Berryessa Putah Canyon Tues....OOOOPS....CAPSIZED!

Kinda late announcement but I'm fishing there tomorrow morning launching around 8 AM.  I'm in a dune Outback on channel 69.  Anyone up for it?

 PS.......Is the launch fee 15 bucks now? 

Sam

last week when i fished it, i couldn't find any reference to the pricing for kayaks still being $15 and it was unmanned. The only pricing i saw whatsoever was launch fees at $23. I was hoping to see if I could find a worker to confirm, as it used to be 'discounted' to $15.

Good luck. Fishing has been incredibly slow, but it has to turn on at some point. 

For what it's worth, yesterday water was still murky (visibility of < 2') and it was 52 - 54 degrees over the course of the day out of Oak Shores launch

Look forward to your report! Thinking of hitting the same area this weekend if the wind dies down.

I launched at 8:30 to a beautiful sunny day.  I trolled for an hour for trout then started after bass.  Then around noon I was working my way back to the ramp when my line got caught on the rudder and when I went to clear it I guess I threw the balance off in the boat and capsized.  Boy I carry a lot of tackle!  Needless to say I lost about 300 bucks worth of rods and lures. I was in the water for around 20 minutes until I swam for shore.  I was hanging on to the upside-down boat trying to kick and dog paddle to shore but it wasn't working very well and the shore seemed so far away.  I was lucky that I didn't get hypothermia in the 55 degree water.  I got the boat on shore (mud) and tried to bail it out, but it took quite a bit of water inside (Hobie Outback).  When I got it floating again a bass fisherman came by and inquired if I needed help.  I asked for a tow back to the ramp and he obliged.  I think the tow was colder than the swim!
I didn’t wear my dry suit today because of and elbow injury……bad judgment for sure.
Anyway I survived to fish another day but I need to rethink my boat and tackle placement and quantities aboard. 
And to add insult to injury…………..not a single bite!  Saw a few trout rising and observed a few marks at 15 feet.
If anyone goes up the creek at Putah Canyon keep and eye out for 3 rods and a couple of 3600 boxes of lures……I think they sunk but who knows.

Very sorry to hear about the lost gear! i fish there often and i'll keep an eye out.

But glad to hear it turned out relatively ok; that could have been disastrous! If you need help learning how to self-rescue (get back on that boat when it's upside down), let me know. I could show you a few things I learned taking a class on that topic at Cal Canoe and kayak and have practiced on the same boat. Or better yet - take that class!

Sorry about the lost gear.

The casualties of war.

Good to hear that you didn't become fish food.

Sorry about the capsize Sam.  I have fished there with you before when you caught some good fish.  There is always next time.

Sorry to hear that and glad you are OK.

Sorry to hear about your capsize. If you don't have a physical problem that prevents you from being able to get back on your kayak on your own, you should really spend some time to learn to get back on the kayak by yourself. This is a basic skill that all kayakers must have.

Sorry to hear you went in the water. Glad to hear you made it back out. Putah Creek resort charges the day use fee for kayak launching.

Kokoloko, sounds like you should have learned a couple of valuable lessons on that trip, including (a) practice self-rescue so if you tip over you can quickly right your kayak and climb back onto it (I shoot for doing the whole process in under 20 seconds), (b) wear a drysuit in cool weather and water conditions, and (c) when kayaking, all of your gear should either be inside your kayak, firmly attached to your kayak, leashed to your kayak, or equipped with flotation, so you won't lose any gear if you tip over.  The risk of leashing gear is that if you tip over your kayak, you may get entangled in your leash or leashes. The risk of equipping your gear with flotation is that it may float away and get lost. For some kinds of gear, you can reduce the risk of entanglement in a leash by making the leash very short; for example, I attach my water bottle to my kayak seat with a 6 inch piece of cord and a mini carabiner.  I'm not going to get tangled in a leash that short.  In my Revolution I keep my fishing tools (fish bonker, lip gripper, pliers, bait shears, folding knife) in the mesh pockets on the gunwales of the kayak, which hold them in place if I tip over, and also attach them to the kayak with small fishing retractors with cords or cables about 2' long.  The retractors for the tools on the left side of my kayak are attached together with a small loop of cord which goes over the shaft of my rod holder, and the retractors for the tools on the right side of my kayak are attached together with a small loop of cord which goes over the shaft of my fish finder base, so I can quickly attach the tools to my kayak at the beginning of a day of fishing.  I leash my rods and my net to my kayak with small retractable dog leashes.  The first two pictures below show a couple of ways of attaching retractable dog leashes to a kayak.  If you attach a retractable dog leash to a fishing rod in an appropriate place, you won't even notice that it's there unless you drop the rod.  For example, with jigging and trolling rods, I attach the retractor to my rod holder, which is located next to my knee, and I attach the cord from the retractor to the shaft of my rod about 6" in front of my reel, so the cord won't get tangled in the reel's handle.  With spinning or casting reels, I attach the cord from the retractor to the end of the butt of the rod.   

Thank you all for the great ideas and well wishes to this almost tragedy....I have practiced recovery in this boat successfully many times but not recently.  I was in such shock that after 10 years kayaking I would roll over and I think I just panicked.....also I broke one of the most important rules in kayaking.....I was wearing hip waders!!!  My PFD supported me easily even with the waders but they filled with water and made my legs sluggish.  That's something that will never happen again.  And thanks again for the suggestions and photos.....my boat needs some new, better ideas to keep me safe

Thanks again guys....I really appreciate all your comments.

Sam

dang, sorry to hear about the capsize, glad you are well.  too bad about all the gear

Fudge man.... sorry to hear about your flip and gear loss, but glad you came out OK.  It happened to me once at Shadowcliffs, where by in late December I was fishing and decided to get out for a quick pee break, so I pulled up next to one of the docks and when I stepped up onto it I lost my footing and tired to step back into my kayak, and lost balance and flipped.  Even right next to the shore and a dock I felt panicked just by the shock of the cold ass water and was immediately hyperventilating and felt like I was punched in the gut. Lost a lot of stuff, and tried hard to recover it, but if it didn't float, it was gone. 

Thanks for all your comments.  I really appreciate it.  It was a real learning moment for me and hopefully someone else will benefit from my mishap.  Thanks again.

Sam