fishing th' Bean, 8/25

I don't see a post on our trip yet, & I saw Eyeatbay is interested, so here goes...
   The forecast was ok, so I did a drive-by of Davenport on my way up the 1. FAC, swell only about 3-4, sweet! Put that flip flop to the pedal & lets get goin! I met EricB and Sail Fisk at the pullout above Bean. OTW by about 7am I think. I think tide was incoming. Wind was light from the SE, just about perfect for drifting with a 3ounce leadhead. I just drifted between coodinates from the last trip until my GPS went out, then lined up with a certain house on the bluff.
    I tried a megabait early, then switched to a big green scampi. Caught a couple gophers, then got on a nice fish at about 8:30am, a lingcod, taped out to 31". Used my gaff for the very first time, and now I'm sold. One stick, one bonk, and fish is on the clip & in the tankwell, no tangled anything, no fuss . I released a trio of gophers after that, plus a beautiful rockfish that I have yet to identify, maybe a copper but a little different from others I've seen. Near 10:30am, boom, another nice fish on, thought it was a ling at first, but it turned out to be a nice vermilion, 22". That was plenty of fish for me. I would have like to target some halibut, however once out there I found I had NO white lures??? Need to go shopping apparently...
So, overall pretty nice conditions out there. Fishing was just happening enough to keep things interesting. No halibut this trip, but no GWS either, so no complaints here .
One thing about BH, it feels like every strike might be a biiig fish, you just never know.
Eric & Sail Fisk, it was fun fishing with you, lets do it again!

Good conditions and you got fish too dude?  way to make and stick wit the plan of attack. I can't wait to get back to "bean basics"
thanks for the report!

Hey Shawn,

Thank you for the nice report. I don't know why the fish were not biting...  I was fishing in nice pinnacles, holes, you name it. I threw them all DIFFERENT lures, swimbaits, 3 different kinds of frozen baits (squid, mackarel, sardines) and nada.  I lost so many lures and rigged in those holes... and the rocks there were so sharps that it actually rubbed and cut my spectra line several times..  But after contemplating about the fishing trip that night, I think I know what happened...  I was using the clicker in my reel that whole time (I've never done that before); it was just so nicer to hear all that clicking sound in my reels---but I think that spooked the fish allright.   

Anyway, I was using my SharkShield that whole 4 hours we were in the water and it was funny when I hooked up an undersizes ling and was trying to remove the hook in its mouth on the side my kayak; the ling was doing a weird samba from the electric current from the shield.  I'd never seen it happened before; it actually temporarily paralyzed the ling.  Poor thing, but as soon I got the hook, I tossed it back and it merrily revived and swim away.   

I don't mind doing BH again.

-Ron

Hey Shawn,

Thank you for the nice report. I don't know why the fish were not biting...  I was fishing in nice pinnacles, holes, you name it. I threw them all DIFFERENT lures, swimbaits, 3 different kinds of frozen baits (squid, mackarel, sardines) and nada.  I lost so many lures and rigged in those holes... and the rocks there were so sharps that it actually rubbed and cut my spectra line several times..  But after contemplating about the fishing trip that night, I think I know what happened...  I was using the clicker in my reel that whole time (I've never done that before); it was just so nicer to hear all that clicking sound in my reels---but I think that spooked the fish allright.   

Anyway, I was using my SharkShield that whole 4 hours we were in the water and it was funny when I hooked up an undersizes ling and was trying to remove the hook in its mouth on the side my kayak; the ling was doing a weird samba from the electric current from the shield.  I'd never seen it happened before; it actually temporarily paralyzed the ling.  Poor thing, but as soon I got the hook, I tossed it back and it merrily revived and swim away.   

I don't mind doing BH again.

-Ron

Ron, sounds like a pain in the ass more than anything when lures start getting lost and things keep getting snagged.

In this case i always rig with a big weight and when it hits bottom i crank up about 3-4 turns and let it drift off the bottom. alain and i did this off the boat and it worked well. simple shrimp fly jigs are always a good bet. i think those have saved many an anglers day.

i hate losing lures and now only use butterfly jigs when i am stationary.

john

Do you think it was your shark shield keeping the fish away? Funny Piscean, seemed to be nailing them, so fish were there. Did you have the rod in your hand the whole time? If it was a slow drift, seemed like you could've kept your lures verticle enough and yo-yo in and out of holes. Use a heavier lead head next time and as soon as you tick the bottom, reel up and drop.

