Delta 5/30, sunk my kayak, broke my paddle, what else could go wrong lol

OK before I get to far ahead of myself...

Launched to very windy conditions 10+mph winds that never let up the entire day. Nothing I haven't fished before, always had my best fishing in this wind, which was still no exception today even with my bad luck. I worked the breaks with senkos and easily picked off small bass from the pockets. I worked my way over to my most productive striper spot and began nailing them like crazy. Lots of smaller guys in the 12-14" range. Very choppy since the tide was going one way and the wind the other way.

 I began noticing the yak being very unstable but shrugged it off thinking it was because of the current and wind. It's when I looked back and saw that the top of the rudder was underwater and became increasingly unstable. That's then I remembered I washed my yak out after going to Monterey! I NEVER and I mean NEVER take my drain plug out, and the only time that I do, I forget to put it back in. I straddle the yak and slowly barge it over to shallow water. Hop off, by this time the rear hatch is practically underwater. I pop the plug back in and begin bailing the water out. Whew, could have been a lot worse.

So I continue fishing my spot and still nailing the stripers like crazy, finally nail a 19"er on a large jerkbait in front of a bassboat that was working the same spot with no luck  . I decide to get out of the white caps and huge chop since I am soaking wet. I am working some rip rap, the wind was blowing hard and fast and had me going pretty fast right into the rocks. So I decide to use all my strength to turn to keep from hitting the rocks. Snap! He paddle bends and breaks right in the middle!  It's only 7pm and the fishing is hot! I bend the part off with pliers s I can still halfway use the paddle. I limp back over to my stripers spot (which was upwind just in case I had to float back to my car) and continue fishing for another 2 1/2 hours. I landed 2 more keeper stripers and a good 2 dozen undersized. If the wind would have let up I would have stayed longer, because the piggies come out after dark. 

The fishing was awesome but I would have rather stayed home and saved my paddle. So my tip is if you have an aluminum 2 piece paddle, be easy on it 

Jeff

Oh and I forgot my digital camera, so I took a few shots of some fish. The 2 afterdark didn't come out because my camera phone sucks

wow, Jeff, what a report!!!    Good thing you got out in time to bail out your yak.    I keep hearing stories about that drain plug thing sinking boats.    Sorry to hear about your paddle.   I jsut finished reading Porky's tale about his broken paddle.  Has me really thinking about my paddle, which was a throw-in with my boat purchase, so probably a cheapy.

Sounds like you hit a great fishing day, though, despite the equipment snafu's.   Way to hang in there and tough it out.

Sorry to hear about your mishaps. Glad you had fun catching lots of fish.  Thanks for the report and pictures.

Second that!  Awesome recount of overcoming obstacles and staying on the bite!  Props to you man!!!  Your very inspiring   

Think I'll start bringing two paddles with me, even on freshwater now.   

Were gonna have to start a sub section on "How My Yak Filled with Water" Happy to hear it all worked out.

Way to keep at it, determined not to let a mishap (or 2) get you off course,,,,,,, not to mention allot of fish,

Great report

Adventure on the high delta!  Way to stick with it and improvise.  How many pool noodles you running with?  If you don't have flotation I'd recommend getting some.

 

WTG, Jeff. Nice job working through the difficulties to catch some fish!

It must be the time o' year for aluminum paddles to bust! Crazy!

Like a true victime of "the Madness" Jeff both seriously swamps his boat and breaks his paddle, but his main concern is still the hot bite only a few feet away. Classic.

Great read Jeff!

I'm glad nothing too serious happened. Sorry 'bout the paddle. That is exactly why I always tried to steer customers away from those to a fiberglass shafted paddle. So many times I got the old "you're-just-trying-to-increase-your-commission" attitude, but I was just trying to save people the hassle.

Agree with Piscean, you sink your yak, break your paddle, fight off the huns and still keep fishing.  A man with his priorities lined up right 

So it seems aluminum shafts break.  How about fiberglass or carbon?

I should also note I had a cheap $50 Carlisle Paddle. POS. I am going to cut it shorter and stash it away for a spare in my yak. Also I am going to poolnoodle the %^!# out of my kayak and glue the drain plug shut.

Crazy stuff dude, glad you handled it.  I have thought about paddle mishaps a couple times out there.

Sorry to hear about the misfortune, but it looks like you handled it like a true addicted kayak fisherman. I bet it just ate you up having to leave early. Good job getting into the fish and showing those other guys how to do it.

Quite a few threads on kayaks taking on water this year. Another reason why I added pool noodles to both of my yaks. Don't want to be out on big blue and submerge. Really thinking about putting one of my cheap paddles in the hull as a spare.

I hope we can hook up sometime this summer and fish together again. Take care Jeff and keep the reports coming.

Ray

WTPost It All Jeff!!  too bad you had to go through all that, but it definitly made you a better preparded kayaker(and me too!, i need an xtra paddle now)

Thanks for sharing and at least you got to hook some fish  that night!

When it rains, it pours!  Glad you came out ok pardner.  We need to go fish again.  I am doing paradise saturday morning if you want to meet up.