Patience and Perserverance
 

Rarely does one come across the conditions that allow for the recent events we have experienced at our spot. La Jolla possesses the unique geography and current conditions that encourage a wide variety of species to congregate and feed. <O:p</O:p
Seldom too does one get to be front row center for the unfolding of these varying events.<O:p</O:p
I have been a kayak fisherman for 3 years, having lived and cruised for several years on my own sailboat I never considered the catch one can make as a cruiser something of significance. Sometimes you would get up after a night of watch and there would be a Dorado on the hand line, other times a big tuna. Random draw in the deep blue.

The people I am close to know that my fishing experiences for the past few months have been one dry spell after another. Watching Yellowtail swim right under my boat was never quite the goal I had in mind, more a byproduct of the effort. It has happened on several occasions recently, causing myself and my teachers no shortage of frustration. <O:p</O:p
Recently I was out on “the midnight run” when I had several good bait, the kid was telling me exactly where the fish were, and yet I just couldn’t make the connection. I reached a point where I lost my friend, Kevin in the dark and was just getting tired of the whole affair, when, to cap things off, Darkhorse boats a fish right in front of me. <O:p</O:p
He was with another client, a willing victim learning all that the great Darkhorse has to share on this particular subject, and there is no shortage of information, believe me. I have been that client more than a few times.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
Having called it a night and headed for the beach a friend came across in the darkness. I don’t know his name, but he knew me and knew also that stopping now was a very bad idea indeed. I took this bit of counseling, regrouped, and determined that catching was tonights sport, not fishing. Thank you, whomever you were.
<O:p</O:p
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Shortly after that I dropped down a baited iron and was on in about 5 seconds. Fought this fish for 15 minutes, careful not to put too much pressure on anything, that the situation would turn awry.
<O:p</O:p
Having boated this magnificent fish and completely focused now it was time to drop again. The boated fish was still squirming and not secured, but, why not compound the problem? Here we go again!!!!<O:p</O:p
Tonight was to be a 2 seabass night for me, not monsters, but 40 plus anyhow… rewarding, exciting, fill in the blank here………


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Its been a few days now and the word is out to anyone with a pulse so its not like Im giving away secrets. This morning I launched at 0500 with the goal of catching Yellowtail. One of my mentors has always said” believing in yourself is 50 percent of the battle”.
<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
Made bait in the right spot, made a few new friends too. I am often left to pause at how small but dynamic our kayak community is. People from every walk of life sharing a love of the ocean and fish.
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There was a substantial crowd of boats, and yakkers, I made the decision to fish on the perimeter of the crowd. Several of the boats were running generators, and fish don’t like noise, right?
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Drop and in 30 seconds Im on. It was clear that this fish was no WSB and had no intention of becoming tonights sushi. After about 15 minutes the discussion was settled and we are on the boat. Those who know me know that I run for the barn after a good catch so as to preserve the meat in its best condition, having just taken a life. It must be respected.<O:p>
</O:p
This fish also was no monster, but a trophy for me indeed. She taped out at 42 inches and 30 lbs almost exactly. A personal best for me.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p

My point is to the new guy, or the frustrated angler. Every trip is an opportunity to try something new, and perserverance is key. Im no bass fisherman. Its about big game for me. My hat is off to the bass fisherman, but I would happily go 6 skunks for one good shot at a trophy fish. Sometimes that 6 has turned into 12 skunks. Its all about your own personal pain threshold

<O:p</O:p
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Tight lines……….
<O:p</O:p
Chris<O:p</O:p</O:p</O:p</O:p</O:p</O:p

Congrats Chris:luxhello: Good thing you got on it while it lasted. Yellow looks awesome all lit up!

:luxhello: WSB #1
:luxhello: WSB #2
:luxhello: YT #1

Wow Chris, you must feel stoked to get that encouragement and keep on chugging for that pair of bass ! Not to mention one FULL frig :D

Wow, Chris, that's one inspirational fish tale!

