[Aaron&Julie]

I thought this chain would've died a couple of days ago.

Fact, is the guy wasn't ignorant and knew what he was getting into. With that knowledge, when his misfortune did happen, he handled it properly.

So he got shorts all night that doesn't indicate it was a waste of time, just poor luck. Sometimes dirty water from storms can be the ticket for a nice limit of bugs.
It wasn't, too bad for him on that result.

Everyone of us takes risks when venturing into the open waters. If you're a newbie, you'll usually start in bays to get a feel, then small surf, then bigger surf as your confidence rises.

By the time, Julie and I had enough experience in larger waves, we both launched in 4 foot surf in the dark, in the winter at LJ. About 4-5 other kayakers on the beach didn't dare, waiting 'til it got light out. I being the faster paddler, barely made it out, barely punching through, then slamming on the backside of 3 large waves, while getting drenched and wet up to my face, . When I looked for Julie, right after, she was no where to be seen. After a 10-15 minute wait, and just about to go back in, which I certainly didn't want to attempt a landing in that size surf in the dark, she comes paddling out. She didn't clear one of those good-sized sets, flipped, got banged up a little. After reflipping the kayak, getting her bearings together, she made it out on her next attempt. She's a helluva trouper. The thing is we knew the risk, had adversity, but prevailed. She caught her 1st WSB ever (about 30lbs) and and I caught a nice yellow of the same size. Her flip in the surf, while certainly a shock to her, was easily dismissed by her, and the smile on her face after getting that white, proved that.

We do believe in having a friend/partner with you when you can, especially in adverse conditions. She's not gone solo, and we stay close together when we both go. I've done maybe 3 solo bug trips, and maybe 6 solo LJ trips. It's safer and more enjoyable having partners like we do. But, we're not about to criticize those that do go solo.

We've both were knocked into the water of some rocks in South Laguna while shore fishing, by a sneaky wave. That shocked the hell out of us, too. I got to her and she clung to me while we swam back to the rock we fished from, crawling on mussel beds 'til we could get to our feet. We didn't lose either outfit we were using, learned some respect for how far out we should go on this island we waded to, and didn't have regrets for our "ADVENTURE", just another one, one we learned from, and we expect more adventures in the future, that may test our limits. We sure and hell don't give a shit if our adventure puts the world of kayak fishing in jeopardy from evening closures, or other repercussions. If that were the case, going on hikes in the wilderness, skydiving, hang-gliding, cliff climbing would all be outlawed, as their rate of injury/fatality is probably much higher than that of kayak fishing.

Grey whales have breached on Private boaters, killing all on board, not likely to happen, but if one did on your kayak, you'd be toast. Great whites have been known to attack kayaks. Surf landings themselves can be precarious, if flipped and the force of the wave knocks your kayak into an arm or a leg, it could be broken. Hell if it hit you in the head, it could knock you out. The more experience you have, the less likely surf landings will injure you.

I won't go into the incredibly difficult night bugging 2 days after the Japan Tsunami in SD Bay, supposedly when the threat of drastic swells, currents, and water level changes were supposed to have subsided, which they hadn't. It was vicious is all I'll say.

The risks are always there, so kudos to you Big T, way to correctly handle your situation.

Aaron