Haven't really noticed it too much, at least up in WA and OR where I've been looking.  Probably depends on how good of a season!  Any particular place to look?  Craigslist and FB market are pretty expensive. 

I will also amend my WTB with a cap of $5,000.  Trailer would be sweet.

Bump.  Still got this for sale.  I've sort of converted to fly fishing, and don't fish much still water, so I'm really motivated to sell this kayak.  Please make an offer. 

In case anyone here has a new Ford Ranger, I'm selling my DECKED drawer unit. 

Love it, but I'm no longer visiting job sites often and for my type of overlanding, I don't utilize it as much as I could. 

2019-2022 Ford Ranger 5ft bed

They sell for $1450 + tax and freight shipping.  I want $1300 cash, firm. 

It will be on a wooden pallet, ready to go. 

Vibe Shearwater 12.5ft kayak for sale.  Purchased in 2021, garage stored, pristine nearly brand new condition, includes original documentation.  https://vibekayaks.com/collections/kayaks/products/vibe-shearwater-125?variant=40224364265650

I love this kayak and its comfortable from lakes to blue water, but it's become apparent that it's overkill for my needs (nearshore, spearfishing, casual lakes) and we need to downsize to a 10ft.  The Shearwater can handle nearly 500 pounds load, a pretty big motor, and is 35" wide.

Does not include the pedal kit; you can either purchase the Vibe Xdrive to drop straight in or a Hobie Mirage and then the appropriate adapter plate.

Some light modifications like a custom big handle for the rudder, etc, but no permanent holes drilled and originals included.   

They sell new for $1700 + tax. 

$1100 cash and you pick it up in El Cerrito (near Berkeley) or I will deliver to the North Bay for a price. 

Extras Available:
Pelican "The Catch" 98.5" Paddle = $75

Made a trip up to the Hoh River in Forks, Washington to swing my spey rod for steelhead.  No kayaks were involved but figured I'd still share. 

Although not our first trip to the Hoh, it was our first trip in winter specifically targeting steelhead (we've been on the river in summer and fall for trout and salmon).

Legends of the winter conditions and the elusive nature of the "fish of 1000 casts" proved to be mostly true, but didn't deter from the enjoyment; it rained five inches in three days and average day temps did not exceed 42*F with water temps a balmy 38*F!  A combination of premium waterproof gear and massive fleece undergarments ensured we were dry and toasty! 

But despite attacking the river on our own, without a guide and without a drift boat, we still managed to get some of the most action of the entire weekend on the upper river, culminating in an epic battle with a 30" plus gorgeous beauty which, of course, managed to get off on a crazy downstream run after a 10 minute battle. 

No steelhead were landed in the net, no epic instagram pictures were taken, but fish were hooked and fought, lessons were learned, and great fun was had. 

The area is incredibly beautiful and feels like it's far more than four hours away from Seattle, yet the town of Forks has everything you could need, including a large outfitters shop with hunting and fishing supplies.  The vast majority of people hire guides and float the rivers, but daily guide prices average $650-$800 with tip (and they didn't have any better luck than us). 

The logistics of the trip were quite easy; flew nonstop SFO to SEA, picked up a Dodge RAM 1500 at SEATAC airport and met my buddy Joe, four hour drive to our little AirBNB cabin in Forks, Washington.  From there you have super easy access to the Quilayute, Calawah, Bogachiel, Hoh, and a bit further the Clearwater and Queets, and there are even some decent restaurants. 

I converted to fly fishing pretty much exclusively last fall for a variety of reasons; this trip I was exclusively swinging my 12.5ft 7wt two handed spey rod and it was my first ever time ever spey casting in real conditions; it's a whole different animal and like learning how to fly fish all over again. 

This is supposed to be a video, but having issues showing up?



[video]http://youtu.be/bM_EhuPT1_Y[/video]

Judging by the F-bombs, you are a legit fisherman!   

Congrats on a fun day and some fishing success.

I recommend a bigger net for when you hook into a big halibut, lingcod or salmon.   

Can you tell that I don't have kids?    After 2 hours of not even a bite, f-bombs were in order lol. 

You're not the first person to comment on the net, haha.  So far it hasn't stopped me from landing anything, but next time I will bring the big one; honestly I don't mind problems like "holy crap, it's too big to fit in the net!" but it would suck to skunk all day and then loose that one big one.   

It legit looks like it's not even connected in portions.  Same with most of the Eels. 

Although there wasn't much kayaking, figured I'd share a recent fishing trip up to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

I take a 2 week fishing and overlanding road trip up to Washington every year during this time, although sometimes end of August, sometimes mid September; it's incredible to see what just a week or two can do in terms of changing weather, flora, and fauna.  Mid September is always full on rain and cold, but the bounties are endless; earlier is far nicer camping weather, but slow on the collection. 

We were hoping to get some super early river-mouth salmon and steelhead in Olympic National Park and Forest, but the first rains were just starting in the NW area of the peninsula and stuff was still quite dry otherwise.  Tides weren't quite high enough either; right as we left the area, the Hoh River mouth hit +9 ft which is enough to get some good infill. But most of the weather was high 60's and low 70's, sunny skies, and mid 30's at night, and air quality was a dream compared to the 250AQI I had to camp in on the drive up.

Despite the lack of salmon and being way early for the fall mushroom flush, we still managed to forage some initial sample fungi offerings and brought in a ton of gorgeous rainbow trout from a variety of rivers and creeks, mostly wild, including my personal best wild river-caught rainbow, at 20.5" and 2.5 pounds, C&R'ed.  Regulations are tough and rough in the area so we were mostly on single barbless artificial and C&R, and although we put the fly rods out with a ton of different options, small classic spinners were the star of the show. 

Caught my PB on a generic 1/4oz china purple spinner I clipped into single barbless (no pictures of course, too excited and he was a fighter), but 75% of the fish we landed were on a Panther Martin Classic, 1/8oz with a #4 flasher.  The only downside to the little Panther Classic was that the little 6" trouts would go nuts on it, but it also caught some great +12".   

In the course of 10 days of fishing, we literally landed over 120 trout, keeping only a small handful.  Most we caught were gorgeous young wild rainbows under 10" with some young wild steelhead in the mix, only a few Cutthroat, and a handful of decent hatchery that are allowed keep pretty much anywhere.  It was amazing to see how healthy the wild fish stocks were, and even more amazing that at one point we didn't see another human for 72 hours, although there were plenty of bears (they kept their respectful distance). 

This was my first decent road trip on the new truck as well, 2021 Ranger Lariat Tremor, hence a lot of truck pictures, and aside from some odd A/C issues on the way back, it handled the 1500 miles of pavement and 800 miles of dirt with gusto.  Started the trip without much of a scratch, came home pretty dented.  Had an excellent time at the OHV's in the Tilamook State Forest area, crazy capable for a stock truck. 

Headed back up mid October to do some real salmon fishing.