Big Hat: No Cattle; Saturday Skunking Saga

[DDS]

After reading a few other posts, I thought I might post for the first time and share my Saturday story…

I’ve got a regular every weekday kinda job, so unfortunately weekends are my only chance I get to try to buck the “0 for _” trend I have going.
Saturday was a beautiful morning, there was a bit of a fog, and when I first rolled up to the beach you could hear the waves pounding on the beach.

Hit the beach just before 6 to see probably 20 boats lined up, gearing up and getting ready to hit the surf. I unloaded my tandem island, rocking it solo for the first time. My usual crew are my 7 and 10 year old, but today they wanted to rest, and it would give me a chance to concentrate on the fish instead of feeding, entertaining and watching out for two of the most patient little fishermen I could ask for. Plus it would give me a chance to hopefully learn the magic of finally catching something so the boys wouldn’t have to catch bait for me and then watch their dear old dad flail around and give the mackerel tow rides around the cove for 6 hours again.

Dumped the Tandem on the beach and went to park. Had to pull the little red wagon with all, or at least I thought, my stuff down to the beach as without my crew there I had no one to watch it, and with all the stories lately of stuff disappearing, I didn’t want my day to start off the wrong way…

Just as I was pulling the boat onto the water to launch I saw two different yaks get popped straight up and over by some pretty big breakers…so back on to dry land to lash everything down. The Tandem is a big beast, and though stable out on the water, she is a lot to handle in the surf.

Thought I would be patient and time my launch…find a nice break and the sets and went for it…pushed the kayak out to about waist deep, slammed in the peddles and jumped about, got about four pumps in before I had to jump off…kinda like in the back of the car in high school. Rogue wave comes up and over the bow of the tandem so I bailed in chest deep water and tried to hold the boat from getting pitched sideways…I could just imagine the wreckage of all my gear and the tandem going over in front of 30 other fishermen. Thankfully the only casualty was my coffee, and my bait tank got blown off the back but managed to stay attached.

Made it out to the kelp, and strangely for how bad I suck at this kayak fishing thing, I made bait pretty well. Sabiki brought in 6 Greenies and a Spanish in about 30 minutes…so I decided to high tail it to the La Jolla Canyon to see if I could catch something big and fun coming up at the depth break. Spent an hour or so failing at that and decided to push out deeper and look for some kelp paddies. The headwind was pretty strong and it took quite a while to push outside. Every time I stopped to rig something, or check something the wind would blow my tandem completely around and back to shore a few hundred yards. After an hour or so of pumping I look around about 5 miles off shore and don't see a single other kayak. I kept thinking I was going to have my first post be a bluefin story….but no dice. Came across one paddy and fished if for 20-30 minutes with no luck. Fly lining mackerel all around it….yoyo jigging irons. Finally decided to head in and fish the western side of the kelp beds close to shore where most of the other boats had stayed.

Coming in took so long I needed to bail on fishing anymore and just head in…So I finally put up my sail and started to tow my last two macs…one flylined about 40 yards back and one about 30 yards back with a 2 oz weight to keep it below the sea dogs and the other mack…

No luck, but as I get closer to the kelp beds on the way in I start to pull my lines in, but foolishly don’t reef my sail as I’m trying to hustle, my wife and kids are meeting me on the beach at 1PM. So as I am pulling in my second line, it is caught around at least 100 yards of someone else’s braid, and it tangles around my rudder and snags a small kelp paddy as I’m trying to undo the rats nest.

Little did I realize that the wind had caught the sail and blew me right into the kelp beds…and that is right when I realized that the one thing I forgot to put on my little red wagon from the car to the beach in the morning was my paddle. OH #$%^. So my peddles and rudder are now uselessly dragging through and wedged in the kelp…it’s 1 PM, I’ve been peddling almost 7 hours at this point and I’ve covered almost 14 miles…My legs are toast, but I’m realizing that without my paddle, and without the use of the rudder and peddles, I have to put the sail back out and let it skim me over the paddys until I get to a clear point enough to be able to get back out past the kelp.

