GS9 - Super Long Report on Page 61 - NCKA Rules!

++Added to Tournament Archive Sticky++

Another heartfelt Thank You to 'Black Ab' Eric, his family and extended to our fun loving, NCKA family. Pam and I had a blast. I got some shots of my homies OTW.   dave...

Well, I’m getting back to a normal rhythm here after wrapping up the Ninth Annual Gimme Shelter Kayakfishing Tournament earlier this week.  The event has grown to be the largest kayak fishing tourney on the west coast for the past few years, so it’s become quite a project for me with a buildup of intensity and activity that peaks over the weekend and then leads to my need for a few days of rest and recovery at this time every year.  I’ve also been experiencing some computer issues, so while occupying myself with catching up around my household over the past three days I’ve been contemplating what I’ll write about in this report.  There’s much to share, so I’ll jump in to a timeline-style recounting of my experience.

Wednesday, May 13th was to be my final day of preparation at home.  I’d already delivered a truckload of hoodies, shirts, scoreboards, raffle items, fish troughs and drinking water to the Cove the previous Saturday, so I was confident that I could get all the rest of my gear down there in one more truckload.  I’d be meeting 5 clients for a guided salmon trip on Thursday morning at 6AM, and I wasn’t scheduled to check in to my room at The Tides Inn until at least midday, so on Wednesday after a few hours of packing up I hit the road for the Cove, intending to put some gear at the Inn and come back home for the night if necessary.  Once I arrived though I knew the best thing to do would be to go ahead and rent the room early, unload all of my stuff, go get my other truckload of stuff, and proceed with starting to greet the constantly arriving participants and hand out gear.  I had a little fantasy about going fishing Wednesday afternoon, but it was short lived – I was way too busy!

Soon I had the two truckloads of stuff in the room and I was headed to the campground.  Every year my daughter and I drive through the camps several times looking for newly arrived participants to give gear to, and we carefully check everyone off the list as we make progress.  With over 180 ‘schwag bags’ to hand out – each containing a t-shirt, a Hawg Trough Extension and connector, a B2Squid leadhead and custom hoochie, and a couple other items – we focus on getting the job done prior to the tournament itself, which is Saturday, so I was getting a head start on this before Claire arrived.  As I find people, give them their bag and mark them off the list, I really enjoy the opportunities to see friends who have been at past events as well as meeting newcomers who are as stoked to be there as I am to have them.   Another great thing about the trips through camp are the offers of hot food and cold beer – I’m careful about pacing myself!

After a lap through camp, some hot soup and spicy ribs, a beer (maybe two) and lots of catching up and smiling with friends, it was time to get to bed at a sensible time so I’d be ready for my clients on Thursday morning.  This would be the first year where I’d guide people in conjunction with my event.  I usually fish Thursday and Friday mornings prior to the event if I can, but guiding a group each of those mornings would be much more demanding – not to mention that I was a bit apprehensive about how the water would be since there’d be 6 of us in each morning’s group.  Add to all of that:  the salmon bite was just not happening – no fish caught by the powerboats near the Cove and none caught among the 15 to 20 kayakers trying on Wednesday.  That was OK though – what I’m showing people has to do with how I fish, where I fish, what the history is, and other factors in the big picture of catching salmon from a kayak at Shelter Cove – the catching will happen soon enough for those who utilize the methods and put in the time.

Thursday morning came and I was at the ramp meeting my guys at 6AM sharp.  It was Amos, Luis and Bret – I’d previously met all three – and Ryan and John, who I’d not met.   After introductions, reviewing tackle, bait, layout and some advisories at the ramp, we all launched onto a great ocean and got to the meat of the trip – how to catch salmon.  Since rockfish and lingcod season wasn’t opening until the following day we had no problem keeping our focus on the methods I was showing, and we all had a good time on a 5 hour tour of the area around the Cove.  We didn’t get any salmon bites, and this day was sounding like Wednesday’s reports as no kayakers were reporting any confirmed salmon bites, and there were now a few dozen trying.  We landed at noon on a sunny ramp, and I made my way back to the Inn where I could clean gear and head for another campground run.  My wife and kids were scheduled to arrive by 530ish, so I had time to do more meeting and greeting, eating and – pacing myself – another beer or two.

