sik Alaska butt fishing

The sik vs sot for fishing has been a frequent subject. I thought I'd add to it with some pics from my Alaskan son who often launches his 18 foot sea expedition kayak out of Homer and paddles 25 miles to his choice spot to fish for halibut then returns the next day or day after that to Homer. Fish over 40 pounds are head shot then have mouth pinned shut and towed to shore for fileting. The largest fish by the green yak was estimated to weight 130 pounds. The yak cockpit is 36 inches long for a size comparison. A good sik for long distance in the salt will keep one warm and dry with spray jacket and skirt and definitely can be used for big fish.

Wowzers!  Get that kid on the board!!

He earned my vote for Legit Badass!

Badass for sure! 25 miles?!?!?
That dude loves slayin' buts.

That dude loves slayin' buts.

I would love that too, but fishing out of a SIK is not for everyone.  Especially when you have a fish that big.  BTW, congrats charles to your son for getting it done on a SIK.   

Your son is living the dream life

There's a kayak out of South Africa that might interest him, I had one delivered in July and am trying to work up a review of it

Long lean and very fast like the glass closed decks, with advantages of the SOT and 8 or 10 ft of internal storage

I bought mine thinking I was going to have to go 8 or 10 miles offshore looking for salmon this year but the fish obliged and came in closer

Have done distances probably up to around 35 miles and know what the grind is like, especially toward the end of the day

Your son's snoring must be alarming to the bears...

The kayak is a Stealth Profisha 575 and would probably be ideal for what he's doing

Had mine only a little over a month and am never looking back to the plastic

Dream life is a good description. Two years ago he solo kayaked  from Ketchican Alaska to Salmon Creek just north of Bodega Bay all on the outside water. Watching him bring his loaded yak through heavy surf to land on Salmon Creek beach was special. Given that many of his landings and launchings take place in some pretty sketchy places he has stuck to almost bullet proof  plastic for long trips.

That's amazing, he should write some sort of a journal about it if he didn't already

Before I got married I was thinking about doing something similar only just following the Alaska coastline

Probably better I never got to that one, camping among bears I don't get much sleep

Wow, very impressive!

I tried to get him to write an account of the trip for a sea kayaking publication but he wasn't interested. He did take a number of very good photos which illustrated the journey nicely. The one close call he had was getting flipped coming through the surf and unknowingly breaking his carbon paddle on the sweep to roll up again. Wet exit, followed by a remount and cockpit pump out before he could land. The attached pic is the journey end landing on Salmon Creek beach a bit north of Bodega Bay. I think he said it took 53 paddling days to get here from Ketchican Alaska but maybe close to three months overall. There was time spent on the beach waiting for weather to settle down. Punta Gorda kept him camped on the sand for a week or so. No electronics other than a VHF. Charts and compass for navigation.

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Damn...

Wow, that's an adventure!  Nice to have that much time and doing something with it.     

Is he using a spear with a float line attached after the fish is subdued? I can stay warm and dry with the right clothing and the thought of doing a wet exit on the open ocean alone is not something I want to experience. Kudos to him for the thrill and the slaying.

He uses a 44 revolver for a head shot kill then pins the mouth shut and tows the fish to shore if they are over forty pounds.