Hard Learning...
 

On the day before a good dude had planned on coming down from L.A. to fish the jewel with me, we get a tip on a fresh spot of squishees w/fishees on them. Perfect timing! We set-up, make plenty of bait and gain quite a bit of confidence with this area. We go beyond dusk and into the night without much going on. The plan was to make it until morning hoping for a biter or two...

I don't know what time it was (10:30pm?)...but things became a blur and at the same time, super slow motion...I get bit, it's solid on the bottom rig (which was straight up and down from its rod holder). The reel is burning line and I'm thinking this is what it's all about. I reach for the rod, it's absolutely pinned in the Scotty mount. I'm trying my best to get it out. Then the hard pull goes double bendo (Roby later said he saw the seal), I'm leaning too far up and to the side of the yak and I've quickly realized I'm beyond tipping point (here's where the slow motion kicks in). I bail out of the yak and into the drink pushing off to relieve the top side weight and the yak proceeded to right itself...NICE! But the hard pull straight down dumps the yak anyways. Cha...CHING...(3) set-ups, HDS-5 that will no longer turn on (under warranty but 3-4 week service) misc smaller gear that sank out or floated off. Just like that, I'm in the water treading with full waders and I've got 100# braid wrapped a few times around one leg.

Some details:

• I love my Hobie Revolution and I completely blame operator error but there's just less room for error on this more narrow yak...
• I had (4) rods out in my "spread". Two up top and two on bottom. Wind and current pushed all lines to my starboard side which is the side I flipped over and was immediately wrapped on. I need to get a knife on my vest.
• The Scotty mounts had the rod's angled up on abt 45 degrees to avoid using clips (big mistake). Angled up high with that strong of a pull got me. The yak had no chance to plane and go for a ride. I pretty much set up a rope and pulley system that wasn't anchored down...AT ALL.
• I've got to come up with a better way to clean my hatch's O-rings. I had way too much water enter which then made it noticeably unstable when trying to jump back on. I'm not sure if I could've gotten back on without Roby holding the other side down...

I'm grateful Roby was nearby to help. Good thing I had my vest on but the waves were flat and the water warm so there was no panic. Roby quickly reminded me about the concern w the braid and encouraged me to get untangled asap. Thanks Roby. Jim

Glad you made it through safely Jim. Sounds like a bad night but luckily you had Roby with you. There is always an inherent risk fishing from a small plastic boat, and the seas are always willing to teach us a lesson or two.

Wow man that's crazy! I'm glad you did some things right - wore your PFD and went with a buddy.

No leashes? Oh well, lesson learned there but imagine if the hooked up line was the one that wrapped around your leg... definetly get that knife on your PFD!

yikes. sorry to hear about your loss. i tend to keep my drags real low in case of a line peeler, then i can still yank my rod out of the holder. sometimes i even click it on freespool and thumb it a bit to keep a tiny bit of pressure while taking it out of the rod holder.

Damn Jim!
Sorry to hear you go through that, but glad you are ok!!!!!

Please do get a knife on that vest brother!

Looking forward to seeing you back on the water soon!

Wow. Very glad to hear your alright Jim. Thank you for posting this, just adds a few more things I have learned from you already. Sorry to hear about your lost gear. Your Curado and Torium are still safe ;)

Glad your safe Jim, sounds like it could have been much worse.

Advice?
1. Don't fish more than 2 rods in that situation.
2. Make sure any dead sticks have the drag set lighter.

Glad to hear you're ok, that's nuts...

Good to read your report meaning you're ok and made it home....... A few things for some of us to learn especially me as a new guy....

Glad to hear that you're OK Jim.
That night fishing stuff slightly scares me. I like to see things.

Tough lesson Jim. It is way too easy to get complacent in kayak fishing, and probably the cause of most lost gear after the first year (I know it is for me). I have gotten to the point where I try to dumb-proof my yak, just because I know how I am. Kinda makes me think we should make a sticky on safety issues to consider when you set up and fish from your kayak? Something beyond the basic safety gear. Tight drags would be a start, but Tony just showed me a rope ladder he added to the back of his PA today to help in remounting. Things like these can be far more important than simple "Innovations". Maybe title it "Confucius Says".

Sure Am glad you're OK.

Yeah glad your still alive. Hearing about the situation from robys perspective...definitely made it sound alot worse. He had a better vantage point, so he could see the whole situation/disaster. Spectra wrapped around body, flipped kayak, hooked seal, night time, waders on....this could have turned out really bad...glad it didnt.

About that PA rope ladder.... Definitely not my idea, but a damn good piece of safety equipment for PA owners. Makes re-entering the PA just too easy. I tested it out this weekend and once you get your foot on it, all you have to do is lean forward and your back on. Ill post some pics tomorrow....

Jim -

After getting wrapped up in rigging after pitchpolling a Hobiecat many years ago, I always wear a diver's knife strapped to my leg for those type of emergencies. No sense in having a knife in your boat when you need it in the water; good to have either on your vest, leg, or any other easily accessible place. Glad it all came out OK...

JB

$hit Jim, Glad your ok.

Glad you're okay Jim.

Thanks for the post Jim...
 

I have a safety t-handle line cutter in my pfd but realize now that I need to add a loop for my wrist so I don't lose it cutting line from my feet...and I also need a new wader belt today...

Thanks for the safety lessons, sorry you had learned the hard way, making it easy for the rest of us.

I heard of three incidents since June first where having a knife accessible has saved the day. All three incidents also involved using braid. I'm moving my knife from the PFD pocket to an easier to reach in a hurry place...today!

Thanks again, and truly sorry for your misfortune.

First off, I’m glad everything worked out and I’m glad Jim posted so others can learn from the experience…


It was about 11:45 when you got hit. I was so excited I first looked at my fish finder to see if there were any WSB marks. In the corner of my eye I saw Jim slide off his kayak and then I looked at his fishing line and saw it surfacing to a big splash 50 feet away. It was definitely a seal. In the next moment, his kayak flipped over and about 6-8 seals started to splash around us. I’m not sure if the seals were being aggressive or not. The scene of Jim in the water, his kayak flipped and the seals jumping with just my head lamp on us made for a surreal moment. In my mind I was thinking, “This could get ugly real fast.” In a few minutes I saw the seals heading towards the squid boats.

Jim tells me right after the flip, “My braid is wrapped around my leg.” I immediately tell him if he needs my knife so he could cut the braid.

Like the true angler that Jim is, he says, “I think the fish is still on.”


Fortunately, there was nothing at the end of his line and we proceeded to get Jim back on his kayak. He was tangled up real bad. Not only was the braid around his legs but it was wrapped around his kayak. Jim tried to flip the kayak but it seemed the braid and his filled up waders were not allowing the kayak to get flipped easily. Braid has great properties for fishing, but at this time it was working against us.


I remember one thing Jim told me that night that stood out in my mind. He said with his waders filled up with water he really couldn't move. Any effort he put towards swimming/treading was not effective (it was suggested later that he take his waders off).


Eventually when the kayak was righted we could tell his kayak had a substantial amount of water in it. It wasn’t filled but there was enough water to make it tippy. I had to hold his kayak while he got back on, but he did it with much effort since his waders were filled. Jim pumped out his kayak and assessed what was lost and started to re-rig his rods; I pedaled around and picked up a couple items I saw floating around.


Jim was in the water for a decent amount of time. We were lucky there was hardly a breeze and that it was virtually a lake out there that night. Jim’s a die-hard kayak angler and he handled everything in a calm, cool way.

Overall, it was a great learning experience.

Time to get a small vest knife...