Bean Hollow 6/13 - Non-Swim

First of all I would like to say Bean Hollow is not for the weak!! If you turn your back on mother nature she will eat you up!!!!!:smt009.... Had A great time on the water with some great guys. Wasnt as productive for me as I wanted, cause I was paddling with A hurt back. .. Headed in after around five hours on the water. Here are A few pics I took. I will be back!

Man what a great time!

I was there with my cousin Adam, who's in town on his way home to the Seattle area after motorcycling all over South America...  Thanks to everyone for making him feel welcome, (as I had no doubt would be the case).

Not much to report, fishing-wise...  First fish was a FAT 23" cabby that I thought for sure was a ling at first, due to the size.  Released, since it seems like good karma to release the first one of the year.  Then I picked up a nice 22" verm, and after that things slowed down so I headed in. 

Did have a monster ling on for a minute but it snapped my freshly tied 25lb line at the knot, (had to be teeth).

Headed in to the shore and things were perfect, like that last pic...  Too perfect, I was thinking...  so I decided to wait for a set to come thru as I paddled in place about 20 feet from shore...  and it did!  A wave broke 10 feet behind me and knocked me off the drifter...  I thought I had everything secured but when I hit the beach someone asked about my rod...  it's right there in my kayak... It's not????  Swam for it, and Andy tried snagging it, but eventually it just washed up on shore, (see Al's reclamation pic)...  Luckily it's the Penn Seaboy reel, no bearings...

But the best part was just chillin and bbqing on the beach with a good group of friends... laughing, eating, and just being content knowing there was no other place we'd rather be.

Yeah! Fishing was slow for opener but great time and fun crew... as always. Thank you all who brought some chow. Andy, nice chow setup, Bro!

LL

Dinner shot:

Dinner shot:

That dont' look like BBQ to me...

Glad u got your pole back.....

What WX for the opener WE ALL got!!  That 3 ft@15 seconds would slap you good, if you did not keep your head on a swivel!
Great to be at the Bean, Greater to meet up with the Beaners(no offense Andy) and the best of all?.....the pasta salad bigwavedave made(thanks for saving me spoonful Ariel) We launched at 7am and returned after 3pm= a full days work.

We got more than drizzle, it was Real_rain!  and although it was slow, it was a much needed fix and salt-rehydrating session for me......it was a long six months of chasing samrt fish, now i get to fool me some(more my speed) DUMB FISH!!.......LifeIsAsGoodAsItCanGet!!

See you boys at the next beach lunch!

wtg Al,

I'm glad your doing enough fishing for the both of us.  I miss it, I need to get in the water.


Johnny

It was a fun season opener with a bunch a great guys.  I lucked into a 33 1/2 ling, a big grass rockfish, a small cabbie, and other assorted rockies.  Most were small blacks, chinas, and gophers.

Fishing is typically slow early in the season, but sadly, I've seen the quality steadily decline since I first started fishing the Bean about 4 years ago.  Back then, there were lots of big reds and big cabbies.  I notice a lot more boaters (launching from Princeton Harbor) fishing the Bean and our favorite spots are getting hammered.

Timing the launches and landings at the Bean can be exciting.  The SW swell produced some big sets.  I followed Adam in and got a kick watching him.  Adam made some smart decisions like turning around and heading back out of the cove and waiting for the last of the large sets to pass before making his move to the beach.

I just wished I got back to the beach sooner to partake in the fun and food at the beach with guys.

Thanks for the report Al and of course some great pictures. Your fishing report is
almost similar to what happened at Ft Ross. Some caught some fish and some
not so lucky like myself.

Eric, I'm glad you were able to get your rod back.

Congrats on that nice size ling Chuck.

Jedmo

Timing the launches and landings at the Bean can be exciting.  The SW swell produced some big sets.  I followed Adam in and got a kick watching him.  Adam made some smart decisions like turning around and heading back out of the cove and waiting for the last of the large sets to pass before making his move to the beach.

I just wished I got back to the beach sooner to partake in the fun and food at the beach with guys.

I got a piece of meat from the kabob too....We should have came in earlier, but it's hard to paddle away from such sweet conditions........it looked like all that south swell had passed, so i began to paddle hard for the corner, i looked up over the rocks and saw a dark ledge buiding on the horizon(my surf skillz surfaced) and i u-turned and paddled harder to escape the Sure-To-Flip-Me Sets that hit and rolled all the way into the shore.
Eric~ you are getting quit the experience at the Bean.....glad it was minimal(i would still be telling the story to anyone who listened)

The Good'Ol Bean days are over.......we better go find a new spot!

Eric, I'm glad you were able to get your rod back.

heh, the rod is fine but the reel...  I opened it last night and as you might imagine there was a lb of BH sand in there.  That's a tough reel, though, burly inside like a Jigmaster and it will be back!

My dump was just a minor one, it was refreshing actually.

Everyone was eagerly waiting for more crashes later on but I said, "Nope.  Ain't gonna happen.  Everyone still out there is a PROFESSIONAL!" 

Fishing is typically slow early in the season, but sadly, I've seen the quality steadily decline since I first started fishing the Bean about 4 years ago.  Back then, there were lots of big reds and big cabbies.  I notice a lot more boaters (launching from Princeton Harbor) fishing the Bean and our favorite spots are getting hammered.

I agree, even in the 2 years I've been a regular the quality of fish has dropped.  The reds seem to have borne the brunt of the pressure.