Kayak Connections Fathers Day Kayak Fishing derby / June 17, 2007

Location: Loch Lomond


I will leave the official results for Mark (of Kayak Connection) to post...meanwhile here are some pics 

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There are baby Savages out there????..........oh my.........

Congrats Janice and Stuart.

But, enough with the suspense, Mooch.......who were you Daddy to?

Cool to see NCKA doing so well.

But, enough with the suspence, Mooch.......who were you Daddy to?

I don't recall 

Looks like good times.  Too bad my body overruled my decision to make it out there today.

Congrats to all of the winners.

Looks like fun.  Wish I could have made it.  I'm still building up WAF after the HMB derby.

There was a waiting line of cars with kayaks on top to get into Loc
Lomond at 6 AM Sunday morning.  Cold and dark a good time to catch
fish.  I was nervous again with only 3 juniors and 7 adults signed up.
Who were going to eat all the hotdogs?  But true to form the usual
fisherman posse (25) started to assemble their kayak crafts and
participate in the annual fathers day tournament.

We had Grandfathers ,fathers, and grandchildren competing.  Fishing
with my father, cousins, and grandfather where some of my favorite
childhood memories.  The fog was drifting off the 72 degree lake like
dancing ladies.  Unfortunately the bass weren't biting like last year. 
The VHF radio had very little traffic.  The end of the day left Scott
Gee as winner of the derby with a 12 oz. trout and a new Ocean Kayak
Prowler donated by Ocean Kayak.  Eric Hinz came in late so we could not
count his fish.  Second place went to Dennis Simms a 11 oz trout. 
Third place was Stuart Imikano with a 8 oz whopper.  Janice Loster took
the womens division with a 5 oz. trout that fit amazingly well in a
hotdog bun.  Junior division went to 7 year old Evan Horio the only
junior to catch a legal fish.

The day ended with a hotdog roast.  Even though the fish were small. 
Spending quality time with the family more than made up for it.  Highly
suggest going to Loc Lomond any time.  Its a beautiful place to test
your fishing and kayaking skills.

Unfortunately they don't allow human body contact with the water. 
Which restricts swimming and several other activities such as sailing
and kayaking.  Can someone explain to me why  birds and animals can
enter the water but it is restricted for people.  This water goes
through the aquafer before it gets consumed by humans.  This human body
contact restriction is used by many other water districts throughout
the state to prohibit swimming and other uses.  While dogs can swim
unfettered all day.

See you at our salt water fishing contest at Davenport Landing Sunday,
September 9, 2007.

Mark Pastick
Kayak Connection

Nice pics Moochie...

Couldn't ask for much more on Dad's Day... fishing with the family is as good as it gets. Jr had a tough time with the slow bite and Ethan was ready to head for the hills. Poor little guy... woke up at 4am, hit the water and by 1pm, he was passed out on Melissa's lap while we were bluegill fishing. He may look all cute but he's an animal. I'm affraid to see where he'll be in a few more years. Jr did pretty good considering how slow the bite was. He caught a couple of smallish trout which was good for first place in the JRs division. I don't think any of the other JRs caught anything. As for me... I had fun with the boys and doing my best impression of being the trolling motor.

Freddie

Congratulations to all.

The end of the day left Scott
Gee as winner of the derby with a 12 oz. trout and a new Ocean Kayak
Prowler donated by Ocean Kayak.

That has to be a record.... Given the cost of the kayak relative to the weight of the fish, I figure that fish is worth about $1200/lb.

Even though the bite was off, this event was SO much fun! Of course, NCKA was well represented, and we made our usual "splash" on and off the water, impressing bystanders from as far away as SoCal and Oregon. And here's a picture of the "trolling motor" with his captains--just what Father's Day is all about. Great day with great friends!

Janice aka "Big J"

Just wanted to Thank Mark of Kayak Connection for organizing this Derby - and also to Ocean Kayaks for donating the "Ocean-kayak-of-your-choice" as a first place prize 

Congratulations to Scott / greatbass2 for taking care of business - even though the bite was slow 

Thanks to all that participated!

Molbasser - good to see you again!

Forgot to thank my sugar moma (Big J) for bringing the brownies and to Theresa for sharing her cookies with me 

Also to Tim (my fellow asian brother  ) for bringing da sodas and chips.

I truly apologize for forgetting the lumpia  I had all the cooking stuff but forgot the lumpia  I'll make up for my stupidity somehow 

Well I wasn’t planning on fishing Loch Lomond or freshwater at all until the fall when the lakes turnover but when I saw the tournament post and found out Molbasser was going to be there to defend his title, I thought it might be worth the drive  and salmon are a good cause anyway. On Saturday, when I was digging out my freshwater tackle I read Molbasser’s post that if you weren’t fishing for LMB, you were fishing to lose. I am not much of a bass fisherman nor have I had any success on LL with anything except trout. I  packed an assortment of bass lures and at the last moment, I decided to bring my downrigger and a few trout lures just in case Mol was wrong. Got to LL at 6:45 and talked to Alien, Marmite, Big J and Freddie before the gates opened. When Freddie mentioned that he had never caught a LMB at LL either, and I knew it was going to be a hard day of fishing. Launched at 7 AM and headed to the north end of LL to fish for LMB while fast trolling Rapala SR5’s through the trout area north of the island. The water was warm (72 degrees) with an air temperature of 55 degrees. It was like fishing in a hot tub with steam coming off the water, not good fishing conditions for my likes  since I prefer fishing on the move with lures, either cast or trolled. Although I bring an anchor, I have never used it since kayaks freed me from being a “bait-soaking shore angler” 2 years ago. I fished the cover and structure on the north end with primarily wacky rigged senkos, drop shot stick baits and shaky worms from 5-30 FOW with no success. Since there were no reports of LMB caught, I decided to switch to downrigger trout trolling at 10:30. Initially tried dodgers with kastmasters and crystal buggers from 15-25 feet with no success. Switched to willow leaf flashers and a red rainbow runner trailing a ½ inch red powerbait earthworm fished at 25-30 feet. I was talking to Alien on the VHF around 11:15 and he also had caught no fish so I decided to wind up the downrigger and head home. When I pulled up the downrigger, there was a small planter trout on the lure. I was going to release him because of the size and I felt bad about dragging him around LL for who knows how long  but when I called it in on the VHF, Mooch said to keep him. Paddled back for the weigh-in and when Mooch saw my trout, he said it might be the winner. I thought he was joking, as Mooch often does, and was surprised when it did come in first place at 13 inches and 12 ounces  . It would have been more satisfying to win my first tournament with a bigger fish, however, conditions were tough, there were some really good anglers in the competition and I fished hard and used everything I have learned since joining NCKA to catch the winning fish. I would like to thank Kayak Connections (Mark) and Ocean Kayak (Joel) for sponsoring the event and all of the NCKA folks who have helped me become a better fisherman. Looking forward to paddling the new Trident which I will give to my son who goes to school in La Jolla and stick with my P15 which I love. That way if I just happen to be down south and the yellow tail bite is on...