some structure and Paul hooked into a nice ~25" ling.

We caught quite a few rockfish but nothing amazing in that way and I wasn't keeping any blacks/blues/etc. Caught a decent verm and kept him.

Then this happened: I got a nice one on -- keeper for sure -- feisty and I'm thinking ling -- get it about halfway up and the fight suddenly stops but now there's a lot more weight to the line -- I don't know what's going on. No fight, really, but a lot of weight and it doesn't feel like a snag. Just hauled it up and as soon as I saw the situation I told myself, "Do NOT f*** this up!" I'm looking at close to 5 feet of fish coming to the surface, as there's a big cabbie with my swimbait in its mouth and a much bigger hitchhiker ling latched onto its tail. Guided them both into the net, did some quick bonking to nullify any escape ideas, and safely got them onto the stringer: 21" cabbie, 35.5" ling. We've all had hitchhikers, but I've never had one quite like this.

We didn't get a ton of action on the day but it was nice to explore someplace new. Landed without incident, which was a relief. Would definitely go back but it's gotta be super duper calm.

James

Super job, great report! Good on you guys!

Great work!  A 35.5" ling hitchhiking a 21" cabbie is pretty awesome - my two favorite fish on one pull!

Also, very cool to chart new territory!  Always cool to check out new spots, and cool to challenge yourself in the process.

I had difficulty using a new kayak and fish finder.  Got one ling and 5 rockfish.
James did great.



Paul

Even with a great forecast that area can be tricky.  My brother and I have launched in that area. And we have also driven up there after seeing a great forecast only to find in reality the forecast was nowhere close and we would turn around and head south.  With a surf launch I like to wait until a breaker comes way up the beach and quickly follow it out and catch the next breaker. When landing I do the opposite and wait for a short breaker and then follow in with the next breaker which will land you further up the beach.

Gnarly pishin!! Cool outing.. The more you paddle, the more you internalize the glide & movements...