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Messages - NowhereMan

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8191

General Fishing Tips / Where to fish near Santa Cruz harbor?

« on: July 05, 2012, 06:11:09 PM »

My son has a kayaking camp next week and I'll be dropping him off at the SC harbor. I've never fished near there and was wondering if anybody has suggestions for that area. Thanks.

8192

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Re: July 2-6, daily morning launches from New Brighton or Capitola

« on: June 28, 2012, 08:24:14 PM »

I'm new to kayak fishing, so I probably won't be much help in finding fish... In any case, I always launch from New Brighton, so let me know when and where you plan to launch from. I'm sure I'll be there at least one of those days.

8193

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Re: Sunday 6/30 OC

« on: June 26, 2012, 07:30:10 PM »

Where is OC?

8194

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / Re: TC Wed 6-27 "Crappy forecast"

« on: June 26, 2012, 09:06:40 AM »

So, where is "TC"?

8195

Safety First / Re: Hand Pump s/b mandatory

« on: June 26, 2012, 06:31:47 AM »

The Seattle Sports hand pump has good reviews at Amazon, but pretty bad reviews at REI:
http://www.rei.com/product/684985/seattle-sports-bilge-pump-with-float
The complaint seems to be that a small amount of dirt/sand causes the thing to clog and it can't be cleaned out.

What brands do people here use and like?

8196

General Talk / Re: my son droped out of collage

« on: June 13, 2012, 09:15:36 PM »

I worked at NSA for a several years, and I had the privilege of working with a lot of military people. If your son ever gets the chance to do some work at Ft. Meade, he should definitely take advantage of it.

I'm now a college professor and most of the best students are the ones who have been out for a few years and gained some real-life experience. It sometimes takes them a while to get back into the swing of studying, but they know what they want and they have a maturity that very few college freshmen (or seniors, for that matter) can match. So, if you son decided to leave the military and go back to college in a few years, that's a great option too.

8197

Safety First / Avoid the West Marine VHF 155

« on: June 11, 2012, 07:11:00 AM »

I got the West Marine VHF 155 radio (it's a floating model) about a month ago and used it about half-a-dozen times. The battery pack is held in place by a cheap plastic latch that broke off when it was very lightly bumped on the side of my kayak. It's a lousy design and, in my opinion, not likely to hold up under normal use. So instead of replacing it with the same model, I decided to go with the Standard Horizon HX751, which is about the same price (and also floating). I haven't used the HX751 yet, but the battery system is certainly far superior---no way it's going to fall out unless the unit is destroyed.

8198

Safety First / Re: clean and dry inspection

« on: May 31, 2012, 08:36:58 AM »

Yes, I had my kayak inspected at Lexington earlier this month. They are very thorough and you will fail, for example, if they see you wiping it down with a towel while you are waiting in line. So, it needs to be dry, dry, dry (and reasonably clean) before you even think about going...

8199

Fish Talk / Hawaii --- tiger shark attacks kayak fisherman

« on: May 28, 2012, 08:20:03 AM »

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/18629395/shark-attacks-kayak

What's really amazing is that these guys continued to fish after the attack...

8200

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / New Brighton 5/20/12

« on: May 23, 2012, 07:49:17 PM »

I planned to be on the water by 8am, but got a late start and then after driving for 15 minutes realized that I'd forgotten some necessary items (like wheels). So, I ended up launching after 9am. By that time, there were several kayaks out there, a couple of canoes and at least one inflatable too. Anyways, all I caught was one undersized ling, but it was my first one, so that was exciting. As far as I could tell, nobody was catching much---all I saw other people land were a couple of puny rockfish and one borderline-legal-sized ling. I left about 11:30am, since I had to meet the wife for lunch, but the wind was picking up and fishing was slow, so I didn't mind (well, not _too_ much...).

8201

Hookups and Fishing Reports (Viewable by Public) / New Brighton 5/6/12

« on: May 06, 2012, 08:52:20 PM »

Today was my first-ever attempt at ocean kayak fishing. This whole ocean fishing thing is new to me---before today, I'd only done a little surf and pier fishing. I grew up fishing for largemouth bass in Iowa farm ponds, which is about as far removed from kayak fishing on the Pacific as you can get.

Last fall I was surf fishing at New Brighton when some guy in a kayak (maybe 75 yards offshore) landed a 30+ pound striped bass. A lightbulb went off in my head---a real "ah ha" moment. So, I purchased a kayak last September, paddled it around a bit, and started doing some research on kayak fishing. Over the winter, I accumulated the necessary safety equipment and figured out my basic setup. A couple weeks ago, I went to Lexington Reservoir and practiced self-rescue. I felt like I was all set---now it was just a matter of finding some time to get on the water (no mean feat, since this is the busiest time of the year for me).

Now, back to the fishing report... I got to New Brighton at about 8:00 and was on the water by 8:15 or so. I paddled out to some kelp beds (maybe 500 to 600 yards from shore) and started tossing a swimbait/jig. On about the 4th or 5th cast, I got a small rockfish, which I released. Then in another 15 minutes or so, I caught the one in the picture. After another 15 to 20 minutes, I hooked something that I couldn't identify (remember, I'm new to this ocean fishing thing...), so I released it. Afterwards, I decided that it must've been a kelp greenling, and definitely legal size (about 15"). That was one pretty, colorful fish. I had several more solid strikes, but wasn't able to hook any of them. I was off the water by 11:15.

There were a lot of kayaks out there. I wasn't paying too much attention, but I did see a few other fish landed. The weather was fantastic.

If not for this NCKA site, I think it would've taken me forever to get out on the water. This is an invaluable resource for all of us beginners.

On the other hand, I blame all of you for getting me hooked on this sport and, believe me, I'm now hooked.

8202

General Talk / Re: WTF... He's allergic to What !!!!

« on: April 17, 2012, 03:33:25 PM »

My older son, who's now 18, is allergic to peanuts and sesame seeds. His first reaction was at about 6 months old, when we fed him some peanut rice crackers. He suddenly got blotches all over his face and started coughing. I was just ready to make a run for the ER, when it started subsiding as quickly as it had started. We then had all of the allergy tests, and peanuts showed up as being off the charts. We carried an epipen (epinephrine injection) everywhere for many years.

The sesame thing seemed to come much later---maybe age 5 or 6. His mom is Chinese and he loves Japanese food, so sesame is almost harder for him to avoid than peanuts. Fortunately (I guess...), sesame seemed to just cause him to barf, but in larger quantities, it might have been as bad as peanuts.

Anyways, it seems that his allergies are now much less severe than they used to be. He has accidentally eaten peanuts and sesame (not large quantities) several times over the past few year. In the worst cases, he puked, but nothing close to a life-threatening reaction. Interestingly, it seems that he knows when he eats something with peanuts, because it gives him a very bad taste in his mouth (he describes it as sort of a burning sensation).

These kind of allergies are no fun to deal with, but it's possible to work around them.