Muir, a little on the Ruff Side

  KayakJack, ChuckE, Martin, Baru and Guitarzan had the pleasure of pedalling and paddling thru some of

the toughest Ocean conditions I've delt with so far, Took about a hour to get somewhere north for as good

drift, and took about 2 minutes to be swept right where I started ...

 Lots of PB's and a couple Party Boats in the area, Guitarzan saw 1 nice Hali taken on a PB,

  Other than that, it was all about survival and getting my Butt Kicked, But equipment worked well

 and as always great time with a great crew.......

  Kool shots of Guitarzan showing how it's done, and newbie Baru landing his Battleship.....

  Good Job Baru ............... Danglin

That was definately some knarley wind. I really wished i had a pedal boat yesterday. that wind kicked my ass. i flipped my tarpon in the surf on the way in. Got skunked and dunked in one fell swoop.

Would have been fun on a hobie-cat, but that was not paddeling weather. One fish landed by Mark, other than that, I got a few small hits, but was a pain to get back to the drift.
Was nice to see a turnout, next time maybe better weather and we can get some trolling done.

You guys are brave.  I was supposed to go on a boat today and fishing buddy cancelled because of the weather.  If you like adventure kayaking then yesterday was the day.  Better to be outdoors than sitting hear on the computer so I envy you guys.


Luis

The wind and the fishing sucked, but riding swells and getting blasted by breaking wind waves is all just part of the fun.  Going out in those conditions is a skill and confidence booster.  It was still an enjoyable day with friends.

I hear ya ChuckE,

My Depth finder was looking like a periscope on a u-boat, worked perfectly, had total stability out there,

 and really was amazed about how comfortable I was under those conditions.

 Looking @ some of the smaller PB's, I thought we had the advantage,

able to get closer to the rocks, and better ride,

 Really Kool what ya can do on these Yaks .......... Danglin

How far uphill did you guys get from Muir?

How far uphill did you guys get from Muir?

Made it up to Slide Ranch.  Damn the wind.  If it wasn't for the wind we might have had a chance to go further offshore where the boaters were.  Over the radio, I heard of a 40+ and couple 30+ pounders caught.  It was slow for boaters too, but the few that scored... scored big fish.

Cool report.  Way to tough it out.  Getting back on shore after adventures in such conditions is a rush!   

kayakjack made it out first.

Apparently the gate opens sometimes before 0800.  If we had known, we wuld have gotten there sooner!  DOH!

The ankleslappers were inviting us out.  But even still, I mistimed one and took a bunch of water in the face.  So did danglin I think.

Danglin showing off his fine paddling form.   .  The best part of the day was chatting the guys up in the morning (and after landing). 

It was some serious slop out there.  I couldn't get that Gnarls Barkley song out of my head.  "Does that make me CRAZY?!!!  Possibly"

I picked up some kind of brown shark about 40" trooching a nose hooked anchovy on a flasher release with 12 oz of lead.  Was bouncing it along at 45 pulls just northwest of the outside rock when it got picked up.  It stripped drag and I was hoping for my first legal hallie this year, but no.  Helluva 10 minute fight though.  Since I couldn't really paddle while fighting the fish, that 10 minute drift put me WAY out of position.

shortly after, I relented and tucked back into the windbreak of the cove.

That cove is a really beautiful place.  The surge would wash through the cracks and seams in the rocks resulting in natural sounds that were both melodic and mysterious.  Guitarzan would venture out again to the washrock, looking for a cab or ling as before.

ChuckE witnessed one of the PB pull a hallie during a drift through the cove so we knew we still had a chance at putting something on the table.  We stuck it out of a few more drift before calling it.

These shots indicate the gnarly swell and wind just outside the calm created on the leeward side of the cove's south facing cliff.

Peekaboo, Chuck!

Nonetheless, it really was a tough fun way to spend a saturday.  Great fun chatting the guys up before and after, and the people at Muir were a cool bunch also.  Launching and landing were fairly a cinch, and I'd love to come back there on a calmer day b/c the place is for sure fishy.

OH!  and unless your into sadism, bring a cart with some tires appropriate for deep sand.

I couldn't wait to tell my puppy what a harrowing day of paddling I had.  As you can tell, he was overjoyed at seeing me come home in one piece.