The Great Orange Barrier

[CrumbChicken]

Went out to Carlsbad Lagoon on 2/25 with Danowar and his son for a nice day of fishing. I packed light bringing 3 rods, 2 waterproof tackle boxes, a spool of 15# line, a gaff, a bait knife, and some potato wedges . We got out on the water around 9am. I opted out of wearing waders since I wasn't going to get splashed, the sun was out and shining, and I wanted a little pre-summer tan. We weren't getting any bites in the main lagoon so we headed over by the hatchery to test our luck over there.


Danowar got the bright idea to post our kayaks up against the barrier so we didn't have to fish while fighting the current. I pulled my lines up and started drifting over to meet up with him. As I got closer, my yak was picking up a lot of speed . I decided to turn sideways rather than hit the barrier straight on. Doing a Free Willy over the barrier might have been the better option. Just as I hit, water poured over my starboard side and began to take her down. I knew I was flipping so I immediately abandoned ship and tried to push up on the drowning side. The water was too powerful. It sucked me under the barrier and still flipped my yak. I managed to grab one of my poles as I was getting flipped and I spotted my paddle drifting away and luckily was able to catch up with it. I couldn't swim against the current to get back so I side stroked with my gear over to the rocks in the frigid 60F water. By that time Danowar had scooted over toward my kayak along the barrier and was trying to hold it up. I ran out along the barrier and picked up my gaff and a tackle box that were floating in the calm surface water on the backside of the barrier and threw them into Danowar's ship. We realized that my kayak had taken on too much water at this point and we weren't going to be able to pull it up or flip it. So I jumped on top of the turtled yak it and forced it under the barrier. Of course, I again was immediately swept away. But, Danowar with his yellowtail-like reflexes, snagged the handle just as the kayak resurfaced on the other side. Amazingly we found my second rod, just chillin' in the rod holder. With his free hand he was also able to grab my other tackle box that was trapped underneath the tank well. Thank God. That one had my wallet and keys

We got the kayak over to the rocks and drained 20+ gallons of water out of the gator hatch. I was absolutely exhausted, and felt sick since I had just lost $600+ in the lagoon I decided to cut my losses, call it a day, and paddle back.


Total losses: Phoenix rod & Avet reel JX, spool of line, bait knife, and a hat.


I got home, rinsed off my gear, and got a phone call. It was Danowar convincing me to go free diving for the rod. I was tired. It was time for manmode. I grabbed my mares pro fins, goblin mask, and snorkel. Danowar wanted me to bring my spear gun in case I saw a fat hali, but ain't nobody got time fo dat! Picked up Danowar and his wetsuit and headed back to the lagoon for round 2.

We took a shortcut and were able to walk right up to the barrier. I suited up and started diving. The water was murky and I could only see just past my hands. Even with the fins I couldn't fight the current head on even though it was a slack tide. After several dives scraping my hands along the bottom, I snagged an invisible fishing line. I surfaced and got to work. On one end was my 1lb canonball! I kept pulling, the line kept coming. My reel wasn't in gear. Back in the water! This time only for a few moments. I had found my rod, complete with dead squid still on the hook.



Time to go send in the reel for cleaning.

glad it all worked out in the end.

[Dannowar]

The great orange barrier claimed the two dudes in the cobra tandem as well. They lost ALL their gear.

did they go diving for it?

[ful-rac]

Man! That sucks! Well at least you got some of your stuff back...!

[taggermike]

Great job finding your rod. White water rafter do what they call a "high side" when the get side ways on an obsticle. You actually lean toward the obsticle to lift the upcurrent ideof the raft o the currnt pssesonder and not over the boat. There used to be, or may be still is, a black boom just west of the railroad track bridge. When I worked at the hatchery some knuckle head tried to walk across the boom during an ebbing outgoing spring tide. He slipped, hit the water, and started heading toward the power plant water intakes. Cold ass rainy winter day and myself and a coworker stripped down, swam across the lagoon, dragged hs scared panicy ass up on one of the mussle floats,and waited for the life guards. Mike