Petrolia - 6/15

With 15-20 knot winds forecast for north of Cape Mendocino today Brian and I decided to head south to Fish Bay, even though the forecast south of the Cape was for even higher wind.  Turned out Trinidad ended up having light winds for most of the day, but we had a great time in the Lost Coast wind.

Met just after 5AM at Fernbridge and headed out toward Cape Mendocino with the tandem, the Roleez, diving gear, fishing gear, and an eager desire to tap into the mystique of a -2' tide along a nearshore reef a couple miles north of the Mattole.  The area we hit is a mile or more of sand hiking from the truck with the nearshore reef highly exposed and uniquely laid out, as all of it rose up 3' all at once in the big quakes of 1992.  It was said that at the time the locals from Petrolia came out and moved some abalone farther out where many large, very shallow-dwelling specimens were left high and dry from the uplift.  Of course, I'm sure plenty of them got picked and eaten at the time too!  I'd discovered the area for myself later that year when my wife and I (fiance' at the time) rockpicked around and found a couple of those large specimens.  I returned over the next few years for the abalone hunting, and then around 1994 as I got more and more interested in rockfishing I tried my luck in some great inlets along the reef with sheltered channels and some acreage of protected and fishy water.  The day I actually found "Fish Bay", as I later came to learn it was called by some, I had finished a nice dive, having grabbed an ab and speared a grassy, and decided to explore the rockfishing.  I saw two older gentlemen fishing from the north side of this great sheltered inlet - they had wetsuits and had waded to the nice rocky perch they were fishing from.  I had my wetsuit too, so I waded and swam out with my gear and fished across from them on a rock island of around 1000 square feet and surrounded by 4-6' holes and channels and ready access to deeper water.  I was only about 50' away from them and they didn't look thrilled that I was fishing in what seemed to be "their spot."  Using ab guts and squid I caught 2 kelp greenling and a decent cabezon pretty quickly, and they also caught a couple of smallish fish.  Then one of them thought he was snagged.  He bent his rod over in an attempt to pull his hook out of the rocks or kelp that he figured it was lodged in when he exclaimed that it was no snag but a fish.  His buddy got excited and after a pretty brief fight he brought a monster cab up from what turned out to be about 6' of water right at his feet.  His partner gaffed it and they were stoked.  I couldn't believe my eyes - that cab had to go 20# or more!  We all caught a few more fish over the next 45 minutes or so before the tide was marching in and they made a move to bail from the rock and back to shore.  I made the same move and made sure I veered toward them in the rocks just short of the beach.  At one point as I was about 25-30' from the one who caught the big cab and I said, "that was about the biggest cab I've ever seen!"  He didn't do anything but give me a sour look.  I moved over to another rock ledge near the beach and continued fishing the incoming tide for another hour and they left.  I went on to catch 4 or 5 more cabs including two in the 10# class, a couple more greenling, and had something on that spooled off some line then broke off - all this in about 4' of water.  I caught a dozen or more fish that day and will never forget how big that cab was, or how sour those guys were that I'd found what has proven to me to be the best rockfishing spot I've ever found. 

Brian and I had paused along the area south of the Cape and considered going offshore to jig rockfish and lings, but the wind was already starting to howl and shake the truck, so it was definitely not to be today!  We headed down and parked at McNutt Gulch, loaded the tandem with way too much shit for the Roleez, and started the trudge down the beach.  Both of us were hurting - sweating, panting, wondering what we were thinking to haul all of our crap that far on the sand wheels!  The pure rockpickers were wrapping up their minus tide routine as we passed a few groups on the beach - one guy showed us a 9.5" he had found, and he only had street clothes on.  He had his limit before 6:30.  Another group of 3 who we encounterd about half way down the beach said all they found was 1 shell.  Yet another group of 3 that had gone all the way down to just past the beached buoy and Fish Bay reported getting some nice ones, but "no 10's today."  Everyone seemed pleased to be out - it was a great morning.  We finished the trudge and rested a bit along the beach at Fish Bay before unloading the Roleezmobile, suiting up, re-loading the now water-bourne yak with all the gear, and heading out to that north ledge where I'd seen that monster cab caught 13 Summers ago.  We setup all of our fishing gear up on the rock and threw a couple of lines in the water while getting things situated for the morning and getting all of our diving gear on.  Got one good strike while we got weightbelts and masks on, but no hookup yet on the rods.  We yakked about 50 yards over to a great little spot where I'd found some oldgrowth 4 or 5 years ago.  The viz was total crap - a few inches on top and totally pitch black on the bottom.  I enjoy the advantage I have from my previous days as an overly-obsessed ab hunter when I'd locate different pockets of abs in a day's diving and "save them" for future dates like now!  I advised Brian of where I knew the abs were, and he proudly moved over to a nearby spot and found his own!  I was diving without flippers today in about 6-7' of water.  With the zero vis/blackness on the bottom it wasn't the funnest abbing ever, but being Humboldt Die-hards we've been in those conditions plenty of times, and, since places like this one are often like that, they often have a higher percentage of nice big abs.  I felt a dozen or so abs and found the one I wanted - popped it, the shell came off the meat, as sometimes happens, and I had to go back down for the meat which was still stuck to the rock.  I ended up slicing it pretty badly and then dropping my iron in the zero-viz - it was gone in only 7' of water...  Oh well, I found it in the ocean anyway, and I have a good chance of finding it there in the future.  Brian in the meantime had found a nice little honeyhole of his own.  He doesn't get out much due to his 3 year old twins and growing optometry practice, so he grabbed his limit.  Mine turned out to be a 9.5" and Brian's were 9, 9 3/8, and 9 5/8.  We were pleased to get some nice abs quickly in such nasty water, so we headed back to fish.  The fishing was actually very slow today.  We only landed 3 grassies, and had several bites that didn't stick.  We also brought in 4 sea-stars and a chiton, and maybe the bad vis and major tide change wasn't fish-friendly today.  I hit a few different spots around the Bay and caught one of the grassies from the yak, but of course I was hoping for grand-daddy cabezon. 

