Mothershipping, Big & wild? Not kayak fishing at all?

I've done the mothership thing and enjoyed it! But like Mike / Mickfish, I got into kayak fishing because of what Eric B had mentioned  "It's the thrill of total self sufficiency".

No one here is trying to bash the mothership thing. Everyone has their preference. Given the choice, I would rather paddle and fish without the aid of a mothership. But if I had the money, I'd do a mothership at least once a year

My most memorable trip was launching out of Moss Landing at 4 AM with Stuart and Fred (Savage) and then paddling many, many miles out in the open ocean and finally getting into the fish (salmon). We paddled back and got out feet dry just past noon....we were dead tired and hungry. THe experience felt "primal". If I had to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing 

I've done the mothership thing and enjoyed it! But like Mike / Mickfish, I got into kayak fishing because of what Eric B had mentioned  "It's the thrill of total self sufficiency".

How did you come up with the name Mooch???? I guess that trip for dinos out of Gallinas Creek was another guided trip when you didn't have any Ghost Shrimp and used mine.
JWSmith~The majority of this thread is friendly ribbing; at least for me. I crack up at this stuff. If we always agreed on everything there would be no new thought to anything.
I would never hesitate to give any of my NCKA brothers or sisters anything they needed anytime they needed it.
I also don't put any stock in whether or not someone elses version of fun is different than mine.

Joel nailed it!

I almost said something about de-evolving in my last post, but primal is a better word... 

Anyone who knows me would laugh at the thought of me being a purist...  I'm new to this whole sport and in awe of you guys who have been at it for years.  And yes I've borrowed stuff on the water and have had help before lugging my kayak back up the hill after a hard day on the water...  I was sure glad to see Sean and Adam on the beach the day I had an unplanned yardsale...  And as I mentioned I'm in no way implying the Islander trip took any less skill.  Everyone there probably had more experience and skill than I do!

But to me...  personally...  the best day I could imagine is doing everything myself, and that's what I strive for.

And yes I've borrowed stuff on the water and have had help before lugging my kayak back up the hill after a hard day on the water...  I was sure glad to see Sean and Adam on the beach the day I had an unplanned yardsale.

THis is something NCKA is known for (and proud of )....the bond among members is strong..... you can always count on someone ready and willing to help you when landing...or even launching from the beach (just like my recent experience at Monterey - Brian Blue Jeans came to my aid ) or simply having someone help you carry your yak to the beach and back! IMO: the world would be a better place if everyone had this attitude....and if everyone rode scooters to work

I've nodded off in my drifter a few times, wouldn't mind sleeping on it on a lake someplace warm and tropical. 

And with regard to motherboats......you cannot sleep overnight in a kayak....not any kind of kayak.     (Well yes, you COULD put out sponsons...jeeeezzz...)    So practically speaking kayaks are limited as "coast-side" craft......a transport mechanism where you've just got to put in, come the end of the day.     Fine....the motherboat though, gives you a floating platform to put-in to.

Kayaks are the bicycles of the ocean, and I'm proud of that. Once we start taking PB rides to the fishing grounds, just to drop into the water to fish from a kayak, it defeats the purpose of the kayak. To me that's the same as the people who strap their bikes to their cars, drive to the park, ride around, and then drive home with their bikes strapped to their cars.

All of us, whether we're shore-fishing, PB fishing, or kayak fishing, have to drive from our homes to the water. It's what we do when we reach the water that defines who we are. As a kayak fisherman, I unload my kayak, and crash and pound through breakers in order to reach the fishing grounds. I do not hop on a party boat and get a free ride to the fishing grounds...it's just not the same.

That said, I bet mother-shipping is fun.

This thread is HILARIOUS!!!

