Shelter Cove 3/14-15

I've never been to Shelter Cove, but Abking's posts of his success with Salmon have given me the urge to give it try on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  Company welcome!
 

WED...N WIND 20 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 6 FT. NW SWELL 5 TO 7 FT.  .THU...N WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING NW 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 6 FT. NW SWELL 7 FT. .FRI...NW WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. NW SWELL 6 FT.

Looks a little windy, but hey, you're the windrider, right?!     Seriously though, the wind can be a major factor down there.  Remember that Zeelander was suggesting hitting the road for this past weekend at the Cove and I discouraged due to the forecast - well it turned out to be a pretty nice day yesterday, but who'd of known it until it happened?  I wish I had a report from down there because I have a feeling they got 'em again.  If you go be sure to post right before you leave and if there's a window I'll try to join you.

Eric

How far past Ft Bragg is Shelter?

Never mind- just found it.What is it 3 hrs from the GG bridge?

Abking,
Thanks for the info.  What is your source for Shelter Cove weather reports?  I could change to Thursday & Friday if the reports look better.  I'm Windrider because I like to sail my Windrider 17 Trimaran and for sailing wind is good, but for kayaking I prefer much less.

Never mind- just found it.What is it 3 hrs from the GG bridge?

More like 4 hours from GG bridge unless you drive 85mph

Map Quest says 4 hours and 23 minutes from Marin City.

Nice drive and very worthy of a salmon limit.

.THU...N WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 5 TO 7 FT. NW SWELL 7 TO 8 FT.  .FRI...N WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 5 TO 7 FT. NW SWELL 6 TO 7 FT. .SAT...NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 6 FT. W SWELL 6 FT. 

From NWS forecast:  Cape Mendocino to Pt. Arena out 20 nm. 

The swell is reasonable heading into the weekend, but the wind is looking like a factor...  Also the bite is reported to be off.  I was there today and am posting in Fishing Reports.

Here's the latest - Saturday's looking pretty nice:

.SAT...NW WIND 5 TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. NW SWELL 6 FT.

The question is - will the bite be there? 

It takes 7 hours from Monterey but as mentioned by others the drive is beautiful and quite enjoyable when it is light outside.  I will do it again one day, hopefully soon.

Abking,
Thanks for the updates!  It doesn't look too promising but, I think, I'll go as planned and see what happens.  You have to go when you have the time even when it's "You should have been here last week".

03 12 4:50 pm    NNW 17.5 19.4 6.6 11 5.6 - 30.10 -0.04 53.4 53.4 - - - -
03 12 3:50 pm    NNW 19.4 23.3 7.2 11 6.2 - 30.10 -0.05 53.2 53.4 - - - -
03 12 2:50 pm    NNW 13.6 15.5 6.6 12 6.5 - 30.11 -0.05 54.9 53.6 - - - -

The stats above show what the Pt. Arena buoy was doing while I was out at the Cove yesterday with whitecaps showing the farther out I went.  If the wind turns more NW than N while you're out there it gets squirly quick...  Since the wind was NNW the Cove itself and out to the Bell Buoy area were relatively protected.  The Whistle buoy is one mile west of the Bell, it's where most of the fish have been caught, and it was a mess out there, but do-able although sketchy.

Research to be continued...

Ab season opens 2 weeks from this Sunday!   

Go for it, Windrider!  I will try to come down Friday midday/afternoon - there's a minus tide around 4ish and the sun should be out.  There will be a party on the beach as the locals tend to show up in numbers when the conditions are nice down in the Cove and the tide has the beach exposed.   

This might help show conditions.  Maybe you could figure out exactly where this station is located compared to where you go out.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=eka&sid=O87&num=48