PC 7/11

After an epic day trolling yesterday,  I did my best to get up and out earlier this morning, overslept a little but still was on the beach by 6:45. Passed several other kayaks gearing up (should have stopped and said hey,  I need to learn who's who out there) but I was anxious to get fishing.

Trolled out to the rock, just passed it like I did yesterday but saw no sign of salmon so I switched to bottomfish gear and hit a couple reefs west of the rock. 2 undersized lings, one black and a couple hours later I went back to trolling. Headed north passed the cape, farther than I've been before and marked a TON of good structure and some nice bait balls up there. No luck trolling around up there so I hit a few of those reefs, back to back 28"lings, one smaller china I was happy enough to call it a day. Headed back in, trolling with no luck.  Once again stopped at my self titled "snag reef" and got an 18" cabby first drop. I REALLY wanted more blacks and was marking tons of fish so I jigged a little longer, ended up getting 2 more Cabbys, a lot nicer ones than the one already on my stringer  but no luck for bass.  Called it around 12:30

Thought it'd be a smooth landing. Like yesterday, some of the breakers were a little bigger today so I stopped just before most of em were breaking to watch em for a little bit and get the feel for how they were acting,  i stopped too close though as one gave me a nice little push, I was able to put it in reverse to stop though....until the bigger brother wave started coming in and forming well behind where I was. It picked me up and I thought I'd come in hot behind it. But it kept me on top, it was an epic fast ride for about 5 seconds, I kept it straight and thought it'd pass me until it broke.. I heard yelling on the beach "Watch this kayaker!"  guess I was at least a good show!  Quick flip back over and the walk of shame dragging back up the beach.  On the walk up to my truck 2 kayakers came in where I was and one of them took a flip too. I guess at least I wasn't the only one  now my Outback is fully broken in finally!

I'll be eyeballing Monday and Tuesday, but right now the wind looks pretty wicked around noon. Gotta think on it.

Looks like I need to start taking my mobile upload photos in landscape mode too 

I had a great time out there yesterday. Ended with 2 lings  a good Size cabby and a black rock. Had to release an unclipped  coho which Was disappointing.  I came back at 1145 or so and the beaching was pretty smooth. Wife and kid came out around noon and we sat on the beach for a few hours and surf really picked up.

Some kayaker had a white Subaru ascent, looked like blue revo on top. Curious who that was, I have one on order and got a couple questions for them if they are on here.

Nice job on the limit of lings! I was happy to get mine super quick.

Thanks! Not the largest but happy to get them. The 2nd one was super weird. I was coming back to the rock to try to get a few black rocks. I was dropping my line about 250 feet from the rock and felt a weird bump on the drop. Rolled up hard and set the hook. Reeled up and Ling number 2!

Wishing I had brought a crab pot. Oh well

Nice work.  I tried to talk my buddy into going down yesterday, but he had to stay close to home.  Boo.

Fun time on the water Saturday. Nice to see some familiar faces and some new ones, too. It was Mrs. Redbeard's first ocean trip of the year, so that was fun.

We blitzed out to some of our favorite deep spots early, but that failed to pay off and we slowly worked our way back towards the main reef. We both had coho salmon chasing our rockfish lures back to the boat, but they wouldn't commit. I would immediately put on a salmon rig and troll circles around our spot but nothing ever connected on that either.

I did hook a coho, however, on my swivel. I had broken off my jig below the swivel on my mainline, and as I fast-reeled my line back up I felt something hit it and let go. So I kept reeling and then I felt another hit, and sure enough - a coho had my swivel in its mouth and his buddy was pacing him. Obviously he spit it out as soon as he saw the boat, but it was kind of fun anyway.

It was awesome to see everyone out on the water!

Conditions were as good as anyone could ask for but someone forgot to wake up the salmon. I trolled hard and only found a chinook jack so I gave up on salmon for the day and chased bottomfish. Ended up with 38" and 34" lings, caught right next to each other right before I needed to head in.

Used one of pelagicpaddler's reels this time so I can confirm his mojo still lives! Man, do I ever miss that guy.  RIP, good friend.

Some kayaker had a white Subaru ascent, looked like blue revo on top. Curious who that was, I have one on order and got a couple questions for them if they are on here.

Hi!   

Love that rig so far!  Just put a fresh set of shoes on it - Wildpeak A/T's with Vision 18" wheels.  They worked very well on the beach and seem to do pretty well so far on the highway for mpg.

I was going to ask what wheels you had on there and if you had a lift.  Also, which rack system do you have and do you like it?  Mine supposedly arrives at the dealer in 2 weeks and I can't wait. 

I was going to ask what wheels you had on there and if you had a lift.  Also, which rack system do you have and do you like it?  Mine supposedly arrives at the dealer in 2 weeks and I can't wait. 

Yeah, better wheels was one main improvement I wanted to make after we got ours. This improvement was expedited recently when we had a blowout of one of the rear wheels on route 26 (most likely my fault, not the stock tires).  I started with 20" but wanted to go to 18" for the better tire options, higher weight rating, and better look.

No lift. The standard ground clearance is the best in its class as you probably already figured out. I've taken it on some pretty bad dirt roads and on the beach enough to feel like I won't need it for what I do.

I'm using a Yakima system on it and I'm satisfied with it.  I went with hollow CoreBars to accommodate a Boatloader EVO. Still using my old LandShark saddles that are discontinued.  The downside is that the bars aren't easily removable and generate a noticeable amount of wind noise.  They work well though.

I've got about 15k on it so far.

Ended up with 38" and 34" lings, caught right next to each other right before I needed to head in

Man rawkfish, that is a monster ling limit! What a way to end the day, congrats.

Ended up with 38" and 34" lings, caught right next to each other right before I needed to head in

Man rawkfish, that is a monster ling limit! What a way to end the day, congrats.

Thanks, they were fun!