HMB derby

A big thanks to everyone for such an incredible day! Even though my catch of the day was just about every species of kelp, getting out there in the fog was a confidence builder for me. I really enjoyed meeting you guys (and gals, I'm pleased to say) and putting faces to screen names. What a great group of people!

Janice aka "Big J"

Looks like a great event.  Way to go to everyone who participated.  Congrats to Duane and the other winners.   

Thanks to all who put on a great show and it was nice to meet everyone. Hopefully hook up with one or more of you on the sea again. 

Big "J" nice to meet with you

Many thanks to all those who participated  and to all the Sponsors that donated prizes. Thanks to Doug and Chris of HMB Kayak Company for their hospitality and support.

I also wanted to thank Bob Neal for the great Saturday night chili dinner and also sharing his live bait with me (I caught several underlings with live shiners) and also to Tim / Mr. Magoo for also sharing his frozen squid (which caught several chinas and gophers).

Congrats to Duane, Allan and Dave for their ability to find quality fish while others (like me) were lost in the fog 

Thanks to: Frank, Joe and Jennifer, JTF and Jason for taking charge of the BBQ grill.

special mention: Rich / Granite Dive = the lobster creole was awesome 

pics to follow....

72 yaks!! Congrats Bill, this thing is gettin huge! And huge congrats to ya Duane, it all came back and I'm sure the new yak is making it ooooh so much better. Good one everyone for getting together and going out it looks like an absolute blast! One thing is for sure, I won't miss another NCKA tournament.  

Z

Thanks for a great time Bill and Chuck, you guys rock.  Gongrats to Duane for his first place ling and Dave and Allen for 2nd and 3rd.  Dave you have a 2nd and 3rd place finish.  You better win the big one soon! You don't want to end up like Peyton Manning before he won the big one.
Anyway I didn't think about this till later but normally if I can't see land from shore because of the fog it seems a little spooky.  However, with so many kayaks on the water it never realy crossed my mind.  Great event!

Jason

What a great event that was.  It seems like it's impossible to attend an NCKA event that isn't top notch.

Liz was totally excited about the black she caught, her first kayak fishing rock fish!! I'm glad she didn't feak out on the swells and the fog.    Thanks Chuck for letting us hang with you for a bit...it was good to be guided over to the green can.

One thing that's for sure is that I'm going to be buying a GPS real soon.

Congrats to Duane and all of the other winners and a big thank  you to all those responsible for putting the event on and also to the sponsors who provided such great prizes.

Thx to Bill and all else who put in their time to make 72 MAD YAKers take to the ocean! 
Even if I only lasted about 30min. of jiggin/bobbin. 

Grats to INSANE DUANE of the EASTBAY SLAYERS!!   He hooks all up with the smelt when he can, but this time?
NOT!!  way to get down Duane!

Pic#1 ~I think this BULL had mistaken my yellow colored yak as a potential cow hookup

Pic#2 ~ outside the wall Dan is lurkin



Would do it all again in a heartbeat!!  When is the next get together? (not elk)

A big huge thanks to Chuck and Bill for arranging the logistics of the tournament, and to all those sponsors that contributed ! Cobra, MacSki, HMB Kayaks, and Hobie just to start the list. And for all those of you that helped to bring in those additional sponsors!

That was a very impressive starting lineup of kayaks. I just have to wonder what the folks on the docks were thinking as the entire flotilla went out this morning. Plastic Navy indeed.

Conditions were pretty nice south of Pillar Point, but became very reminiscent of Elk 2006 + fog once you were "outside". I was beginning to question my beeline to the 50 foot depth zone 1 mile northwest of Pillar Point when I hadn't seen a soul in about 2 hours. Just after I did a radio check to reassure myself that the rest of you'se were still out there, I saw cafecraig through the fog. It wasn't long after that that the fog lifted just a bit, and the chop seemed to die down significantly as well. Lo and behold there were about half a dozen other 'yakers out there.

As for the fishing itself, I put one measly black in the boat, and had 4-5 short takes on the monster scampi that I was using. One little aggro underling let go right below the boat, and every time I tried to drop the jig, it would grab it again. I wanted to catch it just to teach it a lesson, but it eventually tired of the game and I was able to back to fishing. Fishing was slow enough that anyone that brought in a fish is to be commended. So extremely big kudos to the tourney winners!

Regards,
Scott

Congrats to the winners! Sounded like a great time... next year Im in it!

Their was one guy yelling at us from a boat about how many of us their are on the beach.

Reminds me of my favorite moment from the day. As we all launched, I noticed a light on in the boat at the corner of the first pier.  Didn't see anyone on the boat and was thinking there was just a light left on, when out of the berth window a crusty old geezer sticks his head out, sees 70 kayaks floating past, and says "Ooh, the bite must be on today!!"

I imagine that he'd have really freaked if he woke up only as 70 kayaks were landing / invading.

-- Dave

Big Congrats InsaneDwane on a Much Deserved win

Your Plan and Karma payed off,

Your Plan Killed,  Your Karma shook my monster Hali

All Good though, You would have killed me if I took another one from ya @ the last minute

Big Thanks to " Mooch " for reminding me every 5 Minutes with the " Your supposed to land those " comment...

I have to drown my sorrows in Rancho Leonaro

Great to see everyone and it would be nice to have more get to gethers, been to long...

Maybe more Money Between Friends (MBF )events to keep it simple and still be interesting,$$$$

  Thanks to: 

                  West Marine for the 3rd Place prize of a nice VHF radio and the coupons...


   Very hard to keep awake @ the B-Q, No sleep for 3 days 2 Dramamine made getting home very eventful,

  Great Event, nice to see so many Yakers, look forward to future events,

 But lets spread the love on the Raffles!! 

  Hasta Lueagos................Danglin 

Hey Duane -

Way to go. All that good karma from getting us all that bait for months finally paid off. You certainly deserved it  . My 24 inch ling looks like a dink compared to yours although any ling is better than no ling. Good to fish with Etienne although I am sure he thought I was crazy when we hit a couple of big swells just south of Mavericks. All in all a good day and great company.

Scott

Congrats Duane, I wished I could have been there. Sounds and looks like from the pictures it was a wild time.

Thanks to everyone that came and fished, Doug and Chris at HMB Kayak Company, Cobra, Outback Adventures, Hook 1, Aquan, Rollez (Wheeleez) and Mel Cottons for there support.

A BIG THANK YOU too to the Outdoor Pro Shop, Accurate, Jebran/Hibernet, and West Marine.

It's nice to having so many sponsors to thank!