GS9 - Super Long Report on Page 61 - NCKA Rules!

"WoW'!Thank you Eric for sharing GS9 through your write up. I enjoyed the read and hope to make it to GS10/2016.

Great report! Thanks Eric!

Makes it easier for me to pretend I was there, if asked!!

Nice write up report Eric. Thanks for putting this event together and everyone else who helped in the process. I had a blast hanging out with the crew. Fishing nowadays is just second priority. The more I attend these events, the more I appreciate the camaraderie and the chilling part most. Anyways, fishing on tourney day was great. I felt so lazy that I didn't leave the cove area while the rest of my team wandered off far. End result was a lot of fish, double hookups, unknown species, etc. and I didn't even have to go far, awesome! Looking forward to GS10! Cheers!

You know it's a good trip when you need a vacation when you get home. 

Loads of fun, Eric. 

Lots of great reports. I just got back home after an extended trip after GS9. We had fun relaxing in the redwoods for a few days after the tournament.
The tournament was a blast. We arrived Thursday in time to be ready to fish Friday morning. The water was pretty unsettled and I didn't feel well the whole time I was fishing Friday. I left my ID chart in camp so I think I released what I thought was an undersized ling but might have been a Cabezon. Later I caught a nice 21" Vermillion. That was all I got Friday. I was fishing on the north side and I was starting to feel unsafe so I decided it was time to head in. Even though the beach is well protected, I miss timed my landing and ended up getting turned sideways, surfing a little and dumping it in a few inches of water. Just enough to get me a little wet and get sand in everything. I had time to break out the beer batter and fry up some delicious filets before the oyster bake.
Crash did a great job filling all the oyster orders. Sharon won the oyster sauce contest. Her fantastic strawberry mignonette beat out her traditional mignonette for first place. I didn't get to sample Jerry's butter sauce so I guess it wasn't really a fair fight. The oysters were fantastic. Sharon invented the strawberry mignonette just for the oyster bake. She is not a "recipe" cook so I hope she can remember how to recreate it. At 87 dozen it seems like it was a big success. I wouldn't be surprised to see it become a regular thing in the future.
I had been watching the WX forecasts and I was concerned that each day was worse than the last. I was pleasantly surprised when we launched on tourney morning. I felt better on the water than Friday and wasn't queasy. The fishing started slow for me. Eventually I started getting some action and I ended up with three lings and two blacks. I was very happy with my catch. I donated a few fish to the taco shack and put the others in the ice chest for later.
The taco shack was fabulous as was the whole potluck. Congratulations to all the winners. I had fun putting my raffle tickets in for the prizes of my choice. The whole tournament was a class event. Eric, you can be proud. From my view you pulled it off totally without a hitch, which is a mighty tall order. I hope I can make it next year and many years to come. It was a true testament to the NCKA brotherhood. Way to go everyone!

Eric,
Thank you for another awesome event and wonderful time. I really enjoyed fishing and visiting with everyone. Mike

Good to hang wit you bro!

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The ceremony went great.  Jim Russell was running the raffle and coordinated everything with me – the entire time he was focused on what I needed in order to pull off the best gig.  Jim was positive, attentive, diligent and absolutely flawless in his delivery of helpfulness.  I cannot say enough how pro you are, Jim.  Much love, brother. 

...

The raffle was absolutely stacked this year....Jim and his volunteers in ticket sales and gear handling were ON it, and I couldn’t be happier with the format which allowed everyone to donate at their comfort level while having good chances at lots of different things they’d need or want.  We raised nearly $4000 to be split between HOW and PIF!!!

Thank you for the kind words Eric!!

Really was my pleasure and honor to be able to help and am super glad everything went well, and am super grateful to ALL the folks who just stepped up to help out without me really even having to ask.

It was awesome for sure. 

Thanks again for your support of PIF and HOW!!!

You did an amazing job all around bro...THANK YOU for all your hard work!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

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Dude - What was that "thing" you posted on the last 2 pics?

I am undergoing a running study of rock fish off the CA Coast attempting to make replicas in blown glass. The pinks, lavendars, ambers, browns, yellows, greens, and black spots on that puppy set off my color meter. Give me a headz up on the species?



I'm just trying to figure out(?) a way to write my kayak off as a research vessel! 

I Zod Out

I think it was an Irish Lord, Izod. 

Beautiful artwork!   

Yup, that's an irish lord.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/bottomfish/identification/sculpins/h_hemilepidotus.html

ok so I have been a slacker writing my post op report.....took some time trying to gather thoughts but if i dont write one soon, it will never get out.

of course thanks to Eric (Happy BDAY BTW) and family for putting your heart and soul to this annual event.. thanks to the support crew like Big Jim, Danglin, Brandi and others...Thanks especially to the generous sponsors

This was my 6th consecutive GS event and it never dissapoints.
For the past 3 yrs its also become a chance to spend time OTW  and bond with my bro Flyaker for a few days..

