Bolinas/Muir Beach/Bodega Bay Sun. 9/8

I’m itching to go in the Ocean this Sunday morning. I would love to try Muir Beach, but don’t know if it’s a good spot. So I’m considering Bolinas or maybe Bodega Bay.  If Anyone is interested in hitting up Muir (or maybe the others), let me know!

Hi.  I get the “itch”.  It’s like a fever and there’s only one prescription.  More cowbell…I digress…maybe you’re an experienced waterman and a 2@12 direct swell at Muir doesn’t matter.  Just gotta wait for the window and when you decide to go, don’t look back hesitate or any other doubt and go go go….the landing is the tricky part.  Worst case I jump off my yak and grab the stern.  Make sure all your gear is stowed and or leashed flat.  Doran is a way better place to manage a protected launch.  Bolinas is a storytelling location, class 301 on a tough day for beach launch and land…I hope you get a scratch and a halibut.

Ha ha - nice! The waves look pretty small. Surfline has Bolinas at 0 - 1 feet, Stinson at 1'-2', and Muir should be as small or smaller than Stinson, so I'm hoping the launch will be pretty easy.

Truth time - my wife says I need to have a fishing buddy for the Ocean, or life insurance, and I'm too cheap for the latter. So if anyone is interested in fishing, let me know! You can think of it as a community service act, helping to prevent a domestic issue.

I’m going to hit up Bolinas. I’ll be the guy on the Orange hobie conpasss with all the big fish
Hope to see some folks out there!
Stewart

Good luck 

I’m going to hit up Bolinas. I’ll be the guy on the Orange hobie conpasss with all the big fish
Hope to see some folks out there!
Stewart

Ensure you watch the tide table. During high tide, you will lose your landing area. Many of us, including myself, had yard sales at Bolinas.  If you have not launched from there before, you might want to wait until someone can go with you.  Good luck tomorrow. 

Paul

Thanks all for the advice! Do you have any suggestions for where to fish or launch? And what to target (halibut, stripers, rockfish is what I was thinking), and any techniques (I know how to bounce ball troll for halibut, and need to learn other techniques). Any perspective would be much appreciated!

I’ve surfed my entire life. Including at Bolinas. So I’m comfortable with the water from that perspective. But it’s going to be my maiden voyage in the ocean with a kayak! So I’ll keep it low key / safe. But any suggestions are always appreciated

Thanks all for the advice! Do you have any suggestions for where to fish or launch? And what to target (halibut, stripers, rockfish is what I was thinking), and any techniques (I know how to bounce ball troll for halibut, and need to learn other techniques). Any perspective would be much appreciated!

I’ve surfed my entire life. Including at Bolinas. So I’m comfortable with the water from that perspective. But it’s going to be my maiden voyage in the ocean with a kayak! So I’ll keep it low key / safe. But any suggestions are always appreciated

As your maiden voyage, I would avoid Bolinas. I would suggest HMB or Doran Beach first.  Bouncing ball is typically the best method and if you can catch live bait, it will help.

Paul

How'd it go at Bo?

Hi Mumblypeg,
I am also always trying to find a few buds for fishing..... I just turned 60 and have surfed since my early teens....I thought I was also super comfortable in the water....then I started Kayak fishing..... and like you had a bunch of bo and many other beaches in No cal including OB as my favorites..... I have fished Bo 4 times all for salmon (when we had a season) and Halis and on all 4 landings yard sale.... the last of which was pretty bad.... lost a downrigger and weight and got tangled in my very very large salmon net.....wacked my ribs with the yak and scared myself pretty good.   Locals were sitting on the wall and then rated me and several others who landed while they were there.... I got a 10 and hurriedly got all of my floatables back in the kayak....After that I took HMB kayaks wave dynamics course and while I have not tested it yet managed to land in 3 foot surf even with my tank of an old town Kayak and now at least have a little confidence in landing.

Even smaller Bo at a high tide requires your attention and a buddy is always a good idea.

I think I am going to try Doran or maybe somewhere else this Friday if weather allows..... You are welcome to join if I go.   Friday two weeks ago I got two hali's and one over 40 inch salmon which I realeased without incident.... fun 20 min fight.
Troy

It was a very eventful day. The waves were small, which was good. But mistakes were made on the launch.

