NorCal Kayak Anglers
General => Introductions => Topic started by: RogerC on August 23, 2016, 05:10:20 PM
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Hi All:
I joined NorCal Kayak Anglers a few months ago but never got around to posting because I didn’t think that I had much to say other than “Hello.” Well, I finally do have a good story to tell after my experience at Pillar Point last Saturday, August 20 and I will share it below.
It was only my second time fishing in the ocean after lots of experience in lakes up near Truckee. It took me a while to gear up for ocean fishing and I was fortunate enough to get some tips from long-time NCKA moderator, “Tote” who gave me three basic safety rules before heading out to the ocean.
1. Practice, practice, practice getting back into your kayak if you fall out …. Make sure you can flip it over and re-board it from all sides, including “cowboy style” from the front.
2. Don’t have TMS (Too Much Sh**t) on your kayak ….Keep it simple in order to make it easy to get back in the boat. Don’t tether your fishing rods and other items to the boat. Use floats instead.
3. Carry a marine radio that is attached to your PFD while out on the water.
I took this advice very seriously and went out to Truckee’s Prosser Reservoir in July and spent a weekend in the water practicing kayak flips and remounts until I could both right and remount my kayak within 20-30 seconds every time after hitting the water. I set up my gear so that the only things on deck are a center-cockpit fish finder and a couple of rod holders. I bought a marine radio and researched and purchased all of the right tackle to catch rock fish and lingcod outside of Pillar Point harbor in Half Moon Bay.
However, no matter how much you plan ahead, there is always something to surprise you …. On my first time out in the ocean, I started to get a bit seasick from looking down into the boat at the fish finder all the time. It was the first time in my life I had ever felt seasick! As a result, I headed back in after only an hour of fishing which was well before I got close to losing my lunch. I knew that I had a long paddle back to the harbor and didn’t want to wind up paddling while actively sick. I was totally surprised that I wound up feeling seasick and would like to hear if others have had similar experiences.
I had a much better day on my second time out last Saturday after taking some Meclizine for motion sickness and I caught lots and lots of fish in four hours on the water. The only thing that could have made for a better day was a huge lingcod and I’m looking forward to one of those on my next time out.
I was paddling back to the harbor when I heard a distant splash and noticed that a kayak had flipped over about a quarter mile away. It seemed a bit odd since there was no wind and the water was calm. I looked over and saw the guy trying to right his kayak by reaching over on top and pulling it back over …. ‘Definitely NOT following Tote’s preferred method of ducking underneath the kayak to push up with one hand while pulling down with the other. I started to paddle over and saw another red flag when the guy tried to pull himself up and back into his newly righted kayak and he couldn’t do it. He was heavy and he almost tipped the kayak over again when he tried to remount. I finally got there and held the kayak steady while he tried to remount several times with no success. He was simply wasn’t strong enough to remount from the water. I asked him how he fell over and he told me that he was seasick and leaned over too far while trying to vomit off to the side of his kayak. So now I’ve got a big heavy guy who is too weak and seasick to climb back into his kayak. The only thing that kept me from calling the Coast Guard right then and there was that the guy was wearing a full wet suit and not in much danger of freezing to death right away.
I looked at this guy’s kayak and he had definitely violated all of Tote’s rules …. 1) He wasn’t able to remount his kayak, 2) He wasn’t carrying a marine radio, and 3) He had a bad case of TMS … His fish finder, battery and cables were all mounted in the front of the boat on the deck. He even had a solar collector mounted on the rear of his kayak in order to charge his battery. His transport wheels were also mounted on the back of his kayak. His poles, iPhone, and two bags with fish in them were all tethered to the boat. He even had a kayak anchor on the deck with lots of line that got all tangled up when the kayak flipped. I thought about pushing his bow down and having him crawl back on from the front, but there was “TMS” in the front of his kayak that prevented a remount from the front.
To make a long story short, I eventually spotted a couple of guys in ocean racing kayaks a ways off and paddled over to flag them down for help. The three of us then tried to pull the guy in the water back on board his kayak by tugging on his PFD with no success. Eventually, we wound up tipping his kayak on its side and had the guy grab the top rail of the sideways kayak. He kicked, and pulled himself up while we simultaneously pushed his kayak back over to horizontal, which dragged the guy up far enough onto his stomach so that we could pull him the rest of the way onto his kayak by tugging on his PFD. The racing kayakers then took off and I wound up with a very long paddle at <1 mph back into the harbor beside a kayaker who was both seasick and exhausted.
My lesson from this experience is that we all need to listen to Tote’s rules …. In particular, if you can't remount your kayak from the water in 30 seconds while blindfolded, then you shouldn't be out in the ocean. One more rule that I learned is to quit well before you lose your lunch. Life gets much more dangerous once you are debilitated with seasickness.
Interestingly enough, one of my colleagues at work saw a news report on KRON TV saying that another guy was rescued off Pillar Point in his kayak on
Sunday. I’d be interested if anyone has any information on that one too.
Anyway, that’s my first post to this forum. As I stated above, I’m new to ocean kayak fishing and would appreciate some feedback from the group on my experience above. Thanks for reading!
