The O.C. 4th of July Party Weekend Liberty & Fish for All.

So we roll in Thursday pm and the lady in the store asks us "Are you guys taking your kayaks down the boat ramp to launch cause if you are it's another $8.00 a day." So we told her if we were we would roll them down on our carts and not drive down."Doesn't matter it'll still be eight bucks". So yeah we lied and told her we were launching at Fort Ross. Set up camp and got our beer and campfire on and launched around 7am. Paddled straight up to the southern end of Gerstle. I wanted to check out that area as I usually hang around by O.C. or head down south. I pulled a couple reds and Will managed his first ling of the year. I paddled North of Gerstle a bit but it didn't seem to be any better up there. Will had to bail out so I slept in and launched solo on the fourth. OTW I met up with a couple of guys from Oakland who had sabiki-ed up some live bait. I couldn't catch anything where they were so I headed around to the south and one of them David? joined me. I had some intel from a freediver I met at the fish cleaning area the day before about a big nest of cabs. He was right about the cabs they were right where he said they would be. Anchored on the kelp and got her done. I headed out deeper and caught an underling before calling it a day with half a limit having a full limit the day before. The freediver also hooked me up with my first blast of fresh uni. Tastes like a raw egg to me. We had a little excitement later that nite as someone lit off a big fireworks display into the sky off the point. A "friend of the campground owner" came flying down the road, nearly running over a couple kids watching the show, and started screaming about "the cops will be here in 5 minutes and you guys better run." After he finished yelling, the father of the two boys he almost ran over had some words with him about watching his speed in the camp after dark. I had a great weekend and have included a couple of pics of the gerstle preserve boundry markers so if you paddle up or down to Gerstle you will know what they look like. Also I think it's worth mentioning that the color map of the cove is not correct as there is a big area to fish outside of the preserve itself, kind of like an outer cove. jim

O.C.? Looks like you had a great time.

Ocean Cove. I call it the O.C. because on big busy holiday weekends it's kind of like the t.v. show of the same title with always a little and sometimes a lot of drama going on. As long as I'm not the one getting arrested, fined, chased or beat down I kind of enjoy a little chaos. It's definitely got a different vibe going on than the state or county run campgrounds. The rangers down at Stillwater run a tight ship. jim.

P.S. Looking at the pic I labeled side view of the south marker you can legally fish to the right of my yak but to the left is a no-no.

Thanks for the report and pictures Jim.

I see you got a new net. Did William get one too. I'll tell you those guys at Ocean Cove get you coming and going. When its windy its a shithole. We used to launch there sometimes in the 80's but no more. Jim you know that wash rock down in the main cove to the left? I was diving for abalone there around 1984 and saw a huge salmon right by that rock in 20ft of water. Any size to the cabs? Did you go all the way down south to the cauldron? I am glad you had a good time. OC rip off for a kayak launch though really sucks.

You guys are BAAAAD!!! stop messing with the watchmens.

I had a great day on the water fishing with my bro. For the most part the bite was on. I kept the two on my stringer, the ling and one rock fish. I released about 12 to 15 other small rock fish that I caught. We did a marathon session, about 9 hours on the water.
Craig I did get a bigger net and can't wait to put a Lg. Hali in it.
William_102 

Great report fellas!!  nothing like hooking fish and fish wanting to get hook!
SWEET!!   looks like oil out there.

That protected area is awesome to swim thru, 10 inch plus abs everywhere, they know its safe, lots of eyes on it from shore too...