Trinidad - 6/19/23

Kerry and Greg have gone out with me several times over the past four years.  Yesterday was our first time out of Trinidad together.  The forecast was looking great compared to recent conditions, but that's not saying much since we've been having regular gale force winds and heavy seas.  Still though, with a call of 5 feet at 9 seconds and 5 knot winds, I was confident that we'd get outside for some rockfish action and hopefully a few lingcod.

Our day arrived and the weather looked great - no fog or wind, and the swell was mild.  We got geared up and headed out by just before 7AM, and we were soon fishing outside of Trinidad Head.  Greg was the first to pull up a nice black rockfish, and then I had one up.  Not to be outdone, Kerry then brought up the fish of the day, at around 5 to 6 pounds.  We were all celebrating the fast action, and over the next couple of hours we realized how fortunate we were to have a strong bite to start, as things kind of died out as the tide came in.  We ended up with plenty of black rockfish and everyone got good action, but we couldn't find a lingcod.  No complaints - we'll get 'em next time.

It's always a great time with Kerry and Greg, and Monday was no different.  As we shared stories and laughs at my tailgate, we had a great interaction with a family that had shown up to crab and fish.  As the matriarch had passed by, I thought I'd seen her eyeing the pile of freshly filleted carcasses that I was stacking to one side.  I wanted to offer it up, but I didn't want to be disrespectful.  Within the next hour, as members of that family passed by us between their vehicles and their activities on the beach, we became engaged, and an enquiry was made about the fate of the carcasses.  We were thrilled to offer them up to others who would make use of them - fish head soup, for the win!

I shared a story with our new friends about how people I've met through NCKA have helped me to appreciate the full use of the fish.  I'm still basically a fillet guy, but I do harvest collars (always on salmon) more often, and I just cut the cheeks out of a few larger lingcod recently.

The connections made and the good feelings shared are what the trips are all about.  For sure.   

Something about that tail looks screwy! 

Thanks for the report

Thank you for the great report, Eric.
Always enjoying reading your detailed report.

Paul

Thanks for another great report and pictures Eric.