That afternoon word did come in about a salmon caught by a kayaker!  It was Adam the Auburn Trout Dude – he’d headed way out to fish closer to the commercial boats about 4 miles offshore.  It was great to hear someone got one, and I was glad the conditions hadn’t deteriorated and made his trip out and back a dangerous distraction to the big gathering yet to happen.

In the evening my family arrived and got settled in to the room before Claire and I headed for another campground run.  By this time there were many people arriving and a buzz of activity throughout the camps.  We enjoyed some hot food, handed out bags and visited with people, and I did well to turn down the brews and get to bed early enough to feel good about a second guided trip in a row for Friday morning.

The alarm didn’t have to go off – I was awake and ready at 515.  Got my breakfast, packed my bait and donned full immersion wear, and it was time to head for the ramp.  This day it would be Jeff, Jon and Tim, who I’d previously met, and Jerry and Kenny, who I hadn’t.  I soon found out that Tim wouldn’t make it, but Chuwy, another tourney participant, was there to take his spot – OK, that works for me.  I also learned that Jeff was bringing along his son Jarred – love the kid, and Jeff’s a good friend, but I was wondering how it would go to add a kid on an already crowded trip onto the open ocean.

I didn’t mention earlier that my big challenge on Thursday’s trip had been that one of the participants was deaf.  I had a laminated map and dry erase pen with me, and that worked great to allow me to write out notes on the back of the map in big letters so Ryan and I could communicate on the water.  I appreciated the opportunity to work with someone on that level, and I really admire Ryan’s ability to challenge himself on the level that he does.  I’d fish with you any day, Brother.

For Friday’s trip I thought the challenge level would be down, but once we launched it was apparent that a new set of challenges were in store for me.  The ocean wasn’t the same calm pond that it was on Thursday morning, and staying together in a group was immediately more difficult due to having 6 guests instead of 5.  Jeff soon announced that his son Jarred was experiencing some seasickness, so they headed back.  We were close enough to launch still that I felt fine about them leaving the trip on their own.  As much as I would’ve liked to have seen Jarred find success with my methods by catching a rockfish or lingcod, it was a bit of a relief to go down to 4 guests – Jeff would radio later and meet us back on the water.

We continued on, and the rockfish were attacking our anchovies as expected.  Today though the season had opened, so anyone in my group who caught a black or a lingcod would be considering keeping it.  That was the case for at least one guy in the group, and as I tried to steer us out of the rockfish and on to deeper water where we could salmon troll it became a challenge to keep the group moving and focusing on what I was intending to demonstrate.  I don’t mean to complain or point out anyone’s mistakes – what I was realizing at the time were lessons that I need to learn from:  it’s hard to take a trip of 5 people out at once; it’s hard to keep everyone moving at the same pace; and it’s hard to keep everyone focused on the same goals.

The trip went well.  Everyone was comfortable on their boats in a bit more challenging water, and that included at least one first timer in the ocean.  I got a chance to spend time with each individual.  I offered all of my info about where I’ve caught salmon and where I know them to be caught at the Cove.  I did my best to explain how the layout and geology of the reef lends to certain techniques and how at different times of the year the fish act in different ways.  The bottom line was that no salmon were biting still, and there were now several dozen kayakers trying.  Later though, as Claire and I continued into Friday afternoon doing our campground schwag distribution tours, we heard that another one had been caught – it was Rob / RacinRob, and he’d picked one up way out where Adam had scored on Thursday.  Again, I was stoked that someone specifically targeted and bagged a king with how hard the bite was, but my mind went to how paddling out a few miles could become a big liability with our group that was descending on the Cove.  A second salmon ended up being caught that day by someone jigging for rockfish out front, and it was released due to a barbed treble hook – nice work, Jeff / Codzilla.  So there was hope for us diehard salmon junkies that maybe we’d get into them on Saturday.

