Black Pearl Trip Part II

[potto]

See part I for the introductory.

After some sleep.  Woke up with coffee and food from the galley.  Did you know you can request what
will be served on these trips?  For lunch we had real turkey breast sandwiches.  I think someone on the last
trip requested it.  Actually, the chef likes to hear what people want.  Just an FYI.

Session I.  West side of Santa Cruz.
With the boat parked at a point on the Island, captain Rick brought us to the bow and gave us the game plan.
Start at the point and work your way down west to the other point and be there by 12 noon.
The Black Pearl will follow us as we work our way down.  We asked Rick about possible Halibut locations and he said he
would take us up the coast to a sandy beach if we want to do that, but there down side is, it is all sand.
Interpretation:  if your not catching any halibut, then your not catching anything else.
We all decided to leave the boat where it is and start from there.

The conditions were calm and stable in the morning.  You could see a shadow of Santa Rosa.


Pic1.  Unknown.  Somewhere on Santa Cruz.


Pic2.  Here I am taking a pic in 25 feet of water.  You can tell by the kelp I was in.
Nice and calm. 


Pic3.  Here I am in the same position thereabouts looking towards the Point.
Very good fishy area.   I picked up some nice kelp rockfish.


Pic4.  Here is a pic as we head West down the coast.
Plenty of cliffs on Santa Cruz.  Not much beach.


Pic5.  Rick dropped us off right on a fishy spot, as I work West, down the coast, kelp and structure is here and there.
This is another pic as I head down coast.


Pic6.  Some people tried shallow, others deep.


Pic7.  Fishing was slow.  I was able to get a rockfish here and there.
It was mostly kelp we fished.  Not a whole lot of rocky structure were found heading down the coast.
Here is the Destination point.  Notice the wind picked up.


Pic8.  I would love to tell you about the great big game fish, or the amount of action we had.
But it just was not so.  Remember this is late in November fishing in 59 degree water.
A heard a splash by one of the three amigos and I instantly cast my jig towards the fish.
And looked what I caught.  The jackpot fish.


Anyone notice I was wearing red?  This is a good time to be visible.  Unlike some kayaks that was made to go stealth, I have a red one, with a red jacket and red hat.

The Black Pearl crew is not sleeping in the quarters while we fish.
They are actually keeping an eye on us.  A deck hand was on a skiff driving around making sure we are all right and pointing us to possible fishy spots. Once through the radio, Captain Rick told us of the birds crashing.  Right there is an example how the crew is keeping us on the fish. 

At this time the wind started to get snotty. White caps.....yuck! 
The destination point looked like a real nice spot to fish.

Pic9,10,11.  Pics of destination




Pic 12.  notice the white water around the rocks.  I no longer felt the need to fish it. 



And that was it for session I.  Went back on the boat.  Had lunch and headed towards Session II.

Edit:
Radio and life vest are a must on these trips.  You need to be constantly visible with the boat and in communication with them.

Edit: Misspelled words