Shelter Cove report July 12-15

Late report but better than never I guess.  Our group of five had 4 great days on the water, battled fog on Friday, big swell on Saturday and Sunday, and had perfect conditions on Monday.  The weather all days was fantastic with light winds, but the offshore winds were kicking up fresh swell with very short period on Saturday and sunday.  I chummed a bit on Saturday, but lasted all day Sunday. As a group, we got 5 kings total (4 wild) and about as many silvers and black rockfish as a bonus catch.  Size of the kings ranged from 24" to large.  We didn't measure the big ones, but I would guess 15-20 lbs.  Eric saw them so he may have a better idea.
Besides the fishing, a few cool things happened.  First, an unhooked 5-6 ft shark (sand shark maybe?) tail-slapped Greg going after his squid he just took out of the water.  Greg then later hooked up with prob the same shark and fought it for a while.  It was pretty funny seeing it pull him around!  We also had a thresher jump right in front of us.  Our shark shields were on so we wondered if it was agitated.  Next, as the fog burned off on Friday, we saw a fog bow on the water.  We never knew these existed, but they do.  Basically, it's a rainbow of fog.  Really badass and kind of magical.  Next, we paddled over a big area of jellies.  I stuck my camera in the water and got video. 
We camped all four nights and on the last night, we had crazy critter drama go down in our site.  Some skunks were pissed fighting over some trash.  They woke us all up, so I had to run them off in sandles and undies with a flash light.  They came back though and the bastards would not leave our site.   . Oh well, we went fishing that morning  and all got kings so who gives af.
Anyway, another badass trip to Shelter Cove in the books.  Hopefully a lot more to come! 
 

That cove is magical!

Here is a video of Greg fighting his king.  Funny story, I had just reeled in fast to film Greg, and my chovie was floating on the surface.  Right at the end of this video, the freak out is me reacting to a big silver taking my chovie on the surface and running with it.  I thought it was a king and fought it, netted him, and released him hopefully unharmed. 

nice job and thanks for the story/report, soon ds like a good time and the hard work paid off!

More videos... I'm done now.   

Wow!!  this photo is perfect to me:

Greg took that one.  I'm paddling on the right with our good buddy Matt on the left.  Such a badass photo of a crazy moment where the fog was lifting seemingly right on top of us. 

Great summary of the trip NolanDuke! I got lucky with that picture as Nolan is usually the one capturing all the action on film.

This is our 3rd year in a row doing a trip to the Cove and it never disappoints!  My highlights were getting our friend to land his 1st ever King (>30”) after 4 days/almost 40 miles OTW, getting a limit in some of the craziest swell ever, and almost getting dragged into the surf after hooking a 4-5’ shark that had just soaked me with a tail slap minutes earlier!

Nice job fellas, I wish I could have join you, but after getting hurt from the surf. I had to take a break.

Awesome report and pictures! Sounds like a great time, the cove is so awesome!

“Life is good in The Cove” - E.K.

Report of the Month!! Thank you!

Wow!!  this photo is perfect to me:

I like it too!

I Zod Out

Way to get some salmon, but none those fish in the pics are 15lbs or bigger

  Funny story, I had just reeled in fast to film Greg, and my chovie was floating on the surface.  Right at the end of this video, the freak out is me reacting to a big silver taking my chovie on the surface and running with it.  I thought it was a king and fought it, netted him, and released him hopefully unharmed. 

Dont net it if it's a silver

The shark was either a thresher or soupfin.

As a group, we got 5 kings total (4 wild) ...

It is not possible to tell if the fish are wild or not.  California only clips 17% or so of chinook salmon.  They really ought to mark 100% of hatchery fish, but they do not.

Congrats on the fish and the fun times in the cove!