Rockfishing out of Trinidad, 5-24-2010

Hey everyone, I'm not real sure where to post this report, so I guess I'll put it in the "public" report forum.  Not that anyone could exploit my report right now, since the ocean just got big and nasty anyway.

My friend Brian had just bought a new kayak, and was itching to do some rockfishing out of Trinidad. We kept a close eye on various ocean forecast websites, hoping for a day in between weather fronts that would allow us to venture outside of Trinidad Harbor. Not that fishing in the Harbor is bad, but from what I've seen, fishing outside of the Harbor is much more productive. As the week progressed, Monday (yesterday) was shaping up to be our best day for fishing, with 3-4 foot swells and variable winds in the morning. We met up in Trinidad at 6:30am, and were on the water paddling by 7am. After a lot of paddling, we arrived to the "fishing grounds." The water had cleared up nicely, with an easy 10+ feet of visibility. In the distance we could see the party boat Shenandoah, probably searching for rockfish schools on their depthfinder. Brian and I don't have depthfinders, so our fishing mostly involves drifting and jigging, in the hopes that we'd come across some rock pinnacles. We both used 2-hook rigs: one larger jig on the bottom and a smaller "teaser" about two feet above it. For me, my "big" jig was a 7" watermelon Zoom fluke rigged weedless on a 5/0 worm hook, while my teaser was a 4" watermelon/chartreuse tube on a 4/0 worm hook. For weight, I just strung a few random sliding sinkers onto my line between the two jigs. Did it look ghetto? Yes. But if it produces fish, then who cares how pretty your rig looks? Meanwhile, Brian stuck with a shrimpfly as a teaser and a metal jig as his big bait, the "classic" rockfish jigging outfit.

My first drop in about 30 feet of water produced an instant bite and hookup on a 14 inch kelp greenling on the 7" fluke, released. I dropped down again, bounced bottom a few times, and hooked up. This time it was a nice 17" black rockfish, on the teaser, kept. For the first couple hours, Brian and I experienced some excellent action with hookups within a minute or two of dropping down. Most of the fish consisted of blacks, short- to barely-legal lings, and a lot of kelp greenling. But we also came across a few nice brown rockfish, like this fella:

We only kept a fraction of the fish we caught, otherwise it would've been too easy to limit out on blacks and greenling. I kept eyeing a tiny rock outcrop a few hundred meters away from us. That tiny rock outcrop had produced 31" and 24.5" lings for me the week before. But I'd also lost a nice fish there the week before, a fish that certainly felt like a nice ling, but he'd busted me off. I had a feeling that fish was still there, unless someone else had gone out and caught him (unlikely, seeing as the waves were cresting to 10 feet over the past week). I told Brian we should go check it out, so we left the biting rockfish and paddled to the outcrop.

First drift by the outcrop, I hooked up on something that came up a little too easily. It was a 15" kelp greenling. Released her, set up another drift, and started bouncing along. I had a great hit, set the hook, big fish on...for only a second. The hook pulled out! I knew it was that fish from last week. I set up another drift, so I would drift over the exact area I had the hit. Bounce, bounce, bounce, THUMP. I set the hook hard. Fish on! He peeled some drag and dove straight for the rocks, and I put as much pressure on him as I figured my 25lb P-Line CXX could muster. My trusty Ugly Stik had doubled over into the water from the power of the fish. I kept adjusting my drag to compensate for the swells pushing me up and down, keeping it just tight enough to keep Mr. Ling from diving into a rocky cavern and breaking my line just like he did the week before. A few minutes of this passed before I was able to slowly work him up to the surface from 40 or so feet of water. A quick gaffing job in the lip, and I slid the fish into the boat. Success!

My 7" fluke was hooked right in the corner of his mouth. The fish was 33 inches long, 11 3/4 pounds, one of my biggest lings.  After a couple pictures, we each made another drift by the rock pinnacle.  Brian hooked up and landed a nice vermillion, the first one I'd seen from Trinidad. I didn't get bumped. We paddled back to where we'd left the biting rockfish, only to find a somewhat slower bite. I landed a nice 20" cabezon, and we both landed some more nice black rockfish and kelp greenling.


By about noon, we were done. Both of us had plenty of fish, the bite had slowed down, and the weather was looking great for paddling back to the harbor. Besides, I'd peed in my farmer john about five times at this point, and for some reason the thrill of sitting in one's own urine fades after a couple hours. On the paddle back in, we spotted a few small grey whales chilling by Trinidad Head, but I couldn't get a good camera shot of them. Here's a pic of Trinidad Pier.

I spotted a couple anglers on the east side of the pier, didn't see if they'd caught anything. Back at the launch, we snapped a few pics after I'd jumped into the ocean to wash off the pee. Brian's take included a few blacks, a brown, a 25" ling, and that badass vermillion:

My take for the day: 4 blacks, 2 browns, 1 cabezon, and Mr. Ling.  Normally I wouldn't keep so many fish, but I'm moving inland for work this summer and I wanted to bring seafood with me.

Our boats. They ain't decked out in spiffy stuff yet, but they get the job done!

WTG and thanks for the report.  Post a few more times and you can access the live reports.

I converted a large plastic cup that I've been using for the past 15 years to a p-cup, but I have a relief zipper in my FJ.   

Ah, so they DO make farmer johns with a relief zipper?  That's exactly what I need!  I don't like peeing myself.

great report clayman, thanks for all the pics and info, and yes relief zipper is the way to go, cameron

Chris, they call that natural heater. Anyhow, nice haul bro. Glad
you had a perfect weather to get out and fish.

Jedmo

Great report and pics!!!

Congrats on the nice catch and good times!!

WTG!!!!!

Thank you for sharing!!

http://www.rei.com/product/792268

This is the farmer john I have, and combined with a wide mouth gatorade bottle I can pee at will!!
 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for the link Jim.  Although it appears your particular model is out of stock at REI, I'll look for it at other outlets online.

Jed, the pee does warm me up at first, which is somewhat nice.  But then my mind keeps telling me "This is wrong!  You're not supposed to pee on yourself!" I'm not a surfer, so it's hard for me to shake that thought.  I think the worst part of it all is when you finally get back to land and stand up, when you feel all that pee run down your legs...

Nice fish ya got there

How about adding a zipper to your current FJ?

Welcome aboard, Clayman. You still doing any fishing from shore? I haven't been on the PFIC board in months.

Welcome aboard, Clayman. You still doing any fishing from shore? I haven't been on the PFIC board in months.

Hey Rock Hopper!  I still do the shore fishing stuff...but only when the laws prohibit me from using my kayak  .  I still regret not buying a yak YEARS ago...so many years of missed opportunities.

How about adding a zipper to your current FJ?

I could do this, but I use this particular wetsuit for diving in cold water, and I'm afraid of losing my 7mm suit's ability to retain heat.  It's probably about time I bought a thinner suit specifically for kayaking.

Good to see you on the boards and dont make apologies for not having all the latest shit. I love the nylon rope leash. When i started kayak fishing in 74' no fishfinder . ropes for a leash. no seatback. You are doing just fine. By the example of the fish you caught you know your area and how to read the water and land. A FF is nice though. Welcome to NCKA Come to Albion in July for the tournament dude.

dont make apologies for not having all the latest shit. I love the nylon rope leash.

+1. Nothing wrong with simple and basic stuff, as long as they work. There are a lot of hi-tech shit that are just a waste of $$$.

Nicely done!  I love Trinidad, can't wait to make it back over the hill.  Nice grade of fish too, that verm is a real treat...the 33" ling is no slouch either!

-beenfishin