Gimme Shelter 4 - Epic as Predicted - 5/14/2010-5/16/2010

sledge is a BEAST!

what he said

stoggie

hahaha clean vid joe!

Great video Joe!!!!!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,

Jim

sledge is a BEAST!

what he said

stoggie

hahah that guy would be through the campsites at the crack of dawn with a big glass of carloes rossi rhine ready to party, only thing is that hes in bed by sunset!

Really enjoyed GS4, my first NCKA event.  Had a great time meeting and with fishing with Mirmar and everyone else.  Hope to see you all again here in Shelter Cove.

For those who haven't heard, the secret collection taken for the "THANKS FOR ALL THE HARD WORK - ERIC CAMERA FUND" currently stands at $309.  I know many didn't have the opportunity to contribute since we were trying to keep it a secret from Eric.  If anyone still wants to make a contribution PM me for details.  Thanks again Kim for taking doing such a good job collecting.

I'll post Shelter Cove pictures and updates as the season continues.  Congrats Big Jim, sooooooo neat to see such a deserving guy get blessed with a new yak!

Not much I can say that haven't been said, but I still feel the need to thank a few people.

Thank you Eric for putting this great event together. I can go back to my normal work activities now.

Congrats to BIGJIM!!! Can't think of a more deserving guy for the top prize.

Thank you Bloodbath for sharing the ride. It made the 5 hr drive much more enjoyable. And also, pointing me to the abs was just... yor da man!

JWR, thanks for the chicken burrito. Joe and I were trying to figure out what to do about dinner cause we didn't realize the store had already closed.

Great Bass 2, the cioppino was awesome.

Sledge, sorry we couldn't meet up on Saturday. We're gonna have to "Get Some" next time.

And I totally enjoyed hanging with the gang I first met at SWS on RF opener, and meeting so many ppl that I've only read about. Didn't catch a whole lot of fish, but totally enjoyed the company. Can't wait for the next one.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but thought I should at least contribute a few...

1) Sorry, can't remember the gentleman's name, but he's 2nd in points right behind BigJim.
2) BennettFromDanville and FishinMike
3) Great Bass 2
4) AbKing admiring GB2's butcher knife
5) Slege
6) carnage


Thanks again Eric!!!
ernest

This was without a doubt the the best NCKA event I have attended.  Eric, thanks for a great job of organization and execution.  CalifBill, thanks for filling in at the last minute and and nearly pulling off a win.  Thanks to all the NCKAers who made this a fantastic event.

I hope to see everyone at Albion.

Thanks again to all,

Doug

My bad on the Spooner issue - he didn't do anything wrong.  For some reason I thought "Spooner" was a nickname of some kind for whoever destroyed the campground bathroom...  A skilled gumshoe I'm not...  Sorry, Spooner - you're off the hook.  

Regarding Sledge...  That guy IS a beast.  I just got back from the Cove where he and I fished until sunset.  We finally got into a good bite.  Had beers and filleted fish until after 10PM.  It was quite a topper to the weekend.  

You guys are all great.  I'm lucky to be able to call you all friends.  

Eric,
Again thanks for putting together a great event and pot-luck
We all had a great time and everyone is looking forward to next year, but I was wondering if the official standings will get posted? Obviousley Big Jim took the big prize (and well deserved) but what happened after that or does it really matter?
Also how did each of the teams do as combined groups (team standings)?
I was going to pass the info on to W.O.N. about this weekend but didn't have the above info.
Thanks,
Eric

Eric - thanks for bringing that up - I'll work on that tonight and post it up. 

Here is my detailed report. Arrived at Shelter Cove Thursday around 4 PM. Checked in at the Inn of the Lost Coast then walked Molly down to the launch ramp to check out the conditions. Surf and wind looked OK but the water was fairly stained. Walked up to the campground and ran into MattS. He was displaying his custom lures and I bought a 7” pearl swimbait which I thought might work well in stained water. Had dinner at the pizza place which is better under the new management.

Friday I took Molly for a long walk and ended up launching around 830. Ran into Otopelagic and family. Checked in my flight plan and headed south to drop my crab and shrimp traps. Conditions were nice but foggy. Set up my tray herring in a FBR with small fish flash and sinker release. Trolled from 25-50 down between the bell and whistle buoy for 3-4 hours for nada. Picked up my EMPTY traps and headed in. Ran into my team mate Dr Habinero on the way in and we decided to meet at 530 AM and launch at sunrise on Saturday. Had dinner with Karen at the restaurant next to the Tides and the food was good.

