Humboldt Coastline - 6/6/09 - With a couple pics and a vid

Quick trip over the hill with my buddy Graham yesterday.  We fished 7:30 to 11 and had to drag ourselves away, back to family and girlfriend obligations in real life.  The morning conditions were spectacular - smooth, clean, clear and fishy!  We headed outside and dropped lines.  I was trying a new secret weapon bait and it hooked up two lings immediately.  Unfortunately I had it hooked up on my salmon rod with 15 pound test mono and I broke it off as I was working it up from the bottom - it felt big...    I failed to bring more of the secret tackle for the secret bait, so I improvised and got a few more nice strikes with the bait and then I was out.  The rest of the morning I tipped various jigs, knives and big rubber fish with squid and had a pretty steady stream of chinas, big blacks, verms and a 31" ling to the boat and released - the ling actually came on a greenling that I put back down still mouth hooked on the stinger hook of the knife jig.  Less than a minute and it loaded up with the ling.  The toothy one held onto that greenling all the way into my net - it was never hooked.  I kept one verm for the fryer.  MattS's knife jigs were nailing the fish.  Graham was so busy with doubles while he worked a shrimpfly - we figured he caught around 40-50 fish today including 3 lings.  He put on a knife jig and had a constant stream of fish, and that's when I switched to a couple of knives MattS gave me.  The wind picked up around 10 and there were little whitecaps, but it was still nice - nothing like the other night with spedrcr.  We got to the beach and it was nearly 70 degrees.  Back over the hill to real life - I'm bringing more secret bait and plenty of rigs for it next time!

 Nice picture of the conditions we like to see. Were your knife jigs store bought or homemade kind? Kinda fun making jigs yourself.

Nice report and nice pics of some healthy looking fish. Secret bait? It sounds like you used the bait that is sometimes used down here secretly in Monterey. Those baby greenlings are extreme ling candy! I'm not sure about up there but in this area it's illegal to keep or use them under twelve inches. Keep an eye out for the law, big brother is watching.

Great looking day all around, speaking of homemade jigs, I have an old company bullshit trinket (gold, shiny, meaningless, corprate, crap) that I've kept for years, I got a hook attached to it but never sent it down, Maybe this year.

Thx, calbear, but I wouldn't do anything but release an undersize fish.  The greenling was around 15" and I've been told by a warden that using it for bait is legal as long as I count it toward my limit.  The secret bait was something store-bought, and I dropped $8 for 6 of them.  That's the only hint I'm giving for now, but I'm weak on holding out...   

Dave - The knife jigs were made by MattS and had stinger hooks.  Those things really catch the best variety of fish, in my experience.

It'll work, Dale!  Bring it up here and I'll video you catching a ling with it!   

I knew a guy that had the figure from the top of an old bowling trophy. One of the legs was missing from the bowler at about the knee and he had attached a 7/0 circle hook to the other leg. He claimed it was a pretty good shark lure.

I always thought it would work well on Lingasaurs because it still had some shine to it and would make noise when it hit a rock.

It would probably work better if the hook was tipped with some of your "secret" bait.......

OK, Abking, you've got my gears grinding and the wheels turning, 6 for $8. Could it be whole shrimp? Sounds like expensive shrimp, though. Maybe whole sand dabs? I think they chop the head and clean them before sale, though. What else? Hmmmm. Octopus? Herring? This is driving me crazy, not really J/K. Maybe some medium size mackerel? Maybe another clue? What type of store did make your purchases from? That might help narrow down the possibilities.

You named it, calbear!     Similar to my M.O. of just running really big leadheads and gaudy-big rubber fish and stuff, it will only work if you're around some big lings...  I'm finding lately that I consistently catch less fish than those with me, but I think I have a better chance at a big ling.  Herring - double hook slip rig.   

Here's a vid:

I have an old company bullshit trinket (gold, shiny, meaningless, corprate, crap) that I've kept for years

 

Nice report Eric.  Keep em coming.

I had a feeling I was close but the price was throwing me off. I'm pretty sure the herring sold around here is a little cheaper. Killer video! Nice job pulling up the hitch hiker, you made the net job look effortless, just like a pro. Enjoying the kick @$$ reports

Is Hawk paying for that malibu plug pic? Nice haul guys. One of these days I hope to drag my x-factor down there.

Ahhh, the cape. Is this a real place? 

Great job Eric! Thanks for the report.Kris was wondering if you were shaking?

Andy, My Bro, and Kris, my honorary bad-ass nephew:  The shake is apparently something that I don't perceive, so I need you guys along, tripod setups rolling footage, capturing the moment for me.   

If you find yourself out there doing it and you lose the "shake", or whatever makes it special for you, then maybe the therapy's not working like it once did, and maybe you need to re-focus.  That's how it feels for me sometimes, and it's amazing how much the videos and reports can be the best part of the therapy.  I'm focused on making sure it remains therapeutic.