Pigeon Point - The Glory Days
Fishing the reefs of Pigeon Point.
Story/Photos/Videos by Marc Owerfeldt

In 2015 I started getting into some really nice fish. Looking back these were the glory days at Pigeon Point.


Posted on June 14, 2015

This is not a trip report but a collection of pictures and notes from different trips around the 2015 timeframe. I was one of very few people fishing Pigeon Point from a kayak. While I fished both the northern and the southern side of the point, I soon began to specialize in the reefs to the south. This area had a reputation due to the elephant seal colony at Año Nuevo which is just a few miles to the south and I may have been the only kayaker at the time fishing the southern reefs.

There still are very few kayak fishermen daring this trip today (2020), power boats have a long open ocean apporach from either Half Moon Bay or Santa Cruz, and for that reason fishing still is excellent in this area.

My shark protection plan was simple. Paddle the biggest kayak I could carry down the bluff from the road above Whaler's Cove and make a good impression. After a while I refined my plan by adding anti-shark striping to the bottom of my hulls.

Was it luck or did my protection plan actually work? I will never know but at least I can say that I have not yet been attacked by a Great White yet.

Paddling toward Whaler Cove...
...trying to outrun some heavy swells.
Another close call that I escaped.

The series of pictures above was taking by a Pigeon Point tourist from the overlook platform. She later sent them to me by email. It was an intense day with sneaker waves rolling through. You can see by the wash that moments ago a massive set crashed on the iconic rock formation southeast of the lighthouse. It took some good timing and nerves to make it through and back to the safety of Whaler's Cove.

Back at the beach with a nice ling.
A typical catch.
In 2015 lingcod were plentiful. The daily limit was increased to three per day.

In 2015 schools of mackerels used to roam these waters. My fishing typically consisted of catching half a dozen mackerels right off the point, keeping them in my live bait torpedo on the way out to the reef, and then floating one down to the reef on a big circle hook. Within minutes it would find a taker, typically a sizeable lingcod. After filling out my lingcod limit I would switch to fishing octopus which is a better bait for most rockfish.

Fishgirl and a big Vermilion.