I recently got a second rod holder for the side of the kayak. I have barely ever used my paddle (I've only been doing Kayak fishing for 3 or 4 months), and have never used it with two rods in place and a fish finder set up. But I saw a video of a guy launching and using his paddle, so I thought I'd do that. But it felt like I had dinosaur arms because the rods didn't give me any room to make a full stroke. And I didn't realize the paddle tips are actually concave, and if you use the wrong side you don't get any power. (I hadn't had this issue when I used the paddle before...maybe because I had dinosaur arms it messed up my technique).

 So I walked the boat out a ways (I was in a nice wetsuit and booties, along with a down jacket), and thought I'd just go for it without waiting to ensure the the set was done. Plus the water was starting to get a bit deeper and I hadn't fully thought through how deep I wanted to go before I got on the boat.  I knew I only had to go a little distance to make it outside, and my frame of reference was a surfboard, which I could have covered the distance in time (there was no visible wave at this time, but I generally knew how far I had to go).

So I jump on the boat, start paddling and notice the dinosaur arms, and then have one or two mis paddles with the wrong side of the tip, and then (of course) a bigger wave actually comes, and I start to kind of get my groove but it is too late and the wave breaks on the bow, and I think for a second I'm going to make it but...I don't! And fell / jumped off the side when it became clear i was going over, so I could try to keep the boat upright.

I was throwing stuff back in my boat that fell off when I noticed one of my rods fell out of the rod holder. I hadn't fully locked it down, and I didn't put a leash on it because I thought the waves were so small it would be fine, and that if it were in the rod holder it would stay in.  So I went back to the beach, took off my PFD and wet down jacket, and did the stingray shuffle for 20+ minutes to try and find my rod and reel. No such luck. Also the water at Bo is containment with sewage somehow, so I was bummed to actually have to be hanging out in it (instead of on it). At first, it was very embarrassing, but I quickly recovered and view it as a learning opportunity.

I caught a big Salmon! It was the best fish I've ever caught. 32". But I had to throw it back. And I caught a 24" halibut. I had my glasses hanging from my neck on crokies, and when I brought the hali in the boat in the net, it flapped back and forth violently, and must have knocked my glasses off the crokies and into the deep blue. So he got one last act of revenge. I also caught a small ish fish I think was Mackerel but I threw it back.

So it was a great trip! I learned a lot and loved fishing on the ocean. I was getting tired of fishing SF Bay and catching massive bat rays (this is probably for another thread, but what's the best way to deal with a 50 pound bat ray?). and leopard sharks.

I'll definitely be doing more ocean trips. Would really prefer to have buddy with me for safety. And also to learn some different techniques. And also because it's fun to have a shared experience.

Thanks for the heads up re: HMB kayaks wave dynamics. I'd love to take that.

I'm still a working stiff, so i'm primarily a weekend warrior. But I'm always down to go fishing if anyone wants to rally.

 :smt001Pics or it didn’t happen

Great writeup of many lessons earned, and well done on the recovery and making the fishing report happen despite a yard sale.  It's like reliving many lessons I've also had to learn the hard way.  Well done! 

Hi mumblepeg,
Glad your ok and hope you did not loose much.... sunglasses Ugh. rod....double ugh.

Bo is a humbler.

Hope to meet up with you.... most of my fishing is weekday stuff but every once in a while.

Troy

Sounds like quite an adventure!  Good on you for sticking with it and making it out! I think we've all made deposits into Davey Jones' locker - part of the game. At least you were able to get most of your stuff back.

For future trips, there are lots of discussions on here about strategy - launching, landing, gear stowage, etc. I learned a lot just by searching and reading.  Also, there are a lot of places that are much easier to launch than Bolinas.

Large rays and sharks pose a unique situation.  Some people eat sharks, but most of us release them. Three strategies, depending on size and situation.
1. Small sharks and rays you can just pick up and put upside down on your kayak. Watch out for the stinger on rays! Unhook and toss back.
2. Larger sharks can usually be unhooked alongside your kayak. Once they are worn out and done fighting, you can usually flip them over in the water and unhook. Rays are trickier to flip because of their shape, and the stinger. Watch out for the stinger!
3. You can also just pull them close and cut the leader as close to them as you can. The line will degrade and the hook will rust and fall out. This is the safest and easiest way, especially if there are any complications with removing the hook.