Capitola 7/21 and Monastary Beach 7/22

I hit Capitola after work on Friday at about 5:30.  I unloaded at the end of the wharf while double parked in front of the apartments then parked up on the bluff at the meters.  The wind had died considerably since I had checked at 2:00 in the afternoon.  At the beach, I realized I had left my frozen squid in the freezer at work.  Oh well, I had lours.

I paddled out toward the boats and kelp bed to the north.  Stopped in a few spots and dropped in shallow water.  No love so I kept moving and tried different lours.  At one point I had a king fish follow my kastmaster with bucktail but that was it for the night.  I kept trying up toward Pleasure Pt. and the thicker kelp but there was little to no bit.  I was back at the beach about 8:00.  The swell had built and there were some really weird breakers at the landing.  I managed to wait out a big set and land in a flat zone with small cross swell.  I forgot to check if the parking above the tracks was posted for closure on Sunday morning.  Any way no fish to clean in the evening will make it easier to go out again in the morning!

Saturday morning I woke up later than I had hoped but headed out about 6:00 from the house after a good cup of coffee.  I decided to not donate $8.50 to Clint Eastwood (Pebble Beach 17-Mile Drive entry fee) and hit Monastery beach instead.  This beach was my 1st kayak fishing spot about 3 years ago and I almost always get fish there.  The beach was breaking 2 to 3 feet in the middle but the south end was less than 1-foot breaking right at the edge.

I hit the water about 6:30.  Tried a few spot close in then headed to near the edge of the Pt. Lobos Reserve Boundary.  Hooked lots of small 8-12 inch blues using a shrimp fly over different jigs.  The shrimp fly was getting hit the most but all small blues so I tried a yellow twin-tail worm on a lead head.  Tried some the kelp methods MolBasser suggested and got some nice double hookups including a 13-inch keeper Blue and an about 11 inch Scorpion Fish C&R.  I moved around when the bite lightened up moving 25-50 yards each time and kelp tieing.  I have more Blues mostly small and landed a 13-inch Kelp RF.  He bit the yellow twin-tail worm so I decided to try an even bigger one.  A few casts/drops later I though I had snagged but had the weird feeline that the bottom was coming up ever so slightly.  I was hoping for a ling but found a really well hooked Cabezon 19-inch, 8# on my el cheapo scale .  This was being a very good morning.  I probably had enough fish but I was having all kinds of fun.  The wind started picking up and I moved further out again.  The bite dropped so I decided to hit a few holes further inside the kelp, to test the theory that all big fish are not out in deep water.  Kelp tied in a nice hole and immediately started hooking Blues and small Olives, all C&R.  Finally I had one of those situations where I could not feel the lour but also did not feel fish.  I jigged and waited and jigged and waited finally deciding to real in and hope for a chaser bit.  But, there were fish on, and a good fight.  I had a double Bocaccio hookup.  A 15-inch keeper on the twin-tail worm and a C&R 8-incher on the shrimp fly.  I carefully unhooked the big one first so as not to loose him.  The released the little one.  He floated upside down at first so I paddled over before the seagulls got there, righted him and led him through the water by hand until he revived and took off .  I felt good that he was going to survive for another day.

As for me I had plenty of fish and the wind was building.  As I landed there were lots of divers and one set of fishermen heading out on a rubber raft as well as some kayakers w/o fishing gear.  The swell had built some but I waited and made a smooth landing although I kept getting chased further up the beach by bigger and bigger waves before I stop and rest.  It too a couple of rest stops pulling the yak up the beach to the car.  That is a steep beach.  Anyway, photos coming after development and scanning.  The wife and kid took the digicam to grandma's house.  All in all another great kayak fishing experience.

I have borrowed a friends electric smoker and will smoke rockfish tomorrow after brining this evening.  I tried the smoker with some store bought salmon last week and it turned out great.