12-4 Sonoma Coast

Then I’ll shoot for TC. Im gonna bring 1 crab hoop and I think it’s better there for that.

I went to TC and nobody was there so at 7:40 left for Fort Ross. Moo was there and after a slight delay negotiating my way out of a parking ticket and dog ticket at the unloading spot, I launched and set a hoop in 50’.  (Turns out dogs are not allowed at that beach, even though lots of people have dogs there.)
I picked up a nice double of 16” Verm and 16” Blue RF on the first drop of my donkey rigged tube baits ( “hot dogs”). Then picked up several smaller RF on several drops, all still on the cove area.
Checked the hoop and there weren’t even shorts -bait untouched.
Decided to move towards Moo over the usual spots and after my 15th RF (mostly small) I switched to bouncing sardines and squids.
Caught 5 or 6 legal lings in the 23”-27” range and several more RF.
The lings seemed to be more active in the 50’-70’ depth range. Th schools of blue rockfish were dense and large. These fish were mostly in the 10”-14” range, with several doubles, and a few fish chasing the baits to the side of the boat it was hard to get the jigs down past them.
I then picked up a nice 21.5” Cabezon that gave me AOTY points, so I was extra happy.
Oh yeah , Mabel barfed twice for some reason, so she was not so happy. The first was politely over the side but the second weauinto a depression next to my seat and much of it ended up under the seat.
Anyway it was an amazing day -probably the hottest bite I’ve ever seen. Caught about 35 rockfish total, with 4 or 5 being good sized.
I only kept 1 ling and 4 rockfish.

Glad you had a hot bite.
It was one of the slowest days for us.  Both James and I worked hard, but the fish weren't biting.  I came how with two lingcods and six rockfish.

Paul

Glad you had a blast today, Joe. Too bad my shoulder (note to self: don't fall off mountain bike) kept me from joining you today. The king tide must have made the fish extra hungry.

Nice work Joe! I'm hoping for similar luck today at Pacifica.

Like the big Cab!
Go Joe!

Great day on the water with Joe and he has taken the lead from me...

Great day on the water with Joe and he has taken the lead from me...

Oh Wow, this is getting exciting and it's fascinating to see it play out in video!

Similar to last year with some dramatic AOTY moves made towards the end of the year....

 

Great day on the water with Joe and he has taken the lead from me...

Oh Wow, this is getting exciting and it's fascinating to see it play out in video!

Similar to last year with some dramatic AOTY moves made towards the end of the year....

I still can't get the AOTY site to open for me... Not that I would've been competitive, haha.

I had the same issue with AOTY. I found the homepage (when you press 'AOTY' link) doesn't work for me, but the sub-pages do.

If you want to give it a shot, try e.g. https://aoty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches or https://aoty.norcalkayakanglers.com/leader_board

(unless you're going to overtake me, then stay off  )

Competing against you guys is futile. 😂
Yall absolutely killed it out there. 👏

I still can't get the AOTY site to open for me... Not that I would've been competitive, haha.
[/quote]

I have to delete the S in the https for it to load.

I had the same issue with AOTY. I found the homepage (when you press 'AOTY' link) doesn't work for me, but the sub-pages do.

If you want to give it a shot, try e.g. https://aoty.norcalkayakanglers.com/catches or https://aoty.norcalkayakanglers.com/leader_board

(unless you're going to overtake me, then stay off  )

This worked for me - thank you! I've only submitted 2 fish this year, def not a competitor, haha. Next year... Maybe ....