Thanks for the report. Good to know you have plenty of fish for the day. Any pictures of fish and condition?

Both of my keepers hit right on the edge of a reef, on the drop.
I lost one lure, another scampi, due to so many rocks. I had many minor snags. I started with about a 10ft 25lb mono leader from my 30lb mainline, and trimmed & retied about 10 times over the course of the morning. I was down to only about 20" of mono at the end. The structure out there really does a job on the last few feet of line. I'm not sure that direct spectra would work too well there.

Funny Piscean, seemed to be nailing them, so fish were there.

Hey Elric good to hear from you! I wouldn't say I was nailing fish, but yeah they were there. The bite seemed comparable to the trip in June, not red hot, but there were some fish around. I'm really kicking myself for not having halibut lures, it felt like a good day for that. Plus, Sept is only a few days away, and fishing Bean in the fall, well, I dunno about that...

I wonder if the shield has an effect on the non-shark fish? I wouldn't think so on the bottom in 40+ft, but I don't know. I wonder.
In the end, fishing's really just luck...
I don't think any of us had a camera. I've got a fish pic at home but no internet...

Do you think it was your shark shield keeping the fish away? Funny Piscean, seemed to be nailing them, so fish were there. Did you have the rod in your hand the whole time? If it was a slow drift, seemed like you could've kept your lures verticle enough and yo-yo in and out of holes. Use a heavier lead head next time and as soon as you tick the bottom, reel up and drop.

No, the SharkShield is only effective upto 3m.  I'm already using 8oz but i'm a "newbie" unlike Piscean; so luck has eluded me so far. And I was holding the rod the whole time and I was doing what you are saying here, "yoyo, in & out of holes...reel up & down.."   I think the clicker is too loud... good for my hearing; bad for fish hearing...   I did managed to get 1 fat black, 1 china and one 16" cab---low turnout for me. 

I only ended up with two table-sized fish, (a copper, and a black), so it wasn't the shark shield or clicker keeping fish away.  Just a slow day...  at least we didn't get skunked!

Carrying my gear down after we got the yaks onto the beach, I see Sean stre-e-e-etch... and he's off!!  Plenty of time to chit chat afterwards...  Way to get it done!

IMO a group of three is a good number...  plenty of room to spead out, but nice to know someone's got your back if something goes wrong.

Ron, thanks again for the AAA help...  I owe you one, big time!

Definitely let's do it again.

I see Sean stre-e-e-etch... and he's off!! 

    Yeah, I guess I was kind of on a mission. I was going to hang & launch with you guys, but while I was standing there I saw the wave window & felt like I ought to take it. When the sea gives you some slack best thing to do is accept it gracefully, especially at Bean!
 One thing I did do wrong though is that I forgot my fish cooler & ice. The wet gunnysack worked, but it would have been nice to have my cooler. Oh well, it's always something...
I do like to do some stretching before those "all or nothing" surf launches. It helps me put the most oomph into my launch paddling.
Eric-I'm glad to hear you didn't need to go the "breaking & entering" route. It would have been a shame on that nice truck.
One last thing-Props to Joe who showed me how to get the cheek meat from a good ling at Elk. While the fillets went into the freezer, the lings' cheeks were fried up & went onto some corn tortillas with cabbage, avo, & hot sauce for lunch and made 2 perfect tacos. Yum!

wutzup wit th'bean and keys getting lost?   cafe creig, knee-toe and now Eric B.

Magnetic "hide-a-key" can save you lots of time and troubles.....i hope it does me when "my time" comes.......and my time will come i'm sure.

wutzup wit th'bean and keys getting lost?

I suggest you bury your spare in the area and use your gps to find it....just like geocaching

Dude, I had plenty of ice, you should have said something, Sean!  I could have easily spared a bag.

Yeah, I'm glad Ron talked me out of breaking a side window...  I am too impatient sometimes.

I do have a spare key wired up in a strategic location, but I had pulled em out the week before!  They are now stashed back in place.

 

I stuck mine in a hole, under the chassis somewhere, and i hope i can find that "hole" when i need to.  ( i think i'm gonna check it, now.)

wutzup wit th'bean and keys getting lost?   cafe creig, knee-toe and now Eric B.

Magnetic "hide-a-key" can save you lots of time and troubles.....i hope it does me when "my time" comes.......and my time will come i'm sure.

Chuck found a set of keys last time we were there - he held on to them in case it belonged to one of the NCKA crew.  The keys look like they've been there a while.