411 at Tomales bay

Hi all,
Going camping with about 50-60 peeps (parents and kiddos) at Olema campground this coming 9/11/2015 weekend. First time for me at that camp and at Tomales. We're doing a night paddle on Fri/Sat night to check out the bioluminescent thing. I'm guessing we'll have inflatable kayaks, rafts, and regular kayaks in the bunch. I'll be using my Santa Cruz Raptor. We'll do a night launch near the Blue Waters Kayak shop area hoping to avoid any stink-eye from them.  I doubt we'll go too far. Not even close to going to that Hog island I keep reading about here.

I know I'll be the only one with a fishing pole in the group trolling with an inline banana lead and my newly aquired FBR lure with anchovies and/or sardines.

Any safety tips and fishing tips would be appreciated I checked the temp and tide charts. Looks like as long as we head North an hour maybe after sunset we will have an easier time coming in? 

A large part of my work career was doing business projections of a sort, I tended to dwell on worst case analysis, because best case analysis doesn't yield anything to worry about.

Not sure of your experience level, or the experience level of your group.

Being OTW in the dark with a large group, first thing is I wouldn't have a fishing line out.

Are you going to have kids out in yaks in the dark with inexperienced people in the mix? 

It's been my experience that locations and distances become kinda distorted in the dark,

Have you been over your planned paddle route in the daylight?

Could be a great outing but exercise lots of caution on this plan.

There might be halibut around, other than that there are leopard sharks there,

I am not sure how late we will be there on Fri, but a buddy of mine and I will be OTW sunrise from Nicks looking for Hali...all I ever seem to hook is mudmarlin though. This time I am keeping my hook out of the dirt by a few inches maybe that will help. 

A large part of my work career was doing business projections of a sort, I tended to dwell on worst case analysis, because best case analysis doesn't yield anything to worry about.

Not sure of your experience level, or the experience level of your group.
Me: With a large group like this, I'm sure there will be lots of new kayakers involved.

Being OTW in the dark with a large group, first thing is I wouldn't have a fishing line out.
Me: My plan was to be be in the back of the group about 100 ft.

Are you going to have kids out in yaks in the dark with inexperienced people in the mix? 
Kiddos won't be paddling on their own. They will be with their parent/parents in whatever it is they'll be paddling in. Again, don't know all 50 people so I assume newbies will be in the mix.

It's been my experience that locations and distances become kinda distorted in the dark,
Me: I asked about this also. Someone in the group indicated they've been going to this annually the past 3-4 years. They indicate they make sure they can see the shoreline. I will have a Lowrance 5 ff with GPS and a  compass for my comfort zone.

Have you been over your planned paddle route in the daylight?
Me: Nope. I already asked the person running this show and had to peel the launch info from them. I already indicated we need a planned route and timeframe just in case peeps need to look for us. I'll keep digging for more info.

Could be a great outing but exercise lots of caution on this plan.
Me: That's why I'm asking for any tips. Seems like I'm the only one in the group trying to keep it as safe as possible.

There might be halibut around, other than that there are leopard sharks there,

BTW,

I did email the group about PFDs. Trying to not be a Nazi-safety guy, I told them that my dentist would always tell me that I only needed to floss the teeth that I wanted to keep. So it's the same with PFDs. Only put on PFDs on the kids and parent you want to keep.

Holy crap! Glad to see that turned out the way it did and not the other way! Mondo was this your group or another? Hope everything is ok man!

Glad I found this forum as I was almost completely oblivious to the hazards of Tomales Bay. My first and only 3 times on salt with the kayak so far have been on Tomales bay alone. Nothing ever happened and I caught some fish but I'm beginning to understand just how dangerous it can be despite it's mild appearance. Just lurking on these forums has taught me much I didn't know about safety and what to bring along. The forum also cost me a lot of money looking at all these shiny kayaks and "just having to have one of my own" but I'd say it's done more good than harm 

Holy crap! Glad to see that turned out the way it did and not the other way! Mondo was this your group or another? Hope everything is ok man!

Glad I found this forum as I was almost completely oblivious to the hazards of Tomales Bay. My first and only 3 times on salt with the kayak so far have been on Tomales bay alone. Nothing ever happened and I caught some fish but I'm beginning to understand just how dangerous it can be despite it's mild appearance. Just lurking on these forums has taught me much I didn't know about safety and what to bring along. The forum also cost me a lot of money looking at all these shiny kayaks and "just having to have one of my own" but I'd say it's done more good than harm 

Hi all Nope, that was not my group. Believe it or not, we launched in the same exact place at about the same time only we did this on Friday night. I kept my group near the shore. No way would I let them go farther with some inflatable kayaks in the group. I had a tough enough time with my raptor. It wants to turn and point downwind when it's strong. Anyway, we kept it short. Maybe about 1/2 hr on the water. On Saturday night, we tried again but launching further South hoping it would be calmer. It was calmer but no biolumenscent to be seen. Not sure if it was  due to being overcast all day or we were just too far South. Everyone was kept safe and sound and we got back to a warm campfire. We instead did the tourist thing most of the weekend. Eating oysters at the oyster farm, going to the lighthouse, and visited some beaches (non-kayaking). I never even got to try out my newly cured anchovies and sardines  but we everyone was safe and I get to fish another day.