Van Damme 9/6 - big ling and copper

Late post, but I spent the week after this trip prepping for my son's wedding on the 13th and just didn't have time to get it up.  Frank and I hit Van Damme and ran into James, who had a newby out to get into some lings.  Slow drift early allowed us to fish some of the deeper off-shore pinnacles and it paid off.  I got a monster copper at 8 pounds (released and descended to keep breeding) and more than a handful of lings up to 19 pounds.  The 19 had a huge belly as you can see in the pic, which ended up being a huge piece of an octopus arm with suckers that were at least 1 inch across.  That ling did battle with a big octopus before it decided to eat my swimbait!  Also caught a mix of nice rockfish; china, canary, blacks and blues and Frank had a nice limit of lings to 11 pounds, about a 7 pound cab, and a nice red to go with some other mixed fish taco fish...  Great day, as is normally the case in Mendo when the weather is nice.

Norm

Great report and nice job on the haul!  I love the picture with you standing on the yak holding that hog - looks like a lake out there!

Wow !!

Great report and nice job on the haul!  I love the picture with you standing on the yak holding that hog - looks like a lake out there!

I had never seen someone standing up on their kayak ON THE OCEAN. It's just almost never quiet enough for that on the Mendocino coast. Yet there he was! Very cool -- not going to try that in my Revo 11 though!

That day was a super nice ocean surface and low wind, but just about the strongest current I'd ever experienced. Bad day to have my Hobie in the repair shop and have to be out there with my old Scupper Pro -- change a rig and drift 1/4 mile south like snap. Norm and Frank just slayed them that day, though.

My newbie buddy Pato did great -- hooked into his first ling and came home with a stringer of nice RF. On the way back to the beach, I took him through two of the tunnels there -- one of them is about a hundred feet long. Highly recommended. He had a blast -- he's hooked now.

The highlight of my day was at the new cleaning station at Noyo Harbor South -- I traded a guy one of my lingcod filets for a nice albacore filet -- yum!

James

Great report and nice job on the haul!  I love the picture with you standing on the yak holding that hog - looks like a lake out there!

I had never seen someone standing up on their kayak ON THE OCEAN. It's just almost never quiet enough for that on the Mendocino coast. Yet there he was! Very cool -- not going to try that in my Revo 11 though!

That day was a super nice ocean surface and low wind, but just about the strongest current I'd ever experienced. Bad day to have my Hobie in the repair shop and have to be out there with my old Scupper Pro -- change a rig and drift 1/4 mile south like snap. Norm and Frank just slayed them that day, though.

My newbie buddy Pato did great -- hooked into this first ling and came home with a stringer of nice RF. On the way back to the beach, I took him through two of the tunnels there -- one of them is about a hundred feet long. Highly recommended. He had a blast -- he's hooked now.

The highlight of my day was at the new cleaning station at Noyo Harbor South -- I traded a guy one of my lingcod filets for a nice albacore filet -- yum!

James

Glad to hear you and Pato got into them, James!  You were definitely at a disadvantage without the hobie.  While the PA 14 is a beast to haul around and has a pretty heavy and low bow (meaning you can get blasted a bit in rough conditions), that platform allows me to stand just about anywhere, even in substantial seas.  It kills my back to sit for more than 4 or 5 hours, so being able to stand much of the time keeps me on the water longer.  And that is a great trade at the Noyo cleaning station!  I wish I would have driven up to clean my fish!!  See you on the water!

Norm

Thank you for the great report and hope we will get together the next time.

Paul

Thank you for the great report and hope we will get together the next time.

Paul

Roger that, Paul! 

What a tasty haul!! Congrats and thanks for the report.

What a ling. Thanks for the report

Nice to see a Nawm report - Frank too!   

The bulging belly pic is the bomb! To find out what it was is icing on top.
Great report from a place I miss fishing.

The bulging belly pic is the bomb! To find out what it was is icing on top.
Great report from a place I miss fishing.

I love seeing what they have in their bellies!  Good to see you still out there, Juan!

Norm

Nice to see a Nawm report - Frank too!   

Always good to read your stuff too, Eric!  Still out here, just consciously trying to spend less time on the computer and more time outside.  The older I get, the more I realize how what little time we have on this third rock from the sun. 

Cheers!
Norm

Go Norm to da max!  Hopefully I'll get to use that fish station on the weekend of 10/3.
Seems like Van Damme is as productive or better(?) than Russian gulch or it's all the same and you just find the fatties...

Where is this fish station or is it easy to find?  I'll be at the Noyo Lodge.

Go Norm to da max!  Hopefully I'll get to use that fish station on the weekend of 10/3.
Seems like Van Damme is as productive or better(?) than Russian gulch or it's all the same and you just find the fatties...

Where is this fish station or is it easy to find?  I'll be at the Noyo Lodge.

Both Van Damme and Russian Gulch are great spots.  I tend to like Van Damme a bit better just because there are more individual spots to try and find biting fish when it's tough, but there is plenty at Russian Gulch as well.  They are essentially the two areas south and north of the town of Mendocino and Mendocino Bay at the mouth of Big River, so the structure is similar.  Both have relatively easy launches, both have a bit of a walk from parking to the water across the sand, but Russian Gulch is always calm, and Van Damme is almost always calm but is a bit more of a steeper beach/water entry angle, so there is sometimes a small shore break depending on conditions.  I'll let James chime in on the cleaning station location exactly, but he said south Noyo, so likely by the main launch ramp.  The road just south of the McDonalds on the south side of the bridge takes you to the road down to the harbor.  There is a steep old ramp that is not regularly used right when you get down to harbor level, but my guess is the cleaning station is positioned further back in the harbor where the main public ramp that most private boaters use is located.  Good luck Eddie, if the weather looks good, I may be up there to join the party...  My best advice, big baits catch big fish of all types up there...not necessarily heavy baits, just big baits that are heavy enough to get down to where the fish are, based on the conditions of the day.

Norm