Shelter Cove - 5/18/10

Wow!...  it's been a long day and a long weekend.  I got back yesterday having only fished on tournee day.  That was fine - I had a wonderful time and wouldn't change a thing about the weekend.  But I was definitely still needing a fishing fix - especially having only caught two fish on Saturday!  I had left two kayaks and some other gear at the Cove, so when work was pretty slow today, and the forecast was showing one more day of flat (today/Tuesday) before it picks up, I decided I'd better go get those boats and fish while I'm there!   

Rain early in the day gave way to mild conditions.  I got down to the Cove around 3PM and it was peaceful and calm with the ocean still quite flat.  I learned that one powerboat was out with one kayaker - "your buddy from Ukiah" is what a local, Ray, told me.  I hit the water around 3:20, paddled out past Pilot Rock, and felt so liberated to be on the water without obligations stacked up later in the day.  Like I said, I wouldn't change a thing about the tournee - I cherish the entire proceeding.  I'm just sayin', it was so damn good to be on that water with no wind, mild air temperature, and a few hours to fish.  The water was looking better than the tea that we experienced over the weekend...  So I paddled out and got my chovie in the water behind a banana before I was even clear of the moorings.  I was marking fish, but I knew the bite was still reportedly slow.  I saw the lone yakker over at the corner on the way over toward the hotels.  I figured I'd catch up with him later - I wanted to get outside the kelp to do some salmon trolling.  I get about half way out to the Bell and nail a 14" greenie on the chovie troll.  Yeehaw!  I decide that slow fishing means this guy is staying under my leg and going down for ling patrol when I find a good reef.  I trolled on and picked up an underling as I started to head toward the Whistle.  I felt good to have hooked a couple of fish - we all need a confidence re-booster at times - so I decided to troll chovie out to the Whistle, north and then come in drift around for rockfish and lings.  I got outside and was enjoying some velvety water and about a 5-6' swell easing under when around 5PM or so the Cove's famed "Sammy", or "Leif", as I heard Ray refer to him, came along with a bud of his in a nice Triumph.  They killed the engine right inside of me a 100 yards and started tossing plastic.  I trolled over their way and said hello - Sam recognized me as I've met him several times and done some work in his house.  He was previously a charter captain, so he knows his shit.  He and his partner had been down at "The Hat", which is a large area of 120' reef about 3 miles south of the Whistle.  They didn't manage to pickup a salmon, so they were trying for a ling before heading to the barn.  We shot the shit for a few before I trolled on and they soon cruised by with a wave, heading for the launch.  I trolled back inside and decided I'd rockfish once I found structure showing fish.  It wasn't really happening, so I ended up back inside about equidistant from the hotels, the Whistle and the Bell.  I saw the other yakker heading from the inner kelp bed out toward the Bell so I figured he'd seen me and was going to say hello.  As I approached though I figured out that he hadn't seen me afterall.  As Ray'd said he was from Ukiah I kinda figured it was Mike - Sledge, and sure enough it was.  He'd been riding a skunk and had been on the water only a while before I arrived.  I told him I'd been getting nailed by blacks on the trolled chove and that I was heading back for the Bell where I'd caught two fish.  He got in behind my troll and, I kid you not, I started getting hit every time I tried to troll up toward the Bell from the northwest, and every time I got hit (I landed a few of the little bait-stealing blacks) Mike came in behind and jigged up nice fish.  It was awesome.  It was like my DeepSix, flasher and chove were stiring up the fish and then Mike would come in and womp on them!  He picked up a nice verm, then black after black and underlings.  I never did get a very big black, but it was fun to go through the entire bag of chovies just running through there over and over getting bit.  The strong current was pushing us northwest, so we never did get to the Bell!  I finally ran out of chovies so I put down one of Domenic's Lost Coast Tackle lead perks with some octopus on it and I picked up 3 legal lings and a bunch more blacks.  We fished until dark and it was soooooo nice at the boat ramp right at dusk-thirty.  I towed my last remaining GS4 buddy up the hill on his Wheeleez and we filleted fish by my headlights for an hour.  What a capper to the trip.   

