Bodega Bay for Labor Day (pictures added)

[kanco]

Decided to take a couple days off work to add to my three day Labor Day weekend and trailered my boat up to Bodega Bay in Northern Cal. for the annual Striper Owner Club (SOC) gathering ( http://www.seastriper.com )

Left Wednesday at AM and headed for the bay with my family and a friend Jerry (Halfprice) following me in his truck. Got to the campsite 12 hours later and set up camp. http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07sign.jpg
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodegacamp.jpg

Woke up early Thursday morning and headed. The weather and ocean conditions were excellent (rare site from what I heard from the locals) with flat seas and sunny. Ran up about 40 miles up the coast to fish for rock fish because the Salmon bite had been slow the last few day.
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07053.jpg
On our first drift we hook up to some nice size red (Vermilion) rock fish and a variety of other rock fish that we don't see in our local waters. We continue to do slow drifts over the same area and just keep hooking up to larger and larger reds. Then my rod goes BENDO and I bring up a nice size legal Lingcod (small for the area, but legal non the less)
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07042.jpg

Then we get a call from one of other SOC members who is nailing quality size reds at a different spot. We make the move further up and on my first drift, my white/orange plastic scampi gets nailed and my rod goes BENDO and it's fish on. Once landed it turns out to be the biggest Vermilion that I have ever hooked, it measured 27 inches long and weight about 7 lbs on my spring scale. http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07044.jpg
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07046.jpg
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07049.jpg
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07048.jpg

We continue to hook reds in that spot until the wives and kids decided that they had enough rocking and rolling in the cuddy cabin and ask us to head back.

Dinner time! http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07065.jpg


Total fish count:

10 vermilion (reds) each over 2 lbs
4 coppers
6 canary (released because they are not legal up there)
7 other rockfish not sure of the name
1 lingcod

We fished lbs test on 2 oz lead heads using white/orange, white/yellow, and rootbeer plastic scampies and a few nailed on strips of squid.

We also fished on Friday, but the 7 to 8 foot swells, thick fog and winds made for a very bumpy ride on the water that i did not take any pictures. I did however did hook about 4 reds and about 4 other bass looking kelp fish, pictured below at the cleaning station.http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07076.jpg
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07077.jpg


On Saturday the weather forecast did not sound great so i did not take my boat out. Instead I went out to troll for Salmon with an SOC member on his nicely rigged 26ft striper. Thanks flow for the ride! no Salmon for us that day.!

Drove back to LA on Sunday found out that someone had left the heater running while I was gone, because it was hot as HELL in this city! :)
http://bluehuntercatfishing.com/images/tmp2/Bodega07085.jpg

[jplee3]

Thanks for the report! Wish I had my own boat :)

BTW: I don't see any of the pictures.


Oh yea, how deep were you fishing?

[Ambassadorhawg]

Hey kanco,

Thanks for the report. Always great to hear about action at far away places!

By the way, Canary Rockfish are closed to possession throughout the entire state and possibly the entire West Coast. Canary's are also called "Swallowtails".

[kanco]

By the way, Canary Rockfish are closed to possession throughout the entire state and possibly the entire West Coast. Canary's are also called "Swallowtails".

Thanks for the heads up!

[hookemdano]

Excellent results considering you were in foreign waters. Hell, I wish I could do that well here at home! Nice looking family - your kids will never forget trips like those.

Nice report and pics. :thumb:

[spiceguy]

Wtg man. Did ya see any "birds"? :wink:

[dschmaltz]

Sounds like a fun trip!

I must be getting old; I just don't want to tow a boat this far even if it is a Striper and a great weekend. How long was the trip? I see the Escort on the dash. Does that mean that you didn't drive 55mph either?

Funny thing is that the local LA fleets seem to be rockfishing too in September, whats up with that? It supposed to be Dorado season!

[kanco]

How long was the trip? I see the Escort on the dash. Does that mean that you didn't drive 55mph either?


I was up there for 5 days, and Heck NO on the 55mph I would still be driving down if that was the case :)

Spiceguy: A heck of a lot of cranes, but no black crows attacking people. Our campsite was invaded my skunks and raccoons at night that are not afraid of people so all food needs to be locked up at night. Still a nice place to camp.

[JapanRon]

Hi Kanco,

Very nice on the fishys. Nice report and even better pictures.

Look forward to future info from the far north!!

JapanRon

[spiceguy]

How long was the trip? I see the Escort on the dash. Does that mean that you didn't drive 55mph either?


I was up there for 5 days, and Heck NO on the 55mph I would still be driving down if that was the case :)

Spiceguy: A heck of a lot of cranes, but no black crows attacking people. Our campsite was invaded my skunks and raccoons at night that are not afraid of people so all food needs to be locked up at night. Still a nice place to camp.


:lol: :lol: :lol:

Skunks and raccoons can be a real pain in the picnic basket! :wink:
I'm glad you weren't attacked by those dang birds. Thanks again for a great report.