I guess it goes to show patience is a virtue.
I hope I have it/enough.
FFY

very nice! :cheers1: way to hang in there! it's tuff, i know

:cheers1::cheers1::cheers1:

Well done brother. Nice fish.

The missus don't seem to mind us fishing so long as we catch, funny how that works.

:cheers1:

Beautiful yellow on the beach, Chris. Personnal best makes it even better (but we all know you'll pass that soon). Like I said, "Let me know if you want to get rid of your reel".:D Congrats..

Cheveree..! that is nice! in Venezuelan Spanish:sifone:

Nice, saw you at the launch, making bait, and rapidly heading in without sunglasses on with that nice YT on the back of the YAk as I was heading out......congrats!

My highlight was grabbing a BSB that a private boat lost a hold on that was belly up, and 15 feet off their stern.... grabbbed it by the mouth and peddled with it along side the yak until it was good to go....their catch and my release.......

Very very nice!!! Hoping I get me some of that action on Tuesday!

When I saw Chris landing with his YT I said: "Wipe that grin of your face!" That guy was ALLLL smiles.

Congratulations on the very nice YT.

Matt

Beautiful fish! Congratulations thanks for the report!

Three!!! Sounds like a hell of a day.

Good for you... Nice Yellow! congrats on that one.

Congrats on the great catches! I hope I can get either of those tomorrow =)

Some well deserved fish, Congratulations on the new PB's!

Yep, patience is a virtue and perseverance has it's own rewards.
FFY.

Nice fish Chris, 2 WSB & a PB YT. I'd say it was a good week!:cheers1:

Beautiful Chris, you look like a proud father with that YT:cheers1:

Nice fish and great report. Congrats on the PB.

:notworthy:

It was a great day indeed!! It was funny....we were having a bit of a time making bait until Steve rolled up like you said however you had some kind of nostradamus thing going on when it came to finding the YT. As you were buzzing by in your speedboat proclaiming that you were headed for "the spot" I had that gut feeling that I should have followed but instead I dropped a bait, let it hit the bottom and looked up to see you fully bent!!!!!! my freakin' jaw hit the deck! you must be like a shark with those ampulea of lorenzini on your nose.....you didn't just smell um you could sense there electrical field the way you jetted right for them.

hope the pics were ok....unfortunately just the iphone3gs so not the highest of quality......but that fish was a bruit....so good on ya for fishing him out of the ocean.

:cheers1:

a great story and an even better angler, my hat is off to anyone who respects the ocean and its beautiful table fare as much as this person does.

Hey Chris...This is Mike Nugent..I met you yesterday in La Jolla..nice fish, nice post, and thanks for the advice...didnt hook up with a YT yesterday, but I had a blast anyway.

nice fish... glad you got one.

We watched you drive your yak right by us in between all the power boats... nice work... despite your lack of respect.

Yakers need to learn that its not cool to drift in between boats on anchor. It amazes me how clueless some people are. Some of you guys were pretty rude out there. Keep a distance. I whitnessed some blatant disrespect this past week... not just from you Chris.

Internet reports suck!

The crowd went from 4 boats to 50 boats in 24 hours... I wonder what tomorrow will be like for?!?

Boats need to learn that it's not cool to anchor up in an area that I plan on drfifting aimlessly through...:sifone:

:o I was hoping that if I got close enough, you were going to lob me a beer :cheers1:

That place was so crowded by kayaks and powerboaters that it was very unpleasant feeling. I mean there was like a million powerboaters out there and 2 million kayaks including mine. On top of that when a yak gets a fish he has to manuever his yak away from running into other lines and or boats. I mean people had their huge house boats fishing. Ontop of that if a fish takes two lures from different people then you have to argue about whose fish that is.


Anyways I'll see you out there later this week And why do you !( Yes you know who u are)have to bring a 60 ft boat loaded with one person to the spot I mean come on!!(well honestly im just jealous, i hear you can actually use the restroom without taking a leak all over yourself)

It was like a circus.! I understand why kayakers keep there spots a secret, what I saw and experienced yesterday was a huge harvest kind of reminded me like the movie the cove when the Japanese fisherman boats drove the dolphins to the cove by staying in formation and making that drum sound.