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Great report and pics....super happy that you got the chance to relax on the water and enjoy some quality fishing time without having to worry about anything else.

And with Sledge makes it even better!!!

Really enjoyed meeting you Mike and hope I get to see you again soon!!

Thanks again Eric for giving me the chance to experience what a special place Shelter Cove is!!!

Sincerely,

Jim

Way cool you got to hit the water without tourney responsibililty
Nice stringer of fish too
Thanks again for all you did for us this weekend
Thanks for the report/pics Bro!
Tad
 

Ahhh. Reading your post and seeing the pictures made me feel as though I was
still there. Thanks for the great read this morning and once again for an awesome
job over the weekend. My girls are already asking me when are we going back.

Jedmo

Good for you Eric  Kris and I had the same ride on Sun one bite after another drifting out from the bell nice cap on the weekend

Nice you were able to get your fix in!  Great looking fish, great post.

-beenfishin

"velvety water" is right! I can't remember the last time I kayak fished in the evening hours.

WTG and take advantage!

Nice job getting back so quick. I fished wish Sledge and Dr. Fetavious  (who popped his Ling Cherry with a nice 28.5") on Monday and it was a little slow and rain( or snow not sure). Caught and release most of my fish (19.5" Copper? , wasn't sure if it was a Canary or not now will never know). My Go Pro got wet and ruined my photos so only found memories of them. Looking forward to getting back there soon. Thanks for the great time this weekend.
Later
Jimbo

Good stuff bro. I can feel the sigh_of_relief from here. 3 days later and I'm finally recovered lol.
Funny you ran into Sammy, I wondered if he was still there.

Man, your always charging it! Good stuff!

Sounds like a great day! Thanks for the report.


-Eliot

Man U got a way with words Eric...  cool report I finally got back today, the water was looking fishy way early this morning but not for me.......almost went out, but decided I needed to break camp and come back when the wind is coming out of the N...

Now u can't tell by that first pic, but I'm saying to myself I hope he hooks up so i can freaking catch up!   and when u would BAMB...Fishon for me too....!!! great couple of hours of fishing thx for letting me tale your six....oh and BTW I found those lights we were looking for to clean those fish, this morning, one on the table outside and another right in plain sight....but headlights work too...I was telling Jack the owner what we did and he said "u shouldve let me know and I would of helped you out...great guy...very salty...he gave me some intel for when i go back...

Yeah I kept telling ray I'm from blue lake (clearlake area) didn't know where it was so I said "Ukiah" and he knew where that was...I was born there so I guess I can claim it....

BigJim pleasure meeting you and your family and Congats again!!!

Jimbo that was a Copper there was one @ the cleaning station and the warden was identifiing fish for a trainee, i told him how u weren't certain and u let it go.....man that was a fat fish......great fishin with ya...but don't count on me to dive in that kind of viz again...   when u pulled that last chunky one out I had to try...but just for a minute...

PK got your crab pot...didn't score any dungys but had fun trying and didn't lose it....thx for lending it to me...andy didn't go out and bailed early I think we had to much fun sun...so I'm bringing it south with me nxt week when I come down to do some butt fishin and maybe get some sturgeon!!!  and FM1 got your tarp also...
 
And once again thx Eric for putting on the meet and fishin on tuesday  great times....

2 until dark time= SWEETNESS!!!!!
a little piece&quiet for you after on this trip, was probably what the doctor ordered for you huh, Eric.
AFTERtheHELLyouRAISEDoverTHEweekend
nice follow-up Doood
 

Great to see you grab the moment Eric. Wish we could have met up yesterday or today but I will be back up soon.
 Randall

nice! my lil pickup came in real handy out there , i hauled people/yaks & food all around that place