3RD Annual NCKA Half Moon Bay Kayak Fishing Derby - June 10, 2007

That is as good a prediction as you can get most summer weekends.

Craig, stop trying to give Bill hugs, your gonna make others jealous...  

John... I am waiting to give you yours in person dangit!

You're spoiling the surprise now   

Craig, do you remember the beating I gave those halibut on the youtube videos???  I smoked cigs back then besides, thats just gay, and i aint that way.


The conditions last year were crazy, anyone remember?

John thanks for picking up on my facetiousness and now I will DEFINITELY leave my halibut-style fishing outfit at home Sunday.   

P.S. if it makes ya feel better the plan for next January is to bring a (biological) missus yakker on board, not to mention being too busy with her to write my much loved long-a$$ posts.   

I remember last year, First time in the big blue, Followed Mr. Magoo straight to Mavricks

  Watched Mr. Magoo surf some waves mid Ocean ,

  Started to get comfortable, and snag the bottom with a Iron, I did not let up on the Drag and tilted myself right up on my side with the next wave. I wisely jumped out,  and my Yak righted itself, easy self rescue and unsnaged the Iron!!!

  I liked the Mr. Magoo's coment asking me why I was acting as Shark Bait.....

   No Problem....Lets do this Hell or High water..........Danglin

You know Danglin, I rather liked reading your post about last year in the old thread for the last derby which I was reading last night for tips and inspiration.  Maybe its just the way I was slammed with waves of caution for my first posts about surf launching, but I still think that the weather is something to never trust until you see it with your own eyes.  Starting to wish we had our own meteorologist on here   

One way or another, the BBQ is still on right?     It will be great to meet a bunch of cool guys, rain or shine

 Ya, my caution to the wind attitude here is, there will be plenty of people out there to help and we have

a support boat. Even if the big blue is a little intimidating, there is plenty of protected jetty to fish.

  If it was a tough launch, poor access ect.... Then it would be different. I don't have much experience with

 the ocean, but I still feel comfortable in this situation with slightly less than perfect weather with

the amount of support that will be there, VHF radio and all safety gear a must of course...Danglin

Dang, Danglin  Surfing mid ocean and self rescue on first big blue outing?  Now I'm getting nervous!  I guess worse case, there's always the marina and bbq afterward.

For those of us without live bait wells, what's the next best thing.  Frozen?  What would be a good baitshop nearby?  Can a newbie like me get by with just artificials in their first outing?  I am truly clueless when it comes to ocean fishing, as I've only done inland freshwater.  I did stop by FW and pick up a couple swimbaits and spoons, but that's about it.

Surfing mid ocean and self rescue on first big blue outing?  Now I'm getting nervous!  I guess worse case, there's always the marina and bbq afterward.

For those of us without live bait wells, what's the next best thing.  Frozen?  What would be a good baitshop nearby?  Can a newbie like me get by with just artificials in their first outing?  I am truly clueless when it comes to ocean fishing, as I've only done inland freshwater.  I did stop by FW and pick up a couple swimbaits and spoons, but that's about it.

OK, guys, don't laugh your a$$es off, but this here sea chicken is paid up and ready to go on Sunday! I believe in the buddy system on the water plus I have a new rod/reel that I need to break in. However, derby day isn't the time to ask anyone to "babysit" me so I plan to stay in the jetties or marina even if the weather is good. I would welcome company!

Yeah, I visited FW today for some swimbaits and advice, too, and now Glenn has me making a simple gaff before Sunday and finding my Sabiki rig to catch bait. Is a boobie prize (no pun intended) awarded at this event?

Janice aka "Big J"

Dang, Danglin  Surfing mid ocean and self rescue on first big blue outing?  Now I'm getting nervous!  I guess worse case, there's always the marina and bbq afterward.

For those of us without live bait wells, what's the next best thing.  Frozen?  What would be a good baitshop nearby?  Can a newbie like me get by with just artificials in their first outing?  I am truly clueless when it comes to ocean fishing, as I've only done inland freshwater.  I did stop by FW and pick up a couple swimbaits and spoons, but that's about it.

First of all, if there is trouble to be found, I will find it.....And Mr. Magoo is the Maverics kayak surfer.......

 From what I can tell, Rock fishing is one of the most " Brain Dead " forms of fishing and could probably be successful tying lug nuts to the end of your line and granny knotting a hook with some squid on it.....

  The Live bait thing is " Totally " not necessary and Insanedwane will most likely be the only one out there with it,  might scare the fish away...who knows...

  Believe me.....The strongest mojo out there is being a newbie... My first trek into the Ocean, right before last years HMB event, was the rockfish opener @ Linda Mar.....

 I was late, looked @ the small surf and knew I was going to flail miserably tring to launch...

