Humboldt Coast - 10/15 - 10/17/15

Had three trips in a row at the end of last week.  Newbies at Trinidad on Thursday - seasickness had us doing a 180 before hitting the good fishing grounds, so we enjoyed a few hours in the harbor.  Both of my guests caught a black rockfish, so that was good.  It's fun to get new people on the water, and I do enjoy the challenge of gathering and hauling all the gear to outfit them and then reloading, hauling and cleaning it all afterward.  Pacific Outfitters has provided a nice little slice of my business and allowed me to meet people who are ready to discover the sport. 

Friday was a special treat as I got to take my buddy Michael Owens out at Shelter Cove.  He is a full time employee at Pac Out, and this was a guide training session, as he'll take trips next year if we get double booked or otherwise super busy.  Michael brought his own wetsuit, fishing gear and paddle, so I only had to outfit him with his yak for the day.  Got him on a Predator MX that I have access to, and I paddled my X-Factor.  We drove together from Loleta to the Cove and back, so it was a long day and a great opportunity to visit and get to know each other better.  While I was focused on relaying good guiding info to Michael for the day, we were also hoping to hook something special.  The salmon haven't been biting well at Shelter Cove for months, but a big part of the magic at Shelter Cove is how there's always a chance at a salmon or either a California or a Pacific halibut near shore.

After going over the basics of assessing and outfitting clients we moved on to a full review of my "catches all species" technique.  I love showing people what I've learned over the years, and getting out on the water where we put it in action is always a thrill.  Michael and I hit the water and deployed gear right outside the moorings where, as usual, we were marking lots of bait and other things that we hoped were salmon.  We worked our way toward the Bell Buoy, and by the time we hit 50 feet we'd both caught and released multiple lingcod - all signs were good for a productive and fun day.  One thing I advised Michael about was regarding checking your leader after every fish - the rigs I use are great, but if you get a weak spot and forget to give it the stretch test you might pay the price when you get broken off unexpectedly.  That appeared to be what happened to me as I hooked up and very briefly tussled with a hot fish before it popped off.  Thought I'd just lost it to the barbless hooks, but when I pulled up I still had my weight, but hooks were gone.  The head shakes were good, but I suspected a shark - may have been in denial of forgetting to check my leader, and I dreaded thinking that I'd busted off a salmon...  Not two minutes later and Michael hooks up - he's got a pretty hot one on, and when it started heading to the surface 20 to 30 feet from us we both knew it was a salmon, and it was clear that I had indeed just lost one of my own.

Stoked to have come on to a salmon bite, we quickly surmised that Michael had hooked a coho as it put on an aerial display before coming to hand for a gentle release.  We got rigged back up and started following some bird activity southeast of the Bell, and within half an hour we'd each fought and released another coho.  These were stout fish in the ten pound range and awesome to fight.  Each one was released yakside without employing the net or even pliers - I was glad to see that Michael had the familiarity with salmon and the skills to properly deal with the frenetic and somewhat fragile silver salmon.  Lots of silvers this year...

We continued trying for salmon as it's always possible that the kings are there along with the coho, but we didn't hookup any more chromers.  Soon enough we headed NW on to the main reef where we played with lingcod all afternoon, keeping two for Michael and his lady.  A couple beers at the cleaning table and more pleasant conversation on the way home, and by dinner time we were back in Loleta where I'd need to clean up and reload for another trip on Saturday.

Brian was my booking for the 17th having come from Sac the night before.  He's done some kayak fishing, but never at Shelter Cove.  We were hopeful for a continued salmon bite, and there was some great 'salmon water' around the lighthouse where we did get some bites and see a salmon jump, but it wasn't happening, so we were content to play with lingcod for most of our session, keeping 6 along with two blacks.  A cool thing about my preferred method of fishing is that we don't catch many rockfish other than the kamikaze blacks that can be hard to get away from.  Brian enjoyed the Predator MX - it was cool to put a newb on it Thursday, a guide in training on Friday and Brian on Saturday - definitely a good boat to put a guest on with its roominess, stability and ease of paddling.  Brian had a fun trip, stating that he'd never caught so many lingcod, and that made my day.

That's it from Loleta Eric's Humboldt perspective.  Nothing too exciting, but as we near the end of rockfish and lingcod season up here (October 31) as well as ocean salmon at the Cove (early November) I thought I'd get you guys the word that there's still a chance at the elusive and tantalizing monster chinook, and Shelter Cove never really disappoints with its air of remoteness and unspoiled beauty.

Hopefully the rains get things pumped up around here soon - looking forward to some hot steelhead action!   

Friday pix with Michael:

Friday's movie: 

Love that FF's marks! Wow!

Saturday's pix with Brian:

Hope to see some of you in Humboldt before next May.   

Catches lately:  lingcod, rockfish, steelhead, coho, chinook, ten inch ab.   

Thanks for sharing another adventure at Shelter Cove Eric.

Livin the life, brother! That video action of leaping coho was hot!

Outstanding, as always. 

Awesome Eric!  You're livin the dream!

Mike at pacific outfitters installed my roof rack while I'm up here in humboldt for work. Good guy, I remember him talking about the guide thing haha.   

Nice Eric. Oh the winter is approaching. I'm looking forward to getting back out in the spring to shelter.

Very Nice! I am looking foward to some Steelhead action too