We had an awesome time out there.  The hike back was nowhere near as hard as the early hike, and we agreed it was likely due to the fact that we'd had such a great dive and enjoyed a nice morning on the rock and paddling around Fish Bay.  Headed up to Petrolia for the cold Sierra Nevada that we'd decided probably should've been down there with us in the first place, then headed back over the hill to allow the Fish Bay cabs to grow more for another rendezvouz in the time to come.

Nice ab. 

Fish Bay view from the north at high tide.

The trudge.

A few more pics...

Spirit caught in pixels.

Now THAT was a GREAT report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thouroughly reading it.
That was definitely chocolate milk you were diving in.
I remember being at Russian Gulch ( Sonoma ) 30 years ago and seeing some guys fishing for cabbies. Their technique was pretty cool. Nylon rope with a big beach rock for weight.
A couple of BIG hooks attached to the rope with tuna cord. Ab guts wrapped in cheese cloth.
They would just toss it into the kelp and let it sit there for a while as they sat back and relaxed. About every 1/2 hour they would pull it in and have monster cabbies. I was a just a kid from Sacto at the time so I never even heard of anyone using ab guts. It was something I will never forget.
If the viz wasn't so bad you had an ideal set-up for spearfishing with that ab meat on the rock with no shell. Wait about a minute with that thing exposed. Go back down and more times than not something has discovered it.
I would really like to check things out up there someday soon.

fine adventure abking! and great PICTURES! I have to admit, I love the pictures too.

J

I can't believe you were diving that opaque fluid.......but, then again, you are the Abking.

Thanks for the great story.

 Nice post Eric! I hope to come back up and spend more time. The one day run we did was not enough time to take in the beautiful wildness of the "lost coast".
 There's nothing like diving with your hands and arms stretched out so you don't bonk your head. Is there still a mud line up there when it's not a minus tide?
 When I was paddling out during our "Cape" trip there was some type of hydrocarbon floating on the water. Was that the "oil of Petrolia", it seemed to be a lighter type of oil. It smelled old and stale, not like gas or diesel.

Great report Eric,

Thanks for sharing not only this adventure but your story of discovering the place as well.  Sounds like a magic spot.  Except for the mile long sand slog!


Randy

Thanks for the kindness.  

Tote - funny you should mention that cab-fishing technique.  I've been formulating something like that in my head for a few years now!  A couple circle hooks on steel leaders 6 and 12" from the weight on a buoy and rope...  Is it legal? 

John - it would not be the same w/o the pics...  I really enjoy the inspiration to take the photos while I'm adventuring, and places like this board are a big reason why.  I like the sharing.  (where's the "Corny Freak" emoticon?).

Thanks, Pat, but sometimes I wish I was "abappreciator-storytellerapprentice".  

Mark - Rarely, we do experience some clear water nearshore.  Sometimes it is as unpredictable as just the right south/southwest current pushing the clear on the beach south of the Cape where the land juts northwest.  I've seen 15-20' right on shore a few times in those instances.  Clear water from calm spells is very rare due to the persistent winds.  I'd say it's likely far less than 10% of the year that we would have better than 1-2' of viz near shore.  I don't know what the oil was as I didn't see it, but I heard you mention it that day.  I've not heard of natural seepage, and I think it's mostly natural gas in the hills around Petrolia...

Paul - I'm so curious about what you want with the seal head that I may just act on it...  is that legal?

I look forward to the continuing opportunities to fish and dive with any and all of you - it's just so hard to time the conditions.  I'll try to post a hookup when I see epic conditions on the horizon - probably August/September.

Randy - the sand slog is a key ingredient for sure!  8>}

CA DFG states:

Chapter 1. General Provisions and Definitions
1.05. Angling. To take fish by hook and line with the line held in the hand, or with the line attached to a pole or rod held in the hand or closely attended in such manner that the fish voluntarily takes the bait or lure in its mouth.

I do not think it would be legal if it was attached to a buoy that was just floating unattended, but if it was attached to the kayak I see no reason it would not be legal just as long as you were on the kayak.
That is my interpretation anyway.
I think it would also be legal if you were tossing it from shore as long as your end of it was on shore with you near it.

I've driven through Petrolia once, The coast line there is "Awsome" 

thanks for the report..

Craigh

Thats my old stomping grounds when I was an HSU student- further around the point, south of the fishing spot was an old lighthouse and lighthouse keepers cabin- where I'd hole up with the mice drink wine and study on the weekends.  When I was down there 10 years ago it was gone. 

I've got some nice abs out there from the intertidal- a wonderful treat when you are backpacking the lost coast.

Another memory I have is seeing a guy walk into the Honeydew store with a doobie the size of a cigar puffing away. 

That area was another world and hopefully it still is!!

Absolutely AWESOME report, Abking!

Thank you!
PK

Beautiful coast line