Capitola, Pleasure point area 7/19

Met up with SC x factor launched out of Capitola.  We made bait and were out by Pleasure point looking for halibut.  Zillions of boats out there but unfortunately only saw one actually gaffed by a rental skiff.  A few other likely suspects, one boat hooting and hollering, another where everyone is gathered around something they pulled in.  We chased diving birds but couldn't locate concentrated bait balls.  The bait was there, sardines, smelt and macs but just not stacked up.

We ended the day on a hail mary drift but no love.  We paddled back with a good breeze behind us and I discovered my OK trident weather cocks like crazy.  I was paddling left side only and still couldn't keep her straight.  (I am left handed so my stronger side)  Other than periodically digging in on the right side to pivot, or tacking, is there a technique for this?  Ironically my old boat a tarpon 160i had a rudder but other than trolling never needed to use it. 

so in the end, no fish but still a day with otters, a huge tattooed seal, dolphins, multiple types of birds, good water and good company.  Was planning on going out again today the 20th but my old bones forgot to wake up.  I hope they have better catching!

Eugene

tattooed seal!?

It had some numbers branded on it, like 2067.  SCX said it was probably a convict

Personally I think it was fashion statement

I was out there also with a friend of mine and his 10 yr. old son (in a double). I Fished all day and got four bites. Ended up with one just legal halibut and a little rockfish.  Were you the the guys in the yellow kayaks? If so, you were just south of us.

-Danman

I saw 4-5 other yaks but no double. Second on the boat pressure I counted 30+ just off of pleasure point-capitola. No love for us only hardship. I corroded out a connection on my bait tank and lost all my chovies. Then to end the day got stuck on a small piece of kelp gave the rod a short pop to clear it off and heard that awful cracking sound only the tip of a rod can make when breaking off from the rest of the rod. My best rod . I could feel the mojo leaking out as i held it. 

Up here in Oregon, on the Columbia River, the often catch and tag (brand/tattoo/something) sea lions caught eating up all the salmon in the river and bugging fishermen so they can detect frequent offenders. Sort of a three strikes kind of thing.  Not sure if they do the same in California.  Another possibility is the seal was simply a research subject of some sort.

Brian

Up here in Oregon, on the Columbia River, the often catch and tag (brand/tattoo/something) sea lions caught eating up all the salmon in the river and bugging fishermen so they can detect frequent offenders. Sort of a three strikes kind of thing.  Not sure if they do the same in California.  Another possibility is the seal was simply a research subject of some sort.

Brian

considering how large the numbers were, it seems like it was designed to be seen at a distance.  I now change my opinion about the fashion statement.  Obviously this felon is from Oregon and decided to come on down to California to avoid the law.

Up here in Oregon, on the Columbia River, the often catch and tag (brand/tattoo/something) sea lions caught eating up all the salmon in the river and bugging fishermen so they can detect frequent offenders. Sort of a three strikes kind of thing.  Not sure if they do the same in California.  Another possibility is the seal was simply a research subject of some sort.

Brian

considering how large the numbers were, it seems like it was designed to be seen at a distance.  I now change my opinion about the fashion statement.  Obviously this felon is from Oregon and decided to come on down to California to avoid the law.

.....................

Sorry to hear about your rod and I have had similar days out there. Last week though I had a couple of big take downs and one ended with a cleanly cut line from a hali and the other ripped a bunch  of line, fought him up and the took a dive again and then the line went limp, bait gone, hook still on, strike two. Finally hooked up on a nice gopher and enjoyed a great day on the water with near perfect paddling conditions.

On the subject of the wind and the trident. I have had several kayaks (Caper, malibu II, Big Game, Prowler 13) and have been in the business of selling them as well for many years. I have found as a general rule that for anything over 13' I recommend and prefer to have a rudder. My first couple of days I had my trident w/o the rudder in monterey I fought the wind from a ways out, damn near killed me and would have certainly killed a mere mortal. It had me second guessing myself on the purchase. It happened again and that was all I needed to confirm that I had to buy a rudder package and get this figured out. I just erased all of the pictures I took of the entire install figuring no one would care to see them. It took me about 2 hours as I had estimated, only needed normal tools and a rivet gun. The package included all of the hardware and pretty decent instructions with pictures. I am really happy with the rudder and really makes a big difference on the big paddles and when the wind comes up. The extra weight is not too bad, probably around 5 pounds, but well worth it when the whitecaps are headed your way. I think the trident has alot of surface area for the wind to push on and so I have really perfected the use of a second paddle leash for lashing to the kelp to help prevent drift-which does not take much wind to occur- Cheers Mike

E2G, I see you reside in Aptos. That is where I live too, we should hook up for some local fishing or a trip down to MBK in monterey.
Shoot me a call or email, 831-588-5251 --Mike

Hey Mike thanks for the info on the rudder Ill have to rethink it.  Ya, Im in Aptos, definitely will holler before going out

Eugene

e2g,
My wife used to work for National Marine Mammal Lab (NMML, a division of NMFS under NOAA in Seattle, Wa at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (where most marine mammal work is done).  Anyways the group she worked in was called CalCurrents (for work they do in the California Current).  Anyways, she worked mostly with California sea lions, Northern fur seals, harbor seals and elephant seals out on San Miguel and San Nicholas Islands in the Channel Islands National Park down south off Santa Barbara/Ventura.  The California sea lions are branded for life as year old pups and monitored throughout their life.  These two islands are the main breeding ground for 99% of all Cal. sea lions with each island having a population of about 125,000 each.  This study has been going on for over 25+ years.  I was talking to my wife about the animal you saw and she said it was probably a non-breeding male (since they are breeding on the islands right now) that was originally branded on San Miguel Island because they haven't branded that many animals on the Columbia yet.  The difference between the brands are: San Miguel brands are parallel with the body and the Columbia brands are horizontal across their back beginning with a C (for Columbia). I'll forward your information of where you saw it to my wife's old boss and find out any information on that particular sea lion.  I'll also send this as a pm to you to make sure you saw it.  If anyone has any other questions or sightings just drop me a pm or post.

The difference between the brands are: San Miguel brands are parallel with the body and the Columbia brands are horizontal across their back beginning with a C (for Columbia).

If my memory is correct, the number was parallel to the body, didnt see the whole number, just that it had them.  Id make a really bad eye witness...

The numbers/letters were along the body, quite large about 12" each. I don't remember the sequence, just that there were at least 4-5. It was one of the biggest males I have seen this year.

Sounds like an animal that was branded at San Miguel.

Heres a link to the study:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/california/research/ccepresearch.php?url=nmmlccep0805