Pool Noodles to help w/floatation in event of kayak damage

My only reservation on the inflatable floatbags (which I used for years in my prijon) is the chance of puncture,ie. the hole in Dan's kayak at Bean. I'm probably being paranoid, since it would seem that a cracked scupper would be 100 times more likely than a shark making out with your boat. It does seem that the float bag solution would be the easiest in my tarpon, at least for the rear beneath the tankwell.

Scott,

I guess I am low tech...I know how many noodles I have in my yak and I don't have to look to see if they still hold air.  Only time I look is to install my fishfinder battery.  I have 18 pool noodles...don't have to open my hatches when on the water for ocean.  Got 2 dry bag on the deck.  Like I said...they are not dry bags when on the deck and only when in your hull.

Ken kickfish

18? That's certainly much more convenient than my having to deal with two floatbags.

How come I can run Class IV whitewater in a raft, and my stuff stays dry in dry bags, but you can't keep your stuff dry while launching a kayak from Pillar Pt harbor and the like?



I'm the one in the blue helmet

Regards,
Scott

Scott,

I would like to be alive to tell my story then dead and have others tell my story.  Don't know which you would choose?

And I wear a helmet...just like snow skiing.  There was a 12 to 13 old girl hit on the head with a softball...dead, just this week.

Dude...did Hollow 3 days before the attack and done Linda Mar for 13 salmon...probably around 20 to 30 trips at Linda Mar and 5 out of davenport and moss.
.
 Dude, that a raft....little easier than a yak?.  And I not talking about the "in Or Out "of Half Moon Bay.  I am talking about a real beach launching and beach re-entry.  But, maybe I am blowing smoke out of my A**.

Grow up....Ken kickfish

Sweet pic, Scott!
What river is that? I have done a lot of riverrafting in the past 7 years, usually 2 or 3 times a season.

I've got the cheapo Cabelas dry bags (XL and Med sized) and they work great.

I actually bring the XL dry bag along in my kayak in case of emergency. If my kayak started sinking, I'd just blow it up completely with air and stuff it back into the hull. I guarantee that would prevent my yak from sinking...its a pretty big dry bag.

PK

Ken,

I'd say that the skill and experience needed to expertly row an oarboat in solid Class IV would be comparable to that needed to consistently surf a fishing SOT in on 4-5' dumping waves. I can't say for sure, as both activities are just outside of my abilities. The last thing it would be, is "easier than a yak" in places like Bean Hollow and Linda Mar. At least not when those areas are in fishable conditions. Even more skill and judgment is needed to captain a paddleboat in Class IV. There's a reason why they have week long classes just to guide class III on the South Fork American.

Not that it means anything, but I'm glad you're stuffing your boat full of flotation, and wear a helmet in the surf zone all the time. My issue with your comments in this thread revolve around your idea that pool noodles are superior to float bags. Different, sure. But superior?  I'm just not buying into it.

As for you blowing smoke out your butt, for the most part, I concur . I certainly listen to your long range advice. But the thoughts/experiences/skills I've taken away from kayaking just don't mesh with so much of what you are saying.

PK,

Thats Ned's Gulch on the Merced. Biggish, but pretty straightforward. My personal favorite of the rivers I've run, is the Upper Klamath. Just crewing that river will leave you breathless, the rapids are so sustained.

I used to just use a couple drybags for flotation as well, but I'd keep them inflated in the hull. I recommend that you do the same, as you may not have time to inflate when the dooky hits the fan.

Regards,
Scott

Scott,

Try 6 to 7 ft breaking on the beach and 8 to 10 ft out in the ocean.  Then get back to me.  It is not a team sport like raftting.  You are there and have to make your own judgements.  I guess I have good judgements because of all the boating time I have had on the water.

Blowing smoke out your as could be said IMO about you also.  Scott, have you even been to Linda Mar? And, if so many launches?  All I know you for is fishing the forebay.