Friday afternoon went on as planned with Claire and I distributing gear, and just before 5PM I gathered my notes for the mandatory safety meeting down at the ramp where most of the tournament field would gather for my tailgate talk.  During the afternoon the wind had suddenly come up, and whoever was on the water at that time encountered some of the toughest conditions that we come across – large wind waves on top of swell ended up knocking at least 5 people off their boats.  My mind was focused on it, and I was carefully considering how it may affect the following day’s tournament.  The good news was that for whoever experienced some distress in the water there seemed to be a team of us ready to assist either right there in the water, on the radio, at the ramp or otherwise – the group reaction was impressive, and I was very proud of that.   I know there were more who helped out a lot, but I want to mention these guys:  Don Anglin, Shannon Jay, Bret Clark and his dad Lawrence, Matthew Nelson, Jim Russell, Raydon Shippey, and Pat Kuhl.  I know there were many more names deserving of mention – these were the ones that I have direct knowledge of.

It was time to head for the safety meeting, and while I was prepared to talk about the big wind and where NOT to go along the reef…etc. I couldn’t find my printed copy of the rules and schedule.  I needed it so I could refer to a pretty long list of prompts which would help me to cover all bases while I had the attention of the participants.  It was time to get down there, so I thought, “I’ll just take my laptop and look at the list on there…”  Famous last words for my laptop it turned out.

The meeting was going fine – it looked like at least 150 people were down there, and kicking it off with a basic welcome and an immediate addressing of the day’s wind and capsizings was a no-brainer.  As I finished that aspect of the talk I started referring to my laptop for notes about tournament details, and suddenly I had a new and unexpected challenge – a drunk heckler!  This older gentleman was obviously not in our group (although we may have our own drunk hecklers), and he seemed bent on disrupting the meeting by calling out at me while I spoke.  I’ve never dealt with such a thing, and my immediate reaction was to ignore him, followed by making some sarcastic comments about him.  None of this was doing any good, and in retrospect I wish I would’ve engaged him, seen what he wanted, and hopefully that would’ve allowed him to back off.  Instead I let it eat at me.  I felt fine about finishing the meeting with him doing his thing, but then I met with my biggest challenge of the weekend.

As I leaned down to grab my beer from my tailgate and take a drink, a gust of wind quickly sent my laptop crashing into the bed of my truck!  It happened so quickly, and as fast as I knew that my laptop was damaged I also knew that I now had no means of referring to my notes.  It was a constellation of bad planning, and now it was combined with the fact that I’d just completed two guided trips for 10 people and more in the past 35 hours.  I was tired, without my notes, not dealing well with the drunk heckler, and my laptop was smashed – I also had a big crowd waiting for me to complete the meeting.  I did manage to clearly reiterate that the catch and release bonus this year was strictly limited to a video containing three required elements:  the landing, measuring and releasing of a lingcod over 30”.

After that I was fading fast – not able to concentrate, plagued by maybe half a dozen people or more who thought it would be funny to get my attention and ask “What about catch and release” like the heckler was doing, and now it seemed like everyone wanted something from me at once.  I needed to check out for a minute.  I went to the cab of my truck, tried to turn on my laptop again, saw that the screen was smashed, deflected a few questions coming at me, and was very put off.  The only way out of this was up.  I had to regain my composure and complete the process. 

In that moment, as I tried to take shelter from the group by leaning in my driver side window with my broken laptop, a local guy approached me and wanted to ask about t-shirts for sale.  I told him I don’t have any – I’d been telling people I didn’t, and I intended to make what little I really did have available to the tourney field before anyone else.  So he asked again, and I think I was pretty rude about telling him again that I didn’t have anything for him.  If anyone knows who that was, or if by some chance you read this report, sir, I’m sorry for being a rag!

