Pigeon Point - Year End

A solid way to end the year…

Went to Pigeon with obkook (Peter).  Did the exposed beach launch.  There was a swell, but the beach opens to a rip that keeps things manageable.  We launched with considerably less fanfare than previous endeavors (e.g., considerably dryer) and hit the kelp.

Fishing was slow.  We scratched a few fish here and there.  Peter caught a monster grassy, which I encouraged him to keep.  I caught a few rockfish, and one 26” ling.  I kept the ling – a nice blue/green male – and let the rockfish go.  We had the usual short strikes and unhooked fish to keep the day interesting.

While the fishing was not hot, the weather was phenomenal.  No fog, light breeze, and an occasional big roller coming through. 

There was a large group that launched from the lighthouse beach – looking forward to their reports.  I think they were fishing in deeper water (I’d guess 50-60 FOW) next to one of the party boats.  By the way, it appeared to be anything but a party on that boat, as I didn’t see a single fish come over the rail when I was watching it.

Looking forward to crab this winter, salmon in the spring and rockfish again next summer.  I had a great time meeting many of you this year, and look forward to fishing with more of you.  I’m always up for a hookup around the SF area.

Mike

Nice fish guys.  It's always good to end the season like that. Thanks for the report.  Andy

Way to go - solid first season on NCKA, Mike.   

cant beat that weather of a few fish to finish out the season, glad you had a great day, cameron

Mike, thanks for the hookup and for posting the pics.

For a day of slow fishing, I barely even noticed! It was just so beautiful out there, and I was more than happy feeling the swell under my boat, listening to the infrequent chatter on the radio, and just being there. Kind of cliche, I know - but it really hit home while I was out there yesterday how happy I was. And I just didn't care that it was slow.

Buying a Kayak this past April was the best value thing I've done in a long time. And NCKA has helped me maximize the happiness from it. (insert a teary "I love you man!" here)

Anyway to Mike's report I would just add how great the clarity of the water was - made pot-holing in the kelp easier to keep snag-free. I didn't have a thermometer with me, but it seemed water was colder than normal.

The grassy was nice, also a smallish black and tiny gopher. Alas, the season end ling proved elusive.

Yeah, beautiful day, slow fishing, beeeeyooootiful day. 

Got a couple of rock crabs.  First time cooking up crab--I felt a little bad tossing them in the pot but they turned out so tasty I didn't feel bad anymore.  Slow eating but delicious.

I guess I was a little, um, aggressive in setting out the crab traps, because one of the two I never did find again.  Gee, I thought it was around here that I dropped it...  it's kinda hard to tell...  My GPS is in the mail and oughta be here soon, so that shouldn't happen again.  I just couldn't wait to use the traps.  Doh!

Nice meeting some new people and seeing the folks I've met before.  Good times.

Congrats on the year end ling Mike. Pete, WTG on the monster grassy.

Jedmo

Congrat on your catches.  Thanks for the report and pictures.