Bean Hollow 10/1

Made it back on the water. Was thrilled to hear about Craig's landlord encounter. It was a slow bite, except for the school of blues I targeted for bait on the way out. Should have put on a bigger lure and seen if I could have picked up some keepers.

Eventually wound up just keeping a single Cabbie, 22" and 6.5 lb. Everygthing else went back. I have a picture of the crew back on shore, and will post that later.

I saw 2 mola mola, I think Craig saw a couple more than that. No landlord. I'd still like to have one do a drive by. I don't feel all that vulnerable in a 15' boat, paddling with a buddy, with power boaters nearby, and with a VHF.

Scott

I saw the mola molas Scott saw, plus one floating in the water next to his yak.  The ones I saw did not appear to be moving.  Water was flat generally, except for wind waves late and some massive 5-wave sets of swells which really made you think about when to start landing.

After a couple hours on the water today, I felt back to normal and comfortable.  Glad I went back - met some great NCKA'ers, and nice to see Scott again!

We went out looking for structure past 100'...  Bottom was flat to 115' and we decided to head north, then in.  Finally started getting bit around some PB's.  One had a girl fishing on board and I was tempted to paddle over and flirt, but there were too many guys in that boat!  I should have asked if they were all family     One guy told me they got 4 lings, all on live bait. 

We were not seeing that action, but found good structure, and some small rockies.   It was a pretty good spot - we marked it.  I caught a decent cabbie which I kept alive, and Scott caught his biggie when he'd already caught and killed a first one...  So I took his first cab, released mine fine, and he kept the 23"er.  And there was much rejoicing.

My Bean adventure of the day was not of the fishing variety...  Somehow in my hurry to get started (I arrived late) I forgot to zip the pocket of my paddlejacket which holds my car key...  You guessed it - despite clean launch and landing, I could not find it anywhere when we were packing up!

So... NCKA kicks into Good Sam mode... craigh offered to wait with me while AAA came to unlock my car so I could get my apartment keys from it (said apartment in Oakland is location of my spare car key - d'OH!).  Craig dropped me off at Bay Fair Bart in Castro Valley, and I Barted to Oakland and walked home.  I was quite pleased to offer craigh a cabbie-to-go for a thank you.  Hope you enjoy it Craig!

Scott took my yak, and Tim and John offered up cash so I could get home okay.  So generous!

What a gracious bunch - thank you all!  craigh, thanks for the extra 90 minutes of your time before your long drive home to Modesto - couldn't have made it home without that!

My lesson - don't rush, and also keep a spare car key with me!

Now I just hope my car on roadside does not go the way of JTF's truck... Or go anywhere, for that matter. 

craig, I recommend the key on a lanyard around the neck, against skin. put it on when you put on your wetsuit. you can check by just pressing against it, you will feel it. no wondering, same for whatever you wear, routine is the key here.

Also, a key in a magnetic hider box somewhere under your car for backup on longer trips.

my friend and I surfed fullers in big sur, he did as above, with the key from the wrong car...

murphy's law.

some nice german tourists gave him a lift back to camp while I entertained his wife and 3 daughters...

J

Good suggestion J!  I will use it.  Man, I am glad your friend was as fortunate as I was.

Anyone interested in driving me from Millbrae Bart to my car at Bean for $50 cash?  I can be at Millbrae Bart at either 9.41pm, 10.01pm, 10.21pm.
 
If not $50, then let me know what works and we can talk.....  510-919-0632

Hey Craig glad to see ya made it home.  Hope your car makes it untill you get back.
and thank you for the cabbie

 I had a great 3 days of fishing, but today was the best.

After Craig told us about what he saw yesterday, Tim, John, myself and Brian (i hope I got your name right)  set out. 10 min into the paddle, a good sized fin showed up to my left and just infront of Brian.    It went down just in time for Tim and John not to see it, It was not seen again. We also saw mola's and caught some nice fish. I caught my first legal Lincod 31" and 12.5 #s  with some blues and gofers, to make for a nice stringer.

Here are some of the fish pics I have,

I do a seprate post of the landing pics  

Craigh

oops heres the fish pics...


Craigh

Tim, and his yak is in the foam in the first pic, totally under water. The second pic is seconds after.  It was impressive.

My camera wasn't quick enough to catch all of Brian's and I missed John, but you can tell what happens by the pics.

Had a great time guys, Happy to meet you all and hope to fish with you again.

Craigh

 

Nice pics, Craig!  Looks like you guys made the best of the landing.  Photos are great.

Anyone, how about $80, anytime tomorrow....?  Millbrae to Bean, anyone interested?  Today was not my day, nor was tonight my night.

Thanks!

Hey Craig,
Good pics, and yes it was a shark.
I had a great time out there. Thanks to Tim, John and Craigh for the encouragement, I couldn't have picked a better day to try fishing in the ocean from a kayak.
I am thinking of changing may online name from bblatt to something more descriptive of my landing style - something like "flapjack" or "nunchuck", or maybe "spanky". I know you're not supposed to do it that way (like a pole vaulter) but I was laughing my ass off.
Anyway, tacos were great, company was great, see you out there again sometime.

Sounds like fun. I can tell the red kayak had fun--the crate is on its side in the back 

Gary (SandMan) has very kindly offered to drive me to my car at BH after work today.  Yea, woot!

Thanks to others who were considering.  Got it covered now.

Hey Guys,
 I was at Bean Hollow last week and parked in the tiny, paved parking lot. If my memory is correct, the beach in these pics looks bigger than the beach i launched from. Is there another launch spot for Bean Hollow?

The pics were taken at the far north of the beach pointing south, we parked on the road and use the trail on the north side to get to the beach.

Gald to hear you got a ride, Craig 


Craigh

You should all feel lucky that I gave the example of what not to do when landing in high surf. I was just looking out for everyone else. Yeah, that's it.

Really, though, THANKS to Rockaway for helping me to retrieve my yack. I'm still laughing about it. I've never dumped before. Guess there is a first time for everything.

Ahhh.... "The Hollow" claims another victim.  Welcome to the club.  I'm sure our membership will continue to grow.