- RogerC
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Wow, that sounds like a baptism by fire. It's great that you were prepared and kept your head.
I kayak out of Santa Cruz a lot, and I definitely see some kayak fishers who are not prepared. For example, a few weeks ago, one guy was about to launch as I was landing. We started chatting and I mentioned that a VHF radio is critical (he had no radio). He just brushed it off and said something like, "If I fall in, I'll just yell".
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crazy!! Glad you were there to help him out. The ocean is very unforgiving. I still have to follow the TMS rule!! lol Although I have gotten a lot better haha.
Good job once again!
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Nice work.
wttm
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Welcome Roger!
Glad you finally came aboard.
It was great talking to you and Barry (Barry is a long time high school friend of mine).
I thought maybe I scared you away since I hadn't heard from you in a while.
You will find a TON of great advice from a lot of seasoned veterans on here.
And don't forget to familiarize yourself with the yakronyms. It will make things a lot more understandable here.
WTTM!!!!!!!!!!!
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I'm glad you were able to help him out. I think everyone has a responsibility to educate themselves about safety before venturing out, which means: taking classes, practicing self rescue, dress for immersion, radio, fishing with a partner; exit plans; etc... All that has been covered before. I'm glad Tote gave you some good advice and you took it to heart. That's how we roll here. Thanks for sharing. :smt002
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Welcome and thank you very much for sharing! 'good to get reminder from time to time and glad he was able to make it back. Nice job!
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Nice job helping out someone in need and good write up. Thanks for the reminders, it helps keep us all from getting to comfortable
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Tote educated you well. You listened, and then got an unfortunate face to face test of reality in real life.
You will forever be able to preach what you practice going forward.
My 15 year old son started fishing with me in the ocean this year. He's been stoked to catch his first ocean fish ever since I started bringing rocks and lings home 8 years ago when I started.
He listened intently on all the ocean fishing advice and training I put him through while safely in a lake.
On his first outing in the ocean, he got to see first hand how a failed self rescue goes and how close an unprepared person can be to dying out there. Similar to your experience, we had an out of shape, under experienced guy (great guy BTW), fall out due to a case of sea greens chumming.
I just happened to notice a red kayak riding a bit too high in the water off in the distance between swells. We shot over there to see what was going on. He was hanging off the port side of the kayak and looked whooped. His VHF was apparently not waterproof or somehow drowned on him. We did hear him blowing his whistle as we got closer to him, so he was trying that as effort.
My son helped stabilized his kayak from the rear port, as I pulled the guy up over the side of his kayak from the other side. Then my son went and rounded up all he could that was floating around us.
The guy was green as hell, still trying to heave, but was only dry at this point. We loaded him up with some water, some Scopace and had him stare at the horizon until he was stable again. He was in no shape to work his way back to dock the 1.5 miles we where up the coast. So, I had my son stay close to my trusted fishing buddy as I towed this poor guy all the way to dock with my Adventure. I just held on to his bow toggle, and peddled for about and hour to dock. BTW he was on an Outback with TMS that we had to remove to get room to get him back on board.
Bottom line, my son has seen first hand the dangers of being on the ocean and saw how to execute an assisted remount. He talked about it intently on the way home that day, so I know it will stick in his mind as a solid reminder. While I was on my way back to him after dropping off the poor due to his wife, my son got to experience a surfacing gray whale 20 feet away. He's hooked!
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Nice work! The only tip I can provide would be to carry some Ginger candy for the motion sickness. It may not completely cure it, but it seems to help once the symptoms start.
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What is TMS?
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Thanks for the posting Roger.
To your question about getting sick. I've boat fished in the salt water for many years, never even a hint of getting sick. My first trip out into the ocean in my kayak to salmon fish I got sick. I was shocked and baffled, never expected to feel sick and it was a new feeling for me. My trip was short and like you I felt the wise thing to do was paddle in. That afternoon I purchased Dramamine. I had 10 more days of fishing and nothing was going to stop me. The Dramamine for me was amazing, I could do a commercial, sorry if this sounds like one. But that did the trick for me.
Thanks for the rescue tips.
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What is TMS?
TMS = too much shit
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Nice job on the rescue and following good advise. Thanks for sharing your story.
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Thanks for sharing the story. You earned some good Karma points :smt001
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I launched from muir and got seasick but trooped on. Not comfy. No coming back once you turn. My livewell wasn't functioning and I spent to much time trying to figure it out on the water. Landed and found some relief but the second or few minutes, after I relaunched, that I tried to fish, it came back. Was not hydrated and didn't get enough sleep plus I was beat from not having the right wheels for the sand. You cannot macho seasickness. Rest, hydration, dramamine, sounds like, if I must, but yet to experience the ocean again. Thanks for posting. I wonder if I carry TMS. Might untether all my gear but I did manage to flip it back over from "the leap over the top and grab the other side and drop backwards" technique, anchor and all, even kept the haii, adrenaline can do wonderful things, but staying in shape "ish" is a little insurance.
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Great story, thanks for sharing. I always try to take less stuff every time I go. I'm sometimes guilty of TMS, but I keep it locked down in my crate and keep the deck clear.
