Moss 4/9 Success!!

Nice fish guys, I'm going to have to start fishing for salmon prety soon.

What a great day to be out on the water. I was starting to cook inside my suit on the way back in it was so warm and calm. I looked forward to the second or two of breeze that you'd get at the top of a swell. 

Congrats to Joel and Dave. Especially Dave - sleep in, paddle out, catch a fish at the crack of 10:00 or so.

It was good to put some faces to the names here.  And I'm looking forward to a lot more outings this year.

Scott

Great fishing with you Scott!

Yes indeed it was a nice day to be fishing out of Mosslanding!

congratulation again to Mooch and Dave with there salmon catch, and not to forget Stuarts Hake that some how got in my kayak on the paddle in. Thanks Stuart .

Also, it was good to meet you Dave and Scott I'm sure will fish again. Scott I'll bring those flush mounts next time when we meet some where fishing.

Bill nice Pictures. Hope next time it could be us posing with the Kings

Hey Dave, where were you hidding your outboard motor.... I started my paddle-in way before you and you zoomed by me like I was standing still. I guess I have to up grade my paddle. Stuart also made it in way be for me and he was way out there. Any recommendations on what paddle to get?

All in all had a great time fishing with you all.



Alex 

Don't worry about Dave beating you in, it is NOT your paddle. Dave passed Joel and I as well and we probably had a 15 minute head start on him. He is a machine.

I am beginning to think Ebay is just some giant robot and Dave is the engine 

the mooch version....got up "late" = 3:45AM.....I was cussing at Stu but I'm sure he was gonna be cussing at me for being late  . From HMB, I had to be at the Moss at 4:45AM and ready to launch...so I packed past (and forget to bring my breakfast ). I drove out like a bat out of hell and got to Santa Cruz in 1/2 hour (an new world land speed record for a Toyota pick truck loaded with a kayak and fishing gear scattered all over the bed ) Stu calls me at 4:44AM and at this time I'm already past down town Santa Cruz and heading  towards Capitola. I finally get to Moss and Stu and Bill were all suited up and ready to go. I unpacked and was ready to paddle within 20 min. We  then paddled out in to darkness with our headlamps on and as soon as we were outside of the harbor mouth, Bill and I positioned our headlamps behind our heads so the boaters could see us from behind. As were were paddling out we came across some big schools of bait and could not even figure out the total depth...we fished it for a while but ended up paddling further out - to where there were a few boats that were mooching. After an hour of fishing at the 220 ft dept, Bill and I decided to back track to the area where we marked the bigger bait balls (Bill had his GPS). We were finally with at the area and bumped into Scott and Alex/Aliens. They were mooching to no avail. Dave later joins the party. Just within sight, I saw some birds just "sitting", so I paddled out to them and as soon as I marked the edge of the bait ball on the surface, I lowered my mooching gear 40 pulls under and started to paddle really slow into the bait ball (trooching). I quickly radioed in the rest of the crew and told them come over...and with in seconds after, I saw the "tap dance" on my rod tip....FISHON FISHONFISHON   .....then the taps stopped and I thought the fish had moved on... I slowly reel in and noticed the I could not feel much of the 6 ounce weight that I had on...I then realized that the fish was still on and swimming up...I slowly reeled in some more till I felt the head shake and it shot straight down in a matter of seconds and that's when I felt the entire weight of the fish...the tug-o-war began   Then, Scott decided to be a "comedian"   and started yelling "sea lion! Sea lion!" I scooted up on the yak my net started flying all over the place (like I was being attacked by a swarm of killer bees) I was desperately trying to net the salmon  ASAP . Evertime it was within reach, I took a desperate swing an missed it...this went on and on   I was getting so desperate I was even trying to tail land it (which is the worse thing you can do =IMO) So, I finally calmed down and waited for the fish to approach me head-on......HU-AH!!!! The fish was in the net...I went "LAPD"   on it and the fish was finally on my deck...with a severely deformed head Dave hooked up immediately after and we were happy campers  

What a day!!!

Dear Scott,

If and when you find yourself with a salmon at the end of your line....before you pick up your net...make sure it does not have a big gaping hole on the bottom of it  

Love, Mooch  

good work mooch and good report as usual!

Sounds like we are doing about as well as the party boats, about 1 fish for every 4 rods.