Ken kickfish

 Scott,

Saw you did Linda Mar June 26, 2006.  Look like a lake.....Mooch said in the thread it was you first beach launching and landing.  Lets see you have been doing this for little over 1 yr...me 5 yrs....I guess you definitely have more experience.  What was I thinking? 

Ken kickfish

Scott,

Saw you did Linda Mar June 26, 2006.  Look like a lake.....Mooch said in the thread it was you first beach launching and landing.  Lets see you have been doing this for little over 1 yr...me 5 yrs....I guess you definitely have more experience.  What was I thinking? 

Ken kickfish

Ken,

It's probably not what you were thinking, as much as it's what you've been drinking?

If you are going to go into creepy stalker mode and look up my history, then you'll need to dig into my past a little bit deeper. You'll also need to show better comprehension skills than you displayed on the Yelloweye thread.

Some pertinent bits of my kayaking background have been posted here. Here's a hint to make it easy though: search for "first kayak fish". As you'll discover, I've been doing the kayaking thing a little bit longer than a year.

I'd love to see pictures of you surfing 6-7' waves in your SOT. Got any?

Regards,
Scott

P.S. Linda Mar is a piece of cake shore break. It's a training beach. I've come in from fishing LM after work with skyboy, ditched my gear, and played in the surf for a half an hour or so just for fun. In the dark...

Scott,

Just ask Joel (Mooch), Stu, Freddie, Chuck, or Erik about Linda Mar.  The year the salmon came in there.  We would launch on 6 ft and after catching your 2 salmon.  You just knew you we going to eat it...landing with High tide it would be 7 to 9ft rollers.  Linda Mar is not easy.  You just seen it on a calm days.  Just like I saw Bean Hollow on a calm day.  One day Eric (GTO 16) and Mooch decide to go for it.  Launch on big waves.  Mooch said he was flying out of his seat. There were 8 to 10 guys just watching them go out.  I launched about 1 hr later.  Had my Hobie Outback and that is not an ocean yak IMO.

Went out openers of Rockcod last year out of Half Moon Bay.  Just to see if the Tarpon  160 could handle the waves.  These were being called 10 ft (marine band radio) and they were.  I paddle a little ways (probably a 1/4 of a mile) and said this was good test for me.  All the small private boats were bailing also.  Trying to turn around and head home was a H*ll of a Ride.

Scott...not a "stalker mode"....just the wonderful web we have.  So, more than a year...great man...good for you.  I give everyone on this board my opinions on how I fish.  Does not have to be the right way...it is just one way that works for me. Because they are plenty of different ways to catch a fish.

Yelloweye was just a SET-UP and you know it.  And, what did it prove....nothing.  Like I said ...last time I checked this was a North Cal Board.

Ken kickfish

How many pool noodles would this guy need?

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070817/481/04ffd820faf54fbc9296c9f80d8b08e9

Ken kickfish

In Thornleys defense, if you can't run a class 5 river right now today then you are not in the same leauge as him. Class 5 boating is the pinnacle of toughness on rivers or sea. No beach launch is comparable. It can prepare you for class 5 situations but is nothing like the Burnt ranch Gorge or south fork Eel. No one fishes next to mavericks when she's going off and no one with any sense any ways launches in surf that appears from the beach to be impassable.

Most guys do this as a hobby or way to relax. Others do it as a profession or are driven by a need to stand head and shoulders above their peers. There are certifying bodies and kayak/canoe organizations a hundred years old in this country. All of kayaking whether whitewater or kayak fishing has elements of danger and risk. We will never leave it to joe public and his inexperienced or experienced opinion to have the last word on a subject. We rely on data driven facts and real world experience from pros in the field. I don't know Scotts background but I know he's been around the block. Unless you're multi disciplined in paddlesports it looks foolish to attack someone who is.

