Guess I'll Start: GS5 Report

Some WTF moments...

The only ass my kayak seat has seen this year. 

Derik trying out one of EWB's (I think) fish bonkers.

Derik trying out one of EWB's (I think) fish bonkers.

HAHA very cute...Shoot he should have kept it! Next time!

This was by far the most disgusting thing I have tasted. Please excuse some of the language. 


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First of all I would like to thanks Eric for hosting this wonderful event and his daughter for her great help in fish measurement and score records.  I had a awesome day catching and releasing fish.  Never caught and released 20+ Lings in my life.  I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Just finished cleaning the fish up all pretty...will have blackened Ling steaks tonight, seared abalone, whole fried Cabzilla, Ling/Cab head soup and hot, spicy boiled dungeoness crabs!!
 

SUPER BIG SHOUTOUT to RavensBlack, DpShim and Shellback for donating their hard earned awesome prizes to the Pay it Forward Paddle in June!!!!!

What a great array of prizes to get the ball rolling: HumminBird FishFinder, Kokatat PFD and Badazz reel designed for saltwater yak fishing!!

THANK YOU fellas!!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Just got home and caught up on the posts here so far - had to tear myself away as there was opportunity to salmon troll for 3 more hours and the water and wind weren't too bad today - still some yaks on the water as I left.  I gotta be realistic though - I'm burnt!  Time to unload the truck, get a little grub, get my son to a a baseball game, and try to assimilate back into normal life.   

Thanks to everyone who attended.  Congrats to the winners - I'll post up the official top 10 and their scores and catches later.  I didn't do as much pic and vid work as I usually do, but I'll have some porn up later.   

Putting on this event is helping me figure out that drinking too many beers and staying up too late Friday evening is a bad idea for the rest of the weekend - no energy to spare on the marthon I just ran!     Saturday I got up at the splitting headache/still buzzed hour of 5AM and got down to the ramp to salmon fish until late morning when family time needed to happen.  It was a thrill to get out there with a couple dozen good NCKA friends salmon trolling at the Whistle buoy.  I was so hopeful that someone would hookup - anyone!  So an hour or two in I'm getting really seasick (I don't get seasick unless I drink too much the night before   ) - anyway, we've been trolling around by the Whistle and the only action is blacks and a few underlings, even for the few powerboats right there with us.  I start to make a line inside to head in, pass over the clear water into what I start telling myself is "salmon water" - hazy, kinda greenish/brownish - and BOOM, fish on!!!  I quickly put the paddle in fighting position, load up my rod and feel the fish run and hit the surface.  WOOHOOO, I gave out a loud yell which at least 6 yakkers around me heard.  The fish broke the surface between me and SCTrace (nice to meet you!), then it ran RIGHT AT ME.  I reeled in as fast as I could with the prayer that always comes at that moment, "PLEASE still be on there!".  It was!  I horsed it right up to my boat and it shot directly under my ass.  I got the net out and had my DeepSix all the way up to my rod tip.  I knew this was no 25 pounder, but it was a nice fish.  I pulled it out by high-sticking, it was RIGHT THERE.  I went to net and it went fucking ballistic, shook its head, spit my hooks, and was gone.  I was describing it as about 15 pounds, but a powerboat that caught one at the same time radioed 12 pounds - that's likely what mine was.  Yes, it was heartbreaking, but it was also great validation to have hooked and brought that fish to my boat.  It also made me realize that just being there in charge of helping the group have a kickass time was something I was really jacked for.  I blew what would've been 3 years in a row of a special catch by one of us on pre-fish day, but I'll make sure to get more opportunities in the coming months.   

I don't think our group fought or landed any other salmon this year - the bite was definitely not happening for salmon at the Cove for GS - maybe next year on that front.  As for the rest of the weekend, I agree with Dustin - a whole bunch of badass kayakfishing men and women proved that they can get it done in really tough conditions.  Well done, everyone - the spirit of the group and good vibe coming from each of the individuals was a pleasure to be around.  I'll get some visuals up when I can.   

 

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 the spirit of the group and good vibe coming from each of the individuals was a pleasure to be around.

Too bad that is not enough to keep you warm in such conditions.

Great time!!! Thank you so much Eric, that was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. Me and the fam are already thinking about next year!!

This was by far the most disgusting thing I have tasted. Please excuse some of the language. 


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Hey I (Kat)  thought it was pretty good!!! Mind you Ryan didn't enjoy it very much. I think Old#7 has the pictures of us eating them.

Another great shelter cove tourney.. Thanks eric (and every one who helped out)..  great job as usual!!

I managed to donate my camera to the deeps on monday so I have zero pix to post.  Thanks sailfish for posting a few with me in them so I can prove to my wife that I was there.       I ended the weekend with some nice lings, a cabbie and assorted blacks and greenlings.  On tournament day I caught almost nothing but lings,  (Bighammer halloween rocks!)  mostly underlings but I put back a few in the 25 inch range as well.   Kept two lings, one cabbie and two black rockies which gave me a completely crap total for the tourney but a great time! 

My one fish story of the weekend..   on monday I was fishing straight out about half way to the red can,  drifting a swimbait when I felt some weight on the line.. no hit really so I thought it might be snagged.   I give it a couple tugs and realized it wasnt snagged but was very heavy so I winched it up thinking it was a big sea star or some kelp...    got to my mono topshot and I see its a fish.. but wtf?  Its a fish with no head and 2 tails??    Got it to to the surface and realized Id caught a cabbie which looked about 20 inches and its entire head was engulfed in the mouth of a lingziilla!   I guess the ling was too busy trying to eat the cabbie to actually fight because it never took any line on the way up.  lol.     

Soo..   I tried to reach my gaff but the fish (both of them) all of a sudden started thrashing like hell so instead I grabbed my net which was a bit too small for both of those fish at once..   got it under them after a try or two and pulled it up..  both inside.    When I got it over my yak,  the ling went WHAT THE....  let go the cabbie and jumped straight up and out of my net, landing on my legs.   I tried to put the net down on top of it and grab the fish by hand but its next move was straight forward and into the water.     Then to top off the whole thing,  I look down to see the cabbie had spit the hook, went balistic in my lap and also back into the water.   both making a huge splash.    Complete kayak Cluster@#%$%.  LOL!   My buddy Greg (bluenative) was about 20 yards away and I can still see him cracking up.   My other team mate saw it, but said he  saw my net out,  then I went down in a big trough and he lost sight of me... heard a huge splash and thought Id  gone in.

Anyway.. at least it was fun.

Thanks again Erik on a great tourney and to all who came and made it the epic weekend it was!

I had fun.