Stillwater South November 5th

Sorry for the late report but I finally have ten minutes to pen this out. Woke up in my hotel around 6ish Thursday morning to find no wind and only 3' swells out at the buoy. Packed up the portable office, checked out and hit Stillwater again as I didn't want my last day of rockfish season to be a big blank.

When I got to Stillwater it was glass and still. Launched the Mini-X and headed to the right of the big rocks. Quickly picked up a nice black and put it on the stringer over the side of the boat. Was fishing for only about ten minutes after catching that fish when the kayak starts tipping over. I quickly shift my weight trying to figure out what I did to do this and here is a seal pulling on my fish clipped to the edge of the boat. I put the clip and fish and put them in the tank well behind me. The seal pops up about fifteen feet away and just stares at me. I beat my paddle on the water and shout at him only to get the metaphorical "two flippers up"  back at me. Decided to move a little more north and east towards the point.

I catch a nice grass then another nice black in around 75-feet of water. Hook another rockfish and it's about halfway up when the line suddenly goes straight right about 100-feet then no more fish. Thirty seconds later the seal pops up again with a big sheet eating grin. He’s not evenly remotely even cute anymore and I really want him to get close enough so I can smack the snot out of him with my billy…….

So now I decide go and fish closer to the point in the kelp in around 45-feet of water just off of a big house on the bluff. I hook a fish and start reeling it up. At around 10-15' below the boat I see it's an average blue and I can see my big shiny braid metal jig swinging below the fish. All of a sudden this big shadow appears below the hooked blue, slams the jig, and heads straight towards the bottom. I fish an Avet MXJ with 50# Powerpro and a 16# drag setting and it might as well be in free spool as this fish isn't even thinking about stopping. Desperate times call for desperate measures and I lock the spool up with my thumb hoping to at least stop it and maybe even turn Moby Dick’s head. No dice. Instead the rod tip dives into the water and starts making these “I’m going to break soon” popping sounds. I release the spool and it starts singing again until I feel the inevitable heart-wrenching “pop”. Whatever it was wrapped me up in the kelp and must have run the line over some rocks as it was the braid, not the leader which broke.

About this time, the wind starts picking up from the west and it gets snotty like the day before so I head in with my three fish and a haunting memory. Great last day of the season and looking forward to locking horns with Moby Dick again! In the slightly modified words of Rutger Hauer, “I NEED BIGGER RODS!!!”
Any suggestions/comments as to not let this happen again would also be greatly appreciated.

Sorry no pics as there’s not a lot of spare space in a Mini-X.

rob
jrsyboy

Nice that you can get out in the ocean prior to the storm.  Those seals can be a pain in the rear end sometimes!  Thank you for the report Rob.

Nice report!
Your tackle sounds appropriate for good sized fish. Sometimes you just can't stop them before they rock you, no matter what gear you're using.

wow thats the way to end the season, all fired up and chomping at the bit for a little payback, sorry about the seals, they definately can be annoying and a little aggressive sometimes, cameron

Gotta love the adrenalin rush anyway!  Great story.  I'm thinking that seal could've chomped your metal as it had already trained itself that you're like the local deli...  I know that when I hooked a seal (on a metal) it took off like a bat out of hell - I thought it was one of the biggest fish I'd ever hooked until I saw it surface.  Sounds like it certainly could've been a fish though - maybe a halibut?...

If you're like me you'll be able to bring up some vivid memories of that little interaction for a while - let it feed your future motivation rather than torture your past potential triumph.   

Dude those seals at Pebble beach are getting way too familiar w/the kayakers. I'm not even sure what you can really do about it. Damn furgabs!
Sounds like you might've hooked one of those mystery fish. Everybody loves a good mystery...maybe a huge freeswimming ling or a wsb lurking in the kelp or a hog sheepshead or ....

    This season I had a sea lion bump my yak right at my hip, where I've seen others hang their catches (mine are kept in the well),  and I've noticed the furbags have been following me a lot more this year, and other anglers have reported more such activity than in years past.
  Have they learned that kayaks =food, is it the lack of salmon, are there more sealions than usual (heard there were when dead young emaciated animals were found on beaches)?
    You did pretty well for such a short trip.    I was out friday off Lover's Pt, out of the reserve - didn't think conditions would be very good at SWS - but although conditions were great, I didn't get a nibble with even sure-fire methods.  I was going to launch at Coral St., and easily could have, but I could see by the swell and high tide line that I'd have little room for error on the return, and when I drove by there at noon, I was very glad I'd moved south, even if all I got was a pretty day on the water. Even at Lover's Pt, the landing was no sure thing, pretty unusual for that protected cove.
   

Good to see you on Wednesday, i almost went in on that day and your were right, I got the shit kicked out of me on the outside-then the bite came on so I had to tough it out. I had thoughts about going back on Thursday and now I wish I had. Dude, your mini-X looks too mini on you, sounds like you like everything small- your gear, your boat...    Glad to hear you did better on Thursday.
Cheers Mike

Rob, i had a couple of those out there two weeks back. I thought I had a monster Pacific halibut on or something. I was clearly being towed around and had the rod pumping on me, but line would not break or come in. I put it in free spool and whatever it was came off. The second time I went through it all again and thought maybe I just hooked bottom or some kelp, but them pump, pump. after 20 min, again free spool, feel a whoosh and reel in about 10 feet of line, with a heavy sigh I look over to see if anything is below me as the visibility was 30 feet plus. nothing there but man it got my heart going!

definitely not an expert, but doesnt the mystery fish fit the MO of a WSB?  A seal would come up for air.

Dude those seals at Pebble beach are getting way too familiar w/the kayakers. I'm not even sure what you can really do about it. Damn furgabs!

I'm thinking about dedicating one of my old paintball markers to "furbag deterrence duty"...

Sounds like you had fun despite those little bastards stealing your lunch.  Nice report!

e2g, did not think of that..maybe. I definitely gained line on the second "fish," hence it was only 10 feet below me, but it was almost all just dead weight. Do WSB put up a fight?

e2g, did not think of that..maybe. I definitely gained line on the second "fish," hence it was only 10 feet below me, but it was almost all just dead weight. Do WSB put up a fight?

never caught one personally but have heard they hit like a freight train then head for the kelp to wrap you up.  Once that happens, I would assume it would be dead weight with a few head shakes.