Pigeon Point, Sat 11/8

Scott and I met up with Etienne at Pigeon Pt for a 7:00 am launch.  The plan was to drop our traps and then paddle north to find some rock fish.  The weather started off to be very nice but then the wind came up as the day progressed.  The ocean was rockin and rollin while we were there (scopalomin day) and the wind was getting stronger as the day progressed.

Scott and I carpooled from the east bay and on our drive to Pigeon Point we took a good look at BH.  There were good sized waves breaking at the mouth of the launch as well as near the shore.  Doable but with increasing wind and lugging crab traps, BH was not an option for us today.

Attached is a picture of Pigeon Pt as seen from the water.  The beach launch is to the right of the lighthouse and you can see the stairs from the parking lot to the beach.

Fishing was really slow for me, a few throwbacks and no keepers.  I did find some Dungies in my trap after a 3 hour soak.  Attached is my crab trap with my bounty for the day.  Sorry I didn't deploy my GPS so I don't have coordinates to share.  Scott and Etienne caught a number of fish for good dinner.

There was some excitement provided by the Queen of Hearts.  On the way to its fishing grounds it was heading straight towards Scott at a decent clip and then it veered off.  We all had our cameras ready but really we're all sitting ducks.

On our way home we stopped to get the BH update from John M.  He had a nice stringer of fish.

Hopefully the weather is good next week.

Gary

I don't see the Queen of Hearts doing anything to harm anyone. I know the owners. If anything, the captain finally saw him and changed direction.

Hello Gary,
Is that the crab trap everyone is using here to set traps? Or is there other types
as well?

Thanks,
Jed

Jed, The crab trap I use is a Danielson unit and it has its limitations.  Since it's made of rubber coated wire it is somewhat heavy compared to the folding rope mesh traps.  There's a great NCKA article by ChuckE that describes those traps.  Anyway, due to this I limit myself to one trap and most folks roll with multiple traps or hoops to maximize their chances. 

Regarding the Queen of Hearts, it's unnerving to see any big boat bearing down on us at full speed and come close enough to us that we can see the facial features of the passengers.  I realize that we're usually sitting possibly where they want to be but its interesting that we never had any concern with any of the other party boats.  I've seen the Tigerfish many times off of BH, many party boats during the halibut hunt and have shared the area off of Stillwater Cove with dive boats.  They usually keep their distance and/or slow down.  I don't doubt that there's any malicious intent on their part and we're hard to see but Scott was in a bright yellow yak and there's lots of room to the ocean side of us. 

Great report and pics, Gary.  WTG on the Cancer magister.   

I don't see the Queen of Hearts doing anything to harm anyone. I know the owners. If anything, the captain finally saw him and changed direction.

Then the captain needs to get new glasses or pay more attention. He could have given us a wider distance to pass at that speed also. Unfortunately seems to be a recurring problem also.

scott

Queen of Hearts and Bob and Sherry Ingles have such a great reputation perhaps an email to them might shed some light on the incident. They have an email link on their website.

Other than that, good to see people are getting out.

Crab and fish, what more could one ask for.

Question , will a PB's radar pick up a non- metallic object as small as a kayak ? No harm - no foul as I see it !

Way to go Gary!

Strong work on the crabs!

Do you know how deep the trap was?

Thanks for the info. SandMan. I appreciate it.

Jedmo

My trap was dropped in a patch of sand that was in 52 fow.  I drifted along until I found a flat spot on the bottom according to my FF.  Scott was slightly shallower and about 100 yards east of me and Etienne dropped traps about 200 yards south.  I lucked out with the Dungies but both Scott and Etienne had lots of rock crabs in their traps.  What was weird was that Scott and Etienne both had fish swim into their traps.  They were released of course but who would think they would swim in and not be able to swim back out.

Ben, if I had one of your striper carcasses I probably would have limited out.  How's the surf look at Muir?  My family still remembers when we hit it for a good Dungie haul.

Gary

Nice report Gary, WTG on the crab.

Sorry to hear about the run in with the big boats.  Scott, you need a harder helmet if you keep playing chicken with party boats!

Gary -

Thanks for sharing some crab with me and Etienne. My wife and I really enjoyed the first crab of the season. Really had fun on my first crabbing adventure but as Etienne says, when is it not fun?  Let's hookup soon. 

Scott

Question , will a PB's radar pick up a non- metallic object as small as a kayak ? No harm - no foul as I see it !

I remember reading an article by a Coast Guard captain where he said that kayaks are invisible on radar. I recommend a safety flag.