Big South rockfish 10/19

I fished Big Sur on Saturday with 9 other bothers and sisters. Among the group was sackyak, eyeatbay, PJ, rustic andy, northern boy and his lady, zisco, rhyak and his buddy Gary. I launched with the second group around 8:30. 

I caught a lot of fish and every single one was quality size. Everyone seemed to have an excellent day of catching. And the weather was perfect! NO wind and NO swell. Alright, just a little mixed swell, but still the flattest I've seen the Sur. Foggy most the day but the sun broke through every now and then.

The fish were deeper than usual. It was pretty slow inside the kelp so we ventured out in search of structure and scored big time. In about 120 it came up to 80 and fish were stacked. From then on we caught a fish per drop. It didn't matter what you dropped.
But I scored on 6" scampi on 3oz head, 7" big hammer on 2oz, megabait jig, 3oz mickey iron, 6oz glow iron. At first, I had a shrimp fly or glow grub above my jig but I later removed it....too many doubles.
 
The 6oz iron wasn't necessary with the non-drift (probably could've hit bottom w/just 1oz...but it was necessary to send bloated fish back down with the Fish Descender. Without it, I would've had to keep a stringer of floater gophers! At one point, I caught 6 stupid gophers in a row! Although, I still acounted for some potential-floaters in my limit and only kept six fish: 3 reds, a ling, a copper, and an olive. The copper had bulging eyes and the olive was gill-hooked or they would've went back too.

I apologize in advance for the crappy pics. The camera lens got wet and then it sorta fogged up. Again. And its a crap camera to begin with. Blame agarcia LOL. I know that some of the others got pics too. So hopefully they will post them here. NB might've even got some video...
 
The launch was nice and easy.


Eyeatbay's boccacio, a nice little 25"er. Glassy smooth.


My first treefish. It was nice size. Now I wish I kept it. Never eaten one. Are they good?


LOTS of doubles. I got tricked a couple times and thought it was something bigger.


NB and Lisa.


Rhyak and zisco. Again, look at that glass! I could've wakeboarded out there.


Ha! This was classic. I kept seeing this weird thing on the surface. Couldn't tell if it was a dolphin or a sealion but it looked big. Then heard a loud blow that made me pull my stringer inside the boat w/me. So I straddled the kayak and paddled away with the fish dangerously close to my crotch. Of course, I had to get a picture.


The final haul. Everyone had massive stringers.


Commando shot. Twin 22" reds. I think Andy got a 25"er!

Great report and fish

Yeah, now!

amazing how the micro climate in Sur can work for you.  while FF was getting blown off South Rock, you guys were pulling them in at Big South  Rock(fish)

Maybe I should go down there this weeek......

allen

Nice report Pat, sucks I couldn't make it but thats life. Way to go.  

Thanks for the great report and awesome pictures Sin Coast. I understand that
you guys lucked out on the nice weather but is that place a newbie friendly ?
Just wondering if it will be one to go when time permits. Hey Phil, did you get a
haircut ?

Jedmo

Another great report of another great NCKA hookup - well done!  And the photos were great, PK - it's all about content when the scenes are that fishy and friendy.   

Great pics and haul! Looks like the water down there was picture perfect.

Did Nothernboy manage to pick up that verm he was looking for?

My first treefish. It was nice size. Now I wish I kept it. Never eaten one. Are they good?

Are they good?!  thanks to GB2, they're my favorite!   

Strong work there crew, wish I coulda joined ya PK.

Phew. Finally got done unpacking, cleaning up and eating Vermilion! You’re right, they taste fabulous.

It was a great trip. Limekiln was still closed so we went to Mill Creek and fished for >7hrs. I lost count of the number of fish we caught. We kept 2 Lings, a Vermilion, a copper and 4 blues. I went with the sole intention of catching Vermilion. Lisa went with the sole intention of catching a Ling. We both failed. What a happy failure it was!!. Who would have believed 3 months ago I’d catch a limit of Lings and actually be a bit disappointed.

At the end is a video. If you can’t be bothered with the video here are some pics.

It was beautiful


The trophy fish


Lisa with her Vermilion


Bigmouth strikes…….. (This one was a gift from Pat which we have since filleted and…….regifted!).


A copper……..I think…………


Happiness is a full stringer


Could be a Coastside cooler pic! There’s another Ling under there somewhere



The Video……….

Great report, PK.   What a great day!

Thank Sin Coast for the pics. It was nice to see you and your fellow on the water. You led the fleet! This is the 1st time I got a boccacio. It hit hard when I rolled in in the mid column. Fighting was like Oliver, but heavier. I was wonder what it was during the pull-up.

Fun, fun, fun, what could be better. Thanks for the report.
Seems like you had a nice variety fish.

Wow the ocean looked flat.  Nice work guys. 

Wow that is the most plastic I have seen out of Sur in quite a while. Glad to see the launch/landing went well. That is one of the largest tree fish I have seen. That is the second one I have seen come out of there in the last few months (GB2 had a nice sized one)

Excellent documentation of a great trip. Way to take advantage of the weather window!

I've found that although both timing & skill come into play to make a great trip, the timing is something that is most important.