Extreme Kayak Fishing video

Yeah, I've been reading about the yellowtail run you guys are having.  Is it like this every december?
Pat

No.... but each winter at some point they do seem to pop up for a while. Right now it is because we have a large volume of squid in the
La Jolla canyon.

I'm a little sourgrapes about the great weather and fishing you have down there,

I know how you feel.  I've been so busy at work, I can't find the time to get down to LaJolla(3 hr drive).  In the meantime, I'm missing all the action.

I was out of town for a week then got sick as a dog, so I missed the best part of the bite. Still don't feel up to paddling out.

On the subject of whether these fish are mortally wounded in the catch and release thing, if you think about what they put out while they're fighting and dragging a human around to boot, they're sporting some serious chi and I'm sure they have some left over when they swim off.  They probably just go and tank up on some other unfortunates in the food chain.

Actually I recall some studies involving satellite tagging which demonstrated a markedly increased mortality rate for billfish that were fought for >1 hour.  Don't quote me on the numbers as I can't find reference to the study right now.  At any rate, I wouldn't be too quick to assume these fish survived.  Not meaning to pooh pooh anyone's catch here, just stating what I believe to be reality.  In fact when targetting billfish we try to release the fish within 30 minutes.

-Allen

Is that the industrial version of the Bassamatic!
Take a look at the video again and look at the still of the sail jumping right next to the guys head or the segment where the Marlin just about jumps in my lap. Not exactly safe and cozy. Maybe not extreme like jumping fifty feet in the air holding on to the ass end of your motor cycle, but in our sport about as extreme as you can get. Sure fishing for Makos off the yak would be even more extreme, but you can be the one to explore that fishery not me. 

Uh oh.  I just had this crazy idea that we could target salmon sharks on the Ketchikan trip.  Is that extreme?  Joel, I'll let you leader mine. 

-Allen

I think I need to pack a good telephoto lense for the camera...........

I'm half serious about the salmon sharks.  Gonna have to look into how dangerous the kayak thing is for them.  But if there is the possibility of fishing for them from a boat before or after our "time in the woods", it's something I'll definitely look at.

-Allen

There was an article in either Outdoor Life or Field and Stream a month or so ago about fly fishing for Salmon Sharks... I'll send it to you if I can find it.

If there is a problem with the extreme video, its simply that it doesn't really capture the ridiculous difference between a true pelagic and the fish we catch.  No one loves our local fisheries more than me, but they are no match (not really even in the same universe) as a hot-blooded pelagic.  While I'm not real big on billfish, thats just a personal thing.  I promise you once you tangle with the pelagic of your choice, you will be forever ruined.  It was a great treat, and a real eye-opener to watch Jelly's face last summer when he got to see the power of a big pelagic first hand. 

We were trolling about a 1/2 mile offshore our first day in baja and a big crevalle CREAMED my Rapala.  I had a the Torium in gear, with the clicker on, and the drag set hard enough to set the hook.  The rod 30# rod was bent into a horse shoe, the clicker was screaming like a mad man for a least a minute, and my yak was going backwards/sideways about 3-4 miles an hour.  I reached around to pull the rod out of the flushmount and I could barely get it out.  When I finally got it out I looked up and Jelly was a deer in the head lights...mouth open and staring in disbelief.  I put the rod tip near the bow and the yak spun like a car on Starsky and Hutch and I was off on a high speed sleigh ride.  Jelly finally got his gear in and was paddling his heart out to catch up...but he wasn't.  He was screaming "wait up dad"!!!  Finally the fish turned and we got back together...I got the fish to the boat about 1.5 hours later.  Jelly paddled for many days waiting for his turn, I was stoked to see it finally happen.  Unfortunately for us, there is simply nothing like it around here.  It is however a REAL good excuse to go to baja every summer!  BTW it aint anywhere near a $1000 a day.  We house our whole family with epic food, pimp rooms, and ridiculous service for 185 a day, a yak is a whopping $40 a day...worth every penny.

baja rules. I rented a house on 32 acres for 800 a month, everything included. 5 months of surfing bliss  .

on the way out of there in late february, I got to touch a whale in mag bay. they come right up to the boats.
they seem to like it. they come back for another touch, they don't leave.
a baby grey whale squirted water on my younger son and me, amazing.

I just don't like the scripted vacations, (problems with authority,  ) but when time is short, that's the way to go, for sure.

After a 15lb tuna kicked my ass (I didn't really know how to reel properly then), I hear what scwafish says about pelagics, but
I'm committed to getting the max from my local fishery, even if the fish don't pull as hard as some, it's still
an adventure getting to them. for me, it's not just the fish it's the whole experience.

baja is big on the whole experience side of things. maybe chile or peru or argentina or new zealeand would compete, but
it's hard to get your yak there,  .

I would like to surf/fish and explore the seven sisters area (mid baja) in late winter one year. It's like being an
explorer to a new land sometimes, you don't see very many people.  I have been there for limited times,
about a week max, usually headed down or up. the surf is killer, I know the fishing
has to be great. it's not too hot. it's not too cold. you'd be pretty much the first to really kayak fish the area.
maybe in a few more years.

I love local fishing too, just trying to point out that there is a big difference.

We do have local pelagics ... if you've been out for albacore locally, you know what scwafish is talking about regarding the pelagics.

-Allen

I might have to cough up for an albacore trip next summer. I guess this summer was mostly a bust.

I usually fish albies at least once or so a year with Capt. Ron...they never showed off of Bragg this year   hopefully they show next year.