china camp and the newbie 1-9-09

well got the ok from the wife to runaway and play today even though it was our anniversary and i will be attending ise tommorow, so much for the waf account. so got up around 6:00 with the wife as she was off to work and decided to go and chase some sturgeon. first a little background, this was my fith or sixth time in saltwater with the kayak and i have not fished with any thing but fly gear in the last at least twenty years. for xmas my pops got me an okuma kayak rod and fin-nor reel and a few new to me rods and reels from my uncle, so got all the gear loaded and the lunch made and packed and set out from the burg around 7:30 heading south and all excited about the chase, thanks in part to the great articles by kzreels, by the way thanks for that great article and pdf file e.k., and the great post from insaneduane and the crew. so the first stop was loch lemond for bait, picked up 2 dozen ghost shrimp and headed to china camp. parked at the small lot and was the only one there. got all rigged up and set out, as i was sitting into the yak i some how got all my weight shifted to the wrong side and ended up on my back in a bout 1 1/2 feet of water, might be time to do BLOTY, ha ha ha. well got all situated and set out. i headed north towards the duck blinds and bucks landing. marked some bait and a few small fish on the f/f, crossed the channel coming from bucks and ended up between the two blinds and a hundered yards out, so i anchored up and opened the bait bucket that i had put the shrimp and some sea water into and thought now what do i do. should have asked the guy at the bait shop how to put these on the hook. well i got the shrimp on the hook and made my first cast. as the rig flies towards the horizon i hear my pops in my head say when you cast you must put your thumb on the line, doh. well i got my first birds nest of the day which took about five minutes to undo. so i reeled back in and checked the bait, still there. so i cast out again and this time it only takes 30 seconds to undo the nest. getting better. well after about ten minutes i get a small tap and then three small taps in a row and i go to set the hook but the only thing there is bare hooks. so i go ahead and rebait and cast out again. by this time the water depth has gone from 9 feet to 4 so i reel in and pull anchor and move on. i ended up doing a triangle pattern back towards the launch, criss crossing the whole way and dropping anchor when i see bait or any fish on the f/f. this is the way it goes for the next few hours. on my last cast i got a good thump followed by two quick thumps and i set the hook like there is no tommorow and almost end up in the water again, got to figure out how to set a hook when there is that much weight on the line. by this time the tides pretty low and i know i will have to deal with the mud at the launch that i have read about in the posts here so i head in before it gets any lower. as the yak hits the muck and stops i get out with no problems but as i take my second step i lose my balance and do my best turtle imitation, talk about a baptism by fire. all in all a good day. the weather was great and the water was flat and calm. well now i have a few questions for the board 1- how do you put shrimp on the hook, a few times when i cast it went flying off into the bay (laugh if you want but i am serious, i can tie the most intricate flies and catch more big trout out of the spookiest spring creeks in the rockies but i dont know how to deal with bait) 2- the deepest waters i found outside of the bucks channel were only 6-8 feet, was i to far north west and 3- will the left over shrimp i had make it till sunday in the fridge. cameron

bwodun-

Great story... sorry for laughing but, I had to. Anyways, CC is a great place to launch from. I think everybody has done the mud march out there at one point or another. To answer your first question... use Miracle Thread to tie the shrimp onto your hooks. You should be a pro at that since you tie your own flies. Second, 6-8 feet of water is okay for dinos. I've caught dinos in shallower waters before. By the sound of things, you paddled a ways. There's some nice areas by Rat Rock that would've saved you some paddling. Third, your shimp should make it to Sunday... barely though. Depends on how healthy they were. My guess... they'll be goners. Also, I don't know what type of reel you were chucking with... other than being a conventional reel. But, here's what I'd do... check that thing out and see if you has some kind of an adjustment for the spool. Sounds like it's too loose... meaning that the spool is spinning way faster than line is being let out... hense, birds nest. When your reel is adjusted properly, the weight should fall steady but slowly. That should save you some frustration in the future. Hope this helps out and good luck out there...

Freddie

Thread the shrimp on the hook taking the point and inserting on the underside of the head area curling the shrimp on the hook and bringing the point out thru the tail not quite to the end.The guy who caught that monster last year on a kayak was in 7ft. Look for underwater creeks where the tide and currents have created a kind of gulley. This is where I've read that the fish hang waiting for the morsels to travel along with the tide.How much did you have to pat for those ghost shrimp? I pumped 50 this evening at low tide on Tomales Bay. They might last till Sundaybut I dont know what kind of shape they were in when you got home. Good luck. We will beat China Camp on Saturday At 10am till dark.

Miracle thread. Wow I never heard of that. Freddie, do you still thread the hook thru and then tie it?

Gotta luv the mud at SPB BTDT

will the left over shrimp i had make it till sunday in the fridge. cameron

If you don't have any fresh saltwater to put them in wet sawdust or Newspaper will work better.

Ravensblack-

I just wind it up with the stuff. I don't pierce the shimp with the hook at all. Good luck out there... I may give it a go Sunday.

Freddie

Great report, Cameron.  Good luck on your quest.   

hey freddie thanks for the advice on the shrimp. is miracle thread a mono or actual thread? i was going to try over by rat rock but there were alot of powerboats over there and my manuevering skills arent great yet so i did not want to get in anyones way.

ravensblack, i paid 17.25 for two dozen shrimp he also has grass shrimp by the pound.

17.25 for 24 thats not bad. I thought they were out of sight.Were the grass shrimp real tiny? Last time we got bait there they were on the small side.

This is a good site that'll show you how to do it. I also add a small rubber band like those on a bag from the fish store.

http://northwestfishing.info/showthread.php?p=441

Cameron-

I think it's actually called Magic Thread. It's a thin rubbery type of thread. Works really great and it's really easy to use. I just lay the hook across the shrimp and wind the thread around them and wahlah... your set to go.

Freddie

I dont hook the shrimp, just wrap em up and give a little tug at the end so's not to squish em. That way thay are alive on the bottom and give out the little electric current that all living things put out, maybe the fish can feel the "shock"?  Thats what Ive heard from the "elders". Maybe its just a bunch of "bullshit?"

Good story, Cameron!  Yes, the details can get a little tricky on the bay.
I actually use thin little rubber bands to keep the shrimp on the hook - not regular ones like orthodontic bands - those are too tight & will sometimes cut the shrimp in half. I found some very thin ones at a craft-type store that work better. But I like guitarzan's method of tying them to the hook without even impaling them.
Anyway, keep at it and good luck next time.

again, i'm the neanderthal!

i thread the ghost on tail first, and end up with the hook point just coming out the jaws. If the one claw is huge i crack it...figure it gives off more scent that way.  If i do ghost/grass combo then ghost on first, push the hook out through the jaws, then a grass straight through the back, and another threaded on head first, ending the point in the crook of the tail.

I used to use the thread and even the little rubber bands like you use for salmon...but dumped 'em both as it didn't seem to matter much...

Great report, BTDT on most of your antics, good luck next time,