Shelter Cove - 3/19

I'm still working down that way, so I threw the boat in the truck knowing I'd get a 2 hour window or so and the ocean was forecast flat.  As I drove to the Cove on a wetter road than usual I was already feeling guilty about possibly catching another salmon and having to post here with the story...     I arrived at the Cove around 2:50 and looked out over a foggy/drizzly ocean where I could just barely see the buoys in the mist.  I hit the cleaning table and saw just a few crab parts - no evidence of salmon cleaned recently.  There were no trucks on the beach and no boats on the water that I could see.  With how flat the ocean was and little wind I thought it indicated that the bite over the weekend likely sucked!  I got on the VHF, channel 68, and asked for some kind of report on the salmon bite, but I never did hear anything on the VHF the whole time I was there.  With the fog/drizzle making the buoys barely visible from the launch, and no boats out, I sat there for 10 minutes and thought about whether I wanted to go out or not - the bite's probably off, I'd be utterly alone out there, I already scored on the salmon, I should get back over the hill and get my work done and home early,...  then I decided to go out.  It was a good decision based on my need for ocean therapy!     I had a strike early that shredded the back half of my chovie, then a minute later hooked up and thought it could be a salmon, but it was a nearly legalish ling, then trolled another 40 minutes or so out around the Bell before heading in.  At times as I trolled out there the mist/fog made land invisible, but it was calm enough that I could hear the slight rumble of shorebreak to the east - and even though I didn't bring my GPS I had a compass.     As I was trolling on the way in thinking there were no salmon in the area I saw one surface twice about 40 feet in front me!  I thought I was going to gently troll right into a great bite but it never happened.  I cruised in a few circles and never had any action.  I did catch a nice red though - interestingly, right where Asa caught that one the other day, but mine wasn't as nice as his.  I have marked that spot mentally (didn't have my GPS...   ) for future rockfishing spot near shore - it was only like 1/2 mile out toward the Bell.  I couldn't take any pictures out there today because it was too wet out.  When I got back to shore I was glad I'd gone because I'm trying to focus on how the time on the water is what I'm really after. 

Ocean therapy? Save that one for your waf.   The salmon surfacing in front of you has happened to me also, only, I didn't have any barbless hooks when it happened to me or anything used for salmon for that matter.  I've seen them do that in the bay also.  Good report though.  jtf..

The flat ocean made me kayak out of Noyo Harbor yesterday. I trolled a chovie with no bites at all, but then it was as expected since not even the big boats have been catching salmon out of Fort Bragg yet.
I think it was a good reconnaissance run. As I was paddling out I noticed another kayaker working the shore, they came out to me to see what I was doing and we had a good chat about caves and fishing opportunities in the area.

Hi Abking,

Thank you for the report.  Hopefully things will get better on the first week of April.  I'm physically & mentally ready for the next trip in April.

Sailfish

the time on the water does translate to feeling at ease and confident and probability-wise
does lead to fish, so that's probably a good trick of yours ab king,  .

thanks for the post, fishless or not.

About time you get skunked! Hahahaha!
Kidding, of course. I enjoy reading your reports; fish or no fish.

Keep that mental note of the location of the reds because they tend to stick to the same reefs year-round. Plus, they get pretty big and they taste great (less filling!).

Thanks for the report,
PK

Nice effort on both outings! Is there a chance you guys can show your rigs. The bannana sinker and chovie sounds nice and simple but can you take pics of the hooks. Abking, your's sounds like a christmas tree. Snap a photo the next time you tie one up, please.

It sounds like a lot, Randall, but it's effective!  DeepSix, 4'-5' or so of leader, silver flasher, another 2'-3' of leader, hoochie/squid, barbless double hook slip rig with an anchovy hooked up through the head, one wrap, and the other hook through the tail and cinched up a bit.  It's about $25-30 worth of rigging.  I always use a fresh bag of chovies (never been thawed) and was taught by my dad and grandfather to keep that bait looking presentable.  I hate the idea of trolling around with an ugly bait - that's where the hoochie affords some insurance coverage by masking some ugly if it's there...   

Proof is in the pudding! And you've proved it again and again. Thanks

How many pulls out are ya??

My rig was pretty simple, tie your main line to one end of a mooching sinker and a salmon leader to the other end. Leave the leader as long as possible but short enough that if you are sitting in a kayak and have the line reeled in up to the sinker and your pole arm raised the salmon at the hook end of the line will be right next to your kayak where you can net him with your other hand.
I cut the heads off of my anchovies at an angle 30-45 degrees from top to bottom and 30-45 degrees from side to side so that they slowly spin and they are dragged along. I've tried with heads on before and usually what ends up happening is the mouth comes open and they spin too fast. I try to hook one hook from left to right under the spine just behind the dorsal fin and the other the opposite direction about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch behind the cut face, that way there will be a hook facing each way in case the salmon hits from one direction or the other.
Total cost of this rig is less than two dollars.
One of the things I like about this rig is that if you slow down your trolling, your bait continues to move but goes deeper. I imagine that the deep six begins to rise when you slow down. When you get a hit and know you are above some salmon you can real the bait up and then let it drop slowly and it will spiral downwards. Keep your thumb on the spool to control how fast the bait falls and give the salmon time to hook itself rather than yanking at bites. I've heard that salmon sometimes slam their prey with their bodies to stun it, then turn around to grab it with their mouths. It sounds accurate to me, when I used to fish with treble hooks in Washington State I sometimes hooked fish on their sides.
One note on this rig, I haven't been able to find salmon leaders with barbless hooks so you will have to clamp them down with pliers or a hemostat.

How many pulls out are ya??

We had about 20 pulls of line out so we were trailing about 50-60 feet of line but the angle of the line behind us as we trolled probably kept the bait 10 to 20 feet deep.

Thanks for the detailed pics guys!

I may be wrong here...but I thought you had to use barbless 'circle' hooks when fishing with bait for salmon. I know for a fact the reg allows you to use 'regular' barbless hooks if they're attached to a lure (or even barbless treble hooks for that matter).

Guess I should've looked up the reg before posting. I'll go check it now.
PK

I may be wrong here...but I thought you had to use barbless 'circle' hooks when fishing with bait for salmon. I know for a fact the reg allows you to use 'regular' barbless hooks if they're attached to a lure (or even barbless treble hooks for that matter).

That's a tough call Sin Coast. The exact wording is:

• North of Pt. Conception: No more than 2 single-point, single-shank barbless hooks shall be used and no more than 1 rod/angler when fishing for salmon or fishing from a boat with salmon on board.
• Horse Mt. to Pt. Conception: If fishing with bait and angling by any other means than TROLLING*, no more than two (2) single-point, single-shank barbless CIRCLE HOOKS** shall be used. The distance between the two hooks must not exceed five (5) inches when measured from the top of the eye of the top hook to the inner base of the curve of the lower hook and both hooks must be permanently tied in place (hard tied).
• * TROLLING is defined as angling from a boat or floating device that is making way by means of a source of power, other than drifting by means of the prevailing water current or weather conditions.
• ** A CIRCLE HOOK is defined as a hook with a generally circular shape and a point which turns inwards, pointing directly to the shank at a 90-degree angle.

Seems like you have to be a friggin' lawyer just to go fishing!

So, my take on this is that since we are trolling under the power of paddles we don't have to have circle hooks but that if the kayak was drifting and I was dropping line (e.g. I was mooching) then I would have to have have circle hooks.

Thanks Asa. I love how simple this is.