First Trip In My Outback Trout at McSwain

Bought a used Outback and went to McSwain East of Merced to see if I could stay afloat Friday.  Had never kayaked before so was a little apprehensive.  Got there about noon after about a 1.5 hour drive, and on the water about 12:20.  Very insecure for the first half hour or so, but after a while got much more confident.  Absolutely loved the experience.  It got pretty windy at times, but the Outback travels into the wind so much better than my old float tube.  Caught and released about 20 small trout.  Trolled gulp minnows until about 6:30.  Had at least 50 bites.  The trout kept biting off the tails of the minnows.  All I fish with is gulp minnows.  Anything that swims will eat them.  Had one moment of real excitement when I was reeling in a small trout and about 30 feet behind me (with me reeling behind me and not looking back) an Osprey hit my trout and scared the heck out of me.  I wish I had scene the Osprey coming.  Now I want to try out the sail that came with the Outback.  Was going to try it Friday, but got started catching the little trout and then the wind came up to a speed that I thought was maybe to high for my inexperience.  Looking forward to meeting up with some other kayakers.  Kern

Great first trip right there, congrats!

WTTMADNESS!!   now you are going to be ruined for life,,,,inAgoodWAY! 

Congrats! McSwain is one of my favorite lake for trout fishing and I used to fish there when I had a 14 foot aluminum boat few years back. Glad to here it's still good trout fishing hole. I'm definitely gonna pay a visit sometime soon now that I have a Kayak.

Welcome aboard and thanks for the report  Kern