Ring King Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 So last weekend I decided I needed to take a couple days off. I don't have a class right now to teach so my chief had no issues with me having Thursday and Friday off to make a trip North. My plan was to head up to Clear Lake for some nighttime bass fishing for a few days and then make a run to the coast on Friday afternoon to fish the Albion Open Tournament on Saturday morning. I packed all my gear to fish and camp in the Trailblazer and struck out right after work on Wednesday afternoon. It takes me about 2 hours to get to the mid lake area of Clear Lake where the State Park is located. This would be my home base for the first couple trips/days. I started Wednesday night around 7:30pm. Launching my Hobie Pro Angler 14 into the lake I headed for the same general area that had produced for me the weekend prior. Normally the fading light of the evening sun makes for some great fishing but on this day that wasn't the case. The wind was blowing around 10mph from the North and had the water pretty choppy in the open areas. I had caught fish on the last trip by sitting in 7-10' of water and casting parallel to the submergent vegetation with a variety of lures including lipless crankbaits, colorado blade spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, jigs, and 10" Berkeley Power Worms. I figured I would start with this same technique to see if I could get any action. As the sun set the bite was pretty much nonexistant so I was hopeful that with night fall the bite would pick up. Just like clockwork as soon as the sun had completely set and the shadows started taking over the fish activity picked up. I headed for a small island with a good drop off on the leeward edge that had some rocks for cover. My first cast was to the tip of the island and the water exploded as my bait hit the surface. I set the hook but immediately could tell this was no largemouth like I was hoping for. It was big though and towed me around the lake pretty easily as I waited for it to come to the surface. I was a pretty good distance away from the island by the time my sleigh ride was over so I turned on my headlamp and watched as a beautiful 14lb 7oz channel cat came rolling to the surface. I hadn't caught one yet this year, mainly b/c I don't target them, but needed a good one to enter in the NorCalKayakAngler.com AOTY constest. This one measured in at a little better than my 31" Hawg Trough could handle. I guestimated her at 31.5" just to be safe, took a pic, and released her back into the dark water. I continued working this area and a few submerged offshore humps for the rest of the night. The fish were hit or miss and no specific lure seemed to attract more attention than another. I managed a couple of nice bass at 22" and 21.5" and a bunch of other solid but smaller fish with none going less than 17". I finally made my way off the water on Thursday morning at 8:30am and headed for the State Park to register for a campsite and get some sleep. I would be meeting a friend, Yia Yang, later that afternoon for some bassin and definitely needed some rest if I was to make it through another night. Sleep was hard to come by in the heat of the day in Lake County. Temps were in the high 90's and being inside a tent just made it that much worse. I'm sure I dosed off a few times but by noon I decided I couldn't take it any longer and would just hit the water again. I fished for most of the day with little to no action. I tried every lure and technique I could think of with the exception of live bait (just b/c I can't stand fishing live bait!) and rarely could I even draw a half hearted strike. Just before Yia showed up at 7:00pm I came across a fish that was busting on some small minnows in a pocket of a rock bank. I flipped a D&M Custom Piranha swim jig to the fish and it inhaled it as it broke the waters surface. Nothing big, but a relief to have something stretch my line after seven hours of nothing!! This one proved to be the smallest fish of my weekend but was still a nice little chunk! Yia called me on the cell phone and said that he was at the launch and would be out to meet me on the lake in approximately 30min. I headed for the launch and fished just outside of the launch area. This spot is kind of a community hole and is hit by every Tom, Dick, and Harry on tournament days. Even though it gets all that pressure it has always given up fish to me as I come and go from the ramp. Sure enough after probing the area for a few minutes I get slammed in about 13 feet of water where the marina channel exits the shallow launch bay. Again, it didn't take long for me to figure out it wasn't a bass. My "fluke" catfish from the night before apparently wasn't such a fluke! LOL Once again it was well after dark before the bite picked up. Yia and I worked everything from shallow grassy areas out to deep water rock piles. It seemed that the deep water bite was where the action was but the wind was making it tough to get our drift right. Yia's Eddyline Carribean 14 is a sleek paddle craft that sits low and doesn't catch much wind, but when trying to fish deep water structure a set of pedals would have really come in handy for him! We moved off the open water structure to work some areas on the back side of a point that had trees to block the wind. The bite was slow but steady until after Yia had to head for home. He left around midnight because he had to work the next morning and I stayed out until 4am before calling it a night to get some sleep. A few more good fish were caught though so it was worth it! 1 Quote
