Big Daddy Reds at Anchor Bay 9/2/06

Decided to head up the coast and try fishing Anchor Bay this morning.  I had scoped it out about a month ago, and have been wanting to try the spot for a long time.  Arrived at about 8:00 AM and walked my kayak up to the north side of "chicken beach" for an uneventful launch... almost no shore break at all... much like launching in the SF bay. 

Fishing was pretty epic today.  Flat seas, just a gentle breeze, and the fish were hungry... mainly the vermillions it seemed.  Score for the day was as follows:

- 10 Vermillion all over 19 inches and one which is my biggest vermillion ever at a whopping 27 inches and 11 lbs.,
- 6 lings (2 at approx. 30", 4 at 26-28"),
- one 17" Cabazon,
- A few decent coppers,
- several blacks, gophers, and china rockfish,
- two canarys,
- one greenling. 

Almost all fish were caught on Bill's custom made 7" dark green swim baits with red flake and a belly-meat teaser on a 4 oz. jig head.  Had a few fish on dark green Kalin's Big'N grubs with 6 oz heads as well.

Mostly fished pinnacles and reefs in the 60 to 70 foot range.

I kept three of the fish...

- one HUGE 11# vermillion at 27"
- one nice 6# vermillion at 22"
- 1 cabazone at 17"

What a day... I needed that.  Here are some pics... Fishsniffer poses and non-fishsniffer poses alike...

Dude that vermillion is amazing!!!!! Sounds like a great day on the water, way to score on the exploritory trip.

Wow ... They are big. Congrates.

Holy Cow!!!  what a Hog!!!!!!!

That is one big vermillion.

MolBasser

NICE fish Eric!
I have never fished Anchor bay but have heard of Chicken Beach. How far of a walk is it from your truck to that area?
I hear there are some decent sized abs in that area as well.

DAMN!!!!!
Big reds for sure!! And ling city!

Adventure plus Fish, that is the pinnacle, way to go KZ.

fantastic pics too.

J

What a day... I needed that. 

Who couldn't!?  Very nice fish!

NICE fish Eric!
I have never fished Anchor bay but have heard of Chicken Beach. How far of a walk is it from your truck to that area?
I hear there are some decent sized abs in that area as well.

Day use parking at the Anchor Bay Campground is $3... plus they charge $5 to launch a boat, which they apply to kayaks as well.     They have a self-pay envelope on the door of the office if you arrive early.  There are several day-use parking spots immediately to the right as you enter the park.  They are near the highway.  If day use is filled up, you can unload your gear at the campground and drive up and park on top the hill across from the general store for free, by the bus stop.  There is a trail through the woods to the campground from there.

I wheeled the yak down the road through the campground and probably 400 yards down the beach into chicken cove.  The beach is firm and it was a very easy pull with my habor freight wheels.  In total, you only have to pull the cart through about 30 yards of loose sand... the rest is firm along the water line.  VERY easy launch area. 

The nice thing about that area is that the shoreline faces south, so if there is a big northwest swell, it would be expected to be much more mild in that area.  I'll be back for sure. 

The campground has very nice facilities.  Showers, wetsuit changing area, fish cleaning station, etc.  Lots of small skiffs and inflatables are stored along the base of the hill at the chicken beach launch spot, but I probably only saw aobut half a dozen boats and kayaks out on Saturday. 

I'm sure the ab diving is good there... looks like most of the campers were there to dive and/or fish. 

Erik

WTG!  What an epic trip.  I dream of catching a red that big.

nice fattie red, sick!  bills dark green/red flake are great, I'm sure he is gonna start charging for those now.  

awsome, close to a record.  dfg says vermillion record is 14 lbs 9 oz.  caught in 96' in Morro Bay.  congrats.

PJ

that hurts what a great day and lots of quality fish! 11lb vermilion i need to get better real soon i am jonesning to get out on the water real bad! a day of catching like you had would put a big smile on anybody face.

chef

Amazing.  Erik that is all I can say!  Good Job

jason