Half Moon Bay Team Cobra Kayak Trip

by Ed Whited

Nor Cal Kayak Anglers and Cobra Kayaks sponsored a fishing tournament on July 30th at Pillar Point marina, just north of Half Moon bay. For those whom may not know where Half Moon Bay is, it is located just south of San Francisco, about even with San Mateo and Redwood City on the coast. This event was patterned off the Plastic Navy’s Money Between Friends events. It was even called MBF. This is a jackpot event with a $20.00 buy in and the biggest fish taking all. Cobra Kayaks provided a high quality seat for second place and a Powerflex paddle for third.

Rik (Rikshaw) Hawthorn of Cobra, John Pawlak (Eagleye), Jack (Defjack) Lamoureux, Kevin (Yakslam) Joyce and I drove up Friday. John and I carpooled to save gas and keep each other company on that long boring trip through the San Joaquin Valley. Five hours into the trip everything was going great when all of the sudden John said something “white” just flew out of the truck. He said it wasn’t anything thing of his. It wasn’t my sea bag full of pillows and sleeping bag, my black bag of clothes, my blue tackle bag, wait, the tub in my bait tank is white. John, was that a plastic tub that flew out? It could have been, all I know is when that semi hit it, it exploded in a million pieces. Mystery solved. I was just glad I had not caused an accident. Why that tub decided to fly out then, I will never know. That tub has ridden in a milk crate strapped to the tank well of my Fish N Dive for the last three years. It waited 5 hours, traveling at 70-75 miles an hour and all of a sudden just decided to jump out and commit suicide by diving in front of a semi-truck.

We made it to Livermore without any further excitement and met up with Rik and Kevin for lunch. Rik had the company truck and was hop scotching up and down the coast delivering kayaks along the way. After a gourmet meal, a “In and Out #2”, Cheeseburger, Fries and a drink we headed out for Half Moon Bay. After a nice drive across the San Mateo Bridge and up and over the coastal hills, we arrived at “Half Moon Bay Kayak Company” at the Pillar Point Harbor.

Rik introduced us to the owners, Doug Connor and Chris Manchester. Doug is a long time paddler and was on the U.S. White Water kayak team competing internationally. He also owns and operates Caribbean Kayak Adventures, a sea kayak business in Honduras. Chris has a history of long distance paddling and teaches for the National Outdoor Leadership School. He is a NOLS Instructor, ACA Certified, and is a Wilderness Medicine Institute Instructor. Doug and Chris started Half Moon Bay Kayak Company about a year ago. Don’t let the tent store front fool you. The Pillar Point Harbor regulations require their structure to be temporary and moveable. These guys have a professional, well-run business and are building a repeat customer base. While neither Doug nor Chris are anglers, they have listened well to the local fishermen so they can provide information on local fishing spots and general angling techniques. Most of their kayaks have flush mounted rod holders making it easy for an out of town angler to show up with a rod or two and his tackle and go fishing. Looking over their stable of kayaks, I immediately noticed that their Cobra Tandems had rudders. This is not a factory offered installation, so I was intrigued. Asking about it, Doug said he had very specific requirements for kayaks. He had asked other manufacturers for nonstandard equipment and was told that he was crazy, didn’t know what he was talking about and laughed at. Rik and Cobra Kayaks listened to HMBKC’s requirements and worked out a rudder installation for the Tandem. They even have a Navigator with a rudder. The Tandem rudder installation is very interesting to me as the tandem and the F~N~D have the same hull, so the installation should be similar.

We pitched tents in the back of Chris’ house and settled in for short nights sleep. It’s 0430 and John is shinning his light on the tent to wake me up. We walk down to the harbor and start to rig up. There are already people there, getting ready for the launch. I have no intention of launching in the dark to paddle in a area I don’t know. The event hours are 0530 to 1030. About 0545, there is enough light for me to see what’s going on so I launch with a group of other kayakers. Some head out to the second buoy to try for a salmon, others head towards the beach for halibut and I head for the reef near Mavericks. This is the famous Mavericks surfing spot where they have those monster waves and extreme surfing contests. But, on that day, the water was smooth as butter, no wind and a gentle two-foot swell. It was low tide so the bull kelp on the reef was visible, giving a good indication where the reef shallow spots were. The reef is actually a series of finger reefs paralleling the shore about a half-mile from the harbor entrance. I got the impression that the reefs did not get a lot of boat traffic or fishing pressure due to the shallowness and proximity to Mavericks. By the time I got out to the reef there are a few other kayakers already fishing. This is primarily shallow water rock fishing. Its too far north for Calico Bass, and Yellowtail, on the odd year they get a White Sea bass, but not too often.

