Bean Hollow Sat 7/7 - 9am start?

My sister here from Ohio wants me to take her to a beach tomorrow - she said any beach is fine.   Well I can't think of a better one   

She's not a morning person, though (and I don't want her to freeze sitting on the beach from 7-9am), so I would like to fish from around 9 'til noon-1-ish.

Swells are moderate and seem to be spaced pretty wide, and last I checked, wunderground wind forecast has light SW winds.

If anyone wants to start earlier, that's cool, I can just paddle out to meet (I have no VHF).  I think it will be kinda foggy til around 11 or so anyway, but who knows.

I would be fishing the normal RF spots NW, and then scattered flats W of launch for 'buts.

Would be cool to get lots of neat RF to show my sister!  Let me know if anyone's interested.  Thanks!

Craig,

The NOAA forecast for coastal waters south to Pigeon Pt. isn't looking all that moderate:

SAT
NW WINDS 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 7 FT.
NW SWELL 6 TO 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS AND SW 2 TO 3 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
PATCHY FOG.

Granted, those are out at the buoys, but the wave forecast for the day of the HMB tourney was reasonably close to what we saw out past Pillar Pt. at least until it laid down a bit before starting to blow again.

I'm thinking Santa Cruz, or making the hike down to MBK or Carmel

Scott

So.... How cute is your sister?  .

taking her to bean hollow doesn't seem too nice tho. unless
she's some kind of burly outdoorswoman.

you should take her to seabright beach and launch from the
santa cruz harbour. if it's too windy, take the water taxi across
the harbour and go to the beach on the east of the harbour mouth:
less windy.

at around noon, it will be low tide, so another option is to sit on the
flat comfy rocks in the lee of the point @ 4-mile. I've been there
with my wife and kids while it's blowing and it's sunny and there's
no wind right there where you are sitting
and there's crabs in the tide pools, etc, etc.

if you have the nice rolleez wheels you can launch from there and fish
the reefs off the kelp beds.

plus, she can talk to the surfers while you fish.

go to bean hollow when she goes home to Ohio...

J

So.... How cute is your sister?  .

I'm sure a bunch of guys, especially the Mooch, were wondering the same thing but were too shy to ask. 

So.... How cute is your sister?  .

I'm sure a bunch of guys, especially the Mooch, were wondering the same thing but were too shy to ask. 

....still waiting for Craig to respond to the question 

Oh sheesh, you guys are shameless...  When I posted the hookup, I was asking for one, not volunteering to get you one!   

She's very nice... but she leaves Saturday eve out of SFO.  But thanks for potentially offering to be gracious hosts...

Sunday weather does look more palatable, plus 5 degrees warmer.  Maybe we will get brunch, hit the beach for awhile, then chill out somewhere, even downtown SC, and I will save fishing for Sunday.  Those sound like good suggestions John - might do some googling and look into it, so I don't get lost.  I have never been to SC harbor before.  But that could be a plan.  I think I'd probably skip the fishing, tho (surfers notwithstanding).

Are you still going sunday to BH? wonder how the condition will be tomorrow.

Eric, we just went Saturday after all, coz the swell forecast was bumped up for Sunday. 

There wasn't any wind to speak of (maybe to 5 kts) from 10.30a-1p - just big swells - lazy 1 mph drift.  But the breakers over our normal 40' structure kinda reminded me of Mt Hood.  Mountainous whitecapping swells, even at 80 FOW at times.  Had to fish 50-70 for comfort's sake, just fished casually for a couple hours while my sis enjoyed the misty foggy sea air.  Caught a gopher that was good for dinner, but that's it.  There were a couple skiffs out riding the swell, and they said they had a hard time too.  I think the fish are probably still holed up today also.  I am thinking it might just need to stew and settle for a couple more weeks.

This was just before I launched at low tide.



I got hit 3 times going out - you can see the foam from the breakers well outside the cove (one of which got me paddling in as the tide was coming up)

Umm dude learn to call it, no need to go out in conditions like that.

Yeah, I didn't need to... just wanted to, that's all.

For sure, if it was windy, I certainly wouldn't have gone out - too much of a pain. 
But with just swell and no wind, I didn't feel uncomfortable at all going out.  plus I woulda gone nuts sitting there on the beach while my sister read, with my whole yakfishing setup 50 yards away.

Honestly if I lived closer to the beach and could just toss the yak on the roof and be there in 15 or 20 minutes, I am sure I'd be more picky.  But with all the planning, prep, 4 hours fetching yak from storage and getting to/from beach, I'm less inclined to let only a big swell keep me from making an effort.  I'd also like to keep developing my skills, and FAC seems to be less challenging that way.  And I drive a scupper pro which (I have heard) is a boat that helps mitigate the effects of rough water, as opposed to a lot of other yaks which are not designed and used - like the Pro is (I have heard) - predominately for ocean swell/chop conditions.

I am sure it'll be quite some time before i post a photo of me yaksurfing a 15-foot wave at BH...   Can't remember who that was...

But yeah, I am totally looking forward to a good stretch of calm weather!

Craig - tough dude! Looking at the swells, they are big. The condition gives me a chilly feeling of launch. You managed it w/o swimming - impressive. My boat would be like a tree leaf on water, tossing up and down. With this experience, you probably have a better sense of going or not for the future outings.

Thanks for the pictures and the report.

Yeah, going out was easier, but once out the mixed swells took over and made it kind of a washing machine.   The SW were bigger than I expected.  It was probably still fishable farther out, but I don't think fish would've cooperated given the swell, and I only had a limited amount of time due to sister on beach, so I couldn't do much before I headed back in.  I just wanted her to see what it was like.

Anyway, I have done enough kayaking for awhile and want to fish more... Eric, hope to see you out there soon, in calmer conditions!

Bean hollow, always entertaining!

Glad you made it out and in safe, Craig.  We have nice beaches in Sant Cruz and Capitola too....  Swell was not so bad in town yesterday, but it was windy at 10am, like 15-20 kts.

funny how the conditions can vary in 30 miles of coast, isn't it?

Allen

Allen,

Yeah, that's pretty amazing - I wonder if the point had anything to do with the difference.  My sis did say the wind direction changed, but never blew hard in the cove.  I noticed the wind started to pick up around noon, but (or should I say and) that's when I decided to start heading in.

Gilda's sounds exactly like what I'd be looking for down there.  I am sure we would've ended up there...  Thanks a brunch, er bunch, for the tip!  I have to check out SC and Capitola.  Haven't been there in 6 or 7 years.  Will change that this summer, for sure!

Yo Craig, did you get yourselfe a submersible vhf yet? I dont think you had one last year and thats the thing thats going to save you out there when its looking grim. That and a rod leash (!) Ben