Maiden Voyage - Mendo

Well, I did it... after reading all of the reports for the past few months I decided to go ahead and buy my own kayak, a white Cobra Marauder.

To make the purchase I decided that I should get in touch with Sean (Scwafish) from GWKC.  Doing so turned out to be an excellent decision, I wont pretend to know him all that well but I can say that purchasing the kayak through him was a very pleasant experience and he was very helpful even with things not directly related to the purchase (hotel/restaurant recommendations and mendo fishing tips, etc...).  I'll probably buy another kayak in a couple of months and I'll most likely be going through him again.

So I get an email from Sean on Saturday morning telling me that the yak was ready to be picked up and a short while later my girlfriend and I were on our way from Mountain View to Ukiah.  We got there at about 4PM and met up with him at his house to pick up the yak, after a bit of talking I mentioned to him that I was going to spend the night in Ukiah and paddle the boat around the lake.  Sean then offered to let me keep the yak at his house until morning rather than trying to stuff it into a hotel room.  At that point he pointed me towards a hotel and made an excellent restaurant recommentdation for dinner.

At 0730 on Sunday morning I showed up at his house to pick up my kayak and another that he kindly let my girlfriend use for the day. Shortly thereafter we were on our way to buy our bait and then off to the lake. 

After a few minutes of paddling we made it to the spot where Sean had mentioned the stripers seemed to be hitting at.  We trolled around for a bit and then at about 1130 we stopped and had lunch.  After lunch we started to troll around again and then at about 1230 my girlfriend started coming towards me to say something when all of a sudden her rod went bendo.  She hasn't fished much so at first she thought maybe she got snagged and then once she figured out she had a fish on she panicked a bit.  I walked her through it and after a minute she was fighting it like a pro.  It took a few long runs on her but after a few minutes she brought in a 29" 9# striper.

About an hour and a half later we decided to call it quits and paddled back to shore and loaded everything up.  We dropped off the loaner yak at Seans house and were on our way back to Mountain View by about 1500...finally go home at about 1900.

I didn't get to hook into one of those beautiful mendo stripers on my maiden voyage but I enjoyed a beautiful day on a beautiful lake and got to see my girlfriend catch her biggest fish to date...all on my very own kayak.

Thanks again for everything Sean.

I have a few more safety items to buy before I go out into the saltwater but now that I have my own yak I'll be looking for people to fish the freshwater with... Have yak, will travel.


---
Angel

Nice!! Nice boat and nice fish there.
Lets hook up Angel whenever you're ready to head out.

Angel:

Very nice meeting you and your girlfriend.  Glad you guys had such a good time.  You made a weekend out of it and everything from the weather to the fish cooperated.  Thanks for the kind words, now go make that yak smell like fish!

congrats and welcome to the madness 

Welcome Imgonnayak,It kinda feels the same when a "loved one" gets the HOOK!.....     ....kinda?      
I did the same,found NCKA before buying or paddling my own,and have had the "Best of Times" hooking up with Fish and Fisherpeople for almost 10 mos. and lots more to go /come.   

Right on Angel, we'll have to head out soon. I have stripers on the brain and I can't seem to catch one...

Welcome to the group.

Phishinpat, get thee to the Forebay. they aren't as big as at Mendo (much heavier fishing pressure) but they are there. I tell ya though, I am getting more and more motivated to make that Ukiah drive after watchign Sean's videos. Man that place rocks when its on! Sweet!

Ark/Pat,

Any time guys but for the first few weeks I'm restricting myself to fresh water so that means I'll be out at Del Valle or McClure for a bit but after I feel a bit more confident I'll be ready to hit the bay and then the easy launch ocean sites.

Just let me know.

Angel

Mendo is tempting but damn that's one hell of a drive from the southbay....
angel, the fore'bay is fresh and we can always fish the bank if things don't plan out...

Pat,

I probably wont be around this weekend but I'm game for the next.

-Congrats Angel on your first outing. A wise decision to familiarize yourself w/ the sport on fresh water before heading out to the big pond.I am a local east bayer so if you would like company let me know. Frankfishing

Angel,

You can also try Shadow Cliffs in Pleaston.  Quarry Lakes in Fremont.  Chabot in Hayward.  I personally do not like Del Valle because of all the big power boats there.  Suppose to b e a 10 mph lake.  But, they go a lot faster or slow up near you.  They know the bigger wake the more trouble you will have.  A lot of parts of Del are narrow also.  If you go to Chabot you need wheels.

Ken kickfish

Thanks for the info Ken.  I'll have to check out those lakes.

welcome aboard. Sean is a great person to learn from!!! Mendo is a great lake to start with.

jason

Only 2 problems......long drive and you can only keep 2 stripers.  Also, camping rates were a little steep.  $24 for one night (last year).

Ken kickfish