My La Jolla nightmare - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

YakDout · 05-17-2020, 09:06 AM

Take your kayak down for a morning of 3-4 ft surf with no gear and practice launching and landing over and over and get the feel for the outback without all the expensive stuff on it.

I have an outback now but I used to have a PA 14 and been very close to capsizing due to taking waves over the bow and water not draining out of the scuppers fast enough. Water would pool in the hull and the kayak got extremely slow, heavy, and tippy. Know when to bail off the side and grab ahold of the yak and start over.

As others have said, watch the surf for a few minutes before you launch to see what’s going on so you can time the sets. Sometimes there’s a sneaker set that will get you, it’s gonna happen. Have to know when to charge through it, with everything you have, or pull the plug.

I’ve never flipped on a surf launch yet and been out in 5’ surf. But I have flipped in open water and it’s not fun. Keep at it though. When you get good and start catching good fish it’s a great feeling.

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05-17-2020, 09:06 AM	#9
YakDout Brandon Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,345	My La Jolla nightmare Take your kayak down for a morning of 3-4 ft surf with no gear and practice launching and landing over and over and get the feel for the outback without all the expensive stuff on it. I have an outback now but I used to have a PA 14 and been very close to capsizing due to taking waves over the bow and water not draining out of the scuppers fast enough. Water would pool in the hull and the kayak got extremely slow, heavy, and tippy. Know when to bail off the side and grab ahold of the yak and start over. As others have said, watch the surf for a few minutes before you launch to see what’s going on so you can time the sets. Sometimes there’s a sneaker set that will get you, it’s gonna happen. Have to know when to charge through it, with everything you have, or pull the plug. I’ve never flipped on a surf launch yet and been out in 5’ surf. But I have flipped in open water and it’s not fun. Keep at it though. When you get good and start catching good fish it’s a great feeling. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk