Lake Chabot 1-8-11... First Kayak Fish!

Hi All!

This is my first post here. I'm new to kayak fishing and randomly ran into a super friendly bunch of NCKA'ers at Chabot yesterday including iroelikethat and zippy, both of whom encouraged me to check out the website and start posting. So here goes...

I got my Native Manta Ray 12 last month and have had it out a few times without any bites, yesterday being my second time at Chabot. THANKFULLY, this time around I had my new DIY scupper cart with me, which made the trek from the parking lot to the marina waaaaaaaaaaay easier than my first visit, when I had to shoulder the thing.

Here's my new kayak (no drilled holes.... yet  ):



And here's my new scupper cart, with my sloppy PVC cement primer job:



I was on the water around 7:00AM with overcast skies and a chilly sub-40 degree air temp. After chatting up iroelikethat for a few minutes, I launched and started trolling a blue jointed rapala past Half Moon Bay and then around the dam for a couple of hours, varying speed and depth but getting zero bites. I eventually switched over to a 1/4 oz gold kastmaster and got a bite right away near the entrance to bass cove. I grabbed the rod from under my knees, got the trout to the kayak, but he got off literally as I was bringing him into the kayak. Fail. Still, I was pumped to have fought a fish from my kayak for the first time... such a rush. I immediately got my line back in and started fan casting the area I'd just trolled through in search of more trout, but no bites for a solid 30 minutes.

I switched lures again to a little panther martin spinner and started trolling Half Moon Bay, determined to get a trout in the boat and a picture taken. On my final pass back to the marina, I got a hit just before getting to the little island and managed to get the fish all the way in this time. It's certainly not the biggest or best fish I've ever caught, but it's certainly a memorable one. Here's a pic of my first Kayak fish!





Finally giving into my cold toes, I got off the water around 1:00PM and headed home. Anyways, looking forward to my next trip out and meeting some more NCKA types. Now onto searching the forum for VHF radio recommendations... Cheers!



  

Welcome to the madness!  Must be mad to freeze your toes off until you got the fish onto your yak. 
See you OTW, and looking forward to future reports from ya.

HamachiJohn

Welcome to the addiction.  This is a great site.  You can learn a lot here.  Everyone pretty nice here too.

WTTM and great first report! C U OTW. 

Welcome to the madness, and great job landing your first fish!

Roger

Welcome to the board and congrat on the first catches from the yak.  Thanks for the first report and pictures Greggers.

WAY TO GO GREGG! VERY NICE REPORT! KEEP IT UP AND SEE YOU OUT THERE!...

Welcome aboard Greg. You're off to a good start  with some great pictures along with a cool fishing report. See you on the water soon.

Jedmo

Welcome to the madness....see you on the water soon!!! 

way to go on your first yak fish!

Welcome to the madness
Don't be in a hurry to drill holes in your boat. A tricked out milk crate is great for starters until you figure out what work best for you and your boat. Not too many of us paddle Natives, but there must be some good advice on the site

Nice! Yeah, the first yak fish is a special one....mine was a calico bass from SoCal.

LilRiverman is right, a milk crate gives you lots of options to move things around & try out different combinations of rod holders etc without putting holes in the yak.

There are a few Manta Ray owners out there, EricB has one I think.

WTTM Greggers. Its a whole new world of fun.

CONGRATS!!  and WTTMadness......you are just beginning to have fun,please continue to report and click some pics as you go along having the fun.
i saw you paddling like you knew what you were doing and knew where you were going = I was right, cuzYOUgotFISH!
I trolled my usual SR5 in blue&org. and a firetiger shallow runner for not(again)

Nice report, congrats on your first kayak fish!  It took me three trips before I was able to get mine last year.  It was a trout too.  Thanks for the report and pics!  Welcome to the madness!

Michael

Greggers will be NCKA addicted very soon
Cool first report
Welcome aboard mate!
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