Van Damme/Elk 08/16-17 Still Lingless.

M'Lady and I were up on the Mendo Coast this weekend, staying with friends in a vacation rental. We took the yaks and promised our friends fish and chips for Sunday night.
 
Saturday morning I went to Van Damme. The fishing was terrible. Swell was up and the buoy bell was clanging all morning so I stayed inside the cove for nowt but one big perch.  Back on the beach conversation among the ab divers ran from "this place has been picked clean" to "this place is guaranteed limits". The latter came from a bloke who was out and back within an hour. He was also the only one on a yak.
 
Sunday we went to Elk. I had always wanted to fish there ever since a shore fishing outing a few years ago when I spent a miserable morning fighting snags and kelp for nothing while watching a kayaker go out and come back with limits a couple of hrs later.
 
I should get the apologies in early. The first thing I did after launching was reach for the camera to snap a pic of the beautiful conditions. It was then I realised I left it in the car after a trip to a wine festival the previous afternoon. By way of compensation here is a pic of a pig from the wine festival.


 
It was FAC. Lake Elk. Dolphins everywhere, clear blue skies.  I pulled out my Fishunter Elk instructions (thanks again!) and off we went. Only for the Fishfinder to die 10 min from launch and Adams detailed instructions to thus become mere words on a damp piece of paper. So we just headed for where everyone else was; there were 3-4 boats out there, with more coming and going all morning ...........
 
All went well, I had 3 big Chinas aboard very quickly and M'Lady was doing very well at the edge of the kelp, including this big black
 

 
That was enough for Fish and Chips so I took off the shrimp fly teaser and focused on the Lings and, well, my lingless streak extended to 6 outings. My Lingluck was summed up by a conversation with a couple of fisherfolks who drifted by in a row boat. They were <15 feet away. I asked one if they had caught any Lings. He replied yes, one, how about me. I was about to answer when he got a bite. Of course you already know it was another keeper Ling.
 
Pushing both yaks up the hill was great excercise. I ran into another yakker coming down with a sit-in. He asked if I caught anything. I replied in the positive and asking him if he was going fishing. "No, I'm just going to paddle around and look, I'm not a taker". I was going to calmly explain my fishing philosophies and question his judgemental nature but he couldn't hear me; I guess it's hard when your head is so far up your a$$. 

We retired to Queenies for lunch and cold one. Chinas were great as Fish and Chips, blacks not quite as good.

Great report, that ling will come soon.

........."this place is guaranteed limits........

That's my experiance swiming off the beach at Van Damme.  I've pulled a limit out of there 1-2 times a year for many years.

Great looking PIG&Lady.....I'm evisioning a lake-like Elk, a piss'd off NorthEnglishman w/o a FF, fumbling with a wet-ink-running map of "X"marks the spot! and you getting some action at least.
.....maybe you need to switch your approach and target Chinas&Gophers with light-tackle.
aLINGwillSOONbeON!

Van damme still has plenty of abs, maybe a little harder to find a limit than it used to be, takes about 20 min instead of 10.

As a classic forgetter of the camera, the pic of the pig is appreciated, and the lady is a keeper. Nice fish too.

lingless this year as well,

dale

 

Abs are plentiful at VanDamme with a kayak. It is a lot harder to target lings without a FF they are so structure/baitfish oriented.

The lings will come. Great account of a vacation wknd, NB. Thanks for sharing.
PK

I'm likin' the report.  The ling will come when you least expect it to.

The roasted swine looks delicious.

Thanks all. I think i'm feeling the Ling pain more acutely because I lost a very large one in the kelp at Ross a couple of weeks back (I certainly wasn't expecting it then). I'm not complaining, I'm having a great time trying!

.....I'm evisioning a lake-like Elk, a piss'd off NorthEnglishman w/o a FF, fumbling with a wet-ink-running map of "X"marks the spot! ....

Yeah it was something like that, unplugging and replugging FF cables, turning it off and on, headbutting it in frustration, thinking well, he mentioned THIS rock, and.....maybe.....THAT one......so......ah sod it, I'm just gonna drop right here. Thankfully I hooked up first drop!

I've thought about bringing a roast pig to BAM but wasn't sure if it would be overkill, food-wise.

I've thought about bringing a roast pig to BAM but wasn't sure if it would be overkill, food-wise.

It was attempted at BAM II.....the outside layer was done, but the inside?
it was also rushed.

Hey Phil, if you catch a greenling- the bigger, the better- pin a couple of big hooks on it, tie it to a three way swivel, and send it down but up off the bottom, bounce the weight on the bottom and make some noise with it first.

I'm on it. I used a greenling-coloured/shaped curly tail for that very reason. Nothing beats live bait tho!

Nice report Northern Boy. Sorry about not having the ling,but you'll get one
soon enough. That roast pig is making my mouth water. Thanks for taking
pictures and sharing it with us.

Jed