fall trip to Nor Cal from San Diego

Just got back from a trip up north for a friend's bachelor party weekend and not having been there in awhile, I decided to take a few vacation days, bring the kayak along, and visit some of my old haunts. I grew up in Nor Cal but have only started the fishing from a kayak madness since moving here in May. I haven't had much success down here except out in a PB for yellowfin tuna, so I was anxious to try some of my spots with my new craft. The fishing was mixed. I had some pretty amazing striper fishing, some very slow steelhead fishing.

The highlight was O'Neill Forebay. I arrived at about 4pm on a Friday afternoon and certainly didn't want to delve right into Bay Area traffic at that time on a Friday. Kayak fishing in 80 degree perfect weather was a much nicer alternative. While setting up on shore, I heard a couple splashes that I assumed were lures hitting the water from two nearby float tubers. It then quickly started sounding like it was pouring rain and I looked up to see about an acre of boiling stripers exploding on baitfish  in 6 feet of water. I quickly put everything together but some Jims in a powerboat blazed right up on top of it and it was over before anyone with a little more sense could get nearby. It really didn't matter though. In about a half hour, there were smaller groups of boils all over the place. I found a nice spot between two schools of boiling fish and had nonstop topwater action for about 2 hours until it was near dark. I only threw poppers and Zara Spooks and probably had about 50-75 boils on the lures and landed about 12 or so. None were huge but a few were in the 25" range. For my newbie kayaker status, these fish represented my personal best catches from my Marauder (I still haven't caught anything but barracuda and calicos around here).

After the debauchery of the weekend, I headed up north to the Humboldt Nation to visit some friends. The rivers were lower than I've ever seen them. I don't get many chances at fly fishing in rivers down here so l left the kayak out for this part. It was pretty slow. In two days, I managed to get one adult steelhead up to my feet on the spey rod. When it took off on its final run after seeing me, it bent the hook into an L shape and promptly unbuttoned itself. Oh well, at least I got to feel the wrath for a little bit. I landed one other "half pounder" about 18" and that was it. My buddy landed an adult with conventional gear.

On the way home, I stopped to see my parents and spent a last morning fishing SF Bay in the kayak. It was really fun to do some striper drifts in the kayak along the Marin Islands. I landed a couple barely keepers and called it a day after quite a bit of paddling. An anchor would have been nice.

All in all, a fun trip and I'm slowly gaining confidence fishing from these little plastic slay rides. Now it's time for a yellowtail down here. They've been alluding me all summer! Hell, for now I'll take a couple of these bonito that everyone seems to be nailing. See you guys out there on the water. The first photo is from some recent yellowfin action down here. I lost my camera so sorry for the blackberry photos for the last 2 shots - I only took a couple of one of the better stripers from O'Neill and the 1/2 pounder steelhead.

Jon

Hi SlayRide,
Sound like you had a exciting adventure back in your old fishing grounds. I try to go south at least once a year to visit my Sister and here family in Escondido but never had a chance to bring the kayak. I usually hang out at the beach and Piers and fish for serfperch a what ever bites!

Maybe next time i head down, I'll bring the Kayak and try the sport fishing. I would love to hook into one of those Yellow fin and or yellow tails.

Thanks for the report and pics.

Alex

  Great job on the report and pictures, very enjoyable!  What did you fool the stripers near the Marin Islands on, Rat-L-Trap or Jigs?   

Super report Jon!  Keep em coming, even if they are from a distant land.

Michael

Cool post! Your O'neill forebay account sounds tempting. I've always just driven past, but now with a yak it seems like more of a destination! Pic of steelhead with flyrod/line is classic.

When it took off on its final run after seeing me, it bent the hook into an L shape and promptly unbuttoned itself.

Hmmmmmm??? Just kidding.
Glad you had good time OTW. Thanks for the cool and timely report and pictures.

In the same kayak madness,

Danny

Nice write w/SWEET pics to accompany it......you were on a CaliMission!  Thanks for sharing it!

  Great job on the report and pictures, very enjoyable!  What did you fool the stripers near the Marin Islands on, Rat-L-Trap or Jigs?   

One on a Rat-L-Trap, one on a Yozuri Crystal Minnow.

Sick! Talk about a man on a mission.That's quite a road trip.