fort ross 6-15-09

well had a great day at the fort today, got there at what i thought was early but there was otobepelagics truck already in the lot, and i could see him already out on the water. rigged up and headed on out, met up with allen and got some helpful advice and rigging tips and some squid from him, thanks again allen for all the sage advice today. he already had a few fish to hand and i will let him tell you about those. started fishing and hooked up pretty quickly with a copper, ended up catching and releasing about 15-20 of them over the morning, when they started slowing down i started picking up alot of blues and kelp bass.we were then joined by jack(kayakjack?) and we pretty much covered the area. then i had a nice hook up, started ripping line and then bam, into the kelp. tried to pull it but to no avail, put it into freespool to get the snag loose, finaly pops free, and can feel the wait of the kelp coming up as it gets with in four feet i feel it shake a little and suddenly see a flash of white and a big fin sticking out of the kelp mess, fish still on, woohoo, 17 inch cabezon, not huge but my first one ever, paddled over to allen for an id confirmation, and on to the clip it goes. picked up a few more scattered fish but it got real guiet by 1:30 so paddled in. had a great day out there, nice to meet you jack and again allen thanks for the tips, cameron

ooooh...i love cabies.  they are fun to fish and delicious.
congrats!

dang bro must of been a nice hook set had complications n  fish still on Jai Boi mad props

Nice work, Cameron.   

Way to go on the cabbie, Cameron. Nice report

Cameron, you are too kind...not only for what you posted but also for what you didn't post. The REAL title of today's  fort adventure should have been more like:
                            
                                         A Bike Ride Short of a Triathlon! (more on that in a minute)

     The morning was beautiful with flat calm conditions and fish that wanted to bite at every offering. I caught some nice fish and lost a monster twice in the same drop. I even caught an "anchovie duck". Never actually hooked it, the shrimp fly just clamped the edge of the wing. Met up with Cameron then Jack on the water. Two other kayak fishers paddled north but I was unable to make contact with them. During the morning I noticed huge schools of bait that were invading the reefs and as soon as they flooded an area the bite went dead.
     Later in the morning we moved to deeper water but the bite was off there as well. Jack and Cameron headed in but I stayed out a bit longer. By the time I reached the shore the duo were about to leave so I bummed a ride with Cameron. As we were headed up the hill I glanced down and said...hey I don't see my kayak. He stopped the truck and we both stared out into the cove not seeing it. Finally I spotted it out in the cove..UPSIDE DOWN! I raced down the the beach shedding clothing, hat and sunglasses and plunged into the surf for a little swim. When I finally reached the craft and turned it over I began tossing all the stuff dangling from the lanyards back on top the kayak. Just then kayak rolled over on it's own dumping everything back in the water. I had opened the center hatch and now the unstable yak was about 1/4 full of water. I up righted it again and leveled the gear. Then I swam around and picked up a couple items that were not tied to the boat. The only things (other than my dignity) lost were my sunblock, water bottle, a small net, an orange and a canned coffee drink.
      Now the tough part.....pushing the kayak to the beach. I rode a couple big sets as we neared the beach and just as I got in shallow I gave it a shove where Jack and Cameron were waiting to drag it up to dry land. Thanks guys. The one thing I remember as I was running for the surf was Jack yelling out to Cameron...get the camera...too funny. Another Great Adventure ON and IN the water..

Thanks for the report Cameron. Congrats on that cabezon. I had my first ever
taste of it's meat at Shelter Cove. Andy deep fried the whole fish heads and all
and it was so delicious.

Allen, I'm so glad you did not lose too much gears specially losing the kayak. Most
of all, that you are fine and did not get hurt during your swim.

Jedmo

here are the pics of allens swim, promised i wouldn't show them but just got the ok

The Navy Seals would have been proud of you Allen.  glad all is OK

Glad to see you made it out cameron.  Nice looking Cab. 

That would've been great to see... glad it all worked out though.

Freddie

Thank you for the report & great pics, Cameron!
sorry Allen but those are some great shots  
must be one memorable birthday!
     you finally caught up with me

Thanks Cameron for the report and pictures.  Happy 44th birthday to you Allen.  If I don't know you well I would've thought that you're performing kayak surfing (j/k)    Now we all know that you're a good swimmer too 

Wow Allen, great birthday adventure!  Glad everything worked out OK.  Congrats on the fish guys!

When I was there on Sunday there were these sets that were larger than the rest every 10-15 min or so. I guees those pool noodles really work,eh? You know Allen, Escape from Alcartaz was last weekend. I'm thinking we should sign you up and then afterwards we can all fish for halibut at Chrissy Field. Bird, what kind of bird is that exactly? Nice work Cameron to keep the secret. WTG on the cabbies too.