I made my way back to my tailgate where I ended up learning later that Adam / ATD had helped me out immensely by engaging the drunk heckler, answering his question and seemingly resolving the situation.  Thank you, Adam!  Now the meeting was over, and while I’d gotten the vital catch and release bonus info to the group, I didn’t feel that the meeting went well, and my laptop being smashed was a hard one to recover from.  I had no options though – it was time to regroup and move on, hand out more gear and prepare for the morning when 180 of us would launch onto what I really hoped would be a nice ocean.

After a hot dinner with the family Claire and I did another lap or two through the campground handing out gear – it was great to get it down to only about a dozen left to distribute by the end of the evening.  We stopped for food and drinks here and there, and by the end of the evening I was OK with having had a bit of a tough day.  It was time to be ready for the tourney, scoring, the Gyotaku, the potluck, awards, and all that.  Got to bed at a reasonable time again – that and not drinking too much beer were my best decisions throughout the long weekend.

I had a lot on my mind that night:  how would the weather be for the tourney?  How would scoring go?  And I was still dwelling on how disappointing the safety meeting had felt.  I woke up at 215 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Finally got up just after 4AM, got my stuff together and headed for the water.  I was pleased to see so many people at the ramp in the dark – in years past I’ve been the first one down there on a few occasions.  The skill level and dedication of the sportsmen and sportswomen in this club is outstanding.  Even though I’d just gotten a crappy night’s sleep, I was really excited for the tourney to be starting.  The level of preparation, anticipation and excitement in the air at the ramp on tourney morning at dawn is an awesome thing to be a part of.  I took photos and greeted participants, enjoyed a bowl of cereal, and waited a bit for teammate Domenic who was coming from Ferndale. 

Soon Domenic, Brandi, Jeff and I launched around 630 and made our way onto what was the worst early morning ocean of the trip.   It was bumpy out there, and the wind came up very early.  Several people headed in early, and the tournament field was warned that it could get worse and to not go downwind too far.  The conditions did back off, but the morning was messy and unorganized with intermittent periods of heavier gusts and breaking whitecaps.  That said, I didn’t hear of anyone going in the water on Saturday, so that was excellent while also being an indicator of just how bad things had gotten on Friday afternoon.  The salmon bite was still non-existent, and catching lingcod was challenging with the barbless rigs I ran – always hoping to catch a salmon on the slow troll.  I had a few nicer lingcod on that I lost, as did Dom.  We both managed two averagish lings to score in the tourney.  My heart wasn’t in it though.  At one point I told Domenic that I was just looking forward to getting the day done.

Believe it or not, to be continued!  I exceeded 20K characters and had to split this report.   

We wrapped up our tourney fishing by 11 and started making moves to get the scoring setup in place.  I got up to my room at the Inn, stashed my fishing gear real fast, got the scoreboards, troughs, tables, the water and a few other items and got back down to the ramp.  We got scoring setup by noon, so we opened up early to anyone who was ready.  The new format helped to keep things from bottlenecking, and my group of volunteers did an outstanding job of processing participants as they came forward with their catches.  Some great fish were brought in – a few twenty pound class lingcod, a few 10 to 12 pound cabezon, some beautiful 8 to 10 pound vermillion, and some other nice rockfish.  There was also a California halibut caught by the brother of a participant – he should be in for next year.  That’s the only Cal-hali to be caught at any GS weekend!  And there was one salmon caught – 20.5” and the envy of many!   The new and very challenging format of only receiving a bonus for a lingcod over 30” landed, measured and released on one video clip was not met by anyone, and I’m inclined to stick with such stringent standards in the future.  It is “Pro Division”, after all.

By the end of the scoring process I was feeling more upbeat.  With that huge undertaking having gone very smoothly I was ready to make a showing at the Gyotaku Extravaganza where over the past few years my good friend Brandi Easter has developed a great process and family friendly activity to compliment the fishing tournament.  Claire and I had intended to print a fish, but, to my delight, all the tables were full of families with children working with Brandi’s team of volunteers to create art and have fun.  I was absolutely thrilled to see such a turnout and such great energy at Brandi’s event within the event.

