MacKerricher in Ft. Bragg this weekend

Some pics:  http://imgur.com/a/QN775

Headed to Ft. Bragg this weekend for a father's day trip with some friends, figured I'd post a bit about the fishing.  We camped at MacKerricher SP and launched our boats there right on the south side of the point.  It was a little hike to get there, but we both had carts for the yaks.

The swell was pretty large for my liking this weekend, but it was a great first test of my new Eagle Talon 120. I've had it out a couple times on lakes, but this was the first time on the open ocean. There is no real protected bay to fish from, but there are some shallow areas that are protected somewhat by some rock outcroppings. I've dove for abalone here before so had some familiarity with the area.

Heading out the swell wasn't too bad, but we had to paddle WAY out to get past the occasional breaker. We dropped line and fished for a little bit with no luck, and meanwhile the swell and the wind kicked up. We headed back to hide behind some rocks, and it was good we came in when we did. As it was, we had to time the waves to miss the breakers on our way in. After finding some rocks to hide behind, we fished in about 20-30ft and caught some small keepers; a rockfish, cabezon, and lingcod. They made some excellent tacos!

By the time we packed it in the wind had kicked up even worse chop.  Unfortunately this continued all night into the next day so I didn't get a second chance to head out.  All in all a good first excursion on the open ocean and a good test of my gear.  The Eagle Talon was stable, fast, and handled the waves really well.  I need to fine tune my rod holder positions and figure out a better location of my catch bag, which was in the rear of the kayak.  In the chop, it's a little tough to reach behind and haul out the bag.

Can't wait to get back out there, so I'm going to be keeping an eye on the swell report.  I want to head a bit further north this time, so perhaps Trinidad! 

You made the best of it.  The wind has been brutal but it's supposed to die down this coming weekend.