I've heard these same purist "discussions" over 30 years now in:
rock climbing (was sunny-fun-happy-climbing now "sport climbing")
mountaineering (supported with porters vs not)
tele skiing - lift served vs, backcountry vs lift-served backcountry
snowboarding (see tele-skiing)
flyfishing - dry vs wet
cycling - put your bike on the car or "car supported tours" or "credit card tours"

having just returned from a full on mothershipped, guided trip -- it was a kick. I paddled just as much as on a non-mothershipped trip (maybe more) for four days. It was kayak fishing.

Its all a joke, a game.  Purity is all shades of gray.  For me it turns black when you get dropped off without a paddle and/or hook the fish from the boat.

I'll use my same statement for each of above: Don't comment until you've tried it.  Then decide for yourself, and don't diss others for where they draw the black line.

Now, how many here have actually mothershipped?

All of us, whether we're shore-fishing, PB fishing, or kayak fishing, have to drive from our homes to the water. It's what we do when we reach the water that defines who we are.

This is a great comment-- what you are doing is defining your line.  Driving is ok- that's where you draw the line.  I remember this guy that raced some Mtb races years ago-- he rode his bike to each one, some took days to get to.  His line was "no motors".  We could each do the same (see thread on bike trailer for yak) - yet nearly all of us DON'T - cause we've decided that it adds a level of commitment that we are not prepared (or able) to uphold.

For me Pure White is human powered all the way, out AND back that would include getting to and from the launch. If you die returning it doesn't count. Midnight black is hooking the fish from a PB (or shore) and hopping in the yak.

Ive never had the chance to go Mothershipping for I cant afford it. But If I could afford it I would do it. Its all in the eye of the believer! Lets catch fish

My question is, "Why?" If you are already on a boat why put another boat in the water to fish from? It strikes me as a "so I can say I did it" kind of thing.

Fishin-Jay made me pause and think with the "Is it still fishing if you drive to the stream instead of hiking there?" question, and I came to the conclusion that it's not an equal comparison. It's more like you threw a unicycle in your trunk and drove to the stream, then parked in the lot and rode the unicycle to the shore. Is it accurate now to describe your trip as having rode a unicycle to go fishing?

Gerry

This may not be the correct thread in which to discuss this but the thought arises because of discussion of a "Mother Ship":

My wife and I over about the last 7 years have visited Vancouver, B.C. three times.

Each time I have stood looking at the water imagining myself in my very own blue kayak paddling west, away from a departure dock at Granville Island....bound WEST for the Strait of Juan de Fuca, under the southern tip of Vancouver Island....to the open Pacific Ocean, and then south some eight hundred plus miles.....to San Francisco Bay.

Quite a fantasy.   A trip that I do not seriously imagine I will actually undertake.

Only because I am a modern man who flies in airplanes and has access to a National Geographic World Atlas------would I not fall into the immense trap that is Puget Sound.    And even then, I absolutely did fall into that trap.

Each time, when Sherry and I flew out of Vancouver I took the window seat and in my imagination "saw" the water-route south that I imagined my kayak would be taking.   And for the first two flights home, each time, I fell into the Puget Sound trap.

I had had no idea that Puget Sound (far from being anywhere NEAR the Pacific Ocean) is an inland labyrinthe that reaches all the way down past Tacoma, WA....nearly to Olympia...!!!!....  Do you KNOW that Seattle is nearly 130 miles from the open ocean...???...!!!...???....!!!!

So it's a fact:   That if you were a PRIMITIVE man, kayaking south down the inland side of Vancouver Island, you would almost certainly be swallowed up by the (My GOD) utter immensity of Puget Sound WHICH HAS NO EXIT TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN SOUTH, OF THE SOUTHERN-TIP OF VANCOUVER ISLAND...!!!!....

Wow.

Yu'know....I sat there in the airplane seat tracing my imaginary kayak-route south....becoming more and more confusedly aware that the AIRPLANE was now south of Seattle....!!!....    AND finally the water petered out....and I and my kayak would be 75 land-miles inland from the Ocean...!!!....   

