By Paul Lebowitz

Unstable weather had central and northern California’s 2007 salmon season off to a tough start. Boaters with a high tolerance for nasty conditions were nailing a few kings off Monterey County’s Point Pinos in the early going. The fish were big 30-lbers but, given the rotten weather, too far offshore for the kayak set.

That’s not an unusual situation. Kayakers can only get to the king salmon when they swing in safely close to shore. It never really happened in 2006. 2005 was a much better story. Then the fish tucked in tight, allowing kayakers to tally fish just outside the breakers. Allen Bushnell remembers that season fondly.

“The bait was in for the entire month of July. Guys were limiting every day out of Linda Mar Beach. It was the best kayak salmon bite ever,” Bushnell said.

Bushnell, who runs Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing, has been chasing kayak salmon for 7 years. He loves to target the unpredictable fish.

“Salmon are the premier inshore gamefish in Northern California. They’re the most beautiful and they taste mighty good,” Bushnell said.

Because salmon only rarely move into range, Bushnell said it’s critical to follow reports and pounce when the time is right. Follow the schools and follow the bait.

A few of the most popular kayak launch spots are Moss Landing; Coral Street in Monterey; Bean Harbor at Pigeon Point; and Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica.  

Kayakers use the same techniques as boaters. Allen said most mooch, which is nothing more than drifting a bait at a precise depth on a vertical line. Rig a sliding sinker or banana weight and bait an anchovy on a single barbless circle hook.

A fishfinder is critical for locating bait schools. Otherwise monitor the VHF and hope a powerboater shares the correct depth. Count the bait down at the edge of a bait ball and then, as Allen described it, wait for that little tap, tap.

Allen uses a parabolic rod, a medium or slow action 8-ft. glass or graphite model mated with a 20-class reel. “You’ve got to have leader, 3 or 4 ft. of 25-lb. fluorocarbon,” Allen added.

Now we come to that other method, trolling, which is used to locate scattered fish. Not so bad with the range of a powerboat, but truly salmon the hard way from a kayak. It’s complicated by the need to drag around a heavy 1 or 2-lb. ball, a diving plane or downrigger, or other gear-intensive tricks to keep a natural bait or a lure such as a hoochie or Apex down deep.

That’s where salmon catcher Paul Gurnee comes in. Known as Bluekayak to the posters at internet site NorCal Kayak Anglers, the mysterious iconoclast thinks nothing of trolling 25 long miles in a single day.

BLUEKAYAK IN THE FLESH – NorCal Kayak Anglers Paul Gurnee on dry land at Bolinas Lagoon with a 37-lb. king salmon caught the hard way. Gurnee is a local legend; the man known on the NCKA website will troll up to 25 miles a day in his kayak. PHOTO COURTESY PAUL GURNEE

A FISH TO BE PROUD OF – New Ocean Kayak Fishing Crew member Joel Lotilla with a 27-lb. king salmon caught in a previous season out of Moss Landing. Lotilla paddled four miles north to Pajaro for his hook-up off a bait ball. Looks like he earned himself some admirers. PHOTO COURTESY JOEL LOTILLA

“My only secret is paddle, paddle, paddle,” Gurnee told me modestly. The journey seems to matter more to Gurnee than a positive result. “I’ve caught enough salmon in my life,” said Gurnee, who enjoys encountering whales and other wildlife on his long forays.

Gurnee considers Moss Landing one of the worst places to fish, because he once hooked a salmon within five minutes of clearing the jaws. “I had to turn around and paddle in,” Gurnee said ruefully and meant it.

The desire to cover lots of distance isn’t Gurnee’s only departure from mainstream ways of thinking. Gurnee doesn’t care for the current direction of fishing kayak design.

“I can’t believe kayak makers design a kayak to accommodate a milk crate,” Gurnee complained. Where he paddles, it’s better to have a clean deck up topside so he can get back on quickly if he’s tossed miles from shore. A big hatch in the back is preferable for easy access to the hull for storing gear.