Limekiln 5/28

Had an incredible time at Limekiln today.  Eight of us all did pretty damn well.  It is nice to have tired arms, not because of paddling, but because of reeling and fighting fish.

Outside of a Nazi Ranger, a pretty amazing day - spectacular scenery, quiet water, and unbeatable fishing.  Everything else is spoiled now

Chuck was first out - is it true you had to wait for whales to move before heading further?



Chuck, Steve, and Joel with nice stringers, but that's not all the fish caught...


Wonder how many pounds of fish?


Going to bed now to dream about the ling I lost.  

-- Dave

Nice work guys!

I know what you mean Dave every other Rockcod place I have been to so far does not come close to Big Sur.

WOW!!!

Them are some NICE fish.  That is a great group shot.

Joel,
your ling isn't the longest, but it sure looks fat.

Stuart

Chef... thanks for leading our Limekiln trip.  It was a rare day at Limekiln.  The weather was excellent and the surf was so small that none of us needed to stow any equipment prior to launching or landing.

Everyone easily caught limits of rockfish, but we were just being picky about a what to keep.  I caught 3 legal lings and only kept one -- a 33" 12 pounder.

I was little worried about how good the fishing was going to be because when we arrived in the morning we saw two big commercial fishing boats working the SAME EXACT SPOT we planned to fish.... but I guess they left a few fish for us.  Who knows how good our fishing could have been had they not been there before us.

We also had a rough time with the new ranger at Limekiln.  He was looking to bust someone for something.  He checked all of us for our licenses and fish.  All of us passed .  Damn... I can't believe I've been checked twice in less than a week and this is the third time for this year!   ... Oh well.

It was another great day in Big Sur paradise with a good group of friends!

Here's a pic of Chef with a nice copper

Eric with another nice stringer

Elric in front of the caves with nice blue ling

Elric and JDyak also took some nice photos - can't wait to see those.
Dave, as for the whale incident in the cove.  I think Chef was one who said he once encountered them in the cove.

Holy cow...thats carnage!  Looks like it was nice and flat out there.

Many thanks to Chef Steve for showing us the way!!! YOU DA MAN      

Jd - thanks for driving brada.....sushi on me at Sushi Monster whenever you want!

That was great trip guys - looking forward to another (next time = we camp and make a weekend of it)

is it true you had to wait for whales to move before heading further?

Dave, it was Chef Steve that had the encounter with the whales at the cove where we launched - it actually happened a while back.

Had a great time!!

Conditions were awesome, and an excellent group of kayakers.

Here's a couple of pics


The before launch talk






Here are the Money shots







The Fresh water that flows through the campground was a perfect place to cool the catch of the day!

Great report & pics, wish I went.

Opted to troll many miles in cold, wet, foggy Morro Bay conditions for salmon. Good temps, no bait but the fish are there. Sometimes I wish I had a motor.

Good to see you guys having such a killer time out there!
The fishing down on that part of the coast is otherworldy.
At one time all of Cali was like that, but commercial and heavy rec pressure took it toll.
Anyhow, it gets even better. There is a resident school of BIG 950-60lb) white seabass chillin in the kelp bed off Lopez. My buddies got a piece of property with a secrety spot launch right out in front of Lucia and he pickes off a few a year. Flylined squid or live mackerels the ticket (when you can get through the rock cod)!
See ya out on tha water
Brendan

Car pooled w/ my buddy, and newbie on the yak - JTF aka John the Fisherman. He had just gottn a Hobie Outback and was ready to take it through its paces.

We left SF around 4 and made it to Limekiln around 7:30pm despite holiday traffic, which we missed most of it. On the way, we noticed the turnouts and were keeping a keen eye on any yakkers pulled over to the side of the road as well as a nice spot for ourselves.

Went to check out Limekiln park, on the off chnace that someone had gotten a campsite and were surprised that there was a cancellation and we could get a spot right by the water  

Set up camp and ran down to the water to throw out our surf rods for some dinner. After 2 snags each, we canned that idea and settled for hot links and tecate  

Thought I had drank enough so that I could pass out in the truck bed but the damn raccoons had me spooked so I got up and batten down all our coolers and gear as these rascals were brazen. Had the thought of gaffing one, but there were 3 of them and they might have jacked me, especially in the condition that I was in.  