Ring King Posted July 31, 2014 Author Posted July 31, 2014 So after crashing a little after 4am at my campsite I got in a decent amount of sleep before waking up at 11am to shower, pack, and check out of my campground by the noon deadline on Friday. It didn't really matter as I didn't plan on doing any fishing this day anyway. I needed to get my things organized and make the 2 hour drive from Clear Lake over to the coast at the mouth of the Albion River where it dumps into the Pacific Ocean. The Albion Open Tournament was scheduled for Saturday morning and this would be my first saltwater tournament after moving to the West coast a year ago. I had no experience in the area and would just be going out blind on Saturday morning to see if I could get lucky. I got settled into my campsite Friday afternoon, headed up to Fort Bragg, CA to get a bite to eat, and then it was time to catch some shut eye until Saturday morning. The forecast wasn't looking great but I was assured by some other anglers that it would be doable until the winds picked up at midday. I woke up Saturday morning to a dead calm. The river was still pouring towards the ocean as the tide was falling and things were actually looking pretty nice. I switched out all my gear, donned my drysuit and PFD, checked my GPS and VHF radio and made my way down river towards the mouth. Just after crossing under the Albion River bridge I made the left turn into the cove. I was greated by some pretty nice swells and lots of folks could be seen that decided to stay close due to weather conditions. I don't believe the swells were much more than six foot on a consistant basis but there were definitely some bigger sets thrown in on occasion! I watched my fish finder as I headed out towards deep water and found some good structure along a rock break in 40ft of water. I dropped a 4oz diamond jig in glow color down through the marks on the screen and started verticle jigging. Lots of juvenile rockfish bombarded my bait but none were much over 12". I caugh black rockfish, blue rockfish, and a china rockfish in shallow. I soon headed out towards the whistle buoy where a good group could be seen drifting in open water. I found a nice reef to the south of the Albion River opening that rose from 130' to 20' in spots. I began repeatedly making the drift while bouncing a 3" jig with a halloween colored Big Hammer swimbait. I was rewarded with a 25" and 30" lingcod for my efforts but didn't have much other luck than that. I got tired of bouncing around out there at around 11:30am and made my way back into the launch. The tide had turned by that time and the ride back to camp was an easy and relaxing one once I made it back into the river. It reminded me a lot of my time in Alaska! There were some serious stringers of fish caught that morning and a few guys even got lucky and pulled some +20lb salmon in so I knew I didn't have a chance with just my lingcod. I filleted my fish and packed my gear. I couldn't get Clear Lake off my mind so instead of staying and fishing a bumpy ocean again on Sunday I decided to drive back to the lake for some more night fishing. Quote
Ring King Posted July 31, 2014 Author Posted July 31, 2014 So now I was back at Clear Lake. It was about 6:30pm when I launched out into a slight breeze that was just enough to keep the bugs off of me. Again I was fishless until the sun had completely disappeared. I started off my night battling the catfish again. I've caught plenty of catfish over the years on artificials but never have I caught so many with such regularity!! The bass bite was slower than usual but seemed to really turn on at around 2am. I fished until 10:30am on Sunday morning and by that time I had had enough. I actually caught myself nodding off between casts and at one point I passed out and woke up a couple hundred yards away from my last known location. So all in all I spent 51 hours in the kayak during my marathon fishing adventure. I caught a ton of bass with seventeen of them being over 18" in length, and six of them being over 20"! I also had seven channel cats between 25" and 31.5". For my saltwater trip I caught the two lingcod and a bunch of juvi rockfish. It was not a bad way to spend the weekend!! Quote
DontPanicDan Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 I'm envious. I don't know what I would do with 51 hours of fishing in a single weekend heh. Awesome pics and even better fish. You said your 'chief', are you Navy by chance? Quote
Super User buzzed bait Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Holy **** man you are a diehard, I love it! Awesome report and I mean awesome, excellent pics and great catches! Quote
Super User Darren. Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Wow, dude! Great stuff! Quote
Super User DogBone_384 Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Looks like you had a heck of a weekend - how'd you get your wife to agree to let you go? Quote
Ring King Posted July 31, 2014 Author Posted July 31, 2014 Nope, not Navy. I'm in the Coast Guard. I've been active duty now for just over 12 years. I'm an E6 and just took a teaching position last year at the Coast Guards Training Center in Petaluma, CA where I teach marine electronics to aspiring young Electronics Technicians. I've been enjoying my night trips the last two weeks. I've got another report to post up from the weekend prior to this one as well. I'm heading back up to Clear Lake again this Friday afternoon and will be fishing until Sunday morning. Looking to stack some bass, but when the bite dies at sun up I may actual target these big channel cats since they are so hungry and willing to feed right now. I've got some friends that want to have a fish fry so packing a cooler with catfish fillets might just be a good way to fill my daytime as well as feed some friends! Quote
