I think it was a couple of months ago I saw some poor guy get a bunch or grief because he wanted some advice on salmon fishing "but didn't have a trolling motor yet." I logged on tonight and the attached ad was at the top of the page. You got to admit that could cause new participants to the site a bit of cognitive dissonance if they broach that territory. I probably should have noticed this before but with my new prescription for edibles some stuff gets by me.

Rainy day cruising NCKA and planning my summer RV trips.  Wanted to go to Oregon and found this. It sounds great - wouldn't mind making reservations early - I really want to go to Oregon this year. It's been a priority since I got myself retired in February.  I got the truck, got the trailer, and will have a traveling yak in March of next year.  My current yak is too big for the top of my truck. I really mean I'm to old to get it up... on top of the truck. Anyway enough of my BS... Any more info? Let me know when you have some time.  Thanks

I use whatever bait I catch in TB. I have a drag type bait bucket that keeps a few alive. This one bit on a large smelt.

Looks like Smelt works... Wow:  I'll be dreaming of a fish like that until I'm back in Tomales bay next summer


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I promote a live well. I turned my Jackson crate into a live well with a tsunami 500 pump. Love it, flipped the kayak and flipped
it back, no prob.  Live, swimming bait on board is kinda the dream.  I love my livewell, I think I'll marry it......

Love is special! I'm going to look up the stuff you mentioned.

I love these forums for learning stuff.  Never thought about capsizing with a bait tank until I read it here.  The post from Lost_Anchovy got me thinking more about that.  It got me to look around some more on the site and I saw this from RHYAK from a 2013 post:

"Quick release on the tank would be your best bet I use sturdy bungy cords, Able to release with one hand and can be done if I were too flip and cant flip that yak back over. You may loose the tank this
way but better then your life. Obviously try and flip the yak back first if safe to do so...."

Quick releases are an interesting idea for the bait well - so are bait tubes and torpedo buckets as suggested by yakyakyak and Bird.  The tube or torpedo approach also sounds cheaper, safer, and just as effective for what I'm trying to do. It also allows me to keep my crate in the back with all my stuff.  This sounds like a pretty good idea.

But this discussion leads to me some questions about Hobie's bait well I'm going to send their way. It seems like there should be a way to have an emergency drain or pump (or have it ship with quick release straps) to get the water out or the well off.  I can't imagine they're not thinking about the problem of hanging 6 gallons of water upside down in a flipped kayak???? It's had to come across their radar at some point... it sounds like a bit of a big deal!

I've been to Tomales three times since July. The first time I saw bait fish but couldn't catch any - for a lot of reasons - but mostly because I didn't have a clue about what I was doing. The second time at Tomales (after getting additional advice) I caught some jack smelt as live bait - and then caught a WSB. I was back at Tomales yesterday and caught some more jack smelt but got skunked. Unfortunately my fishing time with live bait was reduced because I really do not have a good way to keep my bait alive.  I need a live well and I've posted about this on the safety forum because I think it's better suited there.

My question here is regarding the jack smelt as Halibut bait: Does it work?  I know you can do everything right fishing and still get skunked but I am wondering about the best bait for Halibut? In SF Bay I caught Halibut (from a boat not a kayak) on live Shiners.  It looks like the internet scuttlebutt points at live anchovies as the best choice. I have a friend that caught a Halibut from a Kayak in Tomales with a white jig. The WSB was a big fish I'm sure a foot long jacksmelt looked like a great snack. What about Halibut? Are ten to twelve inch jack smelt to big?  I have no idea!

Here is a good start.  If you go to NCKA's home page, this was posted toward the bottom.


http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?page=7

Great link.  Thank you. That's the kind of stuff that keeps my head stuck in this site. Loved it. Can't wait for October to get back to fishing.


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