So Dave is the one to bet on for the ncka races, eh? Those tall lanky dudes can be tough
to beat!

a lot of people seemed to have tried that bait ball right out front for nada.
It must be a school of "red herring",  .

J

That version was way better than the others!Way to go Mooch!! & Crew!!

Congrats Dave and Joel.  You guys did really well, as I checked the party boat fleet for Sunday, and their scores sucked big time.  7 boats, 129 anglers, and only 20 fish.  Less than 1 in 6 avg.

Bill,
Maybe we should have gotten out earlier???
I'll be land locked for a few weeks to get out of the negative WAF situation.

Dave,
You are a paddling MACHINE.  Are you waxing the bottom of your yak?  What's the trick???

Sunday:
Star of Monterey 3/4 Day  19 2 King Salmon
Caroline 3/4 Day  14 6 King Salmon
Chubasco 3/4 Day  20 4 King Salmon
Sur Randy 3/4 Day  19 4 King Salmon
Velocity 3/4 Day  25 1 King Salmon
Kahuna 3/4 Day  26 2 King Salmon
Makaira 1/2 Day  6 1 King Salmon


Stuart

Stu, good luck with the WAF! Those early kid years are tough!  , especially when the
second one comes and your wife tosses you the first one! 

Maybe we can have Freddie and Joel and Dave do daycare for the fish-challenged Dads? 

I'm thinking Dave's trick is paddling practice but then I remembered he was jet setting around
fishing for Dorado off pb's so maybe he's just one of those natural atheletes?

Well, my wife spent the weekend with her sister in SF going to shows, shopping and left me and
the nanny with the kids, when she came home I had the poke and the tempura ready,
so my WAF is solidly in the black, I'm going again next weekend somewhere!

Best,

J

Mine was caught on a reverse-threaded anchovy (head down).  

I actually have a special way of "threading" my bait....unique and only done by the mooch   I showed it to a few guys in the past (Kevin,Jason....) I showed Bill how to do it yesterday and was hoping we could do a photo - step by step - on it but we never got to. I'll make sure to post it soon.

I'll try to describe it but pictures would do more justice.
1) insert the hook point under the jaw
2) punch the hook point through the head, right above and between both eyes
3) pull the ENTIRE hook (with the line) through
4) re-insert hook point on the top side - between the head and dorsal fin : leaving the hook point exposed
5) end result: the head will be pointing up and the mouth closed.

I'm not claiming it's the best way...but it does work for me - it's very simple and quick to do - no threading or rubber bands needed

that sounds pretty clear. the 'joel' method. thanks!

the stu method has pretty good action, especially if the hook is on a loop knot,
but I lost two baits and never felt it. I think it might have come when I lowered my bait too fast
to get down deep.

thanks also for the note about the sitting birds. I lost my bait when I was near some sitting birds,
maybe I really did get my bait stolen and didn't just lose it lowering it.

After losing bait I tried the reverse thread method, but like I said the fish slipped down on the hook and was no
longer straight after a bit. that's when I gave up mooching for a bit and tested my planer, 

what about using a two hook rig, do any of you guys do that? I remember reading that blue likes two
hooks.

First of all Congrats Dave on your first Kayak Salmon!  Good job mooch too.  As for Mooches method I have used three different ways. 1.  Live bait. Works.  2.  Threaded. Works.  3.  Mooches, Works. I personally feel that mooches method is great for quick and easy baiting.  I think you need a good clean anchovy with no blood in it's eyes and any method will work.

Jason

no red eyes? now you tell me,    .

thanks also for the note about the sitting birds.

You're welcome = I actually got that tip from Allen B. / scallen - I must give a big "THANK YOU" to Allen,Stuart and Fred for being good mentors when it comes to Salmon fishing...after all, I still consider myself a newbie....I caught my first EVER salmon at moss with Stu and Fred during the '04 season. Years before my yak fishing days, I caught a big one (an estimated 25#) off a rented skiff at Santa Cruz....but I lost the fish (I don't want to talk about it - still seeking therapy for that incident) ...got sea-sick  ....almost got the boat swamped on the way back.....I vowed to never do that again ...... and I thought I'd never get the chance to fish for salmon...EVER... I'm so glad sit-on-top kayaks were invented