Posted on December 20, 2020

This is a story about two seperate trips to the waters between Pigeon Point and Año Nuevo. The first one was a solo trip on November 29, for the second trip on Decemober 20 I was joined by Rob from Sacramento. In the weeks between these trips, fishing the reefs south of Pigeon Point was not possible as the coast was battered by winter storms.

I had fished other locations this year targeting halibut, petrale sole and salmon, but it was exciting to be back to my home waters of Pigeon Point. Just a few days ago my new boat had arrived from South Africa, a Stealth Profisha 575, and I was looking forward to break it in.

Part I

This was my day. The ocean laid flat and there was not a soul in sight. On the way out I passed the iconic lighthouse before I turned south. Another 30 minutes of paddling at a brisk pace and I arrived at one of my favorite reef spots. On the very first drop I immediately hooked up. Oh, this was a heavy fish. I started my GoPro to document the catch of my first fish from the Profisha, but after a few minutes of heavy fighting - I gave the ling the bluefin treatment - the hook came out. Well, that's what happens when you start the camera too early, I thought, but let's move on. Soon another heavy fish took my bait herring. This time it broke the leader. Then, for a third time I felt the weight of a serious fish, and again the hook came out. What's going on? Totally unprofessional, and very un-plankton-like. Did Neptune put a spell on my new fishing yacht? I felt like I was with the gang that couldn't shoot straight as I did not remember a day when I lost three trophy fish in a row. Even worse, I was almost out of bait.

I took a break to calm my nerves and paddled to another spot further south. There was no activity for at least an hour or two, but eventually something took an interest in my offerings. This time the hook set well and I landed a medium sized lingcod. Not the trophy I was after, but there it was - my first catch from the new Stealth. Things would surely get better now, or so I hoped. And they did. A few minutes later I bagged my second lingcod (which completed the legal limit for the day). I switched to swimbait and kept fishing just to see what else was in the water. I hooked a few nice rockfish and four more lingcod, all of small to medium size. Catch & release. Not a bad day. I had my Thanksgiving Dinner in the boat and quite enjoyed the first fishing trip with the new Stealth.

Part II

It took almost a full month before I had another shot at a lingzilla from Pigeon Point. This time Rob from Sacramento joined me, and that was a good thing since these waters are dangerous — large Great White Sharks — and hauling boat & gear up and down the cliff above Whaler's Cove also gets a lot better when you're working in a small team.

Since my last trip I thought often of those big fish that had escaped and believed that I figured it out. This time I brought bigger circle hooks, VMCs in size 6/0, and 40# leaders.

We paddled out but unlike three weeks earlier there was not activity on the fishfinder and our hooks remained untouched for quite a long time. Then it happened. This was quite a pull, very similar to the three heavy takedowns from November but with one important difference: the hook set like a circle hook should. After several dashes spanning the entire water column, and a close fight around the edges of the reef, I had a rather big lingcod at the boat. A clean gaff shot, a well secured game clip, and the fish was mine. Finally!

Rob and I kept fishing for several more hours, caught a beautiful bright-red vermilion each, a number of large brown rockfish as well as three more lingcod. However, the fish of the day was my very first one. It just shows that you have to be ready when it happens, be it on the first drop of the day, or the last, or anywhere in between.

The big lingcod came in at 25 pounds and measured over 38 inches in length. While in Alaska they can grow much bigger, for Pigeon Point a 25-pounder is a fish.

Back in Tracy the party was on. There were about 80 pounds of cod in total and much of it we gave away. For a few hours my driveway turned into a fish market in the middle of a desert. Good times!