A hard lesson learned. And I may have a personal problem

Howdy yall,

I've been fishing my whole life, and dabbled with kayaking the last couple years when on vacation. Recently my wife and I decided to pick up some kayaks, and I found a killer deal on 2 Ascend FS10s last month. I've been going out to lake chabot just about every week, landed the first fish on the yak, and have overall been having a great time. My wife comes along every now and then, just to paddle. We love it.

This summer me and my neighbor have also gotten into halibut fishing in the SF Bay. In my research for the juiciest spots and bites, I eventually came across the kayak based halibut youtubers (die hard, lost anchovy, Et al.) and thought hey why not? The only difference between me and them is just their sit on top, 12+foot, pedal drive with motor assist, $7k rigs compared to my sit in, 10 foot, regular old paddle yak.

So I went and scoped the Alameda Rock Wall one day and decided to try it out, and just stay in the cove area by the launch, but knew how sketch it would be.

I was freakin out the night before while I was packing up, but I wasn't being completely stupid, I had my wetsuit and a marine radio, totally expecting to have an incident out there.

So I get out to Alameda at the butt crack of dawn, conditions look great, and there's just one other guy packing his old town in the lot. I load up, wheel my dinky rig out to the launch, and get everything set up. I'm anxious as all hell, feeling self conscious, and second guessing the decisions I've made up to that point.

I finally get settled in, start up my lowrance, drop my transducer, and get ready to somehow fight the tides, swells and wind, all while trying to maintain a steady trolling speed. As I reach for my paddle, I realize it wasn't there, it was never with me. I left it back home in the garage. I get a huge rush of shame and feel as stupid as I look. I sheepishly wheel my pathetic setup back to the car, unload it and throw it on the roof, and drive back home in silence, and go right back to bed and sleep out of anger.

Once I wake up, and explain to my wife why I wasn't out on the water, I had a long hard conversation with myself on tempering my expectations, and the limitations of my equipment. I knew I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a super fancy kayak, and was already happy just puttering around the reservoirs getting a nice upper body workout. It wasn't worth the risk losing it all in the bay, and I could wait to just go out on my neighbor's comfy, stable boat.




So anyways here's my new-new to me yak, a bigfish 103 with a bixpy J-2 outboard and 2 batteries.


-Alex

oh wow, I feel for you!

Looks like you've been really getting some good use of the yaks on the lakes.

forgetting a paddle... you are not the first, you will not be the last.

I have a ritual I go through, list, etc.  but I always assume I forgot something, a battery (fish finder) a cable, the bait I wanted, etc.  I have forgotten a paddle once, fortunately, just going to the local lake.

On other occasions I've given bait to someone I met on the ramp who forgot theirs, loaned pfds, etc.  I bet if you started a paddle rental at Encinal Boat ramp...you'd be a millionaire!

I now have a 5 point checklist I do in my head before I leave the driveway - and I need to put eyes on each of these.
1. boat (don't laugh)
2. paddle
3. PFD
4. Seat
5. peddles

poles are easy, cuz, if I'm not bumping into them in the car...they aint there.

but if I have these 5, I know I'm at least getting on the water.

hope to see you out there sometime
Brian.

Nice kayak you have for yourself now. Safety issues will be the same with any kayak so be sure to read through the Safety First section of this site.

My first time out was a San Pablo Reservoir and it was just below freezing temperature very early. I had everything loaded on the kayak got in and pushed off. Reached for my paddle and it wasn't there. My hands became my paddles, as I embarrassingly worked my way back to the launch.

Make sure to practice flipping and re-entering. I took a few kayak classes before getting a kayak, and when I flipped out a few weeks ago the skills came in handy, and kept me from panicking.

I have a EBRPD season pass so I hope to see you out there one of these days. Mostly fish Shadow Cliffs.   

I have created checklists on my phone to verify items I need for different types of fishing.
Many of us left items at home.  I drove 4 hours to do abalone diving and noticed that I had left my long carbon fins at home.  Luckily, I was able to rent a pair from the local dive shop.
Feel free to ask for help or questions from other NCKA members. 
Make sure you know how to do self-rescue as Mark L mentioned above.

Paul

As our good brother Mooch would have said "Welcome to the Madness" 

You aren't alone, we have all made these kinds of mistakes and learn to overcome them.  All part of the game.

Yep, been there before.

I've forgotten my wetsuit, PFD, and even fishing rods.  Sucks when you have an hour plus drive to get to your spot, and there are no places nearby to purchase or rent the missing item. Even worse when you are on a short time leash for the day, and forgetting an essential piece of gear ruins the whole day.

Sweet new ride - just remember that the more sophisticated your rig, the more things to remember to bring along!

Edit - forgot to add the fish finder, or more commonly it's battery, to the list of forgotten items.

I've even driven there from SJ and forgotten my hobie drive at home. Had to call it off because I didn't want to paddle the outback in the chop   

Forgot my Gulp baits on Friday

Better at home than vice versa at the launch. Leaving your paddle at the launch, then realizing the next outing at the launch. 

I have a spare paddle that lives in my Trident.
And a spare PFD lives in my truck. BTDT.

forgot my entire gear bag once, wetsuit, seat, etc. no spares for those lol.

Brah!  Thanks for sharing.  I’ve met some who’ve forgotten their peddle drives and fishing licenses.  I’ve shoved off without my paddle on board and had to dog paddle my yak back to grab it.  Keep comin’ and I can’t wait to hear you slay ventures on the ascend!

Forgetting something is a common practice among us 

Forgetting something is a common practice among us 

Come to speak of it, I forgot to win the tournament on Saturday.

Forgetting something is a common practice among us 

Come to speak of it, I forgot to win the tournament on Saturday.

😂🤣

Maybe you forgot the paddle, but you seem to be conscious and aware and this is much more important on the water.
Next time.