"donations" made to the sea......

I didn't flip, but I did lose my St Moritz dive watch over the side during the Santa Cruz tournament where the 32 lb hallie was caught. First thing in the morning the coffee wanted out and I had a 1 piece, zipper in the back, wetsuit on. Had to take my watch off to get the top half off so I could hang over the side. I put my watch on the deck, looking at it thinking, " No way is that baby going over." Finished my business, got the top back on and zipped up. Put the watch on my wrist, and as I was threading the band, my cold fingers lost grip. The watch fell off, hit my thigh, and went over the side. The worst part is, as it was sinking, I plunged my arm into the water and got one last feel of it as it slipped through my fingers.
Other than that I lost a hat, but only because I forgot all about it. I have been fortunate. I will admit there have been times where an errant flip would have cost me dearly. I am pretty good about lashing things down, but when the action is hot and furious, I get lazy.

The very first fish I ever hooked from my ‘yak was (I’m assuming) a very large ling. I was holding my rod in my hands and got a huge hit that rolled me to the right. I tried to compensate – then almost tipped to the left. I over-compensated that one and finally went in, flipping my ‘yak on the right side. At that time I only leashed the rod I wasn’t using and the one I was using was gone. I hit the water and was back in my yak after 30 or 45 seconds. As I was trying to get back in to my yak my cheap ($8) sunglasses kept fogging up so I threw them off. My bag of squid was sealed in a zip-lok so it floated and I got that back. My fanny pack filled with all of my artificials was not leashed, but ended up inside of my small net that was. As I was gathering all this up Bob was saying, “D, your pole!”
And I was saying, “I know, man, it’s gone!”
And he was saying, “No, your pole is right there!”
It turns out that the foam grip on a Penn Powerstick is enough to keep the combo buoyant! I watched it go down and come back a few times, ‘cause the fish was still on the line and trying to run! I grabbed the rod and battled the fish for a few moments, but it eventually snagged me up and broke me off. All I lost was my sunglasses and a pack of smokes, but amazingly, the one behind my ear survived the water and my ripping my sunglasses off.

I also lost a Shimano Bantum Curado combo in Spring Lake on pure karma. I had placed a big order on Bass Pro and they were offering “6 pay” if the order was over $120. I was almost there so I ordered a mag-lite to put me over the limit. When the box came all my plastics were in the box, but no mag-lite. There was, however, a reel in the box. I figured they didn’t have the mag-lite so they sent me a cheap reel instead. When I looked up the price on the reel and saw it was a $130 reel I was stoked. The invoice read “mag-lite” so I was golden. Anyway, about 1 ˝ years later I was fishing Spring Lake and embedded a treble hook into my PFD. I layed my rod down and wrestled the treble hook out and let it go, along with my combo right over the side of my yak.

On another trip I hit my Berkley Lip Gripper with my paddle and over it went.

I was holding my rod in my hands and got a huge hit that rolled me to the right

In my past experience - when I feel that it's a big fish - and when I know that the fish is hooked, I point my rod towards the bow of the yak and just I let the fish tow me - (just make sure your drag is set properly) - this way, I'm better balanced and I use the kayak as a secondary drag. Just remember to keep the rod pointed to the bow the whole time. and enjoy the ride  

just my 2 cents....

The very first fish I ever hooked from my ‘yak

'Nuff Said!  

I went outta Montana del oro with Spike and his crew.  I rolled going out then again comming in and lost my walmart cheap net and my pride.  It was an unbelievably wild day on the water!

my tally, mostly from carelessness and one stupid roll on the shorebreak at garapata:

5- leathermans
n -swimbaits
1- gaff
1- rod leash
3 - 1 1/2 lb weights
1- baseball cap
2- beers (coors so it didn't hurt that much)
1- rattletrap
1- baitbucket
12- live shiners (see above)

2 weeks ago Ed and I were at Mill Creek in Big Sur and a 4 footer broke in my lap, the only thing not tied down was my radio.....so it was gone.

Today, Ed and I tried something really crazy. like trying to launch out of Marina State Beach.  It always has bad currents and waves, but we had to try b/c the salmon bite it really one.  Needless to say, I rolled numerous times. I lost one small tackle tray, my net, and the current sucked my booties right off.  Lucky neither of us didn't lose our behinds in the ordeal.  Live and learn.  It just didn't look that bad from up top in the parking lot.

Jim

The last thing I tossed into the ocean was a Silver Dollar; for my departed mother.

You folks must love your mothers!

i was at stillwater carmel on the outside of the rocks and a mini tsunami came upon me with great vengeance and furious anger flipping my kayak over. the sea claimed two booties and a 75 cm sporasub black viper, my favorite speargun. that was a painful day for myself. i'll never forgive that rock. even though i know the gun is long gone i always look for it when i dive that area. i keep wishing it fell tip first on a ling and then i can find both gun and ling in one dive

here's my tally

6 shakespear spiderman rods
1 spiderman tackle box

My son loves to fish off the jumpseat of my yak and I only take him out on del valle, since its a lake the only thing I tie a lanyard to is Riley's spiderman pfd(He has a tendency to bail to chase fish) but whats a 8 dollar rod compared to look on Rileys face when he gets returned to the yak.

I guess I've been lucky, the only things I can recall losing are a pair of el cheapo longnose pliers, and a pair of pricey prescription sunglasses.
I've wiped out plenty but never lost much, though I got a nice reel full of sand once (reel is still in existence as parts in a box).
I did have what I think was a nice lingcod bust my 5'6" kencor bait rod in half while fishing for the KC derby last year. I had a sabiki with a kroc on as a weight, fish hit it, ran into the kelp. As I was orienting the kayak to wait him out a swell comes under the boat, lifts it juuust enough to really bow the rod and Pop! line and rod break. All I could do was reel in the slack & watch the top half of the rod slip away into the blue. I still have the other half here at my desk at work, for when I need to remember what is really important in life.
-Sean

I lost an old pair of sunglasses and my fishing license by getting hit in the face  by a way paddling out of LM.

Someone mailed back the license!  That was pretty cool.

So far:

Lamiglas mooching rod-$180
Abu Garcia D6 6600-$120
Bag of tackle/lures-$50+
Oakley framed, transition lense prescription eyeglasses-$550
Top piece of my rodholder-$15

Hopefully that is the end of the list...

another add on to my donation....

My most favorite rod in the world.....a Gloomis one piece trout rod ......with a shimano 1000 spirex reel to go with it.....was sent down to Lake Loch Lomand on the Father's Day - Kayak Connection Derby '06 

What happend? Stupidity on my part...I was side saddling on the yak to reach back and get my tackle box...the rod was on my rod holder - unsecured - and as I turned, my elbow lifted the reel handle from the rod holder and quickly dumped it overboard. I read the depth on my fish finder = 40 feet  I thought of calling Harold/Fuzz for a deep water rescue but the water visibility was crappy. SO I simply said "goodbye" to my partner in crime 

Rod epitaph:

.....many trout have perished from this rod....now it lays among the living 

Did you get the GPS coordinates Mooch????
Just because you lost it Sunday doesn't mean it can't be retrived another day.