Bean a.k.a Happy Hollow Sun. 9/10

freddie look out!

way to pull it out!

Great pics  JTF. The one with Henry in his yak in an angle  is superb.
That place can defintely be dangerous.

That picture would be mounted and put on the Wall of Fame.  (What not to do!)  Glad that your  okay Henry.

In looking at the first picture, if you back paddled, you might had made it.

JTF -- great action photo!

That picture would be mounted and put on the Wall of Fame.  (What not to do!)  Glad that your  okay Henry.

In looking at the first picture, if you back paddled, you might had made it.

JTF -- great action photo!

Actually it looks like in the first picture that he is dragging his paddle.  I think if he had forward paddled (HARD!), he might have made it.  Instead, we was caught right in the middle of the wave cresting ... NOT GOOD!

-Allen

Do These pictures (Henry) show coming in or going out?

JTF's 4 landing pics look deceiving.  The first two are of Henry coming in and .... well, you can guess that outcome.

The bottom two pics are of Freddie's un-eventful landing.

Timing was everything!

Fishing at the hollow was a bitter-sweet deal for me this Sunday.  Sweet fishing for another nice limit of lings, assorted rockies, including a 21" red  .... but BITTER for the nice halibut that I lost right at the boat after after a good fight. 

Like a rookie, I had forgotten my gaff back at the truck and the fish was too big for my net, so I yelled out for Craig and Freddie to see who get over quickest with a gaff or bigger net.  Craig was first to arrive but wasn't able to unleash and hand over his net or gaff in time.  The fish was barely hooked in the lip by the stinger hook I had attached to the jig head.  I knew I didn't have much time to land the beast, so I tried to keep it's big head just below the surface to keep it calm, but it still wagged now and then.  And each time it did, I knew it was that much closer to getting off.  Then finally, one last shake and out popped the hook.  What sucked is that It hovered there for awhile as if it didn't know it was free.  I immediately dropped the jig back down hoping for a miracle snag, but it wasn't meant to be.... and back down it went.

This was only the 2nd time ever, since I started kayak fishing, that I forgot my gaff.  The first time I forgot it, I also lost a nice halibut.  So... guys.. please learn from my heartbreak. Don't forget your gaff!

That halibut was in the 25 to 30 lb range, much similar to Eric, Harold, and Craig's recent Bean Hollow trophies.  I hooked it by dropping a squid tipped swimbait (one of Bill's popular clear, metal-flaked body, black back patterns). 

Do These pictures (Henry) show coming in or going out?

Eric(eyeatocean),  I think its time to change your prescription glasses!!!    He is coming in to land his kayak, it was some tough love for a couple guys that day.  Please dont think I'm immune from a bad surf landing, I've had a few.  As a matter of fact, I would love to have a nice wipeout every once in a while!   

Pics of Craig with his sea monster and stringer of rockies.  Craig warned me not to mention the resemblance to the wolf eel, so I won't.  ... 

The last photo is of the lurkers at Bean freakin' out over our catch.

I should have also taken pics of Freddie's catch including his 35" and 31" ling... but I'm so accustomed to see him with such fat stringers, I totally overlooked it.  Sorry.

   

your pics are coming chuck

coming around the corner, here he comes, chucke

damn you jtf, there are waves!

I'm gonna hurt jtf for this one, look at him on the beach with his camera!

"where'd that wave go?"

samooooth!

ha, i'm the master of the bean!

picture perfect landing, the reason why chucke is da man!    jtf..

Nice fishin', guys!  Cool pics, John.  I'm sure I would've been tossed in the drink myself had I made it out there.

JTF.... Hillarious captions.... 

Ben... thanks for pull.  Just in time!

Great going guys!  Too bad I was home with stomach flu!  8^(

The trick to that surf is to be decisive, find your gap and floor it, then jump out and get the boat ashore asap.

Lots of people ate foam at linda mar figuring out how to do that launch too (and still do), just learn the ropes and your odds will be ok.

Thanks for the pics JTF and Chuck!!  And yeah Chuck, for uhm, not mentioning what you, uhh...

Ben was a big help with landing all around and even helped haul my yak up to the road.  Thanks Ben!  So, y'all da man!

Oh, by the way, I had an eel dinner tonight...  I decided to get a proper stovetop/oven hot smoker, but couldn't find Oak or Alder wood chips (probably best options from what I read) so I was stuck with hickory smoked...  But all in all, not a bad flavor.  The eel is definitely different - I think a sweeter smoke would be better.  Plus it seems to wanna cook for longer than normal fish - maybe 45 minutes smoking in oven at 400 deg. for a 1" thick filet.  The skin is like 2 parts, the outer skin and a thick gel-like inner skin.  Made it with olive oil, lemon, chives, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper.

Not bad at all, tho! 

I have Alder, Apple, Cherry, and Maple chips coming via UPS.  Will smoke more fish besides eel soon!

Yum.