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Topics - bsteves

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Kayaks / Online Sit-on-Top Kayak Database

« on: June 23, 2008, 02:03:14 PM »

Here's a cool resource I ran into today in my never ending search of ways to procrastinate at work. It's a sit on top kayak database at sit-on-topkayak.com a.k.a. topkayaking.net

http://www.sit-on-topkayaking.com/KayakData/KayakStats7.asp

It's pretty neat, you can search by length, weight capacity, solo/tandem/child, function (surf, diving, fishing, etc..), material, manufacturer, and a few other things.

It might help those interested in getting a kayak to narrow their choices down to a few to try. Of course, with testing your choice is limited by what's available in your local market.

Brian

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Father's Day Bethany Pond (Portland, OR)

« on: June 16, 2008, 10:02:17 AM »

For Father's Day I managed to convince my wife to let me take my 2 1/2 yr old son Owen out with me for his first time in the kayak and his first time fishing. I had to promise a nice quiet body of water so I thought we'd try Bethany Pond just west of Portland. I know they stock it with trout in the winter and early spring so I thought it would at least be fishable. Turns out that by mid-June it's just about completely covered with weeds and we could hardly find an open whole to drop our worm. No fish caught, but Owen had lots of fun as we saw ducks and a large orange carp (koi?) under the lily pads. I guess I'm still looking forward to watching Owen catch his first fish. Here are few pictures...

As for what I got for father's day. Well I got a nice card, a bottle of Hendrick's Gin, and a new side fire box for my relatively new grill so that I can now hot smoke things like ribs. The grill itself is the Char-Griller Duo which uses propane on one half and charcoal on the other. Now I just need a salmon to smoke.

Brian

General Fishing Tips / Shimano Lucanus Jig System

« on: March 11, 2008, 11:11:22 AM »

I ran across this online, but maybe someone who went to one of the fishing shows recently has seen it in real life.

It's the Shimano Lucanus Jig System. Seems that Shimano has adopted some fancy Japanese jig system for the US market with an emphasis on bottom fishing.

The system consists of new whacky squid looking jigs with hooks like the butterfly jigs..

Here's a tackletour preview..
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewshimanolucanusjigpreview.html

The system also includes a suped-up Shimano Calcutta called the Calcutta TE JV for the reel.

And finally, the various new Tescata rods that are part of the "system" look like longer versions of the Trevala rods with lighter power and extra fast actions.

Model	Length	Power	Action	Line Rating (lbs.)	Jig Size (oz/grams)	Pieces	Foregrip Length	Number of Guides
TSC80XL	8' 0"	Extra-Light	X-Fast	10-20	2-3/60-80	1	1.5"	Tip+10
TSC80L	8' 0"	Light	X-Fast	12-30	3-3.5/80-100	1	1.5"	Tip+10
TSC80ML	8' 0"	Med-Light	X-Fast	15-40	3.5-5.25/100-150	1	1.5"	Tip+10
TSC80M	8' 0"	Medium	X-Fast	20-50	5.25-7/150-200	1	1.5"	Tip+10
TSS70XL	7' 0"	Extra-Light	X-Fast	10-20	2-3/60-80	1	1.5"	Tip+7
TSS70L	7' 0"	Light	X-Fast	12-30	3-3.5/80-100	1	1.5"	Tip+7
TSS70M	7' 0"	Medium	X-Fast	20-50	3.5-5.25/100-150	1	1.5"	Tip+7

Here's a website selling the whole system.
http://www.histackleboxshop.com/Shimano-Lucanus-Jigs-p/shimano-lucanus-jigs.htm

Anyway, it looks cool, but I don't think I have the $$ to afford this system for catching rockfish.

The jigs run about $14-$18 each.
The reel runs about $450 and the rod runs about $200.

They even sell special "Lucanus monofiliment leaders".

Can't wait for some company in China to start selling knock-off of the jigs for ~$6 each so I can give them a try.

Brian

Gearing Up and Rigging Up / Pyramid Anchors

« on: February 08, 2008, 11:32:56 AM »

I now that a lot of folk are making their own pyramid anchors, but for those looking for a source where they can just spend some money and purchase one online..

These are pontoon boat anchors and come in 5 lb and 12 lb models. There was some talk earlier on how the smaller 10 lb drift boat anchors might be a bit too heavy for kayaks so I'm wondering if the 5 lb pontoon anchor wouldn't be ideal.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0001539315380a

It's a little pricey at $39.99 + tax + $7.95 shipping for the 5 lb'er. The 12 lber is $49.99.

Maybe there are some flyfishing shops around that sell pontoon boats that might also have these for less.

In searching I also came across pontoon boat anchor bags. Basically, they're heavy duty mesh that you place a few rocks in to use as an anchor. Any thoughts on how well these might work..

http://www.creekcompany.com/indivdisplay.php?primaryAutoID=190&Cat=3&Cat1=10

Brian

General Fishing Tips / Measuring sturgeon on the water?

« on: February 03, 2008, 09:46:56 AM »

I've been trying to figure out how everyone measures their sturgeon on the water from their kayak. At some point you have to decide if a fish is within the slot if you want to keep it and before you take the ol' wooden bat to its head.

As for myself, I'm interested in the AOTY points (NWKA AOTY), but don't particularly want to keep a Willamette River sturgeon to eat. Note the photo below which I snagged from www.ifish.net. I believe it's a stugeon from the very polluted Willamette River and the little bump behind the gills is supposedly not a tumor rather it's a conjoined twin.