Ring King Posted July 31, 2014 Author Posted July 31, 2014 Looks like you had a heck of a weekend - how'd you get your wife to agree to let you go? Hahahahahahahahahaha My wife and kids are in Alaska!! They left back during the first week of June and won't be back until August 15th! That's the ONLY reason I'm getting so much time on the water!! Usually I'm limited to one day per weekend and then I sneak in a few trips down to the pond behind the house during the evenings or during my lunch breaks. It's got some good fish in it but it's nothing like Clear Lake! Quote
Super User DogBone_384 Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Sounds like a trip (pun intended). One of the kids in my academy class was a Coastie - more work than I originally thought/assumed. My 'time off' consists of night tours at the Firehouse, can't fish however. I get the odd day here and there between jobs and family obligations where I'll get the kayak out for half a day or so. I'm lucky, however, because there's pretty decent fresh water fishing (by Massachusetts' standards, anyway) within an hour of home and salt water 300 yards down the street. I'm sure I could take off for a couple of days, but I'm on a mission to get the house paid off within 5 - 7 years. Anyhoo - good for ya & your kayaking weekend! Quote
DontPanicDan Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 Ah, Coast Guard. I'm a first class ET as well, but Navy (Subs). My time to fish went up ten fold when I went on shore duty so I'm doing my best to go as often as possible. So far no epic trips like yours though, hah. Any complaints with the yak? I've been looking at similar rigs for a possible future purchase. I dont have any prior kayak fishing experience though. Quote
Ring King Posted July 31, 2014 Author Posted July 31, 2014 No complaints at all. I'm actually in the market for a second one. My 11 year old is getting a little big to be riding on the back of mine so I'm going to give him my current one (2012 model) and I'm going to buy the newer model for myself. I've been fishing out of this Hobie Pro Angler 14 since March of 2012 and have had a blast. I fished bass tournaments as well as inshore saltwater tournaments out of it in Florida (Jax Kayak Classic, North Florida Kayak Challenge, North East Florida Sportsman Bash, etc.) and won a pretty good chunk of change in it. I also drove it up to South Carolina two years ago and fished the KayakBassFishing.com Open tournament on Santee Cooper. I finished 14th out of 160 or so anglers which was good enough to qualify me for the KayakBassFishing.com Invitational. That was a televised event with some serious competition!!! I ended up in 8th place for that event. Since moving out here to the West coast last summer I've won and placed in a couple belly boat bass club events. There wasn't much in the way of kayak bass events but it's getting better. I'm currently in 4th place overall for the Delta Kayak Bass Series with one event left to go. I'm hoping to win a new fully outfitted Jackson Kayak Kilroy if things go well on August 17th! It's an insanely stable platform with an unreal carrying capacity at 600lbs! Having moved into this from bass boats it was quite a compromise to downsize and this Pro Angler 14 made the transition that much less painful. I fish with a lot of paddle kayaks and while they do have their advantages it's undeniable that when fishing stiff winds or current the Mirage Drive has the advantage in holding position and even when trying to make headway. I've fished saltwater tournaments in 35mph winds before on open water and easily passed up paddle yaks that were struggling to make headway. The pedal drives are just too efficient in those conditions to be overlooked. This particular model's only downfall would be the weight. Not that it isn't manageable as I've drug this thing all over Hell and back but it is something to consider when purchasing. When I was in Florida I had a full size Chevy Z71 and simply slid it in the bed with a bed extender for support. I sold the truck in Florida and I'm now using my wifes Trailblazer SUV to haul it. Originally I would lay the back seats down and again use the bed extender but that left the back hatch open all the time. Not the most comfortable way to travel in the cold or during inclement weather. I purchased a small jetski trailer from Craigslist to haul and store it on and couldn't be happier! When I end up with a second Pro Angler I'm going to sell my current trailer and by a tandem jetski trailer to haul them on. Eventually I'll have four Hobie Mirage kayaks so that the whole family can get out and pedal together but that's a ways out since my little one is only 4 years old right now!! Quote
Super User Bankbeater Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Wow! Now that was a fishing trip! Quote
Super User Dwight Hottle Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Sounds like a cool adventure for a young man. Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted July 31, 2014 Super User Posted July 31, 2014 Entertaining post and Very Nice Bass ! Nice to see an ET getting so much Sea Time . . . . . Good Luck on the 17th BMC A-Jay UCSG (Ret) Quote
einscodek Posted July 31, 2014 Posted July 31, 2014 Time passes quickly when yer fishin.. no surprise ya spent so much time on the water.. its fun! Quote
Redhound80 Posted August 1, 2014 Posted August 1, 2014 I enjoyed reading about your fishing trip. Thanks for sharing! Quote
Ring King Posted August 1, 2014 Author Posted August 1, 2014 Hey!!! There's a familiar face! What's going on Chuck? I'm at work this morning chomping at the bit to get back on the water! We are getting off today at 11am so I should be able to hit Clear Lake by no later than 4pm. Still need to run home and pack all my gear and make a quick stop at the Outdoor Pro Shop (Monster Tackle) on the way up. Looking forward to whacking a few more good chunks tonight! Quote
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