After two nights camping in the Jackson State Forest, we were ready to head home. But we still had another day on the ocean shore on our way back. We were told that the Navaro River was blocked off at the ocean and was a flat lake for canoeing in. Marty wanted to go canoeing there with Cathy and Sean while I did another trip in the ocean. We got up reasonably early and broke camp so we would not have to return, and headed down the coast on highway one. Instead of going on another long trip like yesterday, I decided to go on a shorter trip just around the mouth of the Navaro River, and do some ocean fishing. When we got to the river, Sean decided that he DIDN'T WANT TO GO in the canoe. So Cathy had to stay behind, and since Marty didn't want to go canoeing alone, she stayed behind also. The best laid plans spoiled by a 4 year old, and nobody got to go canoeing. I still got to go kayaking while everyone else spent two hours playing on the beach.
Contrary to what I had been told, from up on the road I saw a trickle of river running out into the ocean with the low tide, so I got in the river near where we parked the car. Marty hadn't seen the trickle and joked to me about not being able to get into the ocean from here. But I did find the water running out to sea, and it was deep enough to take me most of the way. I struck a sand bar right where the river met the ocean and was stranded for a few seconds until a breaker came and lifted me free again. Then I paddled over the next few waves and easily made it out to sea.
The ocean near the river was very mild, despite the dire predictions of NOAA again. The area just north of the river mouth was full of kelp and rocks that just stuck out of the water. With all the kelp in it, the water had a black oily calm look to it. I paddled through this area, through a small arch, and found another calm cove north of the river. This cove had a row of rocks off shore that absorbed a lot of energy from the swells, so I tied up to some kelp in the middle of it and started fishing.
On Friday as we were driving up to our camp site, we had stopped at the Safeway in Fort Bragg to get some fresh local fish for our campfire dinner. After I bought some fish for us, I asked the woman behind the counter if she had anything appropriate for bait. She looked surprised, as if nobody ever asks for that here. "Do you need it for baiting crab traps"?. I said "No, I'm going to catch rock cod off a hook". She didn't directly answer my question, but seemed to just turn around and go back to work. I watched her put a piece of halibut "cheek" and a whole salmon collar in a big plastic bag. Then she picked up an even bigger, perhaps 10 pound, piece of halibut cheek and had trouble getting it to fit into the bag. "That's not for me is it?" I asked. Again she didn't say anything but stopped trying to stuff the fish in the bag and looked back at me. So I volunteered "I only need a quarter pound or so" and held up my hands to circle a small piece of air between thumbs and fingers. She still didn't say anything, but put the big piece of halibut away and wrapped up only the first two pounds of halibut and salmon trimmings for me. No charge. Afterwards, Marty said that we should not have bothered to buy any fish, but just lived off of my bait!
Two days later sitting in the ocean, I cut off a few small pieces of that bait, put it on two hooks and dropped them into the water. It turned out to be about ten meters deep underneath me. Then I set to work cutting up the rest of the bait while I waited. After about 15 minutes, something pulled REALLY HARD on the line, but then slipped away. A little while after that I caught a small but reasonable rock cod. Then the big one that got away grabbed my bait again, pulled REALLY HARD, and broke the fishing pole. Then it slipped off the hook again and got away a second time.
This was a telesoping fishing pole my father-in-law Russel sent me after he saw me kayaking while he was visiting recently. I have only used it twice on the ocean now. Both times it caught fish for me, but now it was broken beyond repair. I took off the broken end and dropped the hooks back in the water with just the first segment of the fishing pole (only 30 cm long now). Soon I caught another small rock cod. I guess in the kayak I don't need much of a pole since I can paddle out over the fish and hang the line straight down.
The whole time that I was fishing, I had my head down and my vision focused on the bait I was cutting up. The waves broke over the row of rocks offshore and turned back into mild swells. The tide turned and started back in and these swells got bigger. With my head down I usually didn't see them coming so I was rocked back and forth with little warning. The fog almost burned away, the sun came out, and warmed me up too much in my full wetsuit. The feel of oil on my hands and the ripening smell of the fish added to everything else and I started to feel queasy. Soon after I caught my second rock cod, I decided that I had enough. I threw away most of the bait, put away all the fishing equipment and headed back. I had done a half hour of exploring, an now an hour of fishing. If I did a little more exploring on my way back I would be just on time for the two hour fishing trip I promised Marty. With my head up and my hands on the paddle again, my queasiness soon cleared up and I felt great again. Two small rock cod turned out to be just enough for a nice fresh fish diner for Marty and me that evening. p When I got back in sight of the river, I slowed down to explore some more between the rocks in the shallow kelp bed. Marty and I have been talking about collecting mussels when the quarantine is lifted, and I have started to get impatient waiting for November to come around. I practiced getting close to the rocks and tugging on mussels to see how easy it will be to collect them. They are sharp and the rocks under them are rough as well. When I try this in earnest in November, I will bring out an old pair of work gloves to protect my hands. Other than that, it looks like I'll be able to easily collect them from areas far from the over-picked rocks close to shore.
I paddled across the entire length of the beach and back looking for Marty Cathy and Sean, but did not see them. So I went back to the mouth of the river and surfed into it on the waves. The tide had risen enough now that the water was flowing into the river instead of out, and I rode a breaker in without hitting bottom like the trip out. I padded around a corner, then parked the kayak and walked back into the waves. I was still overheated from sitting in the sun in the wetsuit and thought that a little body surfing would cool me down. Even without the gloves on, I was still toasty warm up to my neck in cold salt water. I tried letting some cold seep in for a minute, then got back in the kayak and headed up the river to where the car was parked. Then I removed the wetsuit and got into cool dry clothes while we packed everything up for the trip home.
