re-cap du nord

very tired...

abking...

took...

pics...

just...

for..

you...

<dies from exhaustion>

<whoops, not dead yet>

p.s.

saw gto19 who shows what we caught and saw some guy with blue tarpon double hatch, trucker hat, no logo... anybody know him? 

Now, John...     I consider it an honor and really a duty to be so involved with the site and the practice of visually sharing the love, so your pic of a $hit-house in my name is a little bit of a slam!     But I'll take it in the spirit of the Brotherhood and let you off the hook since you included some bonafide yak fishing shots.     Nice report.   

Now, John...     I consider it an honor and really a duty to be so involved with the site and the practice of visually sharing the love, so your pic of a $hit-house in my name is a little bit of a slam!     But I'll take it in the spirit of the Brotherhood and let you off the hook since you included some bonafide yak fishing shots.     Nice report.   

AK, sorry, not meant to be a slam (but yeah, maybe a little teasing in good fun  this: , not this:  ). after driving 2 hours in the early morning with a big cup of coffee, ken noted that the presence of flush toilets was really to be appreciated,  .  so I thought you might get a laugh from that one.

Fishing was tougher than last time, but I had a bigger stringer yesterday after doing a few things that worked out: 1) used a small white teaser above my swimbait (teaser good for one of my >5lb verms, and many other fish) while doing the conventional vertical jigging. 2) marked good spots on the water with my GPS (for the first time) and worked the spot repeatedly with a drift chute out so I can fish a lighter jighead 3) fished laterally, not just vertically (dragged a megabait behind me until I saw marks, then bounced and swam the megabait to the yak. got a big olive (twice as big as the usual schoolie kind), a 22" ling (released), a copper, and two vermillions doing that at the end of the day.  really fun to fight a fish when you hook it way behind the boat instead of straight under it,    I am motivated now to use my specially modified and weighted 1-hook broken back rebel with a trolling weight out there sometime.

I'll cop to it. It was my idea to take a picture of the sh---ter. I thought it would give a good idea of the hole day. I didn't say to take a picture of the gas pump when we filled up as that would have ruined the trip.

Good report and pics.  Was it the timing or was it FAC out there?  No surfing stories or pics so the launch and landing must have been uneventful?  Looks like deep blue yakking heaven from our monitors.

I appreciate the "house of relief" pic, its a 3.5 hour drive, one way from my neighborhood.  A pic of the gas pump would be a reminder to stay local. 

Doesn't Blue Kayak has a blue 160 double hatch? 

Thanks for this report to remind us that somewhere someone's catching fish. 

Gary

I'll cop to it. It was my idea to take a picture of the sh---ter. I thought it would give a good idea of the whole day. I didn't say to take a picture of the gas pump when we filled up as that would have ruined the trip.

I don't look at the pump price total, so I'm glad you didn't tell me what it said! All I know is that if I have a full tank of fuel and a fishing mission ahead of me I feel like a million bucks so it's worth every penny!

sandman, it was a little tougher than our cakewalk last time. I convinced sc x factor to try a practice human-sea-anchor style landing (the safest possible landing method, if not so stylish), so we got intentionally wet coming in, but no gear was lost. float in behind your yak holding onto a short rope off the stern, the second your feet can touch the sand, run up and grab the bow and pull to safety.  if you don't have a rudder, you can land bow or stern first.

the weather reports told me we'd have a window, but it was actually less windy when we drove back up around 3:30 then when we paddled out @ 7:30. and you could probably have gone this morning, but it looks like monday will not be so fun with weather moving down as you can see here: http://www.lajollasurf.org/nocal.html  basically if it's dark blue, it's probably an easy launch.

blue kayak does paddle a t160 but wears a toque or a beret, not a trucker hat,  .

John,
       I like that troll and wind off the bottom technique.  I've had some great hookups and that lateral fight is fun. I've had better luck not snagging the bottom with swimbaits though. Don't get as many of the school fish, but sometimes it gets the reds and lings pretty excited.
    Good job up there thanks for the $h1tr pics.
                            Cos

thanks for the $h1tr pics.

Ahhh... brings back fond memories before and after a long day on the water.

nice report, and thanks for the pics and 'port

That troll method is definitely a way to spice up the usual jigging.   

It was nice to have met the both of you John and Kevin, and good of Eric GTO to ditch his saturday plans to come fish with me.  A check of the conditions down there friday when I got off work was all I needed to get my butt in gear.   

I really worked for my fish, totals were good though as I kept 7 verms and released 3 small verms, 2 undersize ling cod, and a couple coppers.  I did have one drop near the kelp at 80' of water that got slammed so hard that the plastic was bitten clear off at the hook.  So frustrating not to know what it was, it hit like a freight train though and when I tried to engage my reel it swam away with 4 inches of fish trap in its belly. 

All my fish came on various colored 6 and 7 inch fish traps, 4 and 6 oz lead heads. 


2 of the more popular kayaks here at NCKA

Very nice... looks like a great day out there... or should I say, down there. That drive down and time on the water makes for a really long day. Enjoy your catch.

Freddie

3 small verms

Those don't exist, do they?   

Seriously, this is something that we've always noted up here - you don't catch small vermillion.  Catching a small (less than a pound) black or blue (among many of the other species) would be normal now and then, but we NEVER catch a small red.  "Small" for a red would be 2-3 pounds.  My theory is that they feed on other things (ONLY crabs/shrimp...?) until they're mature.  It's almost like a Steelhead type mystery.  I assume that by "small" JTF is referring to these smaller class of fish and not actually little immature ones. 

I'm sticking close to this report since the pic of the potty that so many are fond of was in my honor.     So it's not a threadjack!   

I convinced sc x factor to try a practice human-sea-anchor style landing (the safest possible landing method, if not so stylish), so we got intentionally wet coming in, but no gear was lost. float in behind your yak holding onto a short rope off the stern, the second your feet can touch the sand, run up and grab the bow and pull to safety.  if you don't have a rudder, you can land bow or stern first.

I'd enjoy seeing this landing style documented in photographs. Never have for some reason. I can't imagine trying it myself - and I don't consider my kayak surf skills as top-tier. I'm faster on the 'yak; its my best chance to escape a surf pounding, especially on a big day when a powerful shore break and surge can punish a swimmer. I figure it is better to maintain my skill level, such as it is, by sticking with the 'yak on smaller days. That way I'll enjoy better odds when facing a brutally tough surf landing.

I convinced sc x factor to try a practice human-sea-anchor style landing (the safest possible landing method, if not so stylish), so we got intentionally wet coming in, but no gear was lost. float in behind your yak holding onto a short rope off the stern, the second your feet can touch the sand, run up and grab the bow and pull to safety. 

of course SC x factor can touch sand long before most of us 

as a graceless, unbalanced clod, dont you just end up being tumbled in the shore dump? 

I convinced sc x factor to try a practice human-sea-anchor style landing (the safest possible landing method, if not so stylish), so we got intentionally wet coming in, but no gear was lost. float in behind your yak holding onto a short rope off the stern, the second your feet can touch the sand, run up and grab the bow and pull to safety. 

of course SC x factor can touch sand long before most of us 

as a graceless, unbalanced clod, dont you just end up being tumbled in the shore dump? 

that could happen, but you are behind the kayak, not in front of it and being crushed by it, rolled under it, etc.