Stillwater south 11/12/07

Met up with Bulldog about 7, easy launch under clear skies, low swell.  The weather was interesting - first a little wind from the east out of the Carmel Valley, then calm, then from the NW. It started off pretty cold, but later was warm for the season. We trolled and jigged near Pescadero Pt, not getting much, then I split off and went way inside where I saw a small alum. boat go.  We could have hit the rocks with a decent cast.  Had my doubts about being in there so close to where the surf was crashing into the rocks,fishing in the foam, thinking a rogue wave would be dicey,  but it was actually very calm out of the wind and with the reverb waves killing the swell.
   However, the fishing wasn't doing it.  Got a few small rockies on various jigs, finally hooked a 5" blue and sent him down and got a good hit, but whatever it was had taken the blue off. 
   Then I saw the boat get a ling, and I started trying everything, I could see the rockies chase the lures but dodge away, finally went to bare hooks on short droppers, sinker on bottom,  and gobs of whole squid.  That did the trick fast.  Got 29" and 30" lings in about 15 minutes.  We were in 30-40 ft of water, so each took several trips up and down to land.  Both of them had small rockies in their stomachs.  I called Bulldog over and he got a picture, then we fished for another hour, not getting anything,  then I went in and landed about 1:15, leaving the rest of my squid with him- hope he got one.   

Very nice!
Sometimes I'll get in close to the rocks when searching for lings. Used to think they were out in deep water but now believe that there are just as many in shallow rocks.
Good job on the ling limit, Tom!

Thanks for the report,
PK

way to keep thinking and trying things Tom. that's a lot of ling cod!

I rented this santa cruz house nov 16 to dec 16, I'm hoping to kayak fish
once or twice, do some perch fishing, and catch some waves. maybe I'll
run into you again!

John

Hey Tom... very nice. They both looked like 33"+ to me, given our limits of gophers, etc.
No Ling love for us, but was surprisingly great weather and conditions! Good to meet you.
Next time I'm around the corner w/you!! Very nice limit Tom. Still waiting to hear how
Bulldog did. Good to meet him as well.

Blake

Tom, just for my education in this new sport.  How did you see the Rockies avoid your lures in 30 - 40' of water?

Way to go on the lings.  I went out to Stillwater on Sunday was kinda slow got a near limit of blues, that was all I could catch. I had something big on for about 5 minutes I would gain a few feet and he would run back down did that a couple times and finally got wrapped around some kelp and I lost him.  The weather was good no wind small swell easy launch and land.  I am off all next week and plan to out somewhere on Monday and Wednesday.

Kieth: I'm pretty sure I wasn't seeing any more than about 15 ft into the water, but there is normally pretty good vis there, and whether you can see deep, and it doesn't happen often, seems to have something to do with how bright the sun is and what angle you're looking compared to the angle of the sun; it also seems to happen a lot more, or maybe always, in the kelp -maybe the underwater shadows cast by the fronds make the rays of sunlight that get through act like spotlights-but a lot of the time when your fishing, it's like looking at a mirror, and I think your eyes get so accustomed to seeing only the surface that you have to consciously ignore the surface reflection to see into the water.
   But when it happens, and you look down and see a dozen or so fish of various sizes swirling around, approaching your offering, swerving away within a few inches of it, or, sometimes, nibbling and snatching at the bait, and a school going into a frenzy of activity when you jig the line, it's like you're down there with them.  Or as close to that as I'm going to get, since I don't snorkel.  I find that I'm almost rooting for them not to take the bait, the show is so thrilling!  I have a feeling the clear water makes the fish more discriminating, they can go more by sight than by feeling the vibration or following the scent trail.

Good report and WTG before the season ends.

If you're wearing polarized lenses it cuts out the glare and its amazing how deep you can see.  The water is normally very clear and you can see blues jump out from behind the kelp to nibble at your bait as you're jigging it.  It reminds me of my days as a kid catching shiner perch next to the pier pilings. 

When I fished that area in the spring a big boat with scuba divers parked itself right next to me.  At least I was able to haul in a few lings before they got there.  The lings gave me the classic surface to bottom tug of war and I had to drag them out of the kelp into clear water to land them.  I'm actually surprised that I didn't wrap in the kelp on either one.  Out of courtesy I paddled away because I didn't want to accidentally snag a diver.

Looks like winter weather is just around the corner so I'm glad that you guys were able to make it out and score.

Gary

I am envious of your trip guys!

sight fishing in the kelp is a blast and you learn a lot about fish behavior.  Larger Blues, Olives and Yellows move fast and seem triggered into biting by movement.  Whereas smaller fish will sit there chomping on non moving bait.

I saw a big orangish white rockie, not sure what he was who would slowly approach my bait, look at it and slowly swim away.  I kept dropping different lures, baits and each time he came out, took a look, laughed at my offering and went back to his spot in the kelp.  I had always assumed rockfish just hit anything, but that showed me otherwise.


Eugene

AHHHH!  lings on the Jig...great memories!      but, WHERE's THE PICS?!!   
thanks for the report and glad that SOMEONE is having a goodtime.

I'm back !  My dsl line has been down. my wife says it was technical problems. i think late payment.

Anyways great day on the water with fuzzytom. also met blake there as well.

water was calm in the morning with a slight breeze.(7:30 am) then gradually picked up as the day progressed. slight swell. paddled straight out in search of deep water. trolled for rock cod on the way.hit one olive about 50 ft down.(swim bait) casted some iron and let drop down about 50ft and retrieved slowly with no luck.

got on the vhf to see were tom was and he said he hadn't had much luck. as we are speaking, he exclaims he thinks he has a ling on. away i go. i am headed for his location. in route to toms location i am trolling a swim bait and small berkley 3 inch squid 50 ft down. bamm! picked up 2 more olives and a nice fat blue.

by the time i reach tom, he's got two nice lings. SWEET! i give it a go in that area and pick up a small ling . also get two fat blues. its funny how they look right at your bait and move on. i hit the two large blus on my retrieval to check my bait. BAMM. moved outside the kelp beds on the way in . trolled the 5o ft down again to finish my limit with a few more olives and nice blues.

great day on the water. got a great picture of tom with the ling. post it later when my dsl is up. forgot to put a laniard on my cell phone and now its dead. cell phones and saltwater equal new phone.

Glad to hear you were only virtually lost at sea, Bulldog.
 I had a good drybag/float for my old non-flip phone, but it won't work with the new one.  I did see a flip phone bag at Kayak Connection in SC, it would allow use while still in the bag, but I wasn't sure how well it would work with mine. I have almost never used my phone on the water, but took it thinking it'd be a backup to my radio in an emergency, and  some launch sites are more car clout prone, not exactly a description of Stillwater!
   When you get connected, I'd love to have that photo to look at over the winter.  Had a good time fishing with you .

Hey Tom

WTG on the lings. No pics?

Scott

sorry, light at wrong angle. they are ghost ling

sorry, light at wrong angle. they are ghost ling

Hey Tom -

Real quality on those lings, thanks! As far as the photo, everyone is is the same except for Adam, who is in a league of his own.

Scott