If the nice Asian couple who was kayak fishing the kelp paddys is on here, forgive the minor expletive ridden hulk fest you may have seen as I was trying to peddle through clear spots, pull the peddles and pull up the rudder, then put the rudder and peddles back in again for 20 second intervals as I skimmed over kelp and into open areas of water. Especially when I got free of the kelp and then blown back into it by the wind. Finally, after almost an hour of fighting through the kelp, and contemplating radioing the coast guard or swallowing my pride completely and waving my arms like and idiot at one of the powerboats nearby to give me a ride, the sail caught some wind and pushed me clear…almost all the way down at marine street beach…downwind and over a mile from the launch point.

As I rounded the point to head into shore, the last insult, besides the fact that I still had not caught a fish, was that while trying to secure everything for what I was sure was going to be a disaster ridden climax to my day of pirouetting through the surf in front of thousands of beach goers, I dropped my gaff in the water and the damn thing sunk like a rock.

So after what was a long day there were some positives, lost only one piece of gear, didn’t capsize, lost 6 pounds of what I’m sure was only water weight from the exercise, and my wife had the only fish related thing I would actually catch that day waiting on the beach…a nice cold Sculpin.

Well, that was a much longer story than I meant to write. I’m still “0 for” after 5 outings and probably almost 40 hours out in La Jolla cove and the surrounding waters. Hope my luck changes, I’m enjoying the boating, though the fishing could improve. I very much feel like I’m “Big Hat with no cattle” as I have the right gear…I’m just getting in the way of it working…

It is crushing hearing all those great stories about catching when you come up empty handed, especially when everyone says this is one of the best fishing seasons we have had in the last 20 years. Thanks to all the guys who have been so gracious offering tips and advice on the beach and in the water…hopefully my next post will include pics of a nice catch.

[Murray]

Mirage drives fail. Make sure you carry a paddle all the time. Mine failed a week ago and without a paddle, I would have been in trouble. Spare linkage parts and tools to repair are also a good idea. Be safe and have fun.

[Zfish03]

Yeah make a check list in your head or write one down, then do a quick assessment of what you have left in your car. Lesson learned. It sucks loosing gear Try to find a bamboo gaff. A little bit of tough love...You will get a fish soon, but don't feel entitled to a fish every time you go out either. Some days are better than others but the fish are always out there. It's not always a magic trick or luck all the time that gets fish, most people catching them discovered their own pattern to follow and things to look for. 40 hours is scratching the surface on the sport and there a lot of signs you will notice as you spend more time out there. Be happy so many people are catching fish, it means there is plenty out there! Check out tides4fishing and enjoy some freedom on the water

[chris138]

Excluding the PA, you can always lay prone on the kayak or on your knees and paddle it like a surfboard. Actually it works pretty well.

[tunaseeker]

hit up the Samurai. You wont be sorry!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sea-S...35504369874113

[kjsdad619]

I am in the exact same boat as you! I have went out at least 9 times and been skunked on popping my cherry with a YT. It was getting frustrating and I had to take a week off to try again. All my boys are slaying them and I have yet to grab one. But a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work. I found my self laughing with your story as I have went through all the emotions. Once I catch my first, I will use this forum to talk about my feelings like I was sitting on some shrinks couch!

[DDS]

Hey guys, thanks for the tips and insight, I appreciate being able to vent a bit and get some wisdom back in return.

@tunaseeker - I've hit up the samurai once before to try to get something scheduled, he runs stuff on the weekend so I just have to get some free time OK'd by the missus with enough lead time to schedule it. This past Saturday I figured out I'd have a half day at about 11:30 PM Friday night and assembled the gear till about 1AM...made for an early alarm...I'm sure I'd benefit a ton from some hands on wisdom from an experienced guy like the samurai!

@Chris128 - I wouldn't have thought to paddle the kayak like a surfboard...that is at least something I can keep in the quiver if the sh#$ really hits the fan

@Murray - I always bring the second mirage drive with me when I go out (the tandem comes with two) just in case of failure, and I have some repair gear on the yak, but it is ridiculous that I left my paddle in the car..thankfully it only cost me time, pride and a serious spike in blood pressure.

@ZFish03 Thanks for the reality check and the sunny side of things view, hopefully my time will come soon enough.

@KJSDad619 - It is great to get on here and see the stories of others who are struggling as well, they are not as exciting to read as the success stories, but it helps those getting started to know they are not alone in the drama of getting skunked time and time again. This board is the perfect place for a little free therapy!

Hope the next story has a happy ending. I've got to stay in close to the kelp and catch a yellowtail before I head out looking for tuna, dorado or marlin (did you see that guys story...holy crap that would be awesome.)