First time Santa Cruz 6-28

Encouraged by several members in my intro post and the weather outlook, I decided to try fishing Santa Cruz rather then practice surf launching. Though the night before as I was getting everything together, I discovered I had left all my salt water gear in storage after my move and only had freshwater gear. On top of that, of the two kayaks my friend loaned me, the sit inside has no rod holders and I found that the old heavy POS pink Scrambler was impossible for me to put on my car without devising some sort of system like a wheel over the wind shield or a towel on the wing of my car. Very poor design as the handle is too far forward and there is no lip to grab for on the inside like on my old Hobie which I could hoist into the J-cradle with no issue.

I put together what I could of the freshwater gear I had including some jig heads and swim baits and decided to bypass buying bait since I had no anchor, no anchor trolley, and no sea anchor. I figured I would drift too fast for it to be affective. Ended up taking the sit inside and outfitting it with the spray skirt. Ran into Coop at the launch site who gave me his information and what channel he'd be listening on. So I geared up with my marine radio and gps tethered to myself, trusty old Ugly Stick tethered via the existing bungees on the yack and my other gear stowed inside and took off for my first foray into the Ocean. The conditions were very mellow and the spray skirt didn't get wet except for the dripping of the paddle on the way out. I headed to the mile buoy just to see it before Coop hailed me and let me know he was over at the Lighthouse. I paddled my way over and he was gracious enough to share his bait and even a 10 Oz sinker since everything I had purchased was in storage. A three way swivel and a 3/4 oz yellow jig head from my freshwater tackle were enough to get a rig that was fishable enough! Ended up catching my first rockfish from a kayak and having a blast out on the water. Thanks again for the bait and sinker Coop! It took me awhile to dial everything in so I stayed out after beginning to have some success while Coop headed in after hitting his limit.

I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. The wind really picked up and with it being on shore, it began to get a bit choppy and became harder and harder to maintain a slow drift. But when the tide turned, the fish really turned on! I had no net, so I began losing the larger fish at the boat as they would flick off at the side, or leap off the spray skirt before I could stun them. The real kicker at the end of the day was..  I lost my first ling! A hitch hiker. I had no net so I would have never had been able to land him even if he didn't let go, but still disappointing to see him descend back into the depths after hanging around a moment debating on latching on again. At that point I was being blown probably 2-3 knots and I am not sure he would have held on just from the drag of the water being so strong? Even with the loss, it was very encouraging that even a noob like me has a chance at bringing in some decent fish.

At this point, I was holding the rod in one hand trying to keep bouncing the bottom without snagging, and since I had no sea anchor, I was using my other hand to keep the paddle braced on either side of the kayak to prevent it from weather cocking sideways and basically steering the kayak in reverse to slow my drift. When that began to fail and it became a battle of snagging every 5 minutes and paddling forward to free my rig while cresting waves and getting soaked, I decided it was time to head in. I figured it would be an easy paddle with the wind at my back. It certainly proved to be fun but I am not sure I would say "easy".  I was pushed by the wind and waves and ended up getting a bit of practice "surfing", riding waves, bracing, and getting plenty wet. I had debated staying out just to keep playing as I really was having a good time, but it was 3:00 at this point and I knew I better split before traffic got super gnarly.  GPS reported 12.5 miles of travel and a max speed of 6 Knots at the end of the day.

Long report for a couple of smaller rock, but it was wonderful fishing from a yak after a two year hiatus, going out on the ocean really for my first time, and learning a good bit about fishing that area and for rock fish in general. The head boat trip had me thinking I would always hate rock fishing. I used a borrowed really heavy duty rod and even with the larger fish, I would bring them up and it felt like I was just dragging up a clump of seaweed. So thanks Coop for paddling with me, for the bait, and passing on the knowledge. I marked some good spots on my GPS and that seemed to pay off repeatedly drifting that line.

Anyway, a very long winded post for what I am sure everyone would consider a small haul but what can I say, anyone hesitant to get out there for their first time.. just do it! You wont regret it. 

Outfit and safety gear for this trip in the sit inside included: Spray skirt, 3mm farmer john wetsuit, diving booties, shorty dry top, marine VHF, phone double bagged, GPS, bilge, compass whistle combo, and paddle leash. My normal set up from out East for open water trips. Also had practiced self rescue plenty of times in my shorter sit inside back home which included bilging out water. I may attach a short clip of when I was coming in and some of the fish I started losing at the boat.

For now, the evidence of a toothy lurker from the depths.


 

Great report! Thanks for sharing and look forward to more reports!

Detailed report. Glad you made the best of it and hope to get out there myself next month. 

Awesome report. That 12.5 miles of travel is impressive.

I'm sure you'll soon be slaying lingcod and then you'll be on to halibut. And with that kind of "engine" available, you should be trolling for salmon...

12.5 miles   sounds like someone may get another kayak.. Welcome.

It was a pleasure meeting you out there and was happy to help with bait and a weight.  Glad you had a good time and hope to see you out there again soon. I may be going tomorrow 7/1 and will be on ch 69.

This guy must a teacher or a writer hehehe I love reading those kind of report, well detailed like reading a news paper. WTG

Ichiro

WTGet out there and slay 'em!