 I stripped the Yak, Had only 1 pole with a rusty krocadile and a rusty barbless hook, It took 15 seconds once I hit the water to do this....

  Most people on this board have similar stories of their " First Times "...........

The deck is always stacked in newbies favor ..Good Luck.... Oh that's right, you already have it....

 ...Danglin

Last years conditions were not for the faint of heart.
It was my first time at HMB. CHUB, Alfredo and I followed the jetty north. Fog kept us from seeing out into the ocean. Since we were getting nothing and the fog lifted I decided to head out. It looked very intimidating to say the least.
Being Alfredo's first time on the big blue he decided to stay along the calmer jetty and then fish the protected harbor. I feel he made the right call. It had absolutely nothing to do with being a 'wussie' or having a lack of testerone. That mentality is what always gets people into trouble. He realized his limits and chose not to exceed them.
CHUB and I, both of whom have a lot of experience in all kinds of conditions paddled straight through the nasty stuff to the fishing grounds. With the breakers and the boilers it took a tremendous amount of concentration and experience to safely navigate it. And yea, it was still scary.
I was VERY happy Al made the call that he made.
As much as I LOVE this sport, remember, it is just fishing.
Please do not feel pressured into taking risks you normally would not take.
If you end up in harms way because you were somewhere you shouldn't have been then you are putting those who will assist you in harms way as well.
Be smart, be safe and have fun!!!!!
Wish I could join ya all this weekend but it is the GF's B-day weekend and I definitely want to fish this year.

I was just down by the Bay 15 minutes ago (9am),  Complete glass, not a ripple, I'm back @ my house up on the hill with absolutly no wind, we always have wind up here.  Was this in the forcast?

  Dam wish I was fishin, it's perfect out there, Bay that is......

 Hows the Ocean right now...Anybody got a view?

   I just looked at the Surfline Mavericks cam. Wind is at 0 knots from the northwest, that's not what they forecast. It says the swell peaks at about five feet on friday and saturday. They predict on sunday, the 15 second south swell will be bigger than the shorter period NW chop, both at about two feet.
    I'll never forget one time at a fish camp in Canada I came out to the dock and told the host the radio said small craft warnings. He looked at me and smiled, "they say that every day".
   The harbor master at HMB has looked at the outside bouy report online for me when we were determining the surf conditions. It's pretty common for it to be very bad outside and just breezy near the harbor where we will be.
   This place is a lot worse with a south wind, I'm happy that's not in the forecast.
   I'll be there paddleing on saturday if anybody wants to call me after about 11, that's when we go to the taqcureea in Moss Beach.
   I expect a handfull of you guys will be there pre-fishing saturday.
   Also, I think the only dangerous place here is the shallow area outside at the southwest corner of the jetty where waves break. Everybody should know that's where it might look good and fishy, but a long period south swell could come up and dump ya. Tim

Ya, my caution to the wind attitude here is, there will be plenty of people out there to help and we have a support boat.

given the predicted conditions, i would suspect that a support boat would be a greater risk than a kayak. 

   I just looked at the Surfline Mavericks cam. Wind is at 0 knots from the northwest, that's not what they forecast. It says the swell peaks at about five feet on friday and saturday. They predict on sunday, the 15 second south swell will be bigger than the shorter period NW chop, both at about two feet.
    I'll never forget one time at a fish camp in Canada I came out to the dock and told the host the radio said small craft warnings. He looked at me and smiled, "they say that every day".
   The harbor master at HMB has looked at the outside bouy report online for me when we were determining the surf conditions. It's pretty common for it to be very bad outside and just breezy near the harbor where we will be.
   This place is a lot worse with a south wind, I'm happy that's not in the forecast.
   I'll be there paddleing on saturday if anybody wants to call me after about 11, that's when we go to the taqcureea in Moss Beach.
   I expect a handfull of you guys will be there pre-fishing saturday.
   Also, I think the only dangerous place here is the shallow area outside at the southwest corner of the jetty where waves break. Everybody should know that's where it might look good and fishy, but a long period south swell could come up and dump ya. Tim

Tim, thanks for the update.  I agree.  Doug at the HMB Kayak Co. basically said the same thing when I spoke to him yesterday.  Simply stay away from the mine field of boilers around the southwest if you don't want to take any risks.  Don't forget that you can also fish the safer flat sandy areas outside toward the beach (or the protected areas within the harbor) for halibut or stripers.  A striper or halibut has a very good chance of winning the derby.

I just spoke to BobN.  He'll be camping in parking lot "C" directly across from the HMB Kayak Company.  He'll be in his white Scamp trailer camper cooking up his famous HMB Chili around dinner time on Saturday.  Bring a bowl and don't be shy!