Thanks to Mr. Nice Guy, Mitchell and BWE!

[kirkdavis]

I've been a member for a couple of years now and have spent many hours reading posts, learning tips, and getting the rush of reading good fish tales. And I've shared a few of my own. I've met some of you on the water and at HOW events.
I've grown a lot as a kayak angler, and that is in great part to this forum, for which I am grateful.
I would especially like to thank two members that I have met and learned from.
Mr. Nice Guy is truly that, and he is great at researching whatever topic piques his interest. Read his posts. They might give you a different view of things, sometime quite humorous.
The other is Mitchell. I've talked to him at a HOW event, and met him on the water. He catches a lot of grief for posting pics with his canoe, but he too is a wealth of information. He taught me how to make a weeds free squid bait, and most importantly, he suggested landing in the surf Backwards.
My brother was here for a week and we launched at Dana landing for Sunset cliffs for two days to get him familiar, then Sunday we went bare bones to practice surf launching/landing at LJ. It was fairly rough with the sets coming from two angles and coming in just a few secons apart. I tried the backwards landing and I love it! I tried about 10 times and never felt like I was going to wipe out....totally in control. My brother did the same. He only wiped out once on a launch.
Wednesday we went out with all of our gear, and probably should have stayed home, but it was his last chance to fish LJ. On launch I took a wave over the bow that also went over my head, and swept my coffee out of the cup holder. My brother waited a little and only got wet from the waist down. Bait was non-existent, even at the pier, so we dropped squid down, but the wind and chop was pretty bad. I ended up with a Sheepshead, but that was it. Landing actually was smoother than the launch, backwards of course.
Thanks again to the whole BWE gang.
As MakoBob would say,
Tight Lines.

[Iceman]

The backwards landing works.........until it doesn't. Riding a wave backwards never ends well. I learned this the hard way when I first started kayak fishing.

[kirkdavis]

Originally Posted by Iceman

The backwards landing works.........until it doesn't. Riding a wave backwards never ends well. I learned this the hard way when I first started kayak fishing.

Please expound....the only thing I can think of is if the tail digs into the sand as the front gets lifted by a wave....I guess that could get ugly, but it was pretty rough for LJ both Sunday and Wednesday, and I was fine. I'm not to keen on going out in bigger waves, but I know that things an change in the hours on the water. The only time I've crashed was coming in forward, got turned sideways, leaned into it and dug in my paddle, and the wave landed on top of me and washed that kayak right from under my butt.

[stevie951]

Originally Posted by kirkdavis

Please expound....the only thing I can think of is if the tail digs into the sand as the front gets lifted by a wave....I guess that could get ugly, but it was pretty rough for LJ both Sunday and Wednesday, and I was fine. I'm not to keen on going out in bigger waves, but I know that things an change in the hours on the water. The only time I've crashed was coming in forward, got turned sideways, leaned into it and dug in my paddle, and the wave landed on top of me and washed that kayak right from under my butt.

6 foot shore pound with no lull (all this talk about county line ) you're not paddling in backwards unless you want to end up in the ER.... Sure like Andy said, it may work, because thats the shores... Add in some pumping surf and it's a different story. just my 2 cents..

[MITCHELL]

6ft shore pound in a kayak. What's your options . Dig the paddle in and surf in.
When i come in backwards I'm only letting the little waves help push me back.The bigger waves I punch through like I'm padding out, then back stroke again.
I got that technique from Murray.

[MITCHELL]

All the poles are inside doesn't matter if you flip used it in imperial beach

[kirkdavis]

Originally Posted by stevie951

6 foot shore pound with no lull (all this talk about county line ) you're not paddling in backwards unless you want to end up in the ER.... Sure like Andy said, it may work, because thats the shores... Add in some pumping surf and it's a different story. just my 2 cents..

6 foot shore pound and I will be looking for somewhere else to fish.

[MITCHELL]

And increasing your chances for a really big set to come in. When going straight in between sets is quicker. Last time I flipped I came in backwards was ok hoped off in chest deep water, got hit by a breaker was ok then another breaker knocking me off my feet and could not
Hang on to my kayak bow handle, flipping my kayak. I'm going to try a bow rope giving me some leeway. The time before that the wave was just to dam big centrifugal force knocking me out of my kayak.