Shelter Cove - 7/2

Today's forecast was so good that albacore fishermen went out of most if not all ports from Shelter Cove north through somewhere in Oregon.  By the time I got to the Cove around 3PM there was a stiff west breeze, but word of nice salmon being caught near the Whistle buoy, and still a dozen or more boats visible on the water from south of the Whistle to southwest of the Bell.  The weather was beautiful and the swell was light.  I headed out into the west-northwest breeze toward the Whistle buoy.  Trolling a "double DeepSix" at 24 pulls with a Dodger then a chovie on a slip rig, I was presenting a nice looking and proven bait for kings in this area.  I hooked up several rockfish, as is usually the case, and I saw a 6-pack boat hookup and land a 32# near me, but that was all of the action while I was out there.  I was fortunate to be there near the charter and get to talk to their skipper on the VHF, Sam, and get a report on how deep he was fishing - 40', Crocodile for 3 fish in a row.  I persisted and trolled 2.5 hours, but it was not to be today.  Caught 4 decent blacks, released 1; a yellow tail rockfish, kept it; a canary, released; and a short ling, released - all on the chovie trolling rig.  The wind came up and made it kind of nasty near the end, but it was nice, as always, to be out there on the water.  

The VHF provided the usual entertainment and more as the albacore fleet headed back in - I got to hear everyone's reports.  Check out the cleaning table pic:  Big Hali (someone got a 73#er today), Big Ling (the one in this pic is 23-25), Big Salmon (in this pic - 20-25, caught today - many over 30), Tuna heads...  The Cove is a treasure trove for powerboaters on a day like this... 

Meant to post this one:

Great report.
How deep was the water you were fishing in? Amazing how the groundfish come from the depths to nail your salmon rig.

Hi Eric,

   I wish I was out there with you, and great report. I took my power boat out friday at bodega , trolled all day to scrap out 4 salmon to 22 lbs.,for three of us. On Monday went to salt Point with the wind blowing at 15 knots it was barely fishable even with my drift sock. I still hooked two lings 25" and a 29".Wind has been blowing most of the time, so it has been hard to get out.

Howard

Nice work as usual Abking. Man you get out there a lot!

Oh man! Those PB'rs threw away the tuna heads and collars??? The meat in their cheeks and behind their gills sooooooooo goood! oooh man... I'd be hovering around there like a seagull picking up them parts!

Z

Abking, how many of those fish popped the DDS and did you loosen the release or grease it or anything?

J

Tote:  I was mostly fishing in 60-80' (I don't use a FF) and was at 40 to 50 pulls once I was out there past the whistle, but I think that only puts my line under around 25-30'...  It always does amaze me the amount of rockfish I catch while trolling a chovie not that far under the surface.

Way to get 'em, Howard - glad you're enjoying the vacation!

Z - I do get out alot lately - gotta get it while the gettin's good!  I'm lucky to have flexibility at work and home, but I'm depleting WAF lately!     Regarding the cleaning table, there was a local there scavenging cheeks and such!

John - only about half the rockfish popped the DeepSix, and the swell and resistance popped it once early, so I'd tightened it just a bit.  It does make it kind of a pain in the butt to "fight" a little rockfish when the thing doesn't pop, but I had to have it that tight to stay working as I trolled.  A salmon would've popped it for sure. 

If I wasn't married/no kids and was independently wealthy I'd probably live at Shelter Cove...  but maybe I wouldn't need ocean therapy in that case!