Saturday I didn’t sleep well and woke up at 230AM which is when I usually get up when I fish the central coast. Got to the launch at 515AM and my team mate Martin (Bennettdanville) was already there. Rigged my boat and waited for Dr Hab to show. AbMan, Sledge, Dominic and BlackAb soon arrived but Dr Hab was a no show. Called him on the VHF but no reply. Finally launched without him at 6AM. Worked our way out to the whistle buoy and things were slow. I was using a green thrasher with a grub teaser and picked up a large gopher around 730. The pressure was on because I needed to catch enough fish to fill a large pot of cioppino. Caught 2 large china rockfish and a blue and released 6 other assorted rockfish then switched to a large custom green scampi in search of bigger fish. Hung out with Martin when he was fighting the Abking mystery fish for 45”. I don’t what it is but it is big and won’t be defeated on 30# tackle. The bite started to pick up and I bagged a nice verm and copper, about 21” each. I called AbMan and Sledge to come over and we drifted north for about 5 minutes and AbMan bagged a nice ling. I lost my custom scampi and switched to my pearl swimbait which I bought from MattS. About 15 minutes later I hook a 28.5” ling on it. Thanks Matt!!! Figured I had enough fish for the cioppino so I switched to salmon trolling. I trolled around the whistle buoy and it felt like I was dragging a drift chute. As I got near the buoy a seal jumped off and started chasing me. Gabe was laughing as I started paddling as hard as I could but couldn’t get over 3MPH. Finally I turned around to scare off the seal and noticed my game clip with the ling on it was in the water.  Apparently he jumped out of the tankwell when I was trolling. Luckily the furbag didn’t take a piece of it. Figured I had caught enough quality fish for the day and didn’t want to win bad enough to go looking for a greenling or cabbie so I headed in to pull my EMPTY traps one last time. Others who landed earlier said there was some surf and some yard sales so I called Martin and told him I was going to rig for a wet landing and wait for him so we could land together. He asked me if I thought rigging for a surf landing was necessary and I said “I would”. When you build your own rods and really love them, why take chances. Martin eventually found me and we headed in. I made it in clean and passed my DFG inspection. Headed up to the fish cleaning station and took some heat about my “big knife”. Met Karen and Molly at the campground and had the double jalapeno cheese burger and a beer. Man was it good. Unfortunately got to the dinner a little late and cooked up my cioppino. Drove home the next morning and was totally brain dead at work on Monday. Brought home a blue which is Karen’s favorite and steamed it Cantonese style. Also brought home a verm fillet which I sear roasted and served with a soy-ginger vinaigrette. Chef was right about fresh rockfish vs frozen and I won’t be freezing any until the end of the season. Fresh is way better.

Really the best NCKA event I have ever been to. Some folks I only see once a year at this event and it is really great to reconnect. I would like to thank the people of Shelter Cove for their wonderful hospitality. Hopefully they will invite us back next year. As soon as Mooch is gone, Sonny can start the countdown for GS5.

Scott

Just got a chance to see Joe's video - AWESOME!!!!

WTG, Bloodbath.  Great tune too.   

I will give my time up at Shelter Cove this weekend.

Arrived around midnight on Thursday night not many in camp yet but a few dranks afew and went to bed.

Friday- paddled out and dove in rough conditions with Sledge and was able to pull 3 abs one nice 8.5 then proceeded to drink way to many beers watching all come rolling in.

Saturday-missed alarm for fishing with Scotty and Bennet but was planning on fishing with EWB all day which we did. Hoooked up with 2 greenlings 12 & 14.25 , 3 Blacks  up to 17.5", 4 lIngs (3 under and 27.5" )  Cooked up some bean that were a littel on the hot side and again drank way too many beers.

Sunday- dove with the 4 J's( Jim , Joe, Jack and myself) rough condition and didn't even pull an ab) was thinking about going out fishing but just hung out.

Monday- hoping for "epic conditions" only to find cold rain and maybe ice out there , padddled out the the bell with Sledge and George and it was slow going one nice 19.5 and a variety of blacks that I took home. Got home late Monday night tired and anxious to see the family.

Tuesday - work and tired. Had to work a long day since i was gone so long. Oh well.. it was worth it.

It was great too see everyone up there and congrats Jim on the victory and can only look forward to next year all ready.

Awesome looking dinner plates there Scott. Your cioppino was so good I wanted to
go for my second bowl but I was to full. See you soon.

Jedmo

What an amazing event and display of Kayak fishing brotherhood we all shared this past weekend. I look forward every year to the annual pilgrimage to fish the cove and meet fellow NCKA'ers new and old. This was a very big gathering and my hat is off to all of you who made the journey safely to and from. You came from near and far but represented a unity that is most definitely the envy of fishing/kayaking clubs everywhere. My deepest regards goes to Eric for having the vision and making it happen for all of us. The attention to detail and flow of good vibes was icing on the cake for all the hard work you put into organizing the event, I mean the little clay Hawg troughs c'mon who would go to such ends other than Abking!

 Big Jim-you winning that boat boosted all of us up and it couldn't have gone to someone more deserving or in need for that matter. Big thanks to Arron, Greg and the folks at Pro-sports center for their sponsorship. That Keg o' brew was off the hook good, my newest favorite libation.

The fishing wasn't as good as previous season openers but all the same the cove will never disappoint. My first fish of the year was like every year, a ling on white grub, but it was no point grabber so back it went. Our teams efforts at salmon trolling were stymied by midget blacks with attitude. We covered alot of ground (probably too much) and boated enough fish to convince our wives it was worthwhile to let us go, but we had a dismal showing for the tourney. My teamates brought no cameras and nothing to measure with except a freebe at the launch from the fish and game guy. I did get a shot of Graham releasing one of his greenlings while Abking looks on in the background

The Saturday potluck was all the hype and then some. The ceviche and smoked chicken and little fish shaped desserts were so friggin scrumptious. How about that Cioppino, my god I've never tasted something so decadently yummy. I made and absolute pig of myself on that stuff. I never had it before but it will be first on my list at future NCKA potlucks. GB2 I bow down!

I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate everyone and give big props for the standard of safety we all observed on and off the water. Team fishing was a good idea. The radios worked well for communicating with teams and for coordinating the few incidents that occurred. Leashes and tie downs are a fact of life for kayak anglers carrying expensive equipment but so should knives and quick releases be.

 I look forward to seeing and fishing with all of you again next year at GS V

-Hawk