Otter Cove / Saturday July 21st 2007 , 9 am to 1pm / how to catch a predator...

My father in law arrived from Slovakia on Friday night and the following morning we were on our way to Garrapata for some rockfishing on the kayaks. We checked the area and it looked windy with some breakers out of the kelp beds. We opted to go to Monterey instead. i was feeling lazy and the haul down the cliff didn't look worth it. im the guy who will call off a location even if its really doable because i feel lazy.

Good we did as Monterey was calm and flat. Surface of otter cove looked glassy with the occasional boat wake coming inside. We loaded the yaks and headed down to the water. as we paddled out seals layed like bent potato chips on the rocks staring at us like we didnt belong.

We fished and paddled all over, headed south a bit, the gps tracked about 2.5 miles total and we stayed inside the kelp. its really thick and went all the way around coral street towards pt pinos. we hooked many many fish, i kept 4 med size blacks and one cabezon at 17".

my father in law hooked something big and it ran. he called me over and told me the fish was hiding in the rocks. it sure was as i paddled there i saw in the gin clear water, 25 ft down a seal took off. i thought it was a seal he had hooked. i gave the line a tug as we thought it was stuck and it came forward with some weight. he cranked slowly and it showed a 30" ling cod. the fish fought well and we were happy to have landed it. its belly was a bunch of rockfish. my father in law was pleased and excited.

in his country he was a big pike, trout and carp fisherman. here i wanted him to experience more ocean fishing as well. the predatory ling cod reminded him of the pike, aggressive and long bodied and sharp teeth.

for the life of me, i dont have much luck with fishing for ling cod. he has managed with both trips now to land ling cod. he uses big hunks of squid, sometimes two on a 3/0 hook and he drops it down with a small 2 oz weight. he holds the line in his hands right in front of the reel and plays the line real slowly.

the great fishing excursion ended when he got a tangle in his reel and was trying to unknot it looking down, movement form the ocean made him feel uneasy and he was ready to get off the water. icky seasickness.

tomorrow we go out to monterey early and get on one of randy's boats. we are going to take the bonine tonight and give it some time to settle in. i think i should have fed him one the night before saturday.

the water this past saturday was warm, 67 degreees on my ff at the surface and it was really clear. the sun was out and the reefs below were so easy to see, its great seeing the fish come to your lure and being able to play it how you want. reminded me of when we were in croatia with the clear waters.

there is something weird with the water being so warm. i didnt think it could get so warm in monterey. would have been a great day to be spearing there underwater.

john

Monterey Bay is really warm these days. I was diving in Otter the weekend before last, it was so warm that I thought I was diving in socal! The vis wasn't that good though.
John, where did you find your lingcod out of Otter? I dove there for more than 10 times, covered a lot of ground from 5 ft to 30ft, looked in hundreds of holes but never saw a ling. I think lingcod is an endangered species there!
I dove in Carmel this past Saturday, usual suspects. Vis is getting better (15-25 ft). I spent 4+ hours sightseeing in the kelp and cherry-picking big rockfish.

Monterey Bay is really warm these days. I was diving in Otter the weekend before last, it was so warm that I thought I was diving in socal! The vis wasn't that good though.
John, where did you find your lingcod out of Otter? I dove there for more than 10 times, covered a lot of ground from 5 ft to 30ft, looked in hundreds of holes but never saw a ling. I think lingcod is an endangered species there!
I dove in Carmel this past Saturday, usual suspects. Vis is getting better (15-25 ft). I spent 4+ hours sightseeing in the kelp and cherry-picking big rockfish.

hi leon,

you know, if i launch from otter i go south towards coral street for lings. i dont do a lot of looking into holes on clear vis days and do more snorkeling and just looking on top and in between rocks. sometimes i will do some tapping and scratching on the rocks and that brings them out if i dont see any.

sometimes i also shoot a blue rockfish and gut it underwater and that scent seems to bring some lings out at times.

if you shoot rf, let it dance around a bit and sometimes it gets the lings out. i usually let the fish flop for a little bit.

the lings at coral street, on a clear day, always seem to be on top of pinnacles, on ledges and i have had times when i dive down and lay on a rock a ling will swim up along side and lay with me. its really weird and hard to believe. those days seem more on when ling season is closed.

otter has nice structure as you head towards coral street and out as you probably know. one day i was with my wife snorkeling and we spotted many lings in less than 7 feet of water just to the south side of the cove.

when looking in holes, i try to look into holes that are not facing current and are well protected as well as up and have a good view of an area.

some of the smaller holes i have looked into had pretty big lings inside too. i used to look into cave sized holes and then started actually seeing lings in smaller holes. i think this is because seals can get at them in larger holes.

have you done some of your diving towards hopkins marine station, thats a pretty sweet rf and ling area there. last year was a good year for us there, never came home without a ling limit each time we dove there. the water is usually pretty calm, decent vis and not as stinky as otters.

have you cruised the sand between lovers pt and otters for halibut, thats also a hot spot.

John,
The only time I go to Otters is when Carmel is too rough to dive or when I go snorkeling with my wife. So usually Coral is rough too (when Carmel is rough).
I try to not chum the water too much. I kill a fish immediately after I spear it and put it on top of my board. I have this image of a landlord outside the kelp line so I don't venture out much. (more so after reading the bean encounter now!)
Let's dive together sometime when you dive somewhere from shore. My wife gets seasick easily so I never dive from our tandem kayak.
Leon

I know what you mean about those seals on the rocks.  It doesnt look comfortable at all.  I always think of my kids, just staying there so their brother doesnt get it!

old fisherman are the same all over the world, they FEEL the fishing.

and Leony, I know what you mean about the landlord post bean.  I never though about it seriously before but sunday at coral I probably only dangled my feet 50% of the time instead of my usual 100%

I thought I saw a few kayaks out there when I drove home.  I fished Coral St. Saturday after waking up too late to drive to Bean Hollow.  It sounds like that was a good call.  I stopped floating my stringer a while ago and do not plan to do it again ever.

I ended up paddling around the point for a 20-inch Vermillion, a grass rf and four blues one blue was small but had been yanked through a kelp snag on a double hookup and was not going to survive anyway.  I also had a red under Cabazon and a legal but released greenling.  What a beautiful day after that brief fog bank rolled in and out again.  I have photos and will post them if I get around to it or you pester me enough.

pester you Etienne?

I have two adolescent boys, makes me an expert

Where are the pics? Where are the pics?  Im not touching you, you cant do that, where are the pics? where are the pics?

i was diving near the seasniper.com guys one day at hopkins and they came by and got me out of the water. one of them had dove down right on top of the landlord and he was big. we calmly got out and paddled to otter for more diving but the feeling was eerie.

i have only seen swell sharks and leopards, dogfish and other non threatening ones.

if i had seen it myself i would have shat myself.

john

OK, here they are. ........I must be loosing my touch as it has been a week without a kid.  I am softening up.

I need a new pose.  Maybe Fish Hunter style?