Doran Beach and Beyond

  Finally made it out to Doran Beach, Bodega Bay.  Arrived at 4 pm or so and found a north wind of about 10 knts.  A gentleman was pulling his Zodiac out and asked me to take a few pictures for him.  He pulled this 10 inch Ab and then went back out and speared this huge Ling. Ling measured about 38 iches, and was thick!   The F and G guy said it was the largest he had measured this year there, so good timing on my part!  He had a throw away camera and doesn't even own a computer, so hope he doesn't mind being posted!  
   Caught a few smelt and just kept 2 small ones to drift the beach.  It wasn't flat but it wasn't bad so I did a loop around Seal Rock and back to the beach for a few drifts and called it a day at 6:30 or so.   The F and G guys said yesterday was the best day he had ever seen, FAC and no fog, story of my life!   Great place to catch smelt, didn't see any chove or dines in close but I am sure they are near by.  Not bad little workout for my first day out of Bodega.  
 PS, add to the old line Don't eat the yellow snow, Don't drift downwind of Seal Rock!  

wow the old saying is appropiate, old guys rule, thanks for the pics and report, cameron

Thanks for the report Zinful. It looks like a beautiful day out there!


-Eliot

Good old Seal Rock...affectionately known as Shark Rock.

Thanks for the report, Z!

  I was hoping to go for a shark ride but could not find one that was into it.  By the way when I got here the CG was busting all of their assets up the coast for the report of a boat on fire and debris in the water, anybody hear anything?

Great read...did he say what depth of water he shot the ling??? and a 10incher wow...WOW...yet for me!!!

Thanks for your report+pics....

Ocean water is the best work out indeed!!!

  He said that he speared the ling and I believe harvested the ab just west of the island and I believe in 20-30 ft.  I believe he works this area regularly and was surprised to see both of these large examples! 

Nice ling and ab , either the guy in the picture is a giant of a man or that ab is no where near ten inches . The guy is nuts diving anywhere near that island , the landlord hunts there !

  It looked pretty close to 10 inches to me!  You can see the ling is 38 inches and the ab looks to about a quarter of its length.  They were both beautiful, but I hear you about the landlord coming for the rent, that is just about the last place I would want to be in 30 feet of water!

Glad you had a good work out OTW.  Thanks for the report and pictures.