My worst and best kayak fishing days.

Undoubtedly my best day:  http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=40845.msg444870#msg444870
TL;DR: First limit of WSB, with a personal best as well.  And I lost three more! 

Second best day: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=40826.msg444650#msg444650
TL;DR: Two WSB and PB 40" Halibut

The worst...  I'm having a hard time deciding.

Third best day  http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=39273.msg424818#msg424818
TL;DR 2012 was a good year 

Best Worst Day  I cant find it at the moment 
Caught a WSB, lost a nice rod and reel combo

This also reminds me of the old thread:  "donations" made to the sea......

I can't get close to Al's experience. WSB and halibut!

Although I did a limited amount of kayak fishing out of my Necky Looksha Sport back (closed deck kayaks are not very good for fishing) in the '90s (rockfish, greenling, trout, bass) (probably before most people on here?), I only really re-ignited the passion in 2020 and have about 2 1/2 years of recent trips.

Of those, I think my best day was last December in Pacifica when all I wanted was a legal lingcod and maybe a Dungie or 2 for Christmas, and I ended up with a 33.75" PB halibut, 3 black RF of about 14", 5 legal Dungies on 1 hoop set, with a few other RF, an underling and 2 small cabs released. I think all before noon.

Worst day? After buying my brand new Outback, I tried loading it on my wife's new plug-in Rav4 solo and it got away from me, falling and scuffing the car. I was forever banned from using her car for the kayak so was relegated to the old CR-V with the bad head gasket. After some re-rigging, I drove 45 minutes to Del Valle with anticipation of finally getting the boat in the water and maybe catching some fish, but failed the boat inspection due to condensation inside the boat. On a brand new boat! One of the worst cases of an idiot bureaucrat with the inability to make a sound decision that I've ever run into. Drove home without getting the boat in the water and with smoke coming out of my ears.

I like this thread.

My best day was almost 3 years ago off Bolinas. I slept in big time and didn't get to the parking lot until 9. It was a weekday so I could actually park. I was by myself, and weary of fishing in the ocean alone, so I stayed in pretty close, just past the breakers, to fish shallow for halibut. It was wide F***ng open. There was a shoal of bait that was pushed into the surf. I fished 12-15 feet of water the whole time with live bait, and had a nearly blacked out fish finder for most of it. Halibut were breech feeding and coming clear out of the water. I'm pretty sure it was not only the day that I got my first keeper halibut from a kayak, but also my first halibut limit, in under two hours, with tons of shakers mixed in. I also caught two juvenile white seabass, about 25" each. I wish I kept fishing for seabass, or CnR'd my third halibut, but I was way too stoked at the perceived rarity of my experience that day to not take the limit as soon as I got it. I was off the water at 11:30. I thought that experiences like that were common, but alas, my wisdom grew and I realized later how special it was that day. There was not a single other boat or vessel fishing around me that morning.

My worst, I think some have read recently as the thread was bumped ( https://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=93311.0 ). But also at Bolinas a few weeks before my best day I described above was caught in a lightning storm. I thought I was gonna die, or best case have to be rescued. Surreal for sure. Cool part is I caught my first Salmon a few weeks later, which I also think was one of my best days. A total roller coaster of a time out there.

I learned a lot in 2020!

 

Thanks for sharing. All too often we don't realize we're having a great experience until the reality sinks in. Good on you and hoping that you have many more experiences like that in the future. Carpe diem.

I’ve been enjoying this thread, great idea/topic Paul.
I’ve been super fortunate and have had a lot of rewarding experiences on the water. For me, the days are the ones in which I’ve got the presence of mind to look around and appreciate my privilege to be able to access beautiful places, serenity, and natures “church”. On the water is the place I reconnect with family members who passed on and are no longer physically present in my life.

Best day
I don’t recall the specific date, but I recently had an experience like that at Shelter Cove. The bait and fog were thick and nearshore, the water was perfectly flat and looked surreal in the low light conditions that just barely illuminated the dense school of anchovy right beneath me. I was surrounded by harbor porpoises, and rising fish and I could not see any other humans in my vicinity. I felt a very strong presence, and think I was sharing the space with my grandpa Southern’s spirit. It was a wonderfully rewarding and memorable experience. I don’t even recollect if I had a good day of fishing, but everything else comes back to me with fantastic clarity.

My worst days sound a lot like everyone else’s. I’ve donated car keys, a wedding ring, and plenty of other valuables to the deep. The worst instance being losing my car keys on the water at Lake Almanor, in January. I attempted to grab my keys after hearing them exit my pocket and hit the water, which resulted in getting soaked from the mid chest up. It was 10 degrees that day, and I was the only soul on the water and at the launch. It was a very long and cold wait, but miraculously somebody pulled into the lot just as I was about to break a car window and go for drier warmer clothing. I still had an ordeal ahead of me to recover the spare key and get the car home to the Bay Area. Not a fun experience and rather expensive too.

Thank you for so many great responses.  I enjoyed reading all your answers and learned many.

Lessons learned:

1.  Keep your car key in a separate floating container, like a plastic water bottle or jar.
2.  Do not wear your wedding band when you go kayak fishing.
3.  Always prepare for a yard sale when you land.
4.  Pack your motion sickness medication when you have an upset stomach.  (You have read posts to understand why).

Paul