3-Day Father & Daughter(s) Trip (non-kayak)

School’s closed for a few days this week and I decided it would be a good time to take my daughters (4 & 7) on a 3-day excursion and give my wife a few days to herself back at the house. Original plan was up in the Sierra’s for some hiking, bear hunting, and fishing, but the weather decided to make that adventure a little too challenging. I started thinking about alternative ideas and finally settled on a Plan B that I’m pretty excited about. If all goes according to plan, I should be dabbling in some new fishing methods & maybe add a little turf to my surf menu.

Day 1 – Point Reyes morning hike to find the Tule elk. I’ve never seen them out there and would love to get my eyes on those animals. I think elk are pretty darn awesome beasts and would love to see a bull with a nice rack. Then off to Bodega Bay to our campsite @ Doran Campground to try our luck crab snaring & surf fishing. I’ve never tried this kind of fishing before, so I’m excited to see if we can catch anything from land (all my ocean fishing has previously been kayak based). I might even try throwing a hoop net off the jetty for some rock crab or roaming dungies. Likely be some sandcastle building and kite flying thrown in the mix to keep the girls excited.

Day 2 – Head up along the Sonoma Coast to explore shore rock fishing (also never done). Been watching too much Fisherman’s Life and I’m excited to see if we can catch some rock fish or lingcod from shore. Then camping out at Ocean Cove Campground and doing an evening tide pool search and find (have a nifty little tide pool ID book that they girls like to use)…maybe harvest some seaweed to dry by the fire.

Day 3 is travel back home & nothing special (I’m not really counting this day in my quest), but Day 4 is my free day where Dad (aka me) gets to go out solo. I just got a shotgun this year and duck season opened…thinking this is as good a reason as any to get my waterfowl tags and try to bag a few ducks. I would love to check out the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, but I need to figure out the reservation process or if there are first-come-first-serve (non-resolvable) options. I’m a newbie to hunting birds and naive to this process, so it’s crunch time for me to sort out this process over the next few days. Feel free to tell/give me advice in this area if you have the experience.

I’m looking forward to some time with my daughters and sharing another adventure with them. I want them to understanding and appreciate where their food comes from. It’s easy to go to the store to buy what you need, but it means a lot more to harvest from your land or the wild. At this age, it’s a fine balance of pushing them to explore while keeping them excited and interested in the process. So far, I think I’ve done a good job with that and I try my best to take them along as much as I can. In the end, I know they will form their own passions in life and it may be completely separate from mine…maybe it’s a little bit of selfishness in hoping that my hobbies will become their future hobbies. But rooted deeper is an interest to bond and teach them how to be independent. I’m an adventurer at heart that likes to push my boundaries (or at least learn what those boundaries are). They are too young for that kind of an experience, but when the time comes…

Updates will be provided in picture form as the adventures take place (hopefully able to do same day updates if cell service is available). Leaving bright and early Thursday, 11/10. Fingers crossed we all have fun and meltdowns/tantrums are at a minimum.

awesome! I miss those times with my kids (now fully grown) but grateful for the opportunities and memories we got.

Epic for sure!  I dont know much about your daughters, but for my daughter at that age, a simpler setup would've been much better.  I took my daughter at to Disneyland at 4 years old, when we get there, all she wants to do was just ride the carousel and nothing else 

Good luck though, I really do admire your epic plan and I hope you all have a great time!

While doing tidepooling you might want to consider looking into poke pole fishing a little bit. Lots of fun to see what you can pull out from underneath the rocks.

Right on!

Try Gulp Sandworms for perch at Doran. Just cast 'em out and reel 'em in slow. Keep moving and you should be able to scratch up some walleyes or even a BSP or Calico perch. Digging around in the sand near the boat ramp or using a shrimp pump there will yield an array of critters your daughters might like to see.

For the Sonoma Coast I always liked to use a three way swivel with a snelled hook on one end and a short length of 8 or 10lb leader material to the weight. Lots of times I've gotten snagged and broken off the weight and brought back a rockfish. Squid, anchovies, and sardine chunks all work.

That is soo cool!..... Done some of your list but only fished with my middle daughter last summer at stampede.... both of us in my old town pdl 120 for Kokanee..... she got her limit within about an hour and a half and also got the big fish that day.  It took me a while longer but got them.....

I broke off my downrigger weight with a few fish to go and she thought of macrameing sp  a net for a big rock which worked great for the rest of the morning..... will remember that day till I am done.

enjoy the trip and hopefully the kids and wife enjoy it as much as you do.

Troy

Sounds like a lot of fun. Hopefully, your daughters will be up for the challenge. When my sons were that age it was hit or miss as to how far/much we could do. Sometimes we didn't do all that much if they really got interested in something or their interest waned. Still, we always had a great time. One suggestion, I think it would be a good idea to put life jackets if you are going close to the edge of the rocks.

Awesome, and good luck! I took my boy ocean kayaking when he was 3. Before he turned 5 we did the Truckee river. Fun times. My only advice is to remember it’s not really your trip. The trip is theirs, the memories are yours.

i almost always see the elk off drakes beach road. at least in the morning. if it’s not closed off the old lifeboat station is a very easy hike and if you’re lucky you might find a seal or two down there. have fun

What a cool trip! Have fun! This is the best part of being a parent - making good memories with your kids, and teaching them some life skills along the way.

Thanks for the suggestion on elk viewing. I'll take a look at that option. Likely going to give the Ranger Office a call tomorrow to see if they have any info the herd's recent location and good hikes along that area for viewing.

Appreciate the support. I've done a few of these father daughter trips over the years and have enjoyed the experience. They've all gone surprisingly well and usually involve some type of camping or backpacking. Looking forward to what this experience brings.

Day 1 - Mostly successful day. Lost my snare on the first cast...wtf. Treble hook with herring came to the rescue. Still got my crab dinner.

Night walk and smores. Good first day.

Good morning

This is amazing, keep em coming. I got some fishing stuff from a guy who was retiring from fishing because he wanted to spend more time with his kids, now I'm trying to find ways to do fishing stuff with mine (still too young atm).