Big Sur 20080914 - Taking it back to the old school

I had only yak fished Big Sur once before so I figured that after a couple of years of experience it was time to take it on without having to wait for a big group to go with.  At first I was a bit worried about how remote it is and all the "what if's" made me a bit apprehensive about it but then after thinking of all the cool stories that come from that area of the coast I convinced myself to reach down and grab a hold.  Afterall, Big Sur is the the promised land or aleast it sometimes is as we can see from Yakuza's report from the day before...however for me it wasn't to be, not this time anyway.

It's Sunday 4:20AM and the alarm is going off and I'm thinking to myself "Self do you really want to go fishing this early? Maybe you should just go to Del Vallle for the evening bite"..after a minute of contemplating it all I get myself out of bed.  By 5:00AM Liz and I are on the road, she's sleeping and I'm driving and thinking about all the fish we're going to catch, what swimbaits I should thrown down first to get the big fish out of the way and kicking myself in the ass for not having brought the big cooler.

144.7 miles later we pull into Mill Creek and check things out, I figured if the tide was too high we wouldn't be able to get the yaks to the launch spot and we'd have to find an alternate.  Things looked good, there was enough room to get the boats down to the spot and the launch was going to be a piece of cake.  We get everything set up and both make clean launches.  Once I'm in the kelp I put the fishfinder on and press the power button but nothing happens...it's been crapping out on me lately.  After a few minutes of trying I figure we're going to have to take it back to the old school and fly blind...how hard can it be, it's only rockfish they're everywhere.

So we get out a bit past the kelp and make a right towards Limekiln. The plan was to paddle up, search for the verm that Liz has been looking for all season and let the breeze blow us in.  After some paddling we start to fish. 



For a while nothing was going on...so we moved around a bit. Finally we drop lines and start to feel some nibbles but they're pretty light.  I bring my line up and find that I've hooked into a sand dab.  A bit surprised that I hooked into a sand dab in rockfish heaven I figured that while it wasn't what I was looking for he might make good bait so I sent my line back down and felt that very light nibble so I start reeling in. At the end of my line was this...



I'm assuming it's a baby ling. He tried to swallow an iron twice his size. He was released mostly unharmed.

After having caught some bait we moved on in search of a reef...we searched, and searched some more, and then some more.  Finally we decided to move in closer and fish near some kelp. No love there, so I started to paddle out further again while trolling my iron with the teaser.  A minute or two into the paddle I get hit super hard and thought "Yeah baby! I must have hooked into a ling that swam down from Alaska"...he was running and there wasn't anything that was going to stop him.  He took some line and the I gained some back, it went back and forth.  Finally, I could see the beginning of my top shot and I knew he was close.  Just as we thought we could see some color, down he went again.  After a couple more minutes we get him up and it's a shark, a sand shark I think...Liz kind of freaks out and starts paddling away in search of the closest piece of land...I tell her to relax and that it's not going to do anything.  So she comes up close to take a picture but it's still too energetic so I put it back in the water to fight a bit more and just as I do it swims towards Liz's yak and the line rubs against it causing it to break...no picture.

By this time, I'm starting to not be so Pacifico (mellow), it's a bit frustrating to not have been able to find a rock fish so we start to paddle and end up in some kelp about 200 yards south of the launch. I drop my line and immediately hook into a ling. 23.5"...back he goes.  Drop again and immediately hook into another ling 30"..he goes on the stringer.



We're potholing in the kelp looking for the rockies but don't have any luck  As we're sitting there in the kelp I hear a big splash not more than 3' from me and notice the last of the streak but not enough to see what it really was.  About 10 seconds later, I'm still looking, I see a lingcod very quickly swim up to the surface...kind of on his side, back arched, with his mouth open and his eyes kind of rolled back (almost like they show on all the shark shows) and munches on a few of the bait fish that were swimming around.  I don't know if that's common or not but that was my first time ever seeing it...very cool.