I started out fishing with some Trixs Jetty Worms. This is the first time I had used them and they worked great in the kelp and rocky reefs. I ended up catching a short Lingcod and a short Cabazon with them. Meanwhile Kevin was just catching fish right and left, He caught a couple of legal Cabezon (culled down to the bag limit of one) and a nice Lingcod. Kevin called me over and said he was fishing a 20-foot high ledge that was between 30 and 50 feet deep. I started fishing nearby and shooting the breeze. John paddles up from around the point at Mavericks. He has a huge 9-pound plus Cabezon. I hook up with a nice drag pulling lingcod. After netting it, John says it looks short, I can’t believe a fish that big can be short, but measure it to be safe. John’s right, its 2 inches short. Defjack shows up, he has a couple of nice bass looking fish, later I find out they are black rockfish. They look like a very dark Calico Bass and even have a couple of white spots on their sides. John and Kevin decide to head into the harbor entrance and work the channel for halibut. Defjack and I stay out on the reef. I switch to large swimbait and get hit just off the bottom in about 40 feet. I get it to about half way up and it takes off, pulling drag to the bottom. I get it back up to about ¾ of the way to the surface and it heads back down, pulling out more line. Then nothing, I pull up my swim bait and inspect it, nothing, not a mark, didn’t pull my pants down, nothing to indicate a fish had even looked at much less almost rocking me twice. Yea I know, I can here you out there muttering to yourself, but this is my story and I’m telling it.
I’m a little bummed, Jack’s got a couple of nice rockfish, John has a impressive Cabezon, Kevin has a couple of keepers and all I have caught are shorts and to top it off, I just lost my nicest fish of the day. There’s only about a little over an hour to weigh in and I don’t have a fish. So what am I going to do, keep fishing and hope. Five long minutes later, I get a bite, nothing great, feels like a dead weight. I reel it up steady; my kayak has drifted over the line so as the fish comes to up it swims out from under my kayak. Holy Mackerel, no wait, Holy Lingcod, it’s the biggest Ling I have ever seen, much less caught. The head is huge and the body is fat and long. I pull out my net; it suddenly looks a lot smaller. Guiding the Ling’s head into the net, I realize its not going to fit. I scoop up the Ling’s head and shoulders, but most of the tail is sticking out. Pinning the fish against the side of my kayak, the tail is sticking straight up; the Ling decides to wake up. The Ling’s thrashing the water white and smacking the heck out of me. Finally, the fish calms down, it’s still hooked and I’m holding the net in one hand and my rod and reel in the other. Getting the net and fish on the kayaks deck, the Ling opens its mouth and out pops a pound and a half rockfish and in rockfish’s mouth is my swimbait. The Ling was a hitchhiker, I hooked the rockfish and the Ling ate rockfish and would not let go until after I netted it. So now what, I have the biggest Lingcod of my life, half in and half out of a net, pinned to the deck of my kayak with one hand and a seven and a half foot rod with a pound and a half rockfish swinging from the rod tip in the other.

I hollered for help from another kayak not far off. He paddles over to see what I need. I ask him to hold my rod so I can handle the Ling. Having that aircraft carrier of a kayak let me fight the Ling without even thinking about flipping was nice, now having the biggest center hatch of any kayak on the market made it easy to put my fish inside, net and all. Say what you want about slowness, but there are times a Fish N Dive can’t be beat. After I thank the kayaker for his assistance, I head in for the weigh in. The kayaker who assisted me had called out on channel 69 that one of the SoCal guys (me) had a big ling and chided his fellow NorCalers. I was feeling pretty good, but stopped myself from counting my chickens before the eggs hatched. You just never know. I was about 2 miles out so it’s a work out, but I got onshore about ten minutes early so I was good to go. After beaching, I open my hatch and pull out my Ling. Most of the anglers are on shore, and my ling is bigger than anyone else’s so far.

Just before cut off time Rik and a couple other kayakers, one of them in a blue Navigator, paddle around the corner and up to the beach. Rik tells everyone that Brian in the blue Navigator has the biggest Ling he has ever seen. I walk over and take a look. It’s no contest, Brian’s fish makes mine look average or smaller. What a great fish. We weighed the fish on electronic scales, mine is thirteen pounds eleven ounces, Brian’s Ling is over twenty eight pounds.

Below are photos of the weigh in.