Birthday OTW at Shelter Cove 8/28 - 8/30

After a couple of email exchanges and phone calls with Sledge I cancelled my other plans and headed North for a spontaneous trip to Shelter Cove.

I left San Jose at 9:30 PM and arrived at Shelter Cove at 3:30AM Weds 8-28.
Found the Sledge mobile next to the fish cleaning station submerged in fog.
Jumped in the back seat of my Silverado and attempted to sleep. The crackling of the melting ice breaking apart in my cooler kept me from dozing off...

Awoke after a whole 30 mins of sleep to dense fog and a bunch of commotion down at the bottom of the ramp. Some how a car had driven into the ocean. At the scene was an ambulance, CHP and a chopper was also circling the area. Not sure if a body was extracted from the car or not?????

Luckily for me Sledge wasn't in a hurry to get into the water so we took our time after getting settled into our campsite. Headed out and  fished the the afternoon with FAC lake like conditions. My FF was inoperable so I was just fishing blind and enjoying the beauty that is shelter cove. Ended up with a small ling and 5 rockfish for the day.

Woke up on the 29th my B-day all refreshed after some actual sleep. Sledge wasn't up to fishing since he had already gone out two days in a row. So I headed out solo for another beautiful day OTW.

The tuna bite was only 9 miles off shore so most boats headed for the tuna grounds. At times I felt like I had the Pacific all to myself. It was so tranquil, relaxing and calm. The rockfish bite was sporadic but did not disappoint. I was so at peace out there with only the sounds of the cove to accompany me. The seabirds squawking , sea lions barking, the whistle, the bell and the occasional  radio check in from Sledge to see how I was doing.

The 8 plus hours OTW was one of the most relaxing times I could ever recall in my life. So much so that my drive back home bright and early the next morning was also relaxing. I had the biggest grin on my face for the 5.5 hour drive back home.

There to greet me were my two boys that simultaneously came sprinting from about 30 ft. away leaping into my arms with multiple birthday kisses and hugs.   

Needless to say fish was on the menu that evening.

Thank you so much Mike for an awesome time no matter how many times you butchered pronouncing my screen name. 

Antonio

Mas fotos

Right on Antonio.Glad you got up there.

Sounds like a great trip, Antonio.  WTG.   

Congrats on the successful fishing adventure at Shelter Cove!  Happy Birthday Antonio!

Great B-day report.
So how many time have you turned 29???? 

great write up antonio, glad you had a great birthday , cameron

Happy Birthday!

Nice haul! 

Gotta love the Cove

Josh

Right on Antonio.Glad you got up there.

Thanks Steve so am I 

Sounds like a great trip, Antonio.  WTG.   

Eric, thought about you OTW and how you post similar solo trips.

Congrats on the successful fishing adventure at Shelter Cove!  Happy Birthday Antonio!

Thank you greatly appreciate it.

Great B-day report.
So how many time have you turned 29???? 

Mike, the 29th was my Birthday....I turned 51 therefore Ive turned 29 a total of 23 times

great write up antonio, glad you had a great birthday , cameron

Thank you Cameron 

Happy Birthday!

Nice haul! 

Gotta love the Cove

Josh

Thank you Josh....Gotta love the Cove is right 




And it's always nice to have a father-in-law that loves to fish and has a fish cleaning station in his backyard. He also loves to prepare it Portuguese style. Here's a few more pics of the grub...gotta love the card my son Noah picked out or me 

Man - that looks tasty!   

Cool that your father-in-law is helping out with the prep.  What's he using that hammer for?

Man - that looks tasty!   

Cool that your father-in-law is helping out with the prep.  What's he using that hammer for?

He's making steaks and he's tapping the back of the butcher knife to help cut through the backbone.

Man - that looks tasty!   

Cool that your father-in-law is helping out with the prep.  What's he using that hammer for?

He's making steaks and he's tapping the back of the butcher knife to help cut through the backbone.

Ahhhh!  I'll have to remember that - sounds like a pro tip!

Love the birthday card too - happy birthday, Buddy.   

Happy Birthday, and I must say that while I have never had it- I like fish prepared Portuguese style too.

Thanks

Aaron

Sweet trip to the Cove man.  My bro and I camped in that exact same camping spot the week before.  Great place to spend a birthday!

Happy belated birthday, Antonio. Nice spread of fish.