It was time to prepare for the big potluck and awards ceremony.  I gathered the raffle items, organized all of my trophies and notes with tournament results and itinerary for the ceremony, and made my way to the campground patio and amphitheater.  It was really nice to have a stage to work from for the first time, and Don Anglin did a great job getting me hooked up on a nice amp with tunes playing in between times that I addressed the crowd.  The potluck was the usual insanely awesome spread, and right behind the stage KayakJack Whiting and his team were delivering 500 free tacos to lines of happy participants.  The potluck is great, but I’d show up at a taco shack only event!

The ceremony went great.  Jim Russell was running the raffle and coordinated everything with me – the entire time he was focused on what I needed in order to pull off the best gig.  Jim was positive, attentive, diligent and absolutely flawless in his delivery of helpfulness.  I cannot say enough how pro you are, Jim.  Much love, brother. 

Just after getting things rolling I got jumped by my friends!  They unexpectedly came with a fantastic plaque by Sean Walker / Piscean, thanking me for my years of having the event, and on top of that they whipped out a bag of cash for me that had been collected from participants as a way to restore me after my laptop/public relations disaster of the night before!  I was blown away.  How humbling to have the group not only honoring me unexpectedly but also spontaneously rallying on my behalf in my time of need.  I was already feeling better to have the ceremony rolling and to feel like I was ready for everything, and now I felt absolutely on top of the world.  I’m not good at accepting help with things like putting my kayak on my rack, but I assure you it felt wonderful to accept the love and support that was offered to me that Saturday evening in front of 200 and more of my good friends.

Soon I got back to the ceremony, had a few of the best tacos anywhere, and enjoyed unfolding the event piece by piece for a happy crowd of friends and family.

One of the highlights of the event was when it came time to do something for the Gyotaku kids.  Last year and the year before there was a chunk of change that went to a kid for the winning Gyo print as judged by the crowd.  Giving one kid a hundred dollar bill was fun, but this year I wanted to stoke out each of the kids that participated.  We assembled all of the kids who printed a shirt up on stage and I was so pleased to put a twenty dollar bill in the hand of each one.  What I really want from my event is that it becomes more and more about family, friendship, fun activities related to the fishing and kayaking, and teaching the kids that all of this is a healthy way to live and a great way to meet and enjoy others who appreciate that focus.

The tournament results:
Angler of the Day with 67” turned in (35 and 32 inch lingcod) – Terry Saufferer, 2 time winner won $500, a ten inch ab, a small ceramic trough and a 36” redwood Trophy Trough
2nd place at 57”  turned in was a four way tie and won $170 each:
Mike Lavoie
Justin Hayes
Tracey Ziomek
Roger Shu
6th place with 56” was Tommy Arthur who won $60
Sportsman of the Day went to the person who released the largest lingcod – Tracey Ziomek at 32”, and I am changing the name of the award to “Sportsperson of the Day” from here on out!  She won a ten inch ab.
Big Salmon went to Travis Huston for catching the only salmon of the day.  Again, he was envied because a lot of us were trying!  He won a ten inch ab.
After awarding the cash and trophies we continued on with the potluck because I wanted all those with prize cash to have plenty of opportunity to spend it in our charity raffle.  I continued on with other business – Cody Brockman was acknowledged as the back to back kid’s division champ with a 19” black, and we’re hoping for more kid participation in the future.  Cody did great on a tough ocean, and Rich is doing a great job with Cody who’s a fine young man and a great addition to our club and events.