If you've only been using pool noodles for the last 6 months you're no authority on the subject, you just have an opinion. I've used float bags for 16 years now they are superior in many ways to rigid or soft foam. They actually make them in the shape of your kayak to inflate all the nooks and crannies or deflate when you need space. pool noodles fan don't turn your ire on me. If I had started off using them I might be compelled to make a different argument. I see why you like them, but if you feel they take up alot room you'd rather use for gear give the float bags a try.

Swellrider,

Been using noodles for about 3 yrs.  Like, I said I never go into my hatches when on the ocean. I have everything on my deck. Also, not crazy anymore to do the stuff that gets us hurt.  I go snow skiing maybe once a year and only do the intermediate slope now. Used to do Double black diamonds = to class 5?

Also, I think Scott is attacking me.  I know I been fishing for more years than you want to know.  Done all kinds and all over the state, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Mexico.  And, for him to say that I don't know how to kayak fish?  Class 5? How about a 17 dayer to Revillagigedo Island or Hurricane Bank.  Who knows how to catch a wahoo or amberjack.  It's all apples and oranges.

And, this is a "Kayak Fishing" website not a "White Water" fishing site.

There is always going to be someone better than you or "thinks" they are better than you....so why sweat it?  Also, 30 yrs of boating should give you a little advantage on the OCEAN to some one who how paddle a raft down a river with the guide telling you what to do and when to do it.  A 15 to 16 ft yak does not move like a little surf yak.  So when we launch on 6 fts and it builds...we do not look good coming in.  But, I do know how to take on 8 to 9 ft waves, sneaker waves, and big boat waves. We are the entertainment for the surfers....watching our show.  But, we do make it in.

Ken kickfish

Ken,

I do guide rafts on WW, just for your information. So please stop making the assertion that all I've done is crewed, listening to a guide. Now I've not rowed much in the way of Class IV, but am quite competent at class III+. Competent enough to captain a couple paddleboat trips a year. I'd even be willing to take you on a trip some time. Seeing as how no one's swam the last two year, I would be  willing to say that you probably wouldn't either   I even own my own cataraft and WW kayak. So I'm well beyond the "Listen to a guide" phase, and have been for quite some time now.

I find your assertion that fishing on Powerboats somehow is going to give you insight into paddling to be quite a stretch.  By the same leap of logic, flying on commercial jets would somehow give you insight into piloting a Cessna 152. Now if you have experience as a skipper, that's an entirely different matter. But I don't recall you ever mentioning this, and won't bother to do a background check to verify.

If you really, really want to keep this a Northern California Kayak Angling board, then why do you always bring up 10 day trips here, 17 day trips there? I find that kind of information to be even less germane than my mentioning whitewater, what with it being SoCal/Mexican powerboat fishing. At least when I bring up whitewater, it's in Northern California, there are kayaks involved, and I've even used my kayak to fish the North Fork of the American. A real live class II section of river. Imagine that- whitewater kayak fishing in Northern California. Right on topic! Personally I think you should keep on posting info from your Long Range background, but just drop the whole "It has to be Northern Californian Kayak Angling only" attitude. Too much history on this site that goes against this kind of thinking.

I'd still like get confirmation of you "SURFING" those 6-9 foot Linda Mar waves in your Outback. Not doing a crash-and-burn-just-trying-to-survive-while-coming-in-on-the-back-of-waves shot. A picture or a witness that will say that you actually surf those bad boys. In my opinion it doesn't take much skill to do the "I bail but survived" thing. I'm looking for real live expertise, as in you own those waves. If you got it, then I'll start listening to you. But personally, from the things you say, and the reports that I remember of yours, I remain skeptical.

Stop calling me a n00b, stop assuming I'm keeping fish illegally, read with comprehension before you reply, stop jumping to conclusions, quit getting me confused with someone else (I've never, ever, in any fashion, been to the forebay) and I'll stop using this sort of tone with you. But if you keep it up, expect more of the same.

Regards,
Scott

Those are filled with cut foam sheets...  much like pool noodle foam.