Popped My Cherry
 

What can I say...been on this site and have been yak fishing for almost a year. Been chasing the Yellows for but hard since i live in LA. on my 6th try and my luck finally changed. Got to La Jolla
round 530am on 5-15. Beautiful day, small surf, light wind, clear water, nice current, all but the smoke from the wildfires. Still a crazy sight. Went to the kelp to make bait, no prob. Met William out there in his beige outback and fished together for a bit trolling macs. Damn sea dogs will not leave us so with no luck William decides to go deeper for rock fish i decided to go to the kelp for bass and stuff. Got a white fish and a calico...not bad but not what i drove 2 1/2 hours for.
Decided to give the yellows another chance so i started trolling a couple macs around. Bump into William again and he has to head in. 20 mins later my clicker starts clicking from a what i think is a spooked mack...take the clicker off and let the mac run a bit and click back on. Next thing you know the real starts screaming...its finally on! Yeah Baby! Made sure the hook was set and started to reel the other reel asap. The whole time this thing is towing me around. Finally get the other line in and then it's really on. Strong fish had 2 solid runs and a mini run from missed gaffs but i gaffed it in the back on the third try. What a relief once it was on my lap. Had to give off a primal YES! A nearby yaker gave me a thumbs up. Felt really, really good. considering I know how really bad it could be.

I almost died last week chasing yellows when the weather was bad. my Malibu Stealth took in so much water it flipped. lucky that i figured something was wrong and called 911 before flipping. Actually flipped during the 911 call.lost all my gear, froze my ass off, could not really swim with my waders on. thank god for my lifevest, seriously almost died if nobody could help me. On top of that A week before, a baby seal towed me into some boiler rocks by the LA harbor breakwall and knocked me off my yak. Got my hand stuck in a sea urchin.. it sucked. Anyway a week later with newly serviced old backup reels it happened. Wow really glad that i did not give up.

For all the newbies out there, don't give up and fish hard. Safety First!

From ZERO TO HERO in one week!


What a turn around!




Congrats on your prize.

:cheers1:

Glad you made it back okay and are safe and sound. I too have a Stealth (2011 Stealth 14) and have had issues with taking on water. In my situation I wasn't even in the ocean per se... as I lived back east and was fishing the protected waters of the Long Island Sound (so no nasty beach launches or too bad of chop)... yet 6 hours on the water and I had nearly 2 gallons in my hull.

Just wondering how you took on so much water in your Stealth is all. Are you having issues with leaking hatches like I suspect I am?

I just had Andy at OEX replace my two side hatches through Malibu under warranty... have not had the boat back in the water yet so I don't know if it was a total fix yet or not.

Nice to see you get back out and nail the YT... good job! :reeling:

:icon_bs: without pics




:D

What you didn't use worms for bait? :D

Way to go on your 1st :yt: !

Usually taking on water has a cascade effect. You get some in, the yak gets heavier and rides lower in the water, then water can make it in easier though hatches or what have you. The old x-factors had this problem with the rear slanted hatch.

Check inside the hull after launching and get the water out right away. Glad you made it through to another day, and some success! Enjoy the sashimi, and try to post a pic!

I think I saw you (or someone else) out yesterday in a blue yak who told me he had a yellow. Congrats, the first feels the best by far.

I did ok after you went in ;)

NICE.... But without a picture:confused:

pictures
 

2 pictures. wanted one out in the water but replacement phone had no memory card. took 2 at home.

ok, now we believe you! :D Congratulations!

Awesome man

Ah that was you in the blue. I gave you the thumbs up in the yellow. Dope catch again man. :cheers1: I got picked up twice a little outside of you but couldn't connect in time. Glad to see someone at least got one.

Had maliblues
 

Maliboos suck!Spend the extra money and get a Hobie.Now breakout the popcorn!:p

Yeah.....now we believe but man-o-man do you have some ugly feet:ack2:

It's official now!!!
Congratulations!!!
And thanks for taking the time to write a quality report.
:cheers1:

Jorge, that means you know what pretty feet look like......................................



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Awesome! Great fish and thanks for sharing!

I'm still chasing my first! Hopefully I can skip the flipping/almost dying part and go right to reel screaming/get towed part!

Sea lion tow?
 

How did you get towed and flipped by a sea dog! Did it grab a bow line?

Nice work! I was out there too (albeit, cheating on my boat), but it certainly was a mixed day. Weather was hot (we felt sorry for the yakers getting pounded by the sun), current was up, then down, baits popped briefly, and the birds were almost non-existent. But the water was clean and clear, and we did get a nice visual of the right kind sunning on the surface. The only thing missing was somebody bendo, I guess we missed yours.... :reel:
Congrats!

Nice avatar Mike!