Santa Cruz kayak outing

hi folks,

last weekend I got out on my second kayak trip in, uh.., 2 years.

anyway, here are some pics and notes.  I went with Fish Flogger, and khmunger.  scallen kindly lent me a yak (thanks, dude!!)  I brought a flyrod and conventional gear.

We saw otters, seals, sea lions, and a pod of porpoises came very close.

Deva all set to head out


Looking for bait outside Santa Cruz harbor. I end up rigging a sabiki rig to the end of the flyline, and catch 3 sardines in one go. 3 of them pulling down at the same time sure puts a good bend even in a 9wt rod


Keith in his paddleboat


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We paddle out and fish in and outside the kelp beds.   I had great hopes for the kelp areas, but didn't catch anything there. Keith got a couple of rockfish in there, and had something on that straightened out his hook. Sea lion??   I'm tossing a weedless fly in there, but nada.


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Deva looking for that halibut. I try fishing with bait too; Deva kindly gives me one of his halibut setups (large single plus a treble) and a sinker to give it a try his way, but I don't get any hits. Eventually I loose the entire rig to a snag and go back to the plastic fishtrap. I didn't like leaving a piece of lead down there. Hopefully I can get some stainless steel egg sinkers that heavy (3oz).


Keith gets snagged; at first he thought it was a fish. I paddled over fast to do photos.


Under-Ling


I catch a legal Cabezon. It spewed up a bunch of its breakfast in the yak, including a small octopus. Allen calls this my first proper kayak-fish. It got BBQ'd that evening.


Pretty out. Wind is picking up a little


Deva and his catch.

Cool report.  I like your style.   

Looks like you had a good time out there!  Thank you for the report and great OTW pictures.

thanks, guys.  A little risky on the camera since I don't have a housing for it, but a big ziploc baggie will do for now.

Great pictures!!!!!

Looks like a fun time OTW!!!

Congrats on the nice Cab...yummy!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!!

Sincerely,

Jim

Hey Lars! Thanks for the report. Nobody knows who Deva is around here, we call him Fish Flogger, wrong board I guess? .. Nice to see you got out on the water!

hehe, yeah I've known FF for a good long while now.  Dude, time for a beach outing, I think.

Nice pictures. That Cab sure looks like a sculpin, both are great eating.

hehe, yeah I've known FF for a good long while now.  Dude, time for a beach outing, I think.

Wow, wonder why I didn't see this thread sooner.

Uhhh ya....beach outing sounds like fun. Better late than never

-FF (Deva)