Del Monte Beach 9/26/06

Zan & I were headed to Coral St,but it was a millpond at DelMonte, so we put in there about 8:30.  This morning with the southern swell and wind it looked like the southwest corner of MBay was the best bet.  High overcast, no wind.  We paddled out past the red can and down toward Sand City, about halfway to the second red can (as far as I know, these aren't on charts). I trolled a Walleye Runner (Rapala look-alike) behind a piece of rebar on an 18" dropper, no luck, so I shortened the dropper to about a foot so the end of the bar and the lure were about a foot apart as the hung off the side of the yak. I varied the speed, but mostly 1.5 to 2.  Snagged a couple of times, but got it loose.  Just after adjusting the rig I got a 32" ling, had a good battle with it, it would be dead weight, then take a run. Zan netted it, because I was afraid the hook would bend on the lure if I got it closer.
We were in 50-60 fow, not far from the kelp. It coughed up an octopus, common ling food around there.  Not the first ling I've caught trolling.  The rebar came off somewhere during the fight and I didn't bring any more iron, only lead.
   Nothing else to show for the day except a couple of small gophers that went back. Zan soaked the octopus and squid as well as a big scampi and a diamond jig.
    Interesting markings on ling: like someone had taken a 1" brush of light tint and wiped lines on the sides, different pattern on each side. 
   About 1030 a SW light breeze came up, by 1100 it was about 15K, but no chop b/c no fetch. 
   I saw some birds out near the second can and went over, a bull sea lion was flopping some kind of fish around, and in the same area at the same time I saw a dead Mola Mola about 18" long.  Not many other fish metered, even in the kelp, tho radio had lots of blues I think up near Pt Pinos.

Congrats on the Ling and thanks for the report. Nice trolling adjustments until you got it right!

Cool that you made the troll work.  I've only had one good chance to try it so will keep refining it.

Last time we were out a huge bull sea lion was dismembering something. 

tom, good work, one 32" ling is worth a pretty big pile of rockfish.

I drove by Del Monte Beach last night and could not believe how small the waves were.  They were the smallest I have ever seen in front of the Monterey Beach Hotel.  Hope it holds till the weekend.