In the am we were milling about around 7am and I heard Chuck's voice booming down the cove - Elric, you got your radio?, chnl 69. 4 of them arrived early and I ran up to let them in. Unfortunately, that episode got us off on the wrong side of Ranger Garcia and he had it in for the rest of us.

When everyone showed, we decided to stick it out at Limekiln as that was how much of an ass this guy was. Good thing too as it turned out to be a FANATASTIC DAY    and just like this icon, the fish were ON and the weather perfect. JTF was laughing as everyone was concerned about the newbies and the "shore break" on this beach, it was like glass out there, w/ hardly any wind, gentle swells, slightly overcast skies, and hardly any current = PERFECT.

We paddled out about 3/4 miles, in about 50' of water, where we metered kelp and fish. We dropped down and immediately hooked up w/ black rockfish, johnnie bass, all medium size. They were fighting over our baits, even jumping out of the water for them. Luckily, Chef knew to go deeper, and urged us on.

Without Chef urging us on, I woulda been happy in the first spot as it was WFO and I hooked into a nice Vermillion w/ my huge 8" scampi w/ the 4oz head. With my large swimbait, I was able to get pass the smaller fish and hit bottom. Everyone was hooking up, but I knew, from the posts before, there were BIGGER.

Out in 100', it turned ON LIKE DONKEY KONG! and I was catchin Vermillion after Vermillion and Lings like CRAZY ! Got a nice beautiful blue one that puked a 8" rock cod onto my lap. Also got several Octopi, puked up onto my crotch, which i immediately thru on my hook and sent it back down.

My best hit was when I thought I snagged the bottom and as I reeled myself to the snag, I could feel the line pump - oh YEAH. I KNEW it would be big, so much so, that I radio'd the group that I had a MONSTER on. It had bit my SUPER SCAMPI, 10" of white rubber, that only a BIG BOY would take on. That MF, put my AVET's SX drags to the test. I got it to the top and FREAKED! The damn ling was as long as my leg and shaped just like it! If I put that thing in my lil ol Hobie, I would sink! So I go to grab my gaff and fumble to take the plastic tube off the hook while keeping my eyes on my fish. Then I see it, just open its mouth and drift away, - DAMN. Just like that, opens and let's go. I surmize that this ling was so BIG and so STRONG, that it was able to clamp it's mouth around my scampi's lead head and keep me from setting the hook. I had several bites like that. Does this sound feasible? Did anyone else experience that?

Anyway, heading in was as easy as heading out, cept for Cpt JackAss, who had his pen and book out ready to site any of us for the slightest infraction. Ranger Garcia, I salute you for your tenacity.  

This trip was my best day on the water! Those of you who haven't been, you don't even want to know what your missing! Looking forward to my next BIG SUR trip = the COMPANY, FISH and WEATHER was fantastic!

I'm spoiled now!

Pictures to come, once I figure that out.

will guys busy packing for the move, another great limeklin trip. had great time with all you guys. looking forward to fishing the bay area. i am sorry for the lack of post and i will post my fish taco recipe very soon everything is real crazy right now. my pic's will be in the photo album ciao for now chef

YOWZA! What a heavenly slaughter. Those vermillions are sooooo tasty. Congrats all around!

Joel,
your ling isn't the longest, but it sure looks fat.

Stu - the ling I caught  looks fat cause I stuck half a dozen of 6 oz. pyramid sinkers in it's belly just so I could beat Chuck's 12 # ling at the weight-in  

While I was fishing with John / jdyak, I caught  a small black rockfish on my iron jig. I free-spooled it to the very bottom and instantly got a solid hook-up. As I started reeling in, I saw a massive ling cod that had "hung on" to the black rockfish that I had on my jig   As soon as I got my net - the ling released and swam back down    This happended to me TWICE   . JD had suggested that I put on a stinger next time. Great idea!  

Mr Ranger definitely had a POWER TRIP  

Damn, you cats tore it up down there.

Nice!

This was a great trip, which I woulda missed if it wasn't for Dave, thanks again for the ride.  The term WFO doesn't do the fishing justice.  Most drops were a struggle to get past the schools of 2 lb blues and olives.  The fish were so aggresive they would chase my bait and break the surface to get at it.  Awesome, I've never seen rockfish boil like that.  My heartbreak of the day came when I boated a more than legal sized ling on 4 lb test line only to have it summersault in my lap, bust the 30lb leader and swim away.  Oh well.  Chuck was kind enough to gift me a ling, which tasted great....Thanks!