Cushion Foam: 4 inch thick, 24 inches wide, 72 inches long pieces available at home depot for 25$ a piece. I cut mine down to 60 inches long and cut the left over piece into two 6 inch pieces. I put the 60 inch long piece on top of my car and put the kayak on top of it and then lift up each end and put the 6 inch pieces in between the kayak the the 60 inch piece directly under scupper holes. These are the strongest points of the kayak, applying the most pressure there prevents the hull from bowing in. I string ratcheting tie downs through cabin and around the the kayak to hold it down. Everything costs 35-40$ tops and works on any vehicle. The foam does not move around on top of the car whatsoever, it is actually difficult to move the foam once the weight of the kayak is on it. Tied down with the straps it is secure enough that I can shake my car by shaking the kayak.

Other Thoughts; cutting the 60 inch piece into two thirty inch pieces might make it more convenient  to store, sowing a giant pillowcase for it could be helpful for keeping it clean and make it more durable, however fabric would likely have less friction on the roof of the car and between the kayak, the foam really makes everything stick in place securely. But with many fabric options available it could be fun to try different things, all felt, all neoprene, perhaps a one side felt and one side neoprene combination? It would certainly make it all look cleaner and more finished.



 

I have to get this off my chest. I personally do not like this new forum organization of having the hookups and fishing reports together in the same sub-forum. When I want to see a fishing report I want to see a fishing report, not people looking for fishing buddies. Wading through the endless hookups is tedious and kills my interest in using this forum. It seemed to me to make sense to have these subjects separated since someone interested in one may not be interested in the other. I remember when this website used to be one of my favorite fishing porn websites. The fishing reports where really good and I would check them every day. Now I can't stand the organization. For every fishing report there are four posts of "Hi me and blah blah blah will be and somewhere at this time." and to make matters worse people seldom differentiate a fishing report with a hookup post in the title. I for one think that fishing reports and hookups should be separated again. What are your guys thoughts on the matter? Oh yeah and one more thing, Pics or it didn't happen. It's 2015, there is no excuse to not have a picture.

I am probably going to launch out of Garrapata on Monday. Does any one want to meet there?

I'm gonna start with "Fish On" by Primus of course. What is your favorite?

I fished New Brighton today as usual. No halibut   but i did get these two puppies fishing live sardines on halibut rigs. The big one hit first at around 10:30 and the other hit at about 12 noon. Both basically inhaled the bait. When I got the first one I got a double hook up but wasn't able to land the second fish.the one that got away as always was likely the biggest of the day. It spooled me like mad and bent my treble stinger open but i figured go for the one i have in my hand as it is more likely I would land it. They ran in opposite directions at the same time. The second jumped out of the water while i fought it. It was sick. Oh yeah, my first kayak stripers. Just guessing I didn't weigh them but i think they where 12 lb and 7lbs.

Some good fish where caught yesterday. Stripers are on the bite in the surf. Halibut are starting to make an appearance as well.

So i went fishing on opening day and it was slow, very slow. I headed straight out to the "sponge bob" buoy drifted a bit an got a couple hits from what was likely rock cod but didn't hook up on anything so I went over to O'Neil and still had no luck then to the mile buoy and nothing. Headed to my grass cod spot and landed a nice healthy 4lb'er and called it a day.

On May 2nd I went out to sponge bob again and no luck still. So i went to my grass cod spot and took home about 6 rock cod after fishing for 9 hours. I also caught and released a 23 inch ling cod. I probably could have limited but i threw some back. Two friends got a Cabezon and barely legal ling in the same spot on swim baits.

May 3rd i wasn't planning on going out again but I called a friend who was on the water and he said he just landed a 22 inch Cabezon after fishing for 30 minutes so i headed out. This was this first day there was bait easy to jig up. i stocked up on live bait and drifted the edge of the kelp beds on my way to catch up with my friend. I had a live mackerel rigged up on a halibut rig with 4/0 hooks in each end hoping for a ling or thresher shark or something very big. I got slammed and line started peeling for about 10-15 seconds then the likely decent halibut let go. My mackerel was dead with a single clear bite on his midsection where there where no hooks. I picked up a 22 inch halibut rather easily about 15 minutes later but that was it for the day. A friend said he also lost a large halibut out deeper earlier that day.

May 6th I went out again. There was tons of bait out in front of New Brighton and Pot Belly. I fished sardines on halibut rigs all day. Caught and released a couple cod but no lings or halibut. I got one halibut bite all day. I stocked up on bait though as i caught 10 lbs of sardines. A few for the grill and the rest for home made tray baits.

All in all the difference between Saturday-Sunday and Monday until now is like some one just flicked the fish switch on. It just should get better with every passing day from here on for a while.