Bean Hollow 7/14/07

Woke up at 4AM, strapped up the yak and headed headed out for my first attempt at the bean.

On my way up 280 I decided to take 84 because it was "closer".. I don't know how many times I've used that foolish reasoning.  Unless it's during normal hours (when everyone and their momma's are on their way out to enjoy a  day at the beach) you're better off going over 92.

After what seemed to be an eternity of winding hill driving I finally begin to smell the salt in the air and see the fog in the sky and eventually big blue. I guess all the thoughts floating around in my head about how brutal the bean can be didn't make the drive any easier.

Finally at hwy 1 I make a left to go south and after a few minutes of driving I'm approaching Bean Hollow where Mooch is already parked and prepping his gear so I park in front of him and start to prep my own.  Others begin to arrive shortly and haul their boat/gear down the hill.



Luckily the launch looked to be pretty easy, looks like my pride will be spared today



It was a bit windy and there was a bit of a swell but overall the conditions weren't bad. 




Some of us paddled out to about 35 FOW and found some structure to fish, others headed out to deeper waters. I think it was Mooch that got the first hook up on a really nice sized black.  Soon after I caught my first fish of the day, a typical sized black on a teaser.

I was fishing a jig, not sure of the brand, that has a fish pattern on one side and a squid pattern on the other but it didn't seem to produce (I was impatient) so I switched over to the Big Hammer that I used at Monastery the last time I went out.  The switch seemed to help, or I just got lucky, because I caught one of the larger blacks and then as I was setting myself up for a drift I largish vermilion.

A bit later I drifted away from the pack and ended up hooking into a 24" Cab, which I luckily gaffed after the third attempt. Those big cabs put up a descent fight.

After the cab I decided that I was going to drift some whole mackerel I had bought at the Asian market for lings.  The macks were rigged up on a trap rig.  Not more than about 30 seconds after I dropped the first one it got hit pretty hard but whatever it was was gone just as quickly.  Brought it up to check the bait and the mack was gone and so was the treble hook.  Rig up a new setup and drop it back down with another mack and soon got another big hit.  This one ended up being another big black. The next mack got hit but no hookup and the bait was lost.  Finally down to my last mack I drop it down and a few minutes later get a huge hit on the trevala.  The rod bends, I'm yanking up and he's yanking down. The tip of the rod is in the water and I'm trying to make sure the fish doesn't get into the rocks.  A minute later I see a ling coming up to the surface.  Not wanting to take a chance with the gaff I ask Mooch to come around and help me net it.  Finally it's in the net after about the third try. We could see that the hook was just barely stuck in him and as soon as Mooch gets the fish in his boat the hook comes out.  Mooch gently persuades the fish to come home with me and I put him in the center hatch of the marauder.



By this time it's about 9AM and I'm done fishing. So I float around for a bit but then decide I should probably just head on in since it didn't look like anyone else would be ready to go in anytime soon.  I stowed my gear thinking I might end up eating some sand during the landing.  Fortunately, the landing was just as easy as the launch.

It was a good day of fishing.  Probably not typical conditions for the bean as far as the launch and landing but I look forward to my next trip there.



As I strapped the yak up to the truck I counted ~14 boats out in the water.  Nice sized gathering.  Good seeing everyone again.

Nice work! I'm going again tomorrow...Where did you park? The other day i had to park at the smaller parking lot and launch on the rocks because BH was closed until 8 AM...Please let me know ASAP as I want to leave early.
Thanks and I hope to see someone else out there tomorrow.
Andrew

Park on the side of the road, hand carry your yak/gear down a trail to the beach.

I think Bill and Mooch will be out there in the morning...check the hookups.

And you can't get a ticket for that, huh?
Thanks for the info!

Wow!!!  That is an amazing place, Congrats on the action, cait wait to see the next reports........Danglin

Good day at the Bean for everybody.  We launched and landed in basically a pond as opposed to the crusher waves we went through last year.  Angel's pics showed the quality fish that were being caught.  I saw Ben's (Guitarzan), Mooch's, Bill's (Rockaway) and Eric's stringers and these fish were a lot larger than the ones we caught last year.  I managed to bag a ling, cabbie and a black using swim baits tipped with squid.  I've attached a pic of my friend Steve who wiped the skunk off of his new yak with this fish.

Angel, most of us only use 84 as a last resort.  During Oct HMB has a pumpkin festival and it turns 92 into a parking lot.  Not good for the drive home when we're tired.

Andrew we all park on the right side of the road approaching from the north.  There's no signs that say that you can't park there and no one has ever received a parking ticket.  Look for help to carry your yak down the trail to the beach.

Good luck to the folks that are fishing BH on Sunday,

Gary

I just love the Bean. It was a bit windy, but we werent drifting as fast as I thought we would.
I started off with 2 gophers then nada for a while, meanwhile Mooch is loading his stringer up with huge blacks he decides to give me two of them then my bite turns on. I landed a black that went over 20", never seen one that big. Then some smaller but still big blacks and a nice red.
Was going to go again today, but was wiped out from lack of sleep and I think when I take two dramomine tabs, it saps my energy for a day. Next Sat its on!
Ive got more pics of the crew, I just have to get them out of video, give me an hour, great shots of big lings on the water.
Oh and theres a 17" cab in the mix too.

Mmmmmm...

Ok, did anyone mention the launch??
It was a lake.

Im not that great at names, so Ill start with Freddie the Savage (Note tropical clothing on frigid ocean)

Always fun to fish with JD.

More fish-on!

More...

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Fun and rewarding day at Bean.  Great to see the armada (7 or more yaks?).

Mooch barely able to lift his stringer -- you better get in training for Elk, Mooch!!



-- Dave