Lost Coast - 6/6/10

The bite has been extremely slow south of the Cape.  A few trips to Shelter Cove and even my honeyholes over along the Lost Coast have produced very little in the way of rockies or lingcod.  I'm having a great time on the water, and good fortune will come soon enough on the fishing front.  Sunday it was MBYakker and I trying our luck over at the Cape.  I arrived first around 7:30AM and the water looked unsettled - flat but very choppy inside, and some huge whitecaps outside already.  Chris arrived after a while and we decided to give it a go.  Once we got outside the launch we realized the ocean was in no condition to be fishing in.  The mixed swell and severe wind chop were combining to form a dangerously excited surface - it was similar to a mechanical bull ride, and that's not good for yakfishing!  I took a few waves over my bow that ended up depositing nearly a gallon of water in my hull.  We bailed off the water, packed boats and gear back up the hill and into my truck, and we re-launched at a more sheltered inshore spot where I've scored big cabs, blacks, grassies and greenies in the past.  Even though the water was a nice green with a few feet of vis, and we tried both plastic and a tasty selection of squid, ab guts, chovies and octopus, the fish just weren't biting at all.  We called it a morning at 11AM, and I decided to do a little experimentation with my kayak and flotation.  I have two dozen pool noodles and 4 crab floats in my hull, and I've wondered how well it will float me and my boat should I take on water.  What I learned was that a partially full hull is very tippy - this is because the water will cascade from one side to the other and cause you to flip as all the water weight hits the downhill side.  When the hull was full there was no such side to side "sloshing" and weight transfer, so the yak was pretty stable.  I could paddle it (very slowly) when it was full, and I filled it as much as I could with my pump after getting as much in the hatches as I could.  Swamping the boat was a great experience and another little milestone in my kayak life.  I do hope the fish decide to bite soon.   

Bummed the bite has been off up there for you guys...like you said, I'm sure it is only a matter of time before it turns on.

Really cool video and demonstration of the swamping....

I've got 19 noodles in the new yak, and plan on adding some more floatation here in awhile...while the rod-pod on the T15 may be a place where water can enter, it also  seems like a super convenient place to pump water out of...I have my pump clipped to a lanyard around one of the scupper columns and wedged under the drybag with my emergency/first-aid stuff so feel confident that it will always be within easy reach if/when I need to start pumping.

Thanks again for sharing Eric.

Sincerely,

Jim

More Classic Rock from the North Woods...

What I found is the swamping helped my head game...last yr I did same thing...but will have to reswamp because i didn't try to paddle around, just tried to sink it...very stable...16 noodles...

Great Vid...what i like is the video shows water conditions/compared to a pic where u can't see how severe it really is...

Thanks Bro...FISHON SOON!!!

Glad you guys got out
Thanks for the swamping lesson, I have 6 noodles in my hull and after seeing the video will add more
Thanks, Tad
 

That was probably the most pronounced mixed swell I've ever been in.  The waves were small . .something like 4-5ft from the NW and 1-2 from the W but it was, as Eric said, like riding a mechanical bull.  I'm usually pretty stable on the ocean but I felt like my chances of getting knocked off the yak were 50/50.  All it would've taken is a 2-3 footer from the W since I could only point my bow into 1 set.

I was bummed to call it quits but happy to land dry and with all my gear.  I have never had much success fishing in water like that, anyway.  Definitely enjoyed the next spot a lot more.  A few fish would've been nice but at least I could take my eyes off the water long enough to open a beer.  Anyday spent fishing on the lost coast is a good one.  But, yeah, enough of this rough weather/no bite stuff.  Let's get with the summer fishing!

Eric - Another nice video but I like the ones with fish in them better 

Great video as always.
When I first started to Kayak I took a class on self rescue that really saved my ass during a situation at,"The Bean". More of us need to get out on the water and experience what a swamped Kayak feels like on the water. It really makes a difference in balance and paddling when water intrudes into the hull. Thanks for the demo. http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,5985.0.html

Eric - Another nice video but I like the ones with fish in them better 

+1     

Thanks for sharing the video Eric. Yeah, last year Shelter Cove I had done the same thing. The swell and mixture of wind chops made me leave the good fishing behind once I reached my limit
of comfort zone. Better safe than sorry I always say.

Jedmo

Times like that I'm glad to be sticking to the freshwater over here! 

The ocean has to lay down sooner or later.  They're calling for 98 degrees this weekend here (normal), so I think things are finally going to stabilize...we'll see.

Nice ummm, research guys! I imagine there was an intense safety meeting prior to conducting this research 

Eric,

Thanks for the swamping demo.  I've experienced the half full instability, and with just a little bit of chop it was about all I could do to stay upright till I got to shore which was thankfully only 100yds away as I was still taking on water thru a cracked hull.

Two things I got from your demo, I stopped at 16 noodles but am thinking more are in order and properly placed I've got plenty of room. And I think your demo was good enough for me to learn from and not do my own.

And since you did the pictorial of your hull repair, I'm glad you have all that flotation in yours. 

Thanks for the video ! Now eveythime I watch the one of your videos that show you looking over the Gator seat it looks like I'm on the water. Do you do anything to the noodles in your hull? Someone mentioned that you sealed them up or do you just push them in?
thanks
Jimbo

Do you do anything to the noodles in your hull? Someone mentioned that you sealed them up or do you just push them in?
thanks
Jimbo

I put about half of them in Seal-A-Meal, but it's lost it's seal.  Still, contrary to what some have suggested, the pool noodles do not seem to be soaking up any water.  The plastic sleeve helps to keep them organized so other hull items are easily placed and retrieved.  The "pontoon" of noodles in the S-A-Meal is up front, in a V shape from the bow and leading back either side.  In back I've just stuffed another dozen or so in to the stern - I don't store anything there anyway.  The crab floats are under my seat and center hatch area and they help tremendously with stabilization of that area as I have repaired some cracks around the hatch.

Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron comes to mind...  I want to get on one of those little hotrod, slim yaks with nothing in the hull - should be like paddling a helium boat with a machete keel.   

Thanks for the insight. I will be sealing my back hatch after I have filled it up with noodles. I see it doesn't create a tight seal and I believe this is where I took on a lot of water last time and plan  on gooping it shut. I don't think I will use this hatch much anyway. Does plumber putty work well on the center hatch? I was thinking about putting a nicethick layer here for a better seal and was wondering if anyone uses that.
Thanks
jim

Glad you have fun out there Eric.  Thank you for the report and sharing your experience with us.