Stillwater Paradise

Met up with hoppy at around 7 this morning. Fishmaster1, monster guppy and alshobie showed up shortly thereafter.

The tide was high, clear up to the steps and not much beach to prepare on. The weather was great even at 7 am a tee shirt and farmer john wetsuit was warm enough.

Fishmaster1, monster guppy and myself took out crab traps for the first time, neither of us had tried it before, so there was some learning curve involved. We got the traps set between 65 ft. and 100 ft in the middle of the cove and paddled North for some fishing.

The wind was nothing and the swell was small also. The water was so clear you could watch fish swimming 30 feet deep or more it was awesome to watch the seals deep down around the kelp. There was very little drift, so you could fish right in the kelp and not move 5 feet in 1/2 hour, just find a good spot and relax. Everyone caught some fish, between 3 and 7 apiece. My 6 were 2 gophers rather small, two blues med size 2 lbs, another smallish olive and a real nice 4 lb. verm.

Awesome day even for fishmaster1, as he spent a lot of time napping and nursing a hangover and it was so calm it almost put me to sleep as well.

Headed back in around noon checked the traps, nothing for me, but either fishmaster1 or monster guppy got a couple nice crab.

All in all it was the most beautiful day I have had all year and for a change the fish were biting.

I passed a couple other yak'ers on the way in and they had a full stringer each and were complaining that they couldn't catch fish cause the lings wouldn't leave them alone. Wish I had that problem sometimes.

Check out fishmasters or als report for pics and more info.

Great day out there glad to get a good one before the season closes.
Thanks to all who went the company was great as always, not a better bunch to fish with anywhere.
Stoggie

Glad you had a nice day stoggie. Congrats on the stringer specially the 4lb verm.
Sorry no crabs for you. Thanks for the report.

Jedmo

Thanks for the report.
Sounds like i missed a great day on the water.
Word of caution: Carmel SMCA = NO CRABBING
I went out last year and was checked by F&G when I returned to the beach,
Warden cave us a hard time but no citation because he couldn't prove we were in the SMCA.
He still insisted that because we were landing in the SMCA he had the wright to do so but would only give a warning since we also had no crabs.
Eric

sound like a sweet day, thanks for the report

Verschlamminzielingen - that should be the German word for how the fishing at Stillwater was today. I was late meeting up with the NCKA crew, but another friendly kayak angler took me under his wing today (Pete, if you happen to read this, I can't thank you enough). We never even managed to paddle very far around the corner. First drop of the day - at a respectable 8:50 am nonetheless - and I find Pete desperately praying that his net is big enough to land ling #1. Needless to say, it was a pig. Mesmerized by visions of a first keeper ling this year, I paddle a short bit up-drift only to turn back and see Pete wrestling with another bronze-colored bruiser of a ling in his net. Just about then it was my turn. I lustily reeled in a 26 inch, 7.5 lb smurf-eater and promptly broke its lower jaw in half. Okay, note to self: need practice using that after-market boga grip. Not to be outdone, I hear a voice. "You want this one?" It's Pete... figures. Well hell yeah I want it! A couple whacks on the noggin, and we have a 35 inch, 13 lb toothy companion for my li'l buddy. I've only been kayak fishing for a year and a half now, but this was beginning to seem ridiculous. Not that I minded. Over the whole trip, there were a couple more gophers caught, a nice verm, and possibly a slight sunburn. It was nice to see stoggie and company paddle back in by us. We didn't even see you the whole day. Sorry I missed the BBQ. Hope you guys had as much fun (hangovers and all... been there, done that) as I did. I think I need to clean my lederhosen.

Sorry, had some fuzzy issues with the on-the-water photos so I'll just leave with this:

Good to see you all such a great day on the water, 

nice dentals on the Ling.   always good to hear that ncka crews do not know how to waste a beautiful day .
i think there's 3 more good days to come.

We had an awsome day on the water! Nice to be with all my boys....MonsterGuppy,AlsHobieOutback,Hoppy,Stoogie,and myself..... Pics and report to to follow!!!   

OK heres how the day went.Showed up around 7:30,launched, fished ,felt like s*!t...The clarety of the water was amazing! Everybody agreed that it was like looking into an aquairium. You could see clear down to about thirty feet or so. The schools of fish were just kinda cruzin around. I caught around five ok sized blues.Didnt start feeling well till around twelve o clock, ( when I got off the water!) I pulled my crab pot to have A few starfish and A Cammoflouge crab. Did I already say the weather was remarkable... We decided to relocate our shore lunch,for there wasnt much shore and it smelled like death!!! Ask Alain. We sat around and drank some of the best beers known to man and had an awsome lunch... The company was great!! Sorry you missed the lunch Stoogie!! Here are A few pics...Andy

Thanks for the report.
Sounds like i missed a great day on the water.
Word of caution: Carmel SMCA = NO CRABBING
I went out last year and was checked by F&G when I returned to the beach,
Warden cave us a hard time but no citation because he couldn't prove we were in the SMCA.
He still insisted that because we were landing in the SMCA he had the wright to do so but would only give a warning since we also had no crabs.
Eric

Eric

I'm not up on crab regs, but there were about 1/2 dozen other crab pots in the cove where we were.

I need to check the regs more if I am gonna try for the buggers.

Thanks for the note

Stoggie

Yeah.... What a day!  It was the best conditions I have ever fished at Stillwater!  Clear water like you wouldn't believe!  I caught like 10 total blues, one right after another at times where I would bring one and once on board drop my other line in the water and before I could get the fish on my stringer, the pole was bending over!  Got my first cabbie ever too!  I don't think anyone could ask for a better day on the water....

Quick vid showing the glass like conditions at around noon before we started back in:
 

http://www.youtube.com/v/ov3w6IDEYkQ

But...  It was off the water that made the day even better!  Andy, you may need to consider changing your nick to FRY Master1!!!  He and MG lead us down the coast to a spot to pull off and do a nice BBQ and FRY session.  First he whipped out some chicken and started frying, then we tossed my cabbie in for some fish tacos.  MG got some porterhouse steaks grilling up, and man OH man did we feast on this surf and turf.

I't was great to say the least

Pics:

Damn you guys did it right! Looks like I missed some good weather and good times. That deepfrier is KILLER!

Damn you guys did it right! Looks like I missed some good weather and good times. That deepfrier is KILLER!

You betcha!  And I didn't catch a single gopher   We all missed you at there Pat!  Already looking forward to next year though!

Damn you guys did it right! Looks like I missed some good weather and good times. That deepfrier is KILLER!

What up Sin? You were surley missed out there! .. We got over it!!! The deepfrier is my latest masterpiece, took around four hours  and about fifty bucks to make... Let me know if you want one I can hook you up..

This report is NCKA at its best - NICE job!  You guys rocked it.