Anyway, any ideas on best practices for measuring and obtaining photo proof without killing the sturgeon and bringing it ashore?

Thanks,
Brian

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Lake Sonoma Sunday Oct 28th

« on: October 25, 2007, 01:30:58 PM »

If I can stay a bit ahead on my packing, I'm planning on hitting Lake Sonoma one last time. I'll be targeting landlocked steelhead near the dam early Sunday morning, company welcome.

Brian

General Talk / Next year's AOTY bonus species list?

« on: October 23, 2007, 09:27:39 AM »

http://www.anglingmasters.com/10-strangest-things-caught-fishing.asp

Not sure how to assign points yet? I'm thinking something like a 500 pt bonus for the two-bodied pike?

For Sale / Used OK Venus $250 [SOLD]

« on: September 24, 2007, 08:54:43 PM »

My wife has decided that we don't need three kayaks and thinks we should sell her OK Venus including the basic OK paddle and backrest we got it with.

It's "sky" colored about 10 ft long, weighs only 35 lbs and was designed for women (what ever that means). It's not much of a fishing vessel, but if the woman in your life is just interested in joining you for a paddle in the local pond, lake or river this might be a good choice.

Here's the link to the Venus on the OK site.
http://www.oceankayak.com/kayaks/single_kayaks/venus_10.html

The MRSP is $569, but this used (but in very good condition) kayak can be yours for $250.

I'll try and post some pictures soon.

Brian

General Talk / Dan and the deathly hollow [parody pic]

« on: July 25, 2007, 08:29:36 AM »

So I got back from town on Saturday, where the entire local library and bookstore are filled with kids waiting to get their hands on the newest Harry Potter book, to find out about Dan's little encounter at Bean. The connection between the two events suddenly hit me.

Enjoy,
Brian

Fishing Tournaments and Events / An AOTY ripoff --- "BountyFishing"

« on: June 19, 2007, 12:26:23 PM »

For those of you enjoying the AOTY virtual tournament... I just found a national version called "BountyFishing".

They haven't even started yet (July 2nd), so it's obvious that they stole our idea. Basically you upload pictures of you and your fish against a measuring device.

Anyway, it's a bit freshwater centric but here's the link if anyone is interested.
http://www.bountyfishing.com/

Here are the rules..
http://www.bountyfishing.com/enterprise/rules

They have weekly prizes of $1000 per species for first, $200 for second, and $100 for third. They also give out money for largest combined length of multiple species at the end of the summer.

Sound familiar?

Brian

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Rockfish Opener June 1st, 2nd or 3rd Sonoma Coast

« on: May 28, 2007, 03:01:14 PM »

Depending on the weather and interest from others, I'm hoping to get out into the salt water again to catch some lingcod and rockfish one day this coming weekend. I'd even be willing to take Friday the 1st off if necessary. My normal fishing partners are out of town that weekend so I'm looking to drum up at least one other person to go with. As for where, anywhere between Fort Ross and say Salt Point would work for me.

Brian

General Talk / Virtual Kayaking and Virtual Fishing but no Virtual Kayak Fishing..

« on: May 24, 2007, 02:23:55 PM »

Evidently some Japanese researchers have come up with virtual kayaking and virtual fishing simulations, but haven't blended the two together yet. All I can say is that I'm glad I live in the USA where we can do these things for real.

Quote

Researchers at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan, have developed a new way to recreate the feel of flowing water in two virtual-reality simulations: one for fishing and another for kayaking.

http://www.techreview.com/Infotech/18758/

General Talk / AOTY teams??

« on: May 22, 2007, 10:03:06 AM »

I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of this before, but there seems to be some interest in having "teams" within the AOTY tournament. I can probably add something to this effect to the application fairly easily. Question is what would the rules be and how would you like it implemented. There wouldn't be any prizes for the winning team, just bragging rights and maybe the obligation to host a fishing tournament next year on your home fishing grounds.

Some ideas for the AOTY application...
1.) Add team names to each angler and their fish
2.) Add a team color coded background to the row for each angler and their fish
3.) Have a team ranking page either by team total points or by team average points

I'll probably need a few things to get this working (team names and a list of team members) It sounds like there is a strong leaning towards geographical teams. "Mendo Crew", "the East Bay Gang", etc.. By area code (like 510 for the east bay) was also mentioned, but the 707 would be far too dominant to even consider.

Should there be a minimum and/or maximum team size.

Anyway let me know what you think about this and feel free to start the AOTY team smack talk here as well.

Brian

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Lab Ab Grab (non-Yak) 8 May 2007

« on: May 08, 2007, 02:32:27 PM »

Jim ("InSeine"), Naoaki ("Uminchu"), our friend Kerry and I took the day off from working at the Marine Lab to go ab diving. The weather was too nice to go to work and working at the lab would have been torture.

Anyway, we got to Reef Campground at the at the wee hour of 11 am. Conditions were almost perfect... no wind, barely any swell, and about 10 ft vis.

We found plenty of abs and took our time getting our limits. Nothing huge, and abs ranged from 7 1/2" to 9" with most in the 8"-8 1/2" range.

One of the abs decided to wear Kerry's spare mask..

A group photo with Pidotti reef in the background..

The crew and the catch..

Naoaki got the 9" today, so he gets his glory shot posted.

Now if someone would be so kind as to check on JohnGuineaPig. In particular, make sure he isn't in the bathroom at work.
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=8139.0

General Talk / Maker Faire (19 & 20 May 2007)

« on: May 07, 2007, 04:33:44 PM »

I'm thinking about attending the Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds on May 19th.