Mendo SBA festivus

I was just looking at that pic of you guys at the table and was thinking how much this smiley  comes to mind.  Or, maybe  this one. 

But really, that pic really says alot about the weather you guys fished in.  Sunday at oyster point I got baked(by the sun).  I forgot my cover and paid the price. 

I know this woman who is putting out a line of clothing inspired by her husband who passed away from skin cancer.  Its supposed to be action sport oriented.  I cant handle too many more days getting scorched.  My main concern is when I cover myself up completely I overheat and dehydrate(kinda like last year at lime kiln).  You guys look fried in that pic also.  What was the temp that day?  JTF..

The temp was ideal about 80 degrees at the hottest.  I don't think anyone actually got burnt, we were all pretty good about the sunscreen.  I look dark in the pic because I generally get dark in the summer as pops is hawaiian.

thanks to all for the "congratulations" on my 4th place finish!

Special thanks to Sean for sharing his "How to" Article on Lake Mendo  I'll make sure you have a cold Fosters beer on your kayak at the OP derby...instead of a banana  You da man bradah!

So I have a soon-to-be-classic story to tell.  I needed to get a picture of me holding a fish on an Ocean Kayak for this ... http://www.oceankayak.com/fishing/crew/allen_sansano.html

I thought for sure I'd get a fish and then borrow a Mooch's Ocean Kayak to get some pics on it.  Well ... no fish for me.  So here I am back at the ramp and Bob has a fish and a Drifter.  So I went up to him and said, "I know this is going to sound weird, but can I take a picture of your fish ... with me holding it ... on YOUR kayak".  So I get into Bob's kayak and he's taking pictures of me, and I go to reposition for a better picture and his fish slides right off my lap and into the water.  D'oh!!!  I was about to jump in and go diving for it.  But I got lucky.  The striper floated!

-Allen

Allen,

How did you mange to get on the OK fishing crew without having an OK kayak?  Are they going to give you one?
I'm really confused now,  shouldn't you be really be on the Cobra Triple fishing Crew?

I would not go the Triple route unless you're planning on fishing with a partner regularly.  I have a Triple and I have an XFactor.  I'll take the XFactor any day for single use.  I'm 215# and 6'3, so slightly different dimensions than you, but I probably still qualify for the "big dude" group.  I find the XFactor much faster than the FND and drifter, although I've only demo'd those a couple times.  It's not quite as fast as the "wet butt" boats (Prowler and T160).  But it's plenty fast enough.  It's every bit as stable as any other kayak I've tried.

-Allen

Brian

   Ummm ... what Triple?  I don't paddle no stinking Triple!!! 

As my kayak fishing style evolves, so too does my choice in kayaks.  OK offers a quality product that I'll proudly paddle!!   

-Allen

speechless in at least five directions...

Well Allen in that case, welcome to team "wet butt" (the unofficial OK kayak fishing club)

Brian

J - I used 20 lb spectra with a 14 lb low-vis tip of 30 feet or so, uni to uni knot, to a small high-quality swivel, 5 more feet of low-viz to a tiny split ring on a small live bait hook and followed the scwafish "how to". The tackle and knots all thanx to mooch,  thanx mooch. Man, do those fish SLAM a minnow!
Correction - Mooch uses much lighter line, I was to scared of a line break, being my 1st turny and all.
I used my new shimano corvalus from western sports at $116, great mooching set-up, I highly recomend it. Ben

my set was 20# power pro for main line and 10 ft. of 8# flourocarbon line tied to it (uni to uni). I used a small gamakatsu hook that had a split ring on the eye of the hook. I actually used my Perch Rod (lamiglass) with a 400 Shimano Spirex spinning reel - had a blast fighting the fish with this light set-up. I also had another rod with a spinning reel loaded with 6# mono with a little cleo spoon for the "striper boils".

Ben, I just got a Corvalus myself - definitely much better than my Abus

That big Skipjack that was out there was trolling 4# outfits off the downriggers set 10-15' deep.  They had spinning rods tied on flyrod blanks and were having a blast on the ultralight.  They were killing them.  I believe they said they had landed 4-5 fish and lost at least that many.  I saw them stopped up multiple times.

-Allen

so no mainline doubling then?

mooch, I hate to tell you this, but better doesn't matter, only coolness. especially with reels.

and abus are the coolest.  . 

Abu's are cool but clunky. I only use them with 15lb test or more with lighter line I prefer the morrum, shimano 100s or calcuttas.

I used straight 12lb Sufix no leader tied my hook with a uni didn't pull all the way down forming a little loop at the hook, then use a split shot as a sinker stop. Fast to re-tie just slide the split up cut off a little line and re-tie. I prefer to use as few knots as I can since they are usually the weak link.

how much weight was everyone using?   It seems to be that the trick is finding the right weight, amount of line out and paddling speed combo...in other words getting the bait down to the proper depth while trolling.  Something I can't seem to get right for Mendo.

Brian

1/4 oz...slow (0.9-1.2 mph)...100ft will run between 9 and 15 feet down.