We tried a few more spots but didn't find anyting so we gave up and headed in.  At the launch we started talking to a few guys who I think may have been members of the HAC because they greeted me with the rice measuring sign.  They mentioned that they wanted to buy a tandem so I told them all about Mooch and that they should talk to him at Aquan...I may have also mentioned that if they dropped my name to Mooch he would give them a 40% discount.   

I noticed someone has been marking their territory...


All in all, it was a great day...Big Sur is every bit the magical place everyone describes it as.  I'm happy to have caught a nice ling (although I would much rather have seen Liz finally hook into that verm she's been hunting for) but I'm amazed that I went there, caught sand dabs, a sand shark, two lings (one after another within a few minutes of each other) and see another pretty big ling vicoulsy attack bait at the surface but somehow not even one rockfish hits our bait.  Taking it back to the old school apparently didn't work so well for me, so I'm going to have to replace the fishfinder and maybe next time take someone who knows the area a bit better than I do.

Nice commentary, Angel. Art would be proud...I think.

That juvenile ling is super cool.  Say hi to Chef for me!

Great report Pacifico. Thanks for posting and taking some pictures.
WTG on the ling! Is Big Sur newbie friendly? If so, I'd write it down on
my list of place to go.

Thanks
Jedmo

Awwwww, that baby ling is really cool. I want one.

Great report, Angel.  Cool pics as well.   

Dude, that is a great report Angel!
It's not the amount of fish you catch, its how you present it to your audience here, and that is a great presentation. 30" of lingcod is nothing to sneeze at either. Nice to see you & Liz having fun out there together with the sharks & microlings.

great report. the verms are generally 90 feet and deeper. generally.

p.s. jedmo, it's not a newbie spot. best newbie spot is stillwater cove in carmel or monterey or santa cruz spots. once you are bored there, try moving up a notch. read brendan's tutorial/article on big sur on the main ncka page.

Cool report.  Am I the only one that wants to keep that little ling in an aquarium?  It would be so cool watching it eat and grow up.   Yeah, I know it is illegal and I'd never do it, but it would be very cool none the less.

Nice commentary, Angel. Art would be proud...I think.

Si, es un momento de gran satisfacción mi hijito. You're all grown up and writing your own reports....and judging by those little whiskers sprouting under your nose you're well on your way to being a man 

I think the world is spinning off its axis right now.  I do 800 miles to and from Disney hell and your getting 144 to glassy jurassaic park.  When are we going back to the Sur? 

Say hi to Chef for me!

I never had the privilige of meeting the Chef but I did take a second to say hello to him...and to admire the fact that he chose such a beautiful place to rest.

...and judging by those little whiskers sprouting under your nose you're well on your way to being a man 

Nice of you to notice the little things.

When are we going back to the Sur? 

If I don't have Omar over the weekend I might be trying to convince myself to get out of bed at 4:20 AM again.  I'm hoping not to have to close out the season with Liz still searching for that verm.  If nothing else we might have to hit up Stuarts secret south central spot... 



One thing I forgot to mention is that this time I actually remembered to do is to cut out the cheek meet.  I figured there would be no difference between it and the rest of the meat...just like comparing the taste of one type of rockfish to another...but there is definetely a difference in the taste and texture of the meet.  I'll never forget to cut it out again.

I might be trying to convince myself to get out of bed at 4:20 AM again. 

Good to see you two getting up&out these days....too bad about the Vermy that seems to elude Liz everywhere she looks for them! Great pics too!
Puttin 2&two together....that pot-leaf pic and your choice of time to arise...leaves me to think?  .....thanks for the report Bro!
Cu@BAM!

If it's any consolation, this year the only Verms I've caught were at Elk.

and I can't find one THERE either!   what's up wit dat?!  They're all chasing the small bait through the kelp forrests up and down the coast....that's what I'm thinking and believing.

Angel, were you fishing fairly close to Limekiln when you got those dabs? There's plenty of sand in that area. Several years ago when we had that weird season that opened in May or June, then closed on an 'emergency' basis for the entire month of July - the heart of my long-planned week at Limekiln - I was forced to find a target other than the rockfish. It was a no-go on the halibut (I'm sure they are there if you look at the right time) - but dabs, those guys were thick out front.

PL