Stillwater South - 9/27/08 - Foggy and Slow

Hooked up with Flyaker for his second saltwater lesson and Sackyac who was also taking a friend out for a saltwater intro. Launched at 730AM with a slight breeze and small swells. Headed north and fished the kelp edges for assorted small-medium size rockies. Decided to try out some weedless lures I built and headed into the middle of a large dense kelp bed. I used a 4.5 inch magic swim shad and a 5 inch gulp jerk shad. The gulp jerk shad was the bomb and pulled 5-6 rockies and a cabbie out of the kelp. It was really fun and reminded me of fishing frogs for LMB except kelp is a lot harder to horse fish out of. The cabbie put up quite a fight in the kelp. The fog was intermittently heavy. The fishing in general was slow. No lings from any of the yak folks that I know of. Ended up with 3 gophers, 2 blues, 1 brown, 1 greenling and 1 cabbie. Lawrence hooked his first rockie with a fly rod.

Lawrence - thanks for driving and the cool streamers. Can't wait to try the leaches.

Etienne - good to see you in your old ride. Maybe one last trip south? 

Scott

scott, did you get any snags with the weedless rig?

I have used a weedless teaser before and that got hit pretty well. it was a sword tail anchovy looking plastic with a big EWG 5/0 worm hook in it.

John

scott, did you get any snags with the weedless rig?


John

John -

No snags at all and I was dropping through super heavy kelp. So heavy I had to manually open a hole throught the surface canopy. I use a 5/0-7/0 wide gap and crimp on a 1.5 oz rubber core (after removing the rubber). Fished it to 75 FOW. Got some super hard take downs also but couldn't stick them which is the problem with some weedless rigs.

Scott

I think you can rig a whole squid weedless too.

What is that orange fish? it's an amazing colour.

Hey Guys,

Sounds like a good day on the water and fun playing with different rigs and a fly rod (?).  The professor is experimenting, taking notes and prisoners/dinner...LOL.

Help me out with the use of a fly rod when the fish are in 75 fow.  Somehow the graceful flow of casting a fly line for a natural presentation loses it's purpose.  Now if it's because you want to fight a fish on light line and a fly rod...yahoo! let er rip.

Gary

Thanks for the report and the awesome pictures GB2. It looks like you guys got
lucky on the weather. Last time I was there, I was chumming the waters cuz
the swell was just to much for me.

Jedmo

Second time for Flyaker ? oh yea..now he is hooked
Welcome to the madness amigo.

It was another great trip for me, with many thanks to GB2 for shining the light on the Big Blue path for me, and showing me the way.  Also, thanks for the pics.   I brought a camera, but was so stunned by the beauty of the place and focused on teh fishing that i completely forgot to take any pics.   

That weedless rig of yours was indeed the killer that day.    I was amazed at how effectively it could wriggle right through that thick mat of kelp.   I keep replaying in my mind the 2 fish i caught on your rig that picked up the hitchhikers - the ones that buried my rod tip in a yoga-like position deep in the ocean, reaching under my kayak.    I tried my best to horse them out of the kelp as you told me, but the real battle was just to hang on to my rod and keep it from breaking or at one point from flipping my boat.   What an adrenaline rush!

Gary - Catching the blue on the fly was also a highlight for me - partly  just to know it could be done.   True, fly fishing for rockies is not the standard method, but i do enjoy casting a fly line, and I especially love feeling that solid take when the fish strikes while i am retrieving and animating the fly.   Since i bring the fish in hand over hand, not on the reel, and I use a relatively light 6/7 weight rod, i can feel every surge and headshake the fish makes.  The direct connection from my hand through the flyline to the hook in the fishes mouth makes the battle intimately personal.   I caught that blue probably only 8 feet under the surface.

Kayakito -  you are right, amigo, I am hooked deeply by all this kayak fishing stuff, more deeply than that blue rockfish i caught.

GB2 - on those leech flies i gave you, you can fish them on either a floating or sinking line, but if you use a floating line, I suggest a split shot on the flies nose to give the leech that dipping, swimming action fish cannot resist.

Great report, Scott - way to get your friends into the ocean and on the fish.   

fly fishing for rockies is not the standard method, but i do enjoy casting a fly line, and I especially love feeling that solid take when the fish strikes while i am retrieving and animating the fly.   Since i bring the fish in hand over hand, not on the reel, and I use a relatively light 6/7 weight rod, i can feel every surge and headshake the fish makes.  The direct connection from my hand through the flyline to the hook in the fishes mouth makes the battle intimately personal.

I like this alot, Flyaker.  Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm and skill.