The raffle was absolutely stacked this year.  I’ve developed a process where I accept only kayak fishing related items into the mix, and I try to assemble an inventory of items representing most anything you would need as a kayak angler.  We had two new paddles (Bending Branches and Carlisle), 3 new PFD’s (NRS x 2 and Kokatat), a brand new pro seat with pack from Surf to Summit, a brand new set of Wheeleez beach wheels, Redwood Coast Spreader Bars dredges and Godfather Rig, B2Squid tackle/cooler/t-shirt, Suunto mountable compass, Intova camera, Lowrance fishfinder, 36” redwood Trophy Trough, a really nice saltwater reel, custom ceramic NCKA mug by Kevin Hofer, and I’m probably leaving something out – it was an awesome spread.  Jim and his volunteers in ticket sales and gear handling were ON it, and I couldn’t be happier with the format which allowed everyone to donate at their comfort level while having good chances at lots of different things they’d need or want.  We raised nearly $4000 to be split between HOW and PIF!!!

We capped it all off by raffling the brand new Old Town Predator XL with a motor.  Each participant had one entry in this grand prize raffle, and Roger Shu was the winner.

By the closing of the ceremonies it was time to call on those who’d signed up to help cleanup and haul trash.  The campground owner, Jack, has been great about letting us use his facility, and it was a gift to have a bunch of willing friends there to jump in to help out.  I coasted in to the end of the evening making a few plans for trash hauling in the morning, headed back to the Inn and crashed by 10PM with a smile on my face.  I felt like everything that happened that day went well – I was restored after having a trying time the previous evening, and I was very thankful to be part of such a wonderful community of caring people who love to share the best with each other.

Sunday morning bright and early I was accompanied by good friend Etienne / Sackyak – along with me he’s one of six original Gimme Shelter members.  We try to get a little one on one time every year, but it’s become harder and harder.  We didn’t plan to catch up over a trash run, but sometimes you take what you can get.  We had a good visit, discovered that there’s a dump in Shelter Cove and that it’s actually open on Sundays(!), and got the job done. 

Once that was in the books I wished Etienne a safe drive home, went back to the Inn, got my family packed up and on the road toward home, and finished packing all of my gear – it was now down to just one truckload!  I’d secured a house to stay at for a night of peace and quiet, and by the time I got my truckload of stuff packed in to it, it was time to go fishing!  I hung out at the ramp visiting with many who’d just come off the water and had to head home, and then I launched at about 230.  It was a bit choppy, and I was very aware of the previous few days of history and how the winds had come up so swiftly on Friday, but by the time I got outside to the Whistle at 4PM it got very calm and smooth.  I was feeling the need to paddle, so it was off toward the commercial stick boats for me.  I got out to 140’ with nothing on my screen, trolling my DS/dodger/anchovy and there it was – my only salmon bite of the entire event weekend!  Pump – pump, and I grab my rod to set the hook.  It was gone that fast.  I circled around once, but I had a goal in mind to go to 200’, so that’s what I did.  I got out to between two stick boats where I trolled briefly before heading back toward the Whistle about 2 miles away.  Got back inside by sunset and a SE wind made me earn my way back past the breakwater and on to the ramp just before dusk.  12 miles logged on day four of paddling, but having completed my tournament duties and shipped the family out, I was feeling pretty energized and inspired.  I headed to the house, made some hot food, zoned out in front of a TV for an hour and got to bed – not knowing what I’d do in the morning.

Last year I had a Hike and Dive on Monday morning after the event.  About 30 of us had hiked 6 miles roundtrip up the Lost Coast and back, and maybe 20 of us from that group got in the water at minus tide to look for abalone – a few nice ones were pulled, and it was a great trip.

This year’s tide was too early, and the forecast wasn’t as nice, so I didn’t organize the Hike and Dive.  I woke up Monday, got some breakfast, grabbed a bag of chovies and was ready to head back to 140’ where I’d had that brief pumper on the previous evening.  First I drove up to the Black Sands trailhead just in case someone was there waiting for this year’s Hike and Dive.  Didn’t see anyone, so I was off to the ramp.  Got launched at 745 and I was the only one on the water other than the commercials.  Again it was a bit choppy, and again it all smoothed out at the Whistle!  It was creamy-dreamy out there.  I headed to 140’ and trolled in circles for half an hour – even had some bait balls showing, but no bites.  Soon I had the itch to head farther out again.  I could see eight stick boats out there, and once you’re a mile past the Whistle it doesn’t seem much further to go another mile.  I paddled out there and finally turned around at 222’ – my personal best off of the Cove and probably about 4 miles from launch. 

