San Mateo Cab Hunting

My buddy Mike and I hit up some of the local nearshore reefs for a bit of a cab hunt. We spent most of our time at Montara and a little south of there as well.

The day started out a bit slow with the occasional Gopher and a flurry of small lingcod. I think I caught 7 shorts with only one keeper size in the mix. Plenty of action to keep us interested but none of the right kind. I forgot my fishfinder today so we were fishing blind and just kept bouncing around looking for some more variety. Beautiful day with lots of tiny Porpoise and harbor seals feeding on bait. The porpoises were maybe four feet long and super cute. I love seeing those little guys out there.

Finally at lunch time we found the Cabby hole. Mike deffinitely had the hot stick of the day and the magic sandwich as well. Everytime he tried to eat his sandwich he caught another keeper Cabazone! An hour and four keepers later he finally finished his sandwhich. 

After that we leapfrogged our way back to the truck catching a couple nice Grass rockfish and a couple more short lingcod. We released most of the fish we caught but ended up keeping a couple gophers and a greenling as well as three of the Cabbies. Yummy steamed Cabazone is my favorite!

Another great day on the water with good company!


-Eliot

What a weather  its like your fishing in a lake, congrats! thanks for the report.

Nice Cabby on that rootbeer leadhead!!  Thanks for the post and pics...

Rich

Nice fatty cabs! Love the color of the hefty one in the "sandwich" pic.

Where did you put in?

yeah nice cabs!

although i think your fish looks a little undercooked in that last picture 

Where did you put in?

Beat me to it--Montara isn't far from HMB but worth asking.

Nice report and that Cabby on the the Rootbeer softbait looks fat and sassy!

although i think your fish looks a little undercooked in that last picture

Naw, leave them wiggling a bit to show how fresh they are.

You can launch from HMB and paddle north or you can do what we did and beach launch. It can be a strong shore break but that little beach just north of Montara is not too bad at the south end. Bit of a carry but a short paddle to the grounds.

Oh and the hot color was purple and black with a silver belly in the 7" size. They really seemed keyed in on the bigger baits. I'm off to the Mtns to visit some friends but I hope you guys have good weekend out there!


-Eliot

Love the "action" pictures!  Congrat on your catches and thanks for the report Eliot.

Diggin' the cabbie/sammy picture.  Nice goin'!

Isn't the limit one cab per person?  Just asking...

People,
 We never seem to hear a good report from the HMB area....and yet, heres a great one!
 I'm inspired to go to there instead of the usual better spots. Could HMB be ignored by us for so long that its good again?
Or is there so much boat pressure that its picked over and over for too long?
To be sure the North of the lighthouse was the key to success but how was it nearer the harbor?
Big swimbaits or whole squid might tempt big ling as well as the cabs.
So to Bean, HMB or where?
 Anyone else going "local" tomorrow?
 Steve

I think you have your answer in your own ideas--the farther you are from harbors, the less boat pressure and voila--more fish. IMHO: that's why The Bean is so good--long way from any ports so boats don't often get all the way down or up there. Alaska, for all its size, has the combined populations of only Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto in the Bay Area--for an entire state over twice as big as Texas!

So guess where the best fishing in the US is?

Yep: Alaska.

True and logical...but sometimes an area is neglected because it is thought to be a poor area. If enough people think that long enough, and stay away long enough....fish may return.
I wonder if angler neglect, migrating fish and bait abundance allowed a rebound.
 Even Capitola and New Brighton turns on sometimes!

I wonder too about Moss Landing. The pipes in the water North of it are a super spot for spearfishing halibut and yet, I have never heard of a report from there.
 I know how good the first bouy out of the HMB harbor used to be. I wonder if it would give up some good fish or just give one 6 uneventful hours in the sun.

Stilll dont know where to go tomorrow!
 Steve

Yum. Cabezon sounds pretty good right about now. That one in the pic reminds me of a little incredible hulk fish