Last year I was lucky enough to get him onto chrome for the first time via yak....and this year i  was hoping for similar good fortune..
Thursday we hit the beach shortly after arriving at the Cove... the view from our rental home seemed to suggest that the sea was calm, with little wind....of course that changed as soon as we hit the beach by 330...
but we said worse case we could just get a short sortie in to work out any trolling setup cobwebs....And just like last year, as we were launching, we see an incoming succesful chrome kill onboard a returning kayak. (this year Adam...last year John Bird and O2B)

So off to the standard trolling ground we set out with optimism bouyed.... despite hearing from everyone else that the salmon bite was non existant, we held out hope that some are around and perhaps theyd be active for the late afternoon bite...

Our fears of conditions being blown out diminished as we found to our surprise that the earlier wind gusts started to subside..it actually laid down nicely and allowed us to fish until sunset.

We went out beyond the whistle buoy and chatted briefly with Clayman/ Swayze bros plus Rob matanaska....
It was a great feeling to be back on familiar waters,seeing familiar faces...so even with no chrome bite, it was a magical feeling being in the game.

As GB2 coined it.. "devilfish"....the pursuit of the chrome consumed me for the next 3 days... Even with RF opening Friday.... I spent most of my time otw trolling, holding out hope that just maybe.....maybe id be luckily enough to get that tug tug tug action..
My bro Flyaker,coimg to his senses and facing reality long before me, teased me and asked whether i regularly purchased Lotto tix...
So in the next 2 days, Id occassionally take a break and fished RF but I released everything, even during tournament day as i caught nothing  spectacular.. I didnt want to bother with cleaning fish and figured Id load up on Sunday, our departure day.

in hindsight that was a bit of a gamble but I didnt have huge pressure to procure meat on this trip..
Flyaker and I targeted to fish sunday to mid day....with 2 pm being our stated NLT.pt.... (yeah right). Our landlady was kind enough to grant us a late checkout too..

With thankfully calmer conditions Flyaker and I were able to press further North and work shallower waters than the days prior.
 Flyaker, being a devout flyfisher worked his hand tied flies and had great action on black RF..
I had an occasional hookup via my trolled chovie but when I switched over to my Big Hammer.....the action was immediate.. I quickly limited out on my 5 blacks...keeping the beefy guys that ranged from 19-21 inches..
I then moved out to deeper water and proceeded to slay the Lings... I went thru at least 9-10 good fights, keeping 3 beefy guys, 1 a pb Lingzilla. It was uncanny, my good fortune was almost scripted.... I stated ok now I hit my 5 blks , (with our self imposed time deadline in mind..) i said i am gonna now kill some lings.... 5 +3 leaves me room for 1 cab  and 1 Verm... It almost worked out that way for me. I scored a 21" cab, another Pb but couldn't find a verm. But 3 PBs made for an impressive haul..

Strangley Flyaker couldnt find the same Ling love despite having great success with his same fly set up deployed the year prior...

When I landed my Lingzilla...my rear deck was so filled with my 9 other fish i had no more room... they were already bungeed down and I dared not try to deal with this pig while turned backwards....so I cradled him within the net like a babe in arms all the way back to the launch...
I knew this guy weighed near 20#s and I was slightly concerned on my roll stability.. the wind seemed to be picking up so I told my bro I was gonna make my way slowly back.. Just before rounding the point I run into AbKing and share a few words....Great to see him enjoying himself after working so hard for everyone other the past few days...

Flyaker was determined to get into the groove solely by his flycasting  dogma, refusing to take my offered rod and swim bait rigs...
he even briefly went Nordo and i had to ask Danglin to keep an eye out for him...
So we missed our departure timeline by a whole lot, but fortunately we could share the driving going home....
We agreed that the fishing on that last day was epic...the sea and wind conditions cooperated and the bite got hot thankfully at the right time.

But even without that, our experience throughout the weekend, from enjoying the potluck, contemplating the raffle prizes (we got skunked)....seeing the kids holding their $20 with beeming smiles, shucking kumamoto oysters that Crash was so nice to bring for everyone....comraderie with friends old and new....pigging out on the fish tacos, celebrating Rshu's good fortune in winning that Kayak grand prize...
I have to stop and thank our good fortune for being associated with such a great bunch of dedicated sportsmen, sponsors, and family supporters. We are blessed with fertile fishery in a scenic setting.....life could be a lot worse..
Thanks Everyone

pics to follow

Well said Daviator, thanks for sharing your experience and pictures.