What I’d said earlier in this report about people going out deep and that being an example of taking chances, it applies here too.  I knew that I was risking having the wind come up making me have to work hard to safely return to port, and I felt ready for it.  I don’t take being on the ocean lightly, and I have had many instances of testing my body against situations where more is required than was expected.  I don’t recommend taking chances, but I do recommend trying to be in tune with your body on a level where you’re confident about knowing how much of a chance you’re taking. 

Once I did turn around and come in the water was nice all the way back to the Whistle, and then the breeze picked up – right at noon, but it was no problem.  I caught a Petrale Sole out deep, a few blacks, a yellow tail rockfish, a greenling and a lingcod back on the inside, and all of them were released.  Got back on the beach at 2PM where I visited with Craig / Rockman and my friend Terry with the big redwood outrigger canoe.  I was feeling pretty tired now, and it occurred to me that I’d just paddled 24 miles – to over 200’ of water twice – in less than 24 hours, a good night’s sleep included!  After a run of 5 days in a row of paddling at least 10 miles, handing out all the schwag, executing the tournament, and visiting with almost 200 of my good friends, it made perfect sense to be tired!

I headed to the house and contemplated packing up and heading home.  As tired as I was, Tuesday’s forecast looked good, and a nice minus tide was late enough to hit the back half looking for abalone.  Maybe there’d be a Hike and Dive after all…  After cleaning gear I headed to the campground where it was down to Craig and Tinnee, and their neighbors Dylan and Cassy were just packing up to hit the road.  It was a trip to see the ghost town of a campground when just two days previous it had been a jam-packed festival! 

Craig, Tinnee and I ended up doing dinner of pretty tasty fish tacos at the bar – it’s local fish, but the cigarette smoke wasn’t the right spice for me.  It was great to be at dinner with the last of the diehard campers, and they also agreed to go on the Hike and Dive with me in the morning.  We parted ways just before sunset, I headed to the house for one last beer and some TV, and it was bed time. 

Didn’t need the alarm on day 6, and I’m proud of budgeting my energy that well over a long trip.  Got up, had breakfast and headed for the campground where I helped get Craig and Tinnee moving.  We got to the trailhead and headed down the beach by 615 or so.  They’d join me for the hike, and I was prepared to be solo in the water for an ab search.  We got 1.5 miles down the beach, and the tide was passing – you have to hit it right or you’re banging your head against the wall.  I decided to get in at Horse Mountain Creek.  Picking my way through waist to chest deep water at minus tide, feeling under rocks for an abalone and trying to avoid urchins, barnacles and other sharp edges, the visibility was zero and the water was cold.  This spot wasn’t doing it for me, so I got out and made my way down the beach a bit further.  Craig and Tinnee followed along, and I got in at one more spot for a search, but that spot wasn’t happening either. 

I ended up hiking all the way to the 3 mile point - in my wetsuit the second half – to the original intended destination at Gitchell Creek.  The tide was already in, but I could see the zone I wanted to dive in was accessible, so I went for it.  Got into about 10 to 12 feet of water and proceeded to kind of go off the deep end…

Diving with no weightbelt is like this:  Turrn your body in a pike, throw your legs over your head pushing your upper body downward, kick with your fins, find a rock or kelp to grab onto, and proceed to search around the bottom from that position.  When you take visibility out of that situation the process includes this:  keep your hands out in front of you as you dive, and when they hit the bottom start feeling around for something to grab onto.  I’m very familiar with this mode, and I’m comfortable with it.  It’s totally foreign, spooky, crazy and dangerous.  The viz on top was a few inches and the water was brown, but as you went down all light went away – at about 8 feet and deeper you couldn’t see anything – it was pitch black. 

