Shelter Cove 7/30 and 7/31/21

Early this year Ryan booked me up for a two day trip, and we managed to hit a hot bite.  Late July has been pretty amazing over the years.  With a focus on salmon, we got off to a great start Friday morning with a 17 pounder soon after launching - Ryan's first from his kayak!  A few coho, a short flatty and a rockfish filled the next few hours, and then my guy got into "hog status" with a really stout 26 pounder that we thought was going to tip the scales closer to 30.  Day one ended with cold beers and big smiles at the tailgate, and I jammed home to prep for day 2 and get to bed early.  My wife had fresh salmon ready for dinner, and I took the leftovers in a ziploc the next day - so good out of the cooler!  The fresh garlic seemed to have permeated the meat, and it was nice and moist right out of the bag.

Saw tons of NCKA friends both at the ramp and on the water.  There were some nice fish caught, but plenty of people didn't get them as well - that's fishing, even in a hot bite.

Day 2 we added a guest.  Dr. Dave had called me the week before, asking about availability.  He has a new Outback after having been knocked in the water and his boat trashed by a Great White at the Cove last summer.  I was super stoked to get his call.  I told him that unfortunately I'm booked up, but I may be able to add him into a two day trip.  Ryan was great about allowing Dave to add in, so the three of us teamed up.  When I arrived at the ramp at 520AM on Saturday, there were no parking spaces left!  It was a zoo due to the forecast finally getting good, and word of the salmon bite had gotten out too.  I was able to pull in behind Dr. Dave, and Ryan soon showed up having wheeled down from the campground.  We got all set up and got on the water shortly after the first kayaks and powerboaters, and a pretty big fleet soon assembled - ended up with I'd say at least 50 boats and probably 40 or more kayaks!

Right away on our way across the harbor the thick schools of anchovies were apparent, so we had our gear out immediately.  We're going through the bait - fishfinders all reading like 2 and 3 feet because it's so thick - and BOOM!  I'm on!  The bait scatters under me as a nice king comes up to the surface in 15 feet of water - it has nowhere to go but apeshit!  Then to my left 25 feet, Dr. Dave is on a hot one too!  I immediately started thinking I should try to horse mine in so I could go assist, but his came unbuttoned, so I played it out and got it in the net in a few minutes.  We were on the board, and it was time to get more bait down quick!  About 15 minutes later we were trolling through lighter bait balls a few hundred feet away when Dave got hammered, but he pulled up his gear and the leader was cut pretty far from the hooks.  Shark?  It seemed more likely that I may have set my guy up with a compromised leader.  I'm careful about stuff like that, or I wouldn't be guiding!  I felt bad, and I got him on a double-checked new leader to continue on.

The bite tapered off for the entire fleet, with a few who got early limits, and a random fish still showing up here and there for the next few hours.  We'd joked the day before while filleting the fish that Ryan had so much salmon from day one that he may not be able to accommodate more on day 2, and now fate was playing that out as he caught a nice keeper hali and a coho or two, but no kings hooked for the session.  Dr. Dave went on to go biteless for the rest of the day too.  I caught a 25 pounder around 11AM, and we wrapped the trip at the six hour mark on the water.  We'd photo and fillet and enjoy a cold beer, but clearly we didn't achieve an ideal of getting everybody on salmon.  I give these details to show how this game really works.  There were a pile of NCKA guys there now, and I know of a bunch of them who didn't get a salmon for the day.  I didn't get one on Friday, and I got two on Saturday.  Dr. Dave came for a reintroduction to the offshore kayak fishing experience after a harrowing and life changing encounter last year, and he got what he came for in that regard.

The salmon game works like this:  do the right things with the right tackle/bait/weight/line/drag/net, and wait your turn!  Even on a "hot bite", no one has any guarantees.  And watch out if you came and spanked 'em!  You will very likely have a wake up call coming if you start thinking you've got the game figured out.  I love everything about catching salmon - except how much of a mind-f*** it can be!  I call it Lotto - he or she who adjusts the dials more to their advantage than others and who ALSO gets very fortunate to get the bite, may win the jackpot.

I thought this was a great introduction to ocean kayak salmon fishing for Ryan.  Awesome limit on day 1 - did everything right in fighting and landing the fish.  And a halibut on day 2 even though we were targeting salmon, and I caught one right next to him as the three of us ran the same gear with the same bait at the same depth and speed.  That's why I often refer to what "we" caught - it's real, but there's no substitute for the tug on YOUR line.

In the end, I had a great time doing two days with Ryan, and I think he had a lot of fun and also learned a bunch.  Dr. Dave was a pleasure to include on the trip, and I think that the way it went down was just fine - keeps it all in perspective and drives home the point about not having any guarantees out there.  You've got to really want it, and I look forward to following his continued return to the ocean on his Outback.

Thanks for doing the trip, guys.  Great seeing so much of the brotherhood, NCKA.  A few people now have mentioned how it was like Gimme Shelter to have so many old friends down there hitting the bite. 

Keep it in mind.   

Thanks again for all the great reports and pictures Eric.

Thanks, Sonny.   

...

Great write up Eric! It was a great day at the Cove for sure! I know I won the Lotto Saturday, getting on the water late (9am) and hooking up to a 35" salmon within 10 minutes of launching. Been doing this for over ten years now and will cherish the moment, but realize I was in the right place at the right time for that fish and it might not happen again for awhile! My first one in all that time! Photo by David Bradfield.

Your reports have been phenomenal lately, as well as the fishing, in this one tho I had to focus on that croaker, best pic of one I have ever seen.

Your reports have been phenomenal lately, as well as the fishing, in this one tho I had to focus on that croaker, best pic of one I have ever seen.

Thank you!   

Great write up Eric! It was a great day at the Cove for sure! I know I won the Lotto Saturday, getting on the water late (9am) and hooking up to a 35" salmon within 10 minutes of launching. Been doing this for over ten years now and will cherish the moment, but realize I was in the right place at the right time for that fish and it might not happen again for awhile! My first one in all that time! Photo by David Bradfield.

Congrats, Scott - great fish to break in on!   

Eric great report! I’m really happy you were able to get DrDave back out there and onto a fish and super nice of Ryan to share his booking of you.

“It seemed more likely that I may have set my guy up with a compromised leader.”

Not a chance of that. You check leaders obsessively when you are guiding. Also the fastest I have ever seen re-rigging, or re-baiting.

Thanks for the write ups, I enjoy them all.

Great report...it was good seeing you again Eric.  Thanks again for helping me release that coho safely!

Here's a few pics I snapped of you and your clients.   

The smiles say it all    Congrats to all of ya guys, sure wish I could have made it up there.

Having fun revisiting old posts - just searching entire forum for "Gimme Shelter".