MK execution

Hi 

At 3:am this morning i was warming up my truck and my coffee, getting ready for a trip to the south, 336 miles make you work hard for some fish. 4am i was SJ meeting with "Eyebay" 6:45am at MK meet with SXfactor and E2g. The weather was perfect, no wind, little foggy but not bad at all . 7:10 we launched with no problem, and headed north to the spot, the paddle was brutal, an hour plus to get to the fish nightholes where they gather to BS and stuff....at the beginning i had the magic stick, i was getting mucho y grande fish, was unbelievable so many fish i was getting, i caught five lings, three undersizes were released, three good size reds, three good size coppers and one blue.... woohoooo  what a day,
 
i really enjoyed, was nice to see the crew again.

I got some pics,  will post them tomorrow.. 

this is it..

Ramon -

Way to go amigo!!! Going to have buy you a new hack saw blade for Christmas.  Mill Creek is a brutal paddle and of course the swim to get your yak. 

Scott

I rolled out of bed around 7:30, after the alarm didn't go off.  I was really looking forward to it too! Damn .

How was the mixed swell?  It looked to be small, but mixed, but you never really know until you're out there.

Did the wind pick up??

Great report and stringer, Ramon.   

Gotta love those 2 full game clip days. 

Ramon, it looks like you needed a 3rd game clip.  So did you finally get a conventional reel or are you still frying your spinning reels?  What was your magic bait or did you use one of Eric's favorites?

Long drive but the fishing made it worth it...Good show!

Gary

a two stringer day!  gotta love Sur   

nice haul, I really liked the creative shot through the gills.

Wow! Congrats on the stringer of fish. From the looks of the place, it
seem not a newbie friendly fishing spot or is it? Thanks for the report
kayakito.

Jedmo

From the looks of the place, it
seem not a newbie friendly fishing spot or is it?

the thing about Big Sur is that when its nice and flat calm, its a piece of cake.  But that can change on you really fast, then it can be a life or death paddle.  Help is many hours away.  So personally I would wait till I had some experience in bad conditions close to populated areas where help if needed can respond.  Then venture out farther.

  Hola Ramon, Eric, Ken! Great fishing with you.  The weather was UNBELIEVABLE.  Just a hint of breeze, bit of swell.  The only negative was a fast drift based on current, so hard to work against.  Ramon was on fire.  The other three of us are fishing the usual suspects (swimbaits, iron, scampi) and Ramon is knocking them dead.  "I got a big red!  Big Copper, Big Ling."  I hadnt had a bite in the last 30 minutes, and Ramon is getting ready to sink his yak!

We all eventually hit our groove and finish with nice quality stringers.  Not WFO, but fish here, fish there.

A note to all, with rulers on your paddles.  My first ling was about 24.75 inches.  My second looking like 23.99 so released.  The thing was when I got home and measured the first ling with my tape measure, it was 26 inches.  When I measure the one on my paddle, I realized that it has about a .5 inch space before the measuring starts and that I stretched it when I put it on the paddle.  So the 23.99 was actually a bit over 25.  No biggie, but it would be good to get more accurate just in case.

the other thing about my ling had an octupus half in it mouth when I caught it.  Later couldnt find it.  Turns on that even on a stringer, a ling eats.  When I cleaned the fish, the octupus was all the way in the stomach.  As Ken said, "last meal."

NICE WORK RAMON

On my last trip down there I used frozen squid tentacles to tip my 4" swim bait and that combination worked fairly well.  I was tempted to buy some baby octopus to try out but squid has always performed well.  Bait was found at 99 Ranch in their frozen food section.

So does the tape used for the rulers shrink with exposure or something?  At least we're getting a conservative measurement and not the other way around.

I'll take the fish here and there anytime as long as there's a few big keepers for the stringer in between.  Big Sur doesn't disappoint but you earn it with the long paddle and the long drive to get there.  It sounds like you guys dragged your yaks high enough on the beach so they didn't get sucked back in like we did last time.

Uggghhhh....sounds like me and PJ were in the same boat. Rough night+slept in=I missed another epic Sur trip. [embarrassed and kicking myself] The 5 reds and 2 lings I found in Carmel made me feel a little bit better but would've much rather fished with you guys.

Thanks for the great report+pics guys!
PK

On my last trip down there I used frozen squid tentacles to tip my 4" swim bait and that combination worked fairly well.  I was tempted to buy some baby octopus to try out but squid has always performed well.  Bait was found at 99 Ranch in their frozen food section.

So does the tape used for the rulers shrink with exposure or something?  At least we're getting a conservative measurement and not the other way around.

Eric used a barfed up octopus with great success.  On the tape I think the opposite of shrink, I may have stretched it when applying to ensure no wrinkles on the paddle shaft.  So 23 inches on the tape is actually 24.  Like you say, better that way than the other, but there were a few days this season where I would have kept a few lings for the BBQ had I known they were legal.

Oh and Ramon, in case I didnt mention it before, thanks for the help up the hill.  Gravity and fat guys dont mix well, you helped even that equation.  Muy fuerte!

Uggghhhh....Rough night+slept in=I missed another epic Sur trip. [embarrassed and kicking myself]

We figured something like that but glad you made it out at a reasonable hour  

Sorry Pat and Andy missed the fun. Six would have been perfect for that spot. Fist trip I can remember with limits of lings for all. Ramon 5, Eugene 2 (one legal one released-I offered to measure it on my tape stuck on the side of the boat but opted for a quick release) Eric the two largest lings 28" & 29" on the puked up octopus he hustled off of Ramon. I got on legal one and one shaker, plus I knocked off one with the gaff as I had a 20" red on the top hook and a more than legal ling on the bottom hook. I tried to swing the red on the deck and stick the gaff in the lower jaw but only knocked the fish off. Oh well plenty of fish for the next week. Oh and the weather best I have seen all year. Just a fast drift for some reason. One more thing learned bring some heavier weights to drop down quickly on the spot. The swim baits and small irons got swept off the bottom too quickly.