It’s always the case that my methods lead to a number of small cuts and scrapes on my hands – I don’t wear gloves, and my hands are very busy not only reaching for and holding ledges and kelp but also feeling around the rocks for where an abalone may be.  With the total lack of any visibility at all on the bottom I was having to hold on with one hand and reach around wildly with the other, trying to locate ledges where abalone live.  I did locate one abalone up under a rock, but it wasn’t huge and I didn’t have time or proper positioning right then to try for it.  I also couldn’t leave my anchor right on it because of surge.  I continued to search, and every dive I knew the tide was rushing in, the swell was throwing me around, I was getting tired, and my hands were getting really beat up.

By the time I pulled the plug and headed for the beach I was beat, but I’d had an absolute blast out there diving in the worst of conditions trying to get an abalone as a capper for my trip – I’d have given it to Craig and Tinnee if I’d gotten one, and I admit that I was after the thrill of picking one in those conditions.  The capper for my trip had to do with maximizing what I was getting from myself – I took my body, mind and hands to the limit on that dive, and the hike back was the final piece in the puzzle.  By the time I returned to my truck I was fried. 


Six days in a row of charging hard were coming to an end.  I got my truckload of gear out of the house and back in the truck, cleaned and locked the house, headed back to the campground to share lunch with Craig and Tinnee before we all hit the road, and then it was time.  GS was over.  I had a blast, and I thank you for making it possible.

Thank you very much to all who helped, all the sponsors, Mike Mowrey and Clay from Johnson Outdoors who showed up with the prize kayak and some nice raffle items, John H. for the tables, my family, my friends, and the entire NCKA community.  You guys are the best, and I see our community as the apex of kayak fishing right now.  I feel very fortunate to be part of this great community.  See you soon~   

Super event, amazing recap and detail of the six (6!) days. Thank you, AbKing.

Simply Amazing Eric!
Thank you again

Great summary! Thanks Eric! 

Thank you Eric for a great "super long" report and all the hard works you put in to make GS9 a wonderful event!  Looking forward to GS10 

Report of the year!
I could not hear the heckler from where we were standing and it wasn't apparent to me that you ever skipped a beat during the safety meeting.
Other than the laptop getting toasted from the wind, everything seemed to go just fine.
I think you may not realize how great your performance actually is and get frustrated if it's not at the level you expect from yourself.
Believe me, the safety meeting went just fine.
Props to Clair for all her hard work putting this together too. You and your wife have done a great job there.
And thank you Eric for everything you do putting this together.
You could put only 50% of what you do for this event and it would still be a 100% bad @ss event!

Thanks Eric, I had a great time. My heart sank when you dropped your laptop. I think we need a designated bouncer, maybe big jim, to deal with drunk and disorderly people.

Scott

You did such a great job, AT EVERYTHING, that I was never aware of any of the issues you described other than the laptop getting blown over.   I was so happy to see Raydon coming through with a bag and letting US help YOU with getting it restored or replaced after all you've done for everyone else.

That's a great report Eric!

The heckler was harassing me a lot on Thursday, I was rather annoyed. When he showed up to the NCKA safety meeting, I was irritated since I thought he was someone in NCKA and expected better. I was glad to find out he was not part of us. His dog ran up to me threateningly and then he started yelling stuff at me. I told him I was deaf and tried to walk away and he got in my face and started cussing me out and following me while heckling. I was just a bit irritated but decided against a confrontation so I walked off.

But that was a super minor footnote in an otherwise awesome time. Great report!!

What Tote, Great Bass 2, and Jerry said. 
The event was great and the host was fantastic. Thanks Eric!

Nice report Eric.  Thanks for all you do to create the magical experience at Shelter Cove, including the great recap of the activities.
Martin

Another echo expressing a great time!  My second NCKA event and looking forward to many more.  I really enjoyed hanging with codzilla, bojangles42, fisheducator, and chatting with oldfart, crash, supervato, etc.

It's been said many times but thank you LoletaEric for putting your heart and soul into the enjoyment of others