First time kayak fishing was....an experience.
 

Well i decided to go out today to Malibu with a buddy. It was both of our first time ever kayak fishing (ocean or lake) and from what everyone says about how calm and pristine Malibu is, what better place to learn? ;)

I started off the day on a bad note when my friend pointed out that a clip on the nose of my kraken which keeps the front hatch shut, had broke off. I thought it wasnt a big deal and that i'd contact Jackson to get a new one on Monday.

We get to Malibu, get our kayaks on the beach, and launch. Everything is smooth sailing as we pass the end of the pier. About 50 yards further out, i turn on my bait tank to show that it works and then proceed to set up my fishing rod to troll.

About 30 seconds later while setting up and my yak flips.

This is where the fun begins.. So i'm obviously a little worried but i flip the yak and try to hop back in only to have the yak tip AGAIN. Then i notice it's taking on water.

i yell to my friend that the yak is going down and that we need to head back (hopefully with my kayak).

So I grab on to the back of his yak and he starts paddling and doing his best to get us in while i'm in the water holding on to my yak to keep it from sinking. Then it sinks in that i forgot to attach my rod to the kayak and that it's gone. Practically brand new set up is bye bye :( I then immediately open the submerged center hatch to grab my phone and keys out hoping my phone might be okay and hand it to my friend.

About 20-30 minutes later, we reach shore with the lifeguard who helped us flip it and empty all the water. Paddle is somewhere in the ocean, sandals are gone as well and i'm probably borderline hypothermia but we're back with my kayak. Thank god.

10 minutes later and the lifeguard points out my paddle and next to it are my sandals. woohoo... -_- still not my rod & reel and after asking my friend to see my phone i see that its totally fucked.

So my iPhone 6 ($275 to replace), i lost my rod & reel($450+ to replace), the center hatch for my kayak is somewhere in the water (no clue the cost to replace but i'm hoping its relatively cheap) and my bait tank battery is totally ruined ($80). To top it all off, since it was our first time out, if we told the women, they'd never let us go back out for safety reasons. So i told my gf that my yak tipped on its side on the way in and took a little water ruining my battery and phone. She's ecstatic.

Great first experience and look forward to many more! :goodnight:

I also forgot to mention that there were no waves at all and i had my seat set to the highest setting which i'm assuming assisted with me tipping? My friend thinks that because the bait tank was full and my seat was all the way back, that caused the flip.

What caused it to take water so quickly was the broken front hatch.

Now i know and next time i'll obviously make sure everything is right before i go. I just wanted to get a little practice in before the MBC which i likely will not be able to go to now.

Buy my Hobie outback and you won't have those problems, sorry bud

fish the harbors. your over your head with no experience. wait till theres waves. glad your alive. i have been around for rescues before.

What kind of Kayak were you in?

What 2 sticks said and more. Go play in MDR and get all the kinks worked out. Then take it out in the surf with no gear and practice launching and landing. Sucks about your donation.

+1, practice self rescue in a bay/lagoon/pool. Even if there were no waves, current and chop can flip you if you arent used to balancing. Sorry to hear about your gear loss, but it also could have been worse.

You made it home safe. That's what counts. Get a lifeproof case for your new phone. I love those things. Worth every penny imo.

Jackson Kraken

that doesn't sound like a fun first trip. I'm glad you made it back okay and you got your kayak back. Your buddy was probably worn out from all that heavy paddling. I put my phone and wallet into a zip lock bag to keep them dry. Having leashes on your kayak helps also if you remember to hook things up, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Good luck on your next trip, it can only get better after today.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I was told what you guys are telling me in another thread but decided to give Malibu a shot anyway. I don't believe the location really mattered since it was so flat but i'll definitely get used to my kayak empty to try to prevent this again.

:cheers1:

I tried putting a higher sitting seat in my Malibu Pro2T and it was really instable so I took it out, a few inches makes a big difference. It probably wasn't where you launched from that made you flip but it made it a lot more dangerous once you flipped. I think that is why everyone is saying start out in a bay, the rescue goes a lot easier.

Yep today was a an awesome day for him and I. Best upper body work out ever. On a serious note, that God there were no swells or waves. That would've been bad news.

Wow bad start. Hopefully you were wearing your PFD. Best thing you did right was going with a buddy. Keep your seat in the low position until you learn your balance. Try lowering the water level in your tank too so you're not top heavy. Leash your rods. Get a hand bilge pump. You got a nice story out of it!

Flipped on my first outing too, inside the bay no less.

X2
 

Flipped my yak first time out, also. LJ and fought a sea lion for my yt while in the water. Just learn from your mistakes and be prepared. I love fishing from my yak. Best fishing rush I've ever had. I worked the boats from the age of 14 and fished and worked long range for a couple of years fishing 300# yft. Still kayak fishing is the most awesome rush ever. Don't give up but be more aware and safe.

Good luck and looking forward to your next post...

Geno

What an adventure. Love your "never say die" attitude. Sorry that you lost your rod and killed your phone. At least no one was hurt and everyone is alive. On the plus side, you learned all your "what not to do" kayaking lessons during a single trip. Get that hatch situation fixed asap. You may have flipped because your yak took on too much water. Some water in a yak is ok, but too much makes things very unstable. That's why I hate leaky hatches.

First of all sorry for the bad experience. Material items though costly can be replaced in time.

By sharing you are helping others to learn from your experience.

Thanks for posting.


If you decide to change to a Malibu Xfactor 33" wide, which is considered very stable, I have one for sale.

Check the other board for pictures and information.

Good news!
 

As long as you are the kind that learns from his mistakes, you took in a lot of hard lessons and survived. I have been going out for a year now and haven't dumped yet. Part of that is because I haven't surf launched my outback yet. I Soooo want to try LJ, but I am going to do Mission bay when it warms up, and practice getting back in my yak again. The one time I did it I was successful, but it took way too much work. I gotta figure out a better technique that doesn't wear me out.

Ouch Matt, that is not the way you want the first trip to go. My first outing in the ocean was very similar about 20 years ago. Send me a pic of the broken attachment, I may have replacement part. Did you have the neoprene bow second seal in place? If just the battery, bring it by and I will swap it out, hopefully that will help get you to next weeks tourney Keys and phone, I use a dry bag or Pelican case. Rod leashes are a good idea when getting the hang of things. hand bilge is a good safety item. Glad you were not out alone and made it in OK.

Too many firsts there for comfort. I'm not sure where you launched in the Bu... but some spots are far from easy. Keep that in mind. There's also enough marinas out there with easy launches and channels full of bass and halibut to fish and learn your gear. I'm happy to hear you're safe and you learned a lot in one day. Crawl, walk, run.

Good luck out there!

Jay