Carmel 5/12 slow

Launched from the south end of Monastery Beach around 9am (Ziggy Marley concert at Catalyst the night before). It was my friend Jeff's first voyage on his newly bought used kayak. He bailed in the weak surf but jumped right back on and paddled through the waves.

We fished a couple spots in the kelp north of Pt Lobos for about 20 minutes before moving due to too many scuba divers. We fished the reefs off the Meadows. Then moved to the "promised land" off Carmel Point. Unfortunately, it wasn't as productive as I remembered. Overall, it was a pretty slow day; actually the slowest day I've ever had while kayak fishing for rockfish. But we spent a lot of time paddling around (often against the wind) and playing with my newly installed fishfinder...seemed to work OK but it had problems in the kelp beds.

I only caught about 15 rockfish. Jeff caught about 10. Mostly kelp, copper, gopher, olive, black,  and blues. No lings! And I was even working the new super-huge swimbaits I got. The 6" Kalins Magumbo grubs (glow) yielded best results, followed by 3.5oz Megabait irons w/modified moochie skirts. I even resorted to using some of the frozen squid I brought along.

Highlight of the day was hooking into a mystery fish in about 350ft of water on a 3oz kroc as I trolled across the bay to the point (didn't have any RF onboard). I had my rod in the rocket-launcher holder behind and was paddling along when all the sudden it felt like I was struggling to make headway...I turned to glance at my rod and realized it was doubled over (drag too tight). I grabbed the rod and had it on for about 10 seconds before going slack. Damned barbless hooks! Might have been a salmon. Maybe a WSB? Who knows. I can only imagine.

I had a great time despite the slow fishing. Weather was awesome! I got a little burned on my feet (only exposed place w/out sunblock). And the saltwater was great for my poison oak covered legs...that oak in Pacific Valley is gnarly!

PK

Nice report - glad you got out there.  I'll bet the baby shower was fun, but the "Epic" reports must've been tugging at you!  Time to start planning a Cove trip for June!   

thanks for the nice report, that mystery fish you had on the line was maybe a shark of some sort. diving around this area i have seen smoothhound sharks there uite a bit. sometimes they are in groups. and ive seen em around 4-5ft long.

that water looked great that day you were there. when the fish arent biting, pack some snorkeling gear in the car and a speargun as a second alternative: )

how far out and to the left did you go from the south of monastery?

sometimes i take my boogie board out there and go left quite a ways before lobos and there are nice coves with big lings around there.

john

I try to stay away from Lobos as much as possible. Don't want to deal with the potential of getting busted/hassled for fishing inside the Reserve. Etienne and I got hassled by rangers last summer because some divers apparently claimed "somebody in a yellow kayak" was fishing inside the Reserve...which was totally false.
I know exactly where the boundary is. Here is a very helpful map: http://www.divesitevideos.com/Lobos/index2.htm

I have the west and north boundaries porgrammed into my GPS so I KNOW that I am legal. But the rangers told us to "try to stay away from the boundary." To which I believe Etienne replied, "Then why is there a line at all?" Which is a totally valid point. The line is there for a reason and we can fish right up until that line.

I think most people assume that whole area is off limits to fishing. And I definitely do not have a problem with people attempting to report "poachers" however, they should know the rules before trying to bust someone for breaking the rules.

Visibility on Saturday was AMAZING down there!
And I made sure to talk to some of the diving groups to find out if they saw any lings or halibut...no dice.

And I have seen pics / heard of the sharks in there. Moreso to the north towards Ocean Ave though. The only reason I think it was something other than a shark is because of the headshakes I felt. Sharks usually feelt like steady pressure...like reeling in a driftsock.
Can't wait to get back out there! Might have to take a day off work this week!
PK

Nice report and pics. I don't get the "slow" title. MBK on Friday, now that was slow.

Scott

PK,
I once hooked, what I THOUGHT was a WSB off the Pt.  Unfortunately, my dreams were shattered when a seal surfaced.

Bummed that your mystery fish got away.  There's always next time.

Stuart