By the way great fish and great navigation there too .! Those powerboaters were practically making a blockade. we were right there fishing and then like 4 boaters anchored right behind us. Next time we bring our air horns and paint guns. Attack of BWE gang, turf war 2011.

*the latter point of this paragraph is just for joking purposes*

What a dick head thing to say!!!!! Us yakers are the ones that do all the recon for you guys most of the time anyway and you lurk for signs and spring into action when someone drops a tasty morsel of info.

first off when its that freaking busy out there you cant help but get close to a boat or another kayaker.....i was sometimes feet away from other kayaks with no tangles or any stink eye....all of us seem to be cool. in fact despite the close proximity of everyone....i didnt see any tangles or issues. come to think of it....i dont think the fish have a problem with it either or engine sound for that matter....when i saw everyone get slammed it was right next the chubasco II.....the only thing that would have happened if people were closer was more people would have hooked up. Have some respect......shit....respect us kayakers and stay off our fishing grounds:the_finger:

+1

The blatant disrespect towards yakkers that I saw a couple evenings ago was pretty ridiculous. And I see it all the time. I am sick of PBs rolling right up on me if I am hooked up on something, trolling their lines within feet of me while I am trying to get a fish in. And it amazes me how often I hear pb'ers on the water talking about "I heard of a few kayak fish caught yesterday". Give respect if you expect it. If I have to paddle through a 1x1 mile fleet of 100 boats anchored 20 yards off each other just to get home (with my lines up) you can suck my left nut if you have a problem that I am there. Don't drop anchor in the middle of a circus and expect a 100 yard clearance from kayaks who have no where else to transit. You are bitching about the kayakers but saying nothing about the other 10 boats within 20 yards of you. :the_finger:

Amen

Welcome to Summer

Hmmm
 

Im not exactly sure what this person is talking about but thats ok. I am always sure to be well clear of other peoples lines etc. I deliberately went to the perimiter because of the density of the powerboats. There are numerous times I have been out on the water alone only to have a powerboat bear down on me like I was a target at 25 knots.

The story here is for the newguy or the frustrated fisherman, not an oppurtunity to jack a thread because of some percieved wrong doing, which I dont believe happened. The closest boat to me was Chubasco, and only when my fish ran that way did I get closer than about 100 yards.

In addition, while fighting my fish I am always careful to maneuver my boat away from other vessels so there is no conflict.

Dos ballenas, If you ever want to discuss proper etiquette on the water, send me a pm.

To all of the other folks, thanks for the great comments.
Tight lines

:sifone:

You Know what they say, a poor craftsman always blames his tools.......in this case a bad fisherman is blaming others........ My vote is to ban this pb'r lurked! What do you say moderators?

Dick Head?
Lurker?
Our Fishing Grounds?
Clown?
Idiot?
Bad Fisherman?


You guys really are clueless... :stupid:

thats cool
i watch that fight
nice big bass

i managed a small thresher
and stayed out until late afternoon
for a nice fight on a mysteryfish
and some open spaces

and congrats on those nice fish
i wish it was me
next time

It is not "OUR FISHING GROUNDS"

Everyone should have the exact same rights, power boater or kayaker.

If you are nice and respectful....it does not matter what vessel you are on.


You can find idiots on kayaks and power boats.


It is summer,
flat
weekend

If you think that you can have a PRIME San Diego (So. Cal) fishing spot to yourself you are likely in for a lot of frustration.

Lets be polite and nice to eachother, even if someone else makes a mistake or just does not know any better.

It is just fishing.:)

Congrats on your first solo (without a guide?) fish!!!! :the_finger:

Obviously your mentor left a few thing out of his lessions...or maybe you weren't paying attention?

I mean seriously even the goofs on the pb sites have had enough sense to keep thier keyboards quiet....may you loose every fish for the rest of the year to anchor lines!

:cheers1:

Like

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegall..._thumbs_up.gif

Awwww.... that wasn't nice.