Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3824 Nov 8-22 | Page 16
14
Nov 8 - 22, 2019, 2019
MAP FEATURE
VOL.38 • ISS. 24
The Big Sur Coast is one of the most scenic and inspiring stretches of coastline in the world.
Photo courtesy of CDFW, Sacramento.
T
Light Tackle Rockfish off the Big Sur Coast
he Big Sur Coast has served as
the inspiration for poets such as
Robinson Jeffers and novelists including
Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck.
It is one of the most
dramatic shorelines
in the world, with
hillsides and high
cliffs topped by the
winding Highway
1, in turn silhou-
etted by the dark,
looming Santa
Lucia Mountains. It
is also a great place
to fish for rockfish
and lingcod.
We are
fishing the
Big Sur
Coast near
Ventura
Rocks
aboard the
Kahuna
sport-
fishing
boat in
shallow water with light black bass and
trout rods in flat calm seas on a gorgeous
October morning.
“There’s a school of blue rockfish just
below the surface,” says Brian Cutting,
Captain of the Kahuna, over the radio.
Anglers are throwing an array of lures,
ranging from the 2 ounce Point Wilson
Darts that I’m using, to swimbaits to
plastic worms.
I have a great time hooking one blue
rockfish after another on my trout
rod. I can see the fish swarming
just below the surface – and watch
several of them hit my lure. When
we get our lures deeper, we are
catching olive, yellowtail,
copper, gopher, vermilion and
other rockfish.
It’s like being
a kid again.
Everybody
around me
is having a
fantastic
time
hooking fish
after fish with
gear that
you would
normally
target trout,
steelhead
Marlon Veal
shows off a
hefty olive
rockfish that he
landed while
fishing light
tackle off Big
Sir aboard the
Kahuna
Photo by DAN
BACHER, Fish
Sniffer Staff.
or black bass
on. Whenever
somebody has a
larger fish that
they may not
be able to lift
over the side
of the boat, the
deckhand is there
to gaff the fish
and get it safely
into the boat.
We fished a
variety of spots
until around
noon, when we
got ready for the
2 hour trip back
to Moss Landing.
At the end of the
day we ended
up with limits
of rockfish,
including 25
vermilion
rockfish and 10
copper rockfish,
as well as
releasing a lot of Big vermilion rockfish like these are the reward for anglers fishing off the
Monterey County coastline aboard the Kahuna.
fish. We fished
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
most of the
day off Ventura
last year.”
Rocks.
“After doing that trip, we decided book
As Cutting drove the boat back to Moss
three
light tackle trips this year and we plan
Landing Harbor, we passed renowned spots
to do more next year. People who normally
like the Bixby Creek Bridge, the mouth of
don’t go on these trips tell me that they had
the Little Sur River and Twin Rocks.
Successful anglers included Kathy Wilson a blast when they come back from these
and her father, Don Hartsock, who caught a trips,” she noted
“You can release fish back fish into the
couple of big bags of quality rockfish.
water
with no problem. When you get
Bob Ford of Lodi landed a pretty
into
deeper
water, you have a problem
yellowish colored lingcod and a gopher
of
releasing
the fish back unharmed. You
rockfish. Ken Yuen of San Jose caught his
can fish to heart’s content, catching and
limit, including two vermilions to over 4
releasing fish throughout the trip.”
pounds.
“We target water around 60 feet or less,”
Tom Selbo of San Jose had a blast
she
noted. “Anglers use all kinds of stuff.
throwing out swimbaits, catching big
Bass anglers use top water lures and use
vermilions and bunch of other rockfish.
swimbaits with 1-1/2 ounce heads. Point
Carol Jones of Kahuna Sportfishing
Wilson darts are also good. You don’t want
explained the reason behind doing the light
anything too heavy. “
tackle shallow water trips.
No bait is allowed on these trips, just
“We tried to do something different,” she
artificials
to keep it fun and interesting.
said. “We were already booking long range
On
our
trip,
we fished off Ventura Rocks.
trips to Lopez Point, a 65 mile trip one way.
Captain
Cutting
said other areas they fish
We decided to do one shallow water trip
with light tackle include the Little Sur