Only the comprehensive maps of the World Atlas will solve that puzzle for one.

When what Puget Sound would DO to a "south-coasting" kayak dawns on one ????   It just absolutely takes your breath away.

So anyway, to a modern man with GPS, carbon-fiber paddle and roto-molded plastic kayak----probably the biggest day-to-day hurdle of that trip would be drinking water.   You could not drink one drop of any of the fresh water emerging at the coast.  You would have to commit yourself to boiling 100% of EVERYTHING.   With modern fishing hooks and modern line, you could, I would think, bring no food and feed yourself from the ocean.

Interesting that if you were a PRIMITIVE MAN...you could drink any fresh water....anywhere.   But also interesting that if you were a primitive man ...???...you would have other serious threats.   Principally:  All of the coastal cultures obtaining their livlihood from the ocean...would SEE your boat and remark with great interest where you put to shore....and if you were not wily, wary, and maximally cautious....you would be taken prisoner 12 times before you reached San Francisco Bay, and probably would be put to death seven of those times....

In a truly wild world.....that would surely be the case.

What a fantasy.

Judd

Judd:

     Don't get me wrong - I love your posts.  But...  do you
 
1)  run a "215 Club"?
2)  need to refill your psychoactive drug prescription?
3)  see little pink bunnies running around your computer desk?
4)  etc...?

 

Oh yeah, and how do you feel about motherships?   

My question is, "Why?" If you are already on a boat why put another boat in the water to fish from? It strikes me as a "so I can say I did it" kind of thing.

Gerry

Gerry -

I already posted this earlier in the thread, but, the mothership just get's you in the vicinity of fish, like the Bean Hollow parking lot does. You still have to find them, catch them and land them like at any other location. When you are fishing from a boat, the captain finds the fish and the deckhand helps you land it. There are also the other passengers who result in tangled lines, lost fish and sometimes unwanted conversation. When you launch from a mothership, you are on your own, just like any other kayak fishing location. But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what you call it because mother shipping is flat out fun for many reasons and in my opinion no different or less challenging than fishing most of the blue water places we frequent. I will admit, the surf creates part of the experience for ocean kayak fishing, but it does not define the sport, IMO.

Scott

Judd:

     Don't get me wrong - I love your posts.  But...  do you
 
1)  run a "215 Club"?
2)  need to refill your psychoactive drug prescription?
3)  see little pink bunnies running around your computer desk?
4)  etc...?

 

Judd's from Berkeley, so it figures. 
I know.  I went to college and lived there for 5 years. 

My question is, "Why?" If you are already on a boat why put another boat in the water to fish from? It strikes me as a "so I can say I did it" kind of thing.

Fishin-Jay made me pause and think with the "Is it still fishing if you drive to the stream instead of hiking there?" question, and I came to the conclusion that it's not an equal comparison. It's more like you threw a unicycle in your trunk and drove to the stream, then parked in the lot and rode the unicycle to the shore. Is it accurate now to describe your trip as having rode a unicycle to go fishing?

Gerry

why is easy-- because it gets me in the vicinity of the area I want to fish.  Same as a car, airplane, etc. Its not a "so I can say I did it" thing, its a balance of access and time commitment. Sure I could have paddled the 25 miles and back to Las Frailes for my rooster (with a couple of camps along the way), or i could have hired a car, driven all the way around and launched from teh placid beach- both apparently would have been acceptable. Yet for some reason that alludes me, hopping in a boat to get there invalidates the fishing done there--that's the part i don't understand on the other side of the argument.

On the unicycle question-- It is accurate to say that you rode a unicycle to go fishing.  You did in fact ride a unicycle, to get to the fishing. Its not the whole truth, but it is accurate.

Totally off topic-- do you ride a unicycle? I got "invited/volunteered" to do something insane on a unicycle, and am wondering if 8 months is enough time to learn to ride one well enough to ride easy, mostly flat single track?