Last Rockfish Trip - Garrapata 11-24

Luckily the weather cooperated for Eric and I to get out one more time before the end of the season.  This might have been my last trip for a long time as I will be attending a school in Rhode Island next summer and then moving to Everett, WA.  So I'll have to hook up with some of you Washington guys next year.  Anyway on to the report.

It sucked (relatively speaking)...I only got one keeper (barely) ling and a near limit of rockfish - 3 vermillion, a copper, a grass or kelp or whatever those brown ones are, and olives and blues.  I found a school of blues and olives that were jumping out of the water so I played with them for a while but threw most of them back.  Normally this place puts out all this fish you could ask for, but Eric and I had a tough time finding the honey hole.  He did get a 30" ling.  It sure was a great day to be on the water though.  The sea lions were putting on an arobatics show and we were passed by a pod of something dolphin-like.  When I first saw them from a distance I thought they were orcas due to the hugh dorsal fins sticking up.  As they got closer I could see that there were about 15-20 of them and probably about 15 feet long.  They were kind of mottled grey in color.  After doing a little looking my best guess is that they were Risso Dolphins.  The website I looked at said they are rarely seen inshore, so I guess it is pretty cool to have seen them. 

Eric has some pics of his fish...nothing of mine was very picture-worthy...and I left my camera at home.  We ended the day by picking a bunch of mussels which was a first for me.  I'll give them a try tonight.  Eric - you have been every bit as good as a fishing buddy a guy could ask for.  Hopefully I'll be around long enough for the opener next year...or maybe an early attempt for but's at Bean Hollow. 

I thought somebody might stick the rockfish today, cause no swell at all, and light wind!

I am taking it easy in my rented santa cruz house and recovering from a nasty cold/sinus/pinkeye thing
by surf perching,  .

as for rissos, I have seen them surfing, they have kind of a spiderweb of scars so pretty distinctive
up close, but yes, the size kind of makes them stick out, 15 feet is big when you are close!

I am guessing I won't get out before the season ends, sigh. thought I would get one trip in before
it did, but between work, swell and sickness, those fish will live to swim another day!

John

Great report, Nomad - 'cept for leaving the camera at home!   

Eric - you have been every bit as good as a fishing buddy a guy could ask for.

NCKA true heart statement #4219-B.   Love it, Nomad!  Reading that makes my day.   

Hey, I attended a school in rhode island myself, but it wasn't RISD or johson and wales. nor was it the
naval school in newport. hmm. so where are you going?

John

Now I believe that last night full moon had something to do with "poor  fishing" condition.  Well, to be honest, "poor fishing" condition was not fairly described, since we caught a limit of RFs and I got a 30" ling. We meant to say the place was more productive and yesterday was relatively slow day than other days. All in all, we had a good day on water with excellent ocean condition. Good fishing with you, nomad. you will be missed.

The highlight was a pod of 20+ dolphins swimming by. The close-up ones were ~200 feet away. I can clearly spot spider-web patterns on their skins. Their sizes were big (15+ feet). I thought they were whales. But, fins stick out and "blow holes" were sprouting. Zoom-in feature of my camera was not working, sigh. So I shot them in distance.

Pictures to share:
1) Excellent condition. It is rare in Nov.
2) Fat Ling
3) Dolphins in distance

Paul, Eric,

Cool pics and stories of the fishing and dolphins.  With a pod of 15 ft long critters that had big dorsal fins cruising by me, I'd feel pretty small.  I've seen quite a few seals just about everywhere I've fished lately so I'm not sure if that's a good (healthy environment) or bad (shark bait, fish stealer's) sign.

What sucks for Garrapata would be a field day for most other fishing spots...well maybe not Bean Hollow.  Paul, you're lucky to fish with Eric who seems to be able to find all the good fishing spots. 

I hope we all get a chance to fish with you before you leave the area.  With the closures and the low fish counts I'm wondering what restrictions are next.  Maybe we'll have to cruise up to visit you in Washington to get some decent fishing in.

BTW I was in So Cal with the relatives for turkey day and it was t-shirt weather the whole time I was there.  To balance out the turkey we went by Pink's (hot dogs), Tommy's (chili burgers) and Roscoe's (waffles and fried chicken).

Gary

I forgot to mention the dead seagull and the dying seagull that we came across.  I paddled to within arm's reach of the dying one... it gave me the "please put me out of my misery look", but I didn't have anything to help him out.  There were a ton of jellies out there too.  Biguns.

Eric - I tried those mussels last night.  While I enjoyed them, I think I prefer them a little more done than you.  I boiled the first batch for 45 seconds and the big ones were barely warm...and real squishy.  The second batch I boiled for 90 seconds and were a little more to my liking.  I do like the smaller ones over the big ones too.  I guess I'm not a true mussel conessieur (sp?).  One of my daughters helped me eat them.  The other kids are pansies!

Paul - You did a right thing to cook them in 90 seconds, due to more quantity. I tried one batch of 10 in 30 seconds and turned out to be just right. Rule of thumb - cook it to right degree for your own taste. Meat of small ones seems tender.

Now you tried and know what to expect. One day if you are in mood, you can get some more for your family before departure.