Doran 11/22

Well I finally did it. I went kayaking without a fishing rod. Who could a guessed it would be so much fun.

 All kidding aside I do think this was the first time I paddled without a rod and reel onboard. I arrived at Doran at 3:30 hoping to finally get my pots soaking and maybe raid PescaDONo's pots while I'm there. The wind was kickin' pretty good maybe 10-12 knots. Rigged up the yak and stood looking at the bay at 4:00 wondering if it was worth it to even launch. Probably wouldn't be able to get to where I want to drop the pots. Decided WTF started paddling about 4:10, barely making any headway, I decided to just relax and not fight it... just keep paddling. Finally got past the jetty and turned on the FF/GPS... ack! dead battery. Even if I could get to where Don's pots are how am I gonna find 'em? Oh well... just keep paddling. At about 4:50 I'm half way to the Estero Americano and the wind finally dies down. I start looking around for a good spot to drop my pots. Then I start wondering how the heck I'm gonna find 'em later. Luckily I remembered that I get cell service there so I pulled out my phone and took a screen shot of my coordinates on the compass, and tossed 'em over. Then around 5:00ish I started wondering if I could actually navigate well enough with the phone to find Don's pots. WTH, might as well try. Sure enough after about 15 min I locate Don's pots. Then I notice how low the sun is on the horizon. OMG, the sun goes down really fast this time of year. By the time I get pots pulled It's getting pretty dark. That's when I remember that they lock the day use area at sunset. Holy Crap! what a fiasco this has turned into. So It's about 5:30 when I start paddling for home. Luckily paddling a kayak without all that fishing gear you can make pretty good speed. When I get back to the jetty I'm beat, arms and shoulders are super tired. Oh well... just keep paddling. About now I see the ranger's little white truck pull up under the light at the bathrooms, holy hell this guys gonna lock me in. I turn on the after burners and in a couple minutes I'm on the beach. I drag the yak up the beach (felt like my arms were gonna fall off) and load everything in the truck and as I'm trying to hurry out of my drysuit with arms that are only half working (don't try this at home) the ranger drives right past me headed for the gate. I jump in the truck still half wearing my suit and gun it to the gate just in time to squeeze through as he's closing it up, whew!

Forty minutes later I'm home and the wife has the pot boiling on the stove, 15 minutes after that... crab dinner! It was all worth it. Thanks Don.

Did I mention the part about rear ending the little Toyota pick up with my F350 on the way to Doran 

Sounds like you had an "crabby" day    Glad you went home with some nice crabs.  Thanks for the report and pictures Ruben.

Gotta love the wind???

Close one Ruben, yeah the sun seems to drop fast at Doran  , glad you didn't vet locked in, and you got some nice crabs, Cameron

Close call Ruben. Lucky the wind didn't shift to from the NW. Solo no less. Exciting? Yes. A bit foolhardy? Uh........ Glad you made it home bro.

Close call Ruben. Lucky the wind didn't shift to from the NW. Solo no less. Exciting? Yes. A bit foolhardy? Uh........ Glad you made it home bro.

All true Craig, For the record and the newbs, I would NEVER have tried this anywhere else. I had my radio and it was freshly charged. Lots of boats around and CG station near by. All predictions were for decreasing winds and seas. Was fully prepared to just dump the traps and bail. Just got started a little later than I'd have liked.

ruben

I've been itching to go crabbing too for a while now Ruben but the ocean condition has not been favorable for me. Way to get out there and bring home some crabs for the family bro.

Jedmo

Only thing missing on the report is getting pinched by a crab for a complete adventure

Way to yak w/o the paddle, Ruben.   

Way to go Ruben!  What we go through to put crab on the table???  Glad you made it back safe.

Bret

What an adventure.  Against all odds you pulled it off and got a great dinner out of it to boot.  Although somewhat risky......Well done! 

YOU GOT CRABS!..WHOOHOO..crazy paddling it seemed there with bumpy conditions. Glad you made it out safe brotha..better yet with some TASTEY CRABS. wtg ruben. thanks for sharing

I don't know how you found my pots without GPS. They are a full mile from Doran Beach. I pulled nine today with about half being jumbos.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't know how you found my pots without GPS. They are a full mile from Doran Beach. I pulled nine today with about half being jumbos.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice, sounds like quality is improving. Can't wait to get back out to check mine. Lemme know next time you're goin out Don so I can return the favor. Mine are fairly close to yours.

ruben

It was nice chatting with you today Don. I hope you enjoyed your bounty!  Nada for us today. I hope for better luck at TC tomorrow.