CoffeaRobusta
11-08-2008, 12:12 PM
I have been wanting to try kayak fishing for awhile. I don't what it is about boats but I love being on the water. My Dad used to an an engineer on merchant ships--maybe I got a little salt in my veins. I can't afford a proper ocean fishing boat so I've been looking at alternatives that suit my constraints. Inflatables, toons, tubes, kayaks...I seem to keep coming back to the yaks.
I have been kayaking only once before, and canoeing a few times (ah...good times..like the time we found a full bottle of JD just bouncing along the bottom of the river with the current). When my friend Wokiee bought a new kayak, he kept inviting me out since he now had two kayaks. Things kept popping up that prevented me from going, and finally we were able to hook up.
Ha! I was looking forward to it all day at work on Friday...I kept checking the weather forecast...and sent a text to Wokiee...
Kayak tonight? Wind waves 2 ft. W swell 2-4 ft @ 10 Sec. Wind <10 knots. High Tide 4:30. Low Tide 11:00. Moon half full, setting @ 1:16 AM. Air temp 58 deg F
By the time I got off work and to the M street dock at NPH it was 5:30 PM...gear up (dang, forgot the waterproof camera) and on the water by 6:00. Paddled out to the mouth of Newport harbor and dropped the hoop net. The paddle out was pretty smooth. Conditions were even better than the weather report. Inside the harbor it was all glass, light wind, warm, lots of ambient light from the moon.
I was using his old kayak, an 11' Ocean Kayak Scrambler. It seemed to track well, but is probably not the most stable platform--not the worst either. I wouldn't want to take a big wave broadside, but I never ended up in the drink that night.
Tried drifting the channel entrance for fish while the hoop marinated but din't catch anyhting. That was ok as I was mostly learning how to fish off a kayak. Simple things are harder on a kayak, I found. Rigging tackle was a pain as I had to remember where I stowed things, wiggle around on the yak to reach things with out tipping over, all the while staying aware of where I was in relation to the current, rocks, and other boats in the dark with only a meager headlamp. I can really see that you need to get system down. At one point a sea lion popped up 3 feet away from me and nearly scared the crap outta me. Some might say it's crazy being out on a small boat at night, but I had fun.
The first pull on the hoop didn't produce. Ah well, my experience with bugs is that they generally crawl late. Wokiee suggested that we had out to the kelp bed. hell, I was game. We paddled out the entrance and turned south and still there wasn't much wind and the swell had to be 1 foot. After a little lesson on the best way to fish it, and other tips like using the kelp to anchor yourself if you don't wnat to drift. I slipped a strip of squid onto a leadhead and dropped it to the bottom. And wham -fish on! A nice Calico at 12 in...legal but decided to let it go. In short order I was able to do it again. This time for a ten incher. This was fun...
It was time to check the hoop again so we went back in, for nada. Wokiee had to work the next day so we fished for a little longer and then headed back in. I probably could have stayed out there all night. Going against the tide was a bit of work, but doable. Wokiee new yak has pedal drive so he was doing circles around me the whole night.
Anyway what can I say? It was a beautiful night and perfect conditions for being on the water. Now I want a kayak more than ever.
I have been kayaking only once before, and canoeing a few times (ah...good times..like the time we found a full bottle of JD just bouncing along the bottom of the river with the current). When my friend Wokiee bought a new kayak, he kept inviting me out since he now had two kayaks. Things kept popping up that prevented me from going, and finally we were able to hook up.
Ha! I was looking forward to it all day at work on Friday...I kept checking the weather forecast...and sent a text to Wokiee...
Kayak tonight? Wind waves 2 ft. W swell 2-4 ft @ 10 Sec. Wind <10 knots. High Tide 4:30. Low Tide 11:00. Moon half full, setting @ 1:16 AM. Air temp 58 deg F
By the time I got off work and to the M street dock at NPH it was 5:30 PM...gear up (dang, forgot the waterproof camera) and on the water by 6:00. Paddled out to the mouth of Newport harbor and dropped the hoop net. The paddle out was pretty smooth. Conditions were even better than the weather report. Inside the harbor it was all glass, light wind, warm, lots of ambient light from the moon.
I was using his old kayak, an 11' Ocean Kayak Scrambler. It seemed to track well, but is probably not the most stable platform--not the worst either. I wouldn't want to take a big wave broadside, but I never ended up in the drink that night.
Tried drifting the channel entrance for fish while the hoop marinated but din't catch anyhting. That was ok as I was mostly learning how to fish off a kayak. Simple things are harder on a kayak, I found. Rigging tackle was a pain as I had to remember where I stowed things, wiggle around on the yak to reach things with out tipping over, all the while staying aware of where I was in relation to the current, rocks, and other boats in the dark with only a meager headlamp. I can really see that you need to get system down. At one point a sea lion popped up 3 feet away from me and nearly scared the crap outta me. Some might say it's crazy being out on a small boat at night, but I had fun.
The first pull on the hoop didn't produce. Ah well, my experience with bugs is that they generally crawl late. Wokiee suggested that we had out to the kelp bed. hell, I was game. We paddled out the entrance and turned south and still there wasn't much wind and the swell had to be 1 foot. After a little lesson on the best way to fish it, and other tips like using the kelp to anchor yourself if you don't wnat to drift. I slipped a strip of squid onto a leadhead and dropped it to the bottom. And wham -fish on! A nice Calico at 12 in...legal but decided to let it go. In short order I was able to do it again. This time for a ten incher. This was fun...
It was time to check the hoop again so we went back in, for nada. Wokiee had to work the next day so we fished for a little longer and then headed back in. I probably could have stayed out there all night. Going against the tide was a bit of work, but doable. Wokiee new yak has pedal drive so he was doing circles around me the whole night.
Anyway what can I say? It was a beautiful night and perfect conditions for being on the water. Now I want a kayak more than ever.