Blown off the water

[Amish Ed]

Got to the beach around 5:30 and met up with my friend John. Turned out he forgot to get a license and was smart enough to not risk it. I launched about 6:15 and paddled into a beautiful sunrise. Got to the harbor entrance and found a stiff SE wind and headed straight for the Pipe. With the head wind it took longer than normal, but I got there. I dropped a 5" Big Hammer in Xmas tree and eventually got a few bites and lost one halfway to the yak. The wind started to really blow and shifted around to be an E wind. I switched to a 4" Flurry in fire avocado, but no bites there. But at least I was able to keep the bait close to the bottom. Switched to a 4" FLurry in redfish and got one legal sand bass. By this point the wind had increased again and I started thinking about the drift chute. Got it out and went to deploy it and the wind kicked up even more, plus some rain to boot. I did a couple drifts with the shoot, but I was still moving so fast that I couldn't find the bottom.

Decided I just wasn't having fun and headed in about 8:00. On the way in the wind shifted out of the NE and made for a miserable paddle in. I finally made the jetty. With the offshore wind I could hide in the lee if the jetty and fish the outside, so I started tossing a bait. Within minutes the wind shifted back out of the SE and started blowing me right into the jetty. So much for hiding. Lost a Slayer head and figured it was just not the day to fish and headed in. Turned out to be the right call as on the paddle in my back really started hurting. Went home with my tail between my legs and rested in my recliner until my back settled down.

At least I didn't get skunked.

[Amish Ed]

I forgot to mention the highlight of the trip. I had just drifted off the pipe and 2 grey whales popped up practically right in front of me. Scared the crap out of me as I never heard them before that. Just 2 big blasts of air out of no where.

[echo1er]

wow! awesome story sucks that you got wind blasted.

[Devildawgjj]

It's instances like yours that make me want to motorize my yak....

Where is this pipe you alway refer to? I just fish around 'the rock.'

[Amish Ed]

Echo1er, thanks. One of those days that makes for a story, but not much else.

Devildawgjj, The pipe is easy to find right now, there's traps all along it. Head out of the harbor at about a 45º angle. When you hit about 45' bear left and and stay in that depth. The pipe will come up about 8' off the bottom. The pipe lines up with the red buoy outside the harbor mouth and the 2 barber poles about a mile out. You won't see the poles though until you're about halfway out. Good luck and bring lots of lead. It can really eat 'em up.

[capntim]

Glad to here you made it in safely. With a front comming in the wind can get real unpredictable. Reminds me when I was much younger and me and my pals renting a skiff in King Harbor to slay bonita(back when they were
almost there year round and a front blew in. Paddled are arsses off and
stil got blown into the jetty..all of us bailing out onto the rocks with the
skiff taking on water. Young and dumb. Funny how reading one story will
make something pop into your head that you havent thought of in ages.
We got skunked that day by the way.

[carbonbass]

had that happen in the LBC to me, and i was at the wall, had to paddle 2 miles back to shore with dishwasher conditions, and i was in my mini x . I got so rattled around i cracked my FF and nearly barfed several times it was horrible i almost turned to my GPS radio for CG

[Amish Ed]

That skiff trip sounds like it could've gone much worse, glad it didn't.

I don't fish Pedro very often, but I know the wind gets crazy up there. I bet you don't fish it in that mini-x any more.