As far as sea sickness goes I've also noticed that if I stare at my FF too much I'll get sick. I try to just quickly glance at it, and then take lots of time looking around and enjoying the ocean views.
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I'm glad you were able to help him out. I think everyone has a responsibility to educate themselves about safety before venturing out, which means: taking classes, practicing self rescue, dress for immersion, radio, fishing with a partner; exit plans; etc... All that has been covered before. I'm glad Tote gave you some good advice and you took it to heart. That's how we roll here. Thanks for sharing. :smt002
Yeah, what Lost Anchovy said!
Welcome Roger, way to go. I hope that joker you helped shared his name, story, and humongous THANK YOU for saving his bacon. :smt012
-- Bradley
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Wow dude, nice work and best intro post ever! Your evaluation & advice is spot on...you're welcome to fish with me any time!
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That is what makes this site!
Thanks Tote/Roger
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Thanks for this great post. Glad the guy is OK and hopefully he is more prepared next time. I got sick one of my first times out as well after never getting sick on a powerboat, which surprised me. Looking around and not spending time looking down at gear is key I learned. And why lean over the side of the boat? I just puked on myself and then splashed some nice cool ocean water all over myself. Helped bring the color back!
Let me know if you ever need a buddy launching out of HMB. I'm just 15 miles from there. Rest assured I've got the essential safety stuff.
Cheers
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Seasickness--- no Bueno. Have not got it yet and hope I never do. Knock - knock on wood
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Ginger candies from ranch 99 help seasickness a lot. Tip I learned from a tuna captain in South Carolina have a eskimo pie like icecream chocolate over vanilla if you have been seasick makes you good immediatly mostly after coming back in. I am going to try on water though.
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Great first post - very well written and thoughtful.
Fantastic job.
Wondering where the "consider hiring a guide" advice is though! :smt001
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Wow dude, nice work and best intro post ever! Your evaluation & advice is spot on...you're welcome to fish with me any time!
+1!!
Great job!!
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim
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What is TMS?
That's my middle name.
Sincerely,
Nowhere "TMS" Man
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Wondering where the "consider hiring a guide" advice is though! :smt001
I'm pretty sure I dropped Bushy's name when we spoke.
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Thank you to everyone for your supportive replies in what was quite an experience for only my second time out in the ocean. I originally didn't want to tell this story to my wife since she worries about my safety and I don't want to highlight the potential dangers in kayak fishing any more than necessary. However, I got into trouble for coming home two hours late from my fishing trip and eventually told her the whole story in order to generate some sympathy and get me off the hook. It worked reasonably well and I think that all of these discussions about kayak safety have actually made her feel a little better about my kayak fishing.
I am planning to head out fishing again from Pillar Point on the weekend of Sept. 10 (either Sat. or Sun.) and would enjoy some company if anyone wants to join me. I've still got a lot to learn about fishing gear and techniques and would appreciate an opportunity to learn first hand from some veterans. For instance, I usually throw all of the fish back unless they are particularly big and this makes it difficult for me to identify them later. Last weekend, I started near the entrance to Pillar Point Harbor and wound up catching tons of small fish that I think were some sort of croaker. However, I can't tell if they were white croakers, black croakers, or yellow croakers. I wound up having to paddle quite a ways out just to get away from them. Also, I caught some fish that look a lot like the pictures I see online for gopher rockfish. Plus there were other species as well where I have no clue as to how to identify them.
Anyway, the main thing is that we all have some fun and I really had a blast with the fishing last weekend!
- RogerC
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Thank you to everyone for your supportive replies in what was quite an experience for only my second time out in the ocean. I originally didn't want to tell this story to my wife since she worries about my safety and I don't want to highlight the potential dangers in kayak fishing any more than necessary. However, I got into trouble for coming home two hours late from my fishing trip and eventually told her the whole story in order to generate some sympathy and get me off the hook. It worked reasonably well and I think that all of these discussions about kayak safety have actually made her feel a little better about my kayak fishing.
I am planning to head out fishing again from Pillar Point on the weekend of Sept. 10 (either Sat. or Sun.) and would enjoy some company if anyone wants to join me. I've still got a lot to learn about fishing gear and techniques and would appreciate an opportunity to learn first hand from some veterans. For instance, I usually throw all of the fish back unless they are particularly big and this makes it difficult for me to identify them later. Last weekend, I started near the entrance to Pillar Point Harbor and wound up catching tons of small fish that I think were some sort of croaker. However, I can't tell if they were white croakers, black croakers, or yellow croakers. I wound up having to paddle quite a ways out just to get away from them. Also, I caught some fish that look a lot like the pictures I see online for gopher rockfish. Plus there were other species as well where I have no clue as to how to identify them.
Anyway, the main thing is that we all have some fun and I really had a blast with the fishing last weekend!
- RogerC
I'd be down. My limiting factor right now is that I haven't put a FF on my boat but when I get on top of some fish I have a knack for getting them on board. I'd just need some help finding those rock piles. Those croakers are probably Genyonemus lineatus (White Croaker). If that big Ling is still eluding you, try sending one of those back back down in the right spot!