Hello all, I just wanted to share an experience I had the past few days at Cambria for the groundfish opener. I had my mind set on catching a Lingcod, I even fished the Ling rock at Redondo the day before driving up to Cambria with no success.
Before I start, it would be really helpful if you gave me a follow on Instagram at @nomad.waterman . I post regularly with some neat stuff on my page and I'd like to reach more people like you!
On Wednesday, March 31st, I drove from Orange County to meet with a friend and grab some ice. I found a spot to camp in my car and get some rest for an epic few days ahead.
That morning, I went over to the launch and met with some cool people who were just as excited as I was. Here's a night shot at Leffingwell Landing (love this mode on the Google Pixel 5, it was pitch black and I could still take these pictures).
I loaded up the Stealth and paddled 2.8 miles straight out to 230' as I found some interesting rocks on Google Earth. The first drop with the Mustad Inkvader 120g yielded my biggest rockfish of the trip, a 6.5lb Vermillion!
After a snag and a snap, I switched over to a 7" big hammer paddletail on a 3oz jig head and it was wide open Copper fishing from there. Yes, it took a little while to get down but the nice freespool on the Cavalla 5nii and some paddling skill got it down without much line scope. Two pitches and pauses with the swimbait was all it took to get a bite.
After a few hours and no Lingcod, I paddled back in to see if I could fish the kelp. There wasn't much of it unlike what Google Earth shows. My friend was diving that day and said purple urchin was everywhere. Man, we need some more sheephead! Catching and releasing those are really helpful to our environment, so think about that.
The landing was nice and easy. Had a quick picnic on the hill with some friends and made some ceviche with a starry rockfish and some home grown Rocoto peppers.
The next day, Anthony (OCOutdoorsman on youtube) came to join on his Old Town Bigwater PDL. That thing is so fast and efficient. We were doing between 4.5-6mph without much effort. We went to the spot and it was the same story. Coppers everywhere!
The third day, there were probably 70 kayaks on the beach when we launched. We got some intel the day before, so we headed South this time about 2.7 miles to some rocky bottom about 80-130' deep. I used the same 7" swimbait and quickly limited on Vermillions and had no bites that felt like Lingcod. So I switched from the big hammer over to a Kalin Mogambo 6" grub and the Lingcod loved it. A couple drops with the lure put me on a 21" Lingcod. I let that guy go and soon after... I snagged. I pulled hard to release the snag, but the snag fought back with some nasty headshakes. I realized I had a bigger Lingcod on and I played it out with the 25lb leader because I knew this was the fish I came for. A short fight later, I got a 31" Lingcod that weighed 9lb 4oz on the beach after bleeding out. Maybe it was 10lbs wet? So stoked I didn't even feel the 15-20mph wind on the way back. I love the Stealth, I averaged 3.5mph going directly into the wind.
All in all, this was such a fantastic trip. Made me really think about what I want to do with my life as I don't want these to be "once in a while" experiences. I mean, come on, look at how beautiful the night sky was there. We don't see much of that in SoCal (or any populated areas really).
Thanks for reading, and please give me a follow on Instagram! Soon I'll start focusing more on YouTube, but I lost my last GoPro so I need a new one and some mounts.
One last shot of the Stealth:
