SC/Cap 5/29/10 (Late Report)

I managed to get on the water for six hours Saturday morning, before a weekend of family events. Launched out of SC harbor a little after 7am. The weather was perfect, clear skies and glassy conditions until 11am, when the wind picked up.



I forgot to charge my livewell battery, so I decided to leave the halibut for next weekend and headed to Soquel point to search for rockies. There were a couple of other kayakers potholing the kelp beds, but it was otherwise quiet. It looked like all the PBs were targeting halibut in front of the harbor.

The view:







Rigged up my lucky jig--a Lucanus my sister in-law got me as a stocking stuffer last x-mas--and dropped in 37 FOW. I worked it for less than 20 seconds, when it got slammed and zzzzzzing, line started peeling off. I wanted to keep him out of the kelp, so I tightened down the drag. That stopped him, momentarily, but when I tried to gain some line back, off he went again. It was several minutes of back and forth, with several cautious drag adjustments, before I was able to haul him off the bottom.







The measurement pics suck because I had to hold the camera straight over my head to get a full shot, and then couldn't see the screen through the glare, but he was a 29.75" beauty. Released for next time.

No action after that, but I enjoyed a leisurely drift to Capitola soaking in a glorious day on the water, before making my headwind return to the harbor.

WTG, on that nice Ling !

Thanks for the report, I hope more Halibut show up soon. Slow year so far.
Will have to get out of the Harbor soon.

   good luck, aka-Kimo

Nice job Dude!!

Beautiful fish and WTG on the release!! 

Hoping to get over to that part of town soon!!

Congrats again and thanks for sharing the great report and pics!!

Sincerely,

Jim

nice fish

nice catch

Excellent report, pics, release, and colors on that beauty!   

 
 Nice scenic pics , half of what it's all about , enjoying the water. I released a ling like that a couple of years ago, one of my more  memorable catches; catch and release is good. Lings  freeze rather well tho.

Nice Ling.  Thanks for the report and "the view" Matthew.

Beautiful fish...tacos are good, but the release will earn you some karma points!

-beenfishin

Beauty fish!

BEAUTIFUL!!!    Thanks for sharing!!  I love this place, but the fish are hard to find