Yak's in Ocean Cove

I got a call from Ethan about a few weeks ago saying were going to Ocean cove for Rockfish and we got a

kayak for you so you have to go. "Whatever you say boss! I'll be there" haha. Ethan and I left work around 1730 to pick up our friend Andrew on the way and make our way out to the coast. We had a few friends who were already out there the day before who we were meeting and they had invited us out there with them to experience one of their favorite places to fish. We didn't get in until about 2200 and got settled and to bed pretty quickly to wake up early to be on the water just around first light.

Dropped the yaks in just before 0700 and our friends Paul and Nikolay lead the way to show us where they had found fish at the day before. We got on the blues and blacks pretty quickly with a few browns mixed in dropping bars and flies in 40-60ft of water, but our grade of fish was pretty small. Kept working the schools for lots of action, but not much size. A couple of hours into it our friend Andrew is quietly doing his own thing when we look over and his rod is doubled over and he's getting dragged around in his yak. Our first thought was cool our first ling so we all paddled over to try to help Andrew any way we could with helping him land his fish, but right when we saw color we saw the bright silver flash of a massive king that had grabbed his shrimp fly. That thing gave Andrew one hell of a ride and it was clear why. When he got that thing in it must have been at least 35lbs, absolutely massive. Huge surprise and really got everyone's blood pumping.

After a while fishing near shore we ventured off to deeper water looking for bigger fish. Hit a reef in about 100ft of water and tried dragging our gear through it. The few of us who could get down to the bottom without the small blue's grabbing our gear started getting lings. Between a total of 6 of us we got about 8 lings from 20-28 inches with several other bigger ones lost and a few hitch hikers that didn't hang on. The blue's were thick though! The blues and blacks were hitting our gear about 5ft under the surface which was awesome cause we would watch our gear go down, see a fly get hit, then watch the rest of them chase your second fly around and watch the fish grab your gear then you could reel up your double. Lots of action and lots of fun. Most of our fish were blues and blacks but we did also get a couple of yellow eyes and canaries. Our average size still wasn't great, but we were getting a little bit better fish that we could bring home for taco's.

About this time it was just about after noon and the wind was starting to make things a little choppy so most of us started heading in. A few of us stayed just to hit our shallow reef once more on the way in. One drift in and we get a couple more smaller rockfish and then Ethan and I see Nik hook into a nice one, then next thing we knew he was getting dragged around like crazy and his line was taking off right next to the surface, yep he's on a salmon on his shrimp fly too. He fought this thing for a while and managed to get it in and this one was probably 28lbs or so, another hog. After this everyone was ready to head in and get some lunch. I was dying to get a salmon for myself to take home, but of course I have all rockfish gear with me and nothing to target them with. There were another couple of yaks out on the water trolling herring for them and we saw them come back in with their limits, so I want to get in, get bait, and get right back out.

Got some lunch and picked up bait and I was on my way back down the ramp to get my salmon. Everyone else was pretty beat and conditions were getting snottier so they all stayed back. Screw them I came here to fish and you can bet that's what I'm gonna do. Paddled out into rough conditions, going against the wind took me about 10 mins to paddle maybe 500 yards out. Only my third time being on a kayak, trying not to over exhaust myself. I tried dropping shrimp down in a kelp bed looking for something I can use as live bait to either mooch for salmon or to drift for halibut with, I wanted it all the grand slam. I did managed to get a big stripped perch and a bunch of small rockfish, but I wasn't catching what I wanted and then I told myself I had tray herring what am I doing? I should be trolling right now. I reached behind my and grabbed my second rod to start the troll and tried leaning back to put my other rod in the holder out of the way. In the process I ended up leaning too far off to the side and with the waves being as rough as the were I got hit by a decent wave and I got throw into the water.

Took a good gulp of salt water just from shock of hitting the water which was wonderful, but I didn't panic I swam to my kayak and grabbed a hold of it, then I realized all of my gear just took the plunge to the bottom of the ocean . . . . . well I need to get back on my yak and get to shore lets not think about lost gear right now. Flipped the yak over and hopped back in. Bad angle flipped back into the drink face first. Ok attempt #2 flip it over and got back in at a different angle still managed to roll over trying to get into my seat. At this point I knew what I was doing wrong and just had to give it one more attempt to get in. Took a minute to catch my breath and get the strength for what I was hoping to be my last attempt to get back on. For anyone of you who are wondering, for me personally I thought the water felt great, not cold at all. No colder then when I was diving for crawdads in the American River during march. To your average person they would probably say it was freezing, but I'm used to the cold water so it didn't bug me at all and yes I did have a life jacket on. Last attempt got on and in my seat and took a moment to sigh about all of my lost gear. Two outfits and my box of gear which adds up to about 500$ worth of fishing gear, ouch. One boat came by once I got on and asked if I was ok. Told them I was fine and I paddled to shore.

Made it back ok greeted by a group of people who saw the whole thing for sure and they asked if I was ok and said they had already called the coast guard on me to make sure I made it out ok. Nice that it happened so close to shore and the launch ramp. I made it back ok though safe and sound and that's what matters. Favorite part was one gentlemen asked me, "Well what happened, did a wave hit you or were you being stupid?" Told him to be honest I was being an idiot. I went out when I shouldn't have and I was switch rods when I only should have had one out there, but I learned my lesson and now I know my limit in a kayak. My friends ran down and met me at the ramp after I got in and helped me with bringing the yak back up the hill where I got cleaned up and enjoyed the rest of the trip at camp.

Even with my mishap we all had one hell of a trip and a hell of a time doing the fishing that we could.

Andrew with his first ling.

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Paul and Nik's with theirs.

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Some of our rockfish at the end of the day.

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I didn't take my phone with me on the yak so sorry we didn't take lots of pictures. There is a video or two that might be uploaded later, but we have to see if we can work that out.

The conditions only got worse and no one else ended up going back out due to rough conditions. I did make a poke pole rod out of a branch I broke off of a tree to hit the rocks around low tide and managed one monkey faced eel before the tide came in on me.

Conditions didn't get any better Sunday morning so we took off for home, around 0900. Definitely want to get back out and do it again even after my mishap. Had a blast and I definitely need to get out the the salt more often.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark