Monastery Beach 6/30

I showed up just before 6 and expected to be the first one there but Ark, Doug (Marmot), Scott (GreatBass2), James and Eugene (E2G) where all but ready to go and Angel and his girlfriend (I forgot her name showed) up just after me.  After my speed rig I was on the water right behind Doug with Eugene right behind.  The day was clear with a light offshore wind and small swell (easy launch).

We hit the main spots and the pickings were generally slower than usual but good for most areas.  Everyone picked up a nice variety of rockfish.  I will let them give you their totals as I left first.  I got a nice fat 25 inch ling that has the tail of a canary rockfish stuck in its gullet.  Mr. ling does not know that canaries are no take  .  I will take some photos when I clean him up.  Besides the ling I took four RF three brown (all on a tailess swimbait in shallow kelp) and one copper (north side 100 ft+).  I did not catch any blues but I did see a few chase but not hit my iron.  I also has a couple of underlings one 22 or so and the other only about 12.  I wanted to get a photo of the little guy but he bounced right off the hook deck leg and back home.  I also had a few kelp and gopher RF that I released.

The wind switched up early and picked up all morning until it was too much trouble to fish the bottom.  We all headed in about 11, but I left the beach before Angel and his GF.  A glorious clear day with deep blue water and great company along the way plus fish dinner tonight.  Life is food.  I mean good but that works too.  Maybe a subliminal typo.

It was fun fishing with you guys.  Lets do it again soon.  Photos to come after fish cleaning and downloading etc.

Was on the water by 6:15 as Sackyak mentioned.  We fished near the Pt. Lobos boundary, which was much easier to do since I had programed all the coordinates into the GPS as Waypoints so it was very easy to see our position relative to the boundary lines.  The rockfish bite was not as active as it was during my first outing to this area two trips back but it was still enough to keep it interesting.  Initially, all I was getting was small gophers but eventually I got a rather skinny, 25 inch ling.  I later got a few vermillion and a copper.  Ark got a 23 inch Bocaccio and didn't want to keep it so gave it to me.  There were two other small Bacaccio caught.  When the bite slowed down, we paddled over toward the river mouth to try for butts, but no one was really rigged for it properly and as the wind had picked up, it took some effort to not drift into the surf zone.  So we all pretty much called it quits by around 11.  You can see that the water was still really quite calm as we were leaving.

Very nice!!

Thanks for sharing the lovely outing with those of us remodeling the kitchen..........   Nice fishies all.

Good times everyone.  Liz and I had a great time.  Easy launch and beautiful scenery.

Like everyone,  it was slim pickings but you couldn't beat the launch and landing...almost as easy as HMB harbor.

Great meeting and re-meeting everyone. Lets do it again soon.

Here are a couple of pics:

Suavecito:


Liz showing off that she outfished me again (if that keeps happening you're gonna have to find a new fishing partner!):


My catch:


Beautiful Scenery:

my first time there, perfect launch, weather, scene, good fishing and a lot of chumming haha  I was using 6" white scampi and 6" white swim bait on a 1.5 oz jig head, rigged with a 3/4 oz sliding sinker. on my 30lb spectre, it was a good enough setup to let it sink to the bottom and feel every bounce and hit and miss. there were indeed a lot of misses but still managed to pull good sizes of 3 starry, 2 copper, 1 bocaccio and released 4 under (probably barely legal but didn't want to keep) lings and 3 canary (unfortunate). and you guys are saying this is slower than usual  , man i can't wait to go back during the 'usual' time.

ark, thanks for taking me there.

it was nice meeting you all and great fishing with you. see you all next time.

james

Here are my photos.  Taken with Optio 30.  Converted with Photoshop Elements.

I did not take the Canary........Said Silvester.   

Nice pics guys. I don't have a digital camera right now so no snapshots from me.
Like the guys said, the launch was easy peasy and so was the landing. The water was flat near the shore but got lumpier as we paddled out. The fishing could have been slightly better though I shouldn't complain as I got 5 fish. The bocaccio was caught at mid depth when I had stuck my rod in the holder and was paddling further out. I guess this type of rockfish can be found on the bottom as well as in the middle. All quality fish came on a white Gary Yamamoto swimbait. I kept 2 coppers and released the rest of the fish with the exception of the bocaccio.
It was great hooking up with all you guys and it was very nice meeting you Eugene and Scott. We've got to do this again.

Nice pot belly on that ling there Etienne.

That ling is now making me have a pot belly.  MMMMMMMM.

great pics! I hope we get some good fishing in san mateo county or north
santa cruz county soon or I might have to relax my driving rules and
come down to monterey!

nice weather, great company, decent fishing...life is good!  I ended up with 5 assorted rockfish one just legal ling.  turns out my golden eyed, smooth jaw fish were coppers.  I always thought they only came in the brownish tones.

as a warning to all wilderness kayak owners, be sure your hatches are pushed all the way down before transport.  I got home and found my 8 inch hatch behind the seat gone.  just the string and the tab attached.

Sackyak, I think the partially digested canary is going to be a new sushi hit, partially digested fish, yumm

great pics! I hope we get some good fishing in san mateo county or north
santa cruz county soon or I might have to relax my driving rules and
come down to monterey!

Thanks.  My driving rules are that I must spend more time performing the subject activity then driving round trip.  Anywhere farther than 2+/- hours away becomes a camping trip.  I am heading to Coral St in the AM.  I love my wife!

Hey sackyak, Thanks for report. You are probably the most active fisherman these days. I am jealous. you can drive to launch places in 10-5 minutes. For us, 1 or 2hours of driving.  jealous again. Seriously, let us hit Andrew Molera or such a place in the summer.

Nice pot belly on that ling there Etienne

Sackyak,

I realized, looking at your "fat" ling, that my "skinny" one would look just about the same if he had gorged on a canary too.  When I cleaned him I noticed how vacuous his abdominal cavity seemed to be.  Now I know why it needs all the extra room.

be sure your hatches are pushed all the way down

E2G,

Bummer about your Hatch.  I lost my small 5" hatch cover during transport early on and it cost me about $25 to replace it from Kayak Connection.  Too bad the tab broke off, it was probably fluttering in the wind for a bit before it tore off.

Hey sackyak, Thanks for report. You are probably the most active fisherman these days. I am jealous. you can drive to launch places in 10-5 minutes. For us, 1 or 2hours of driving.  jealous again. Seriously, let us hit Andrew Molera or such a place in the summer.

Can you say addiction.  A D D I C T I O N !  At least I am getting a good fix...Ahhhhhhhhhh....    Andrew Molera sounds great.  Maybe in two weeks after I get back from Sand Diego.

That ling also had most of another more decomposed but smaller fish in there and was still going for my sardine.  I wonder how long it takes for a ling to digest a rockfish that big?  Probably a question for Brian S.