Thanksgiving NorCal Camping/Fishing Trip - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Salty · 12-02-2020, 04:51 PM

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend! I took the opportunity(and some vacation days) to drive 600+ miles North to spend some time in the wilderness away from all the craziness. My buddy and I loaded up our yaks onto his truck and headed out before sunrise on Wednesday. Traveled up to the beach campsite about 1.5 hours north of Fort Bragg and set up camp on the bluff overlooking the beach. Weather was awesome, though near freezing in the mornings and howling offshore winds(thank God for coffee). Only downside was a massive swell was pounding the entire coast which kept us off the water most of the trip. Wasn't a big deal since I was just stoked to be camping somewhere with no cell service available for at least an hour drive in any direction. Still managed to make a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and Hawaiian sweet rolls with butter all cooked on the camping stove on the tailgate while listening to the waves crash on the cliffs down below. My kind of Thanksgiving!
...BUT, I was still itching to fish, so we loaded up the truck on the second to last day and drove a few hours South to a new campsite with a MUCH calmer beach. It wasn't nearly as remote, but we could set up the tents on the sand and the beach launch was like a lake. Got in about an hour's worth of fishing that evening before sunset, then got up early the next day and fished for a few hours before the brutal 13-hour drive home.
Overall, the fishing was awesome. I never really target rockfish specifically, so it was fun to explore a new area and try different techniques. Water temp was around 48-49. No wind at all. Hardly any swell on the South-facing cove. Got my personal best Lingcod(about 25-ish"), lots of Blue Rockfish, about 4 or 5 decent Copper Rockfish(I think?), and a handful of what I think were small Olive Rockfish. Not a bad count considering I was only on the water about 3.5 hours total. All fish were caught in under 100' of water and were resuscitated and released. Made sure there were no floaters and they could swim down on their own power. Definitely looking forward to getting back up there and spending more time on the water!

Here are some pics. I'll post the fishing ones first, because that's probably what most of you are more interested in....

Salty · 12-02-2020, 04:53 PM

Some more pics:

Salty · 12-02-2020, 04:55 PM

And a couple more:

JohnMckroidJr · 12-03-2020, 02:56 AM

Fort Bragg was our go to place for Abalone when I was at school up Nth. I wonder if it's been wiped out. Nice photos! A picture is worth a thousand words, Congrats on your first Ling.

chris138 · 12-03-2020, 08:08 AM

Damn that's a rad trip. Must've been nice to get away from the ratrace of elections and lockdowns. Dude, next time go 600 miles south, you'll be into a whole different kind of paradise. Cheers!

TJones · 12-03-2020, 08:13 AM

Epic post. Thanks for sharing your experience. Looks like Paradise.

BTW How do you like the Hobie outback?

12-02-2020, 04:51 PM	#1
Salty Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 433	Thanksgiving NorCal Camping/Fishing Trip Hey Everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend! I took the opportunity(and some vacation days) to drive 600+ miles North to spend some time in the wilderness away from all the craziness. My buddy and I loaded up our yaks onto his truck and headed out before sunrise on Wednesday. Traveled up to the beach campsite about 1.5 hours north of Fort Bragg and set up camp on the bluff overlooking the beach. Weather was awesome, though near freezing in the mornings and howling offshore winds(thank God for coffee). Only downside was a massive swell was pounding the entire coast which kept us off the water most of the trip. Wasn't a big deal since I was just stoked to be camping somewhere with no cell service available for at least an hour drive in any direction. Still managed to make a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and Hawaiian sweet rolls with butter all cooked on the camping stove on the tailgate while listening to the waves crash on the cliffs down below. My kind of Thanksgiving! ...BUT, I was still itching to fish, so we loaded up the truck on the second to last day and drove a few hours South to a new campsite with a MUCH calmer beach. It wasn't nearly as remote, but we could set up the tents on the sand and the beach launch was like a lake. Got in about an hour's worth of fishing that evening before sunset, then got up early the next day and fished for a few hours before the brutal 13-hour drive home. Overall, the fishing was awesome. I never really target rockfish specifically, so it was fun to explore a new area and try different techniques. Water temp was around 48-49. No wind at all. Hardly any swell on the South-facing cove. Got my personal best Lingcod(about 25-ish"), lots of Blue Rockfish, about 4 or 5 decent Copper Rockfish(I think?), and a handful of what I think were small Olive Rockfish. Not a bad count considering I was only on the water about 3.5 hours total. All fish were caught in under 100' of water and were resuscitated and released. Made sure there were no floaters and they could swim down on their own power. Definitely looking forward to getting back up there and spending more time on the water! Here are some pics. I'll post the fishing ones first, because that's probably what most of you are more interested in.... Attached Images

12-02-2020, 04:53 PM	#2
Salty Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 433	Some more pics: Attached Images

12-02-2020, 04:55 PM	#3
Salty Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 433	And a couple more: Attached Images

12-03-2020, 02:56 AM	#4
JohnMckroidJr Senior Member Join Date: May 2014 Location: Fort Lauderdale Posts: 1,933	Fort Bragg was our go to place for Abalone when I was at school up Nth. I wonder if it's been wiped out. Nice photos! A picture is worth a thousand words, Congrats on your first Ling. Last edited by JohnMckroidJr; 12-03-2020 at 03:02 AM.

12-03-2020, 08:13 AM	#6
TJones Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 2,526	WOW Epic post. Thanks for sharing your experience. Looks like Paradise. BTW How do you like the Hobie outback?

12-03-2020, 08:08 AM	#5
chris138 donkey roper Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pacific Beach Posts: 968	Damn that's a rad trip. Must've been nice to get away from the ratrace of elections and lockdowns. Dude, next time go 600 miles south, you'll be into a whole different kind of paradise. Cheers!