northern big sur 6/21

I got to fish with e2g, sackyak and sc x factor today in very little wind and very little swell. but some sunshine, some rain, and almost some lightning! we also had a reasonable RF bite.

the gophers were hard to avoid. any bait-tipped hook not moving too much near the bottom was attacked by the vicous gophers. the only hope was faster lure movement and no bait tipping.

for gopher relief I three-way trolled  a one-hook rebel and had a lot of fun with olives and a couple blues (and zero gophers!). a 24.5" barelyng hit a 4oz diamond jig after I found some structure while trolling around. a couple coppers hit my 7" swimbait while I was looking for larger fish. but also one very confident gopher,  . no verms for me but sc x factor got a few on his patented teaser trickery.

thanks to e2g for his muscles or my kayak might still be down the cliff. and to sackyak for leading us on this one.

abking, sackyak might have taken some pics. but since I was taken there with a blindfold. and had to fish with one too,  , I could not operate my camera very well.  we did find a temporary biffy, but nothing like the cap du nord facilities!

J

I as well was not allowed to photograph the adventure. All I know it was somewhere south after driving through parts of highway 1 on fire!. This was the first time in a yak that I had a killer whale come up nearby. I got a good look at him/her twice and heard him/her several more times. That sighting, lightning strikes and one of the brighest red/orange cabbies I have ever seen made for quite a day. I did'nt even get wet on the way out or in. Sackyak took some photos of the cabbie it as it was so unusual. No outhouse photos today although a quick hop over a fence and it was open to the public. Thanks to Sackyak for taking us to wherever it was. 

nice fishing with you guys.  J's yak reminds me of a wrestler I used to know, skinny as hell but super strong and HEAVY.  You look at the x factor and assume it will be heavy, but J's yak is so thin, must be light... At any rate SC X did most of the haul, I just grimace a lot

as we were coming off the water, I looked behind me to check the swell, and saw a lightning bolt.  Very glad to be off the water before it really got going.  Unfortunately as I was driving home saw a few fire trucks headed towards Big Sur, most likely to respond the work of the lightning.

nice fishing with you guys.  J's yak reminds me of a wrestler I used to know, skinny as hell but super strong and HEAVY.  You look at the x factor and assume it will be heavy, but J's yak is so thin, must be light... At any rate SC X did most of the haul, I just grimace a lot

as we were coming off the water, I looked behind me to check the swell, and saw a lightning bolt.  Very glad to be off the water before it really got going.  Unfortunately as I was driving home saw a few fire trucks headed towards Big Sur, most likely to respond the work of the lightning.

that yak was kinda heavy even before I put the cabelas 8amp-hr sonar battery in there, and the pool noodles, and the expanding foam experiment, and the cooler/crate on top that I never take off, and my fishing rods inside the hatch, and...  . good thing we had 400lbs of winch up there with you two big guys.

I have another scupper pro without all the stuff in it or a rudder and it is quite a bit lighter, but I'm used to that heavy one. maybe I should pack that 'come-a-long' next time!

J

If your not gonna post the locale ya has to post some pics!  Good effort there John, I like the trolling while looking for reef technique.  It says that your definately out there to catch fish and not just to gossip.   JTF

If your not gonna post the locale ya has to post some pics!  Good effort there John, I like the trolling while looking for reef technique.  It says that your definately out there to catch fish and not just to gossip.   JTF

this time I really did not have my camera, but I was wishing I did when the orca came through (perhaps sent by abking as punishment?  ) . I only was close enough to see the black back, but ken saw the white markings too! lucky guy, but he does not carry a water camera at all. etienne took a shore pic or two, don't know if he saw the orca.

Etienne saw the Orca and called it out to me. I was lucky enough to be closest to see the head, fin, white markings under, just no tail. It was only 100+- yards away. I saw it come up a second time but only a head shot. I know there are some photos out there it is just a matter of time till they are posted. The camera is on my birthday list but that is the end of October.

Thanks for the report guys! Orcas?! I'd love to see pictures of that. Not sure if I'd want to personally see that while kayaking though....
Did you guys lower the kayak w/ropes? Or carry them around the trail? I have always carried my kayak there. But it sounds like a lot of people prefer to use ropes. I almost went there Sunday but it was super windy. Had to retreat all the way back to the Monterey side.

OK OK I have the pics but none of the Orca.  I only saw the dorsal fin and I am glad that someone saw it better than me.  There were tons of cool looking little jellies out there.  Ken's red Cabizon was cool and we all had big stringers of rockfish.  The lightening show at the end was lots of fun.

We used ropes.  JTF, anytime you want to come down we can at least look to see if this spot is fishable.  It can have big breakers and very strong winds but it was not like that Saturday.

Very cool report.  Someone will get some cool orca shots or maybe even a vid sometime - I can visualize for now!   

That red cab is definitely more unique than any I've seen.  Maybe it was raised by verms?...

 

looks awesome, you guys had another killer time, sorry i missed out.  i'm down for saturday somewhere.

pj

Oh my gosh that red cabbie was the best fish of the season. Abking was right it was raised by verms. I caught it in 120' of water right after the biggest copper of the year and prior to a double on verms. We just finished dinner, my wife said lets have it frito like in Mexico. So I heated the cast iron pan with 1" of olive oil and proceded to pan fry it. Incredible with garden fresh broccoli and spelt (a type of wheat). I have to go back and try for anothe!