Sat 7-7-07 LJ

[Handymansd]

Launched late at around 5pm to Tourist crammed beach.

Marine layer was in to cool everything off. Launched to 2 footers with my friend Darren, for his first LJ trip. Very choppy and the onshore flow made for a lengthy paddle to the bouys, where we skunked on bait. So we moved to the kelp line to find the current picking up. There were only two other kayaks in sight and they left before the fun started. Took until 8pm to make my first mac, then they were everywhere. Within minutes, the birds started crashing all around us, and before I could adjust my lines for action, Darren's deep line started screaming, I advised him to go easy, (we know I learned that the hard way)! Not 2 seconds later, both of my reels started screaming simultaneously! Double Hook-up! After much disorganized pole switching to keep the fish out of the kelp I somehow managed two WSB approximately 28" by the official FND ruler.

I will leave Darren's stories to him, but it was an amazing experience with the total count of 5 lost fish (Kelp and multiple double hook-ups), and 6 caught and released WSB in 45 minutes! WOW! All fish were released back to their beds tired but happy!

All of the excitement of finally catching my first WSB was quickly erased....

My kayak, Darren's kayak, his newly installed Thule rack, and the front end of the drunk driving Honda behind us were all destroyed when the rack came detached on the 52!

Luckily, no one was injured.

Upon retrieving and examining the remains of the rack, it seems one of the towers pulled loose all of the threads holding one of the clips in place. The remaining unbalanced load only took seconds to pull apart and send the whole mess to its demise. I have always been an advocate of responsibly securing your load, but this sucked because the entire rack failed.
He is talking to the place that he got the rack from, but it looks like I am out a yak!

So Jim.... when are those Tridents going to be available? In time for my fishing salvation?

Does anyone have any other thoughts on brands of kayaks that have a more specialized model for ocean fishing?

I am considering the X-treme, but I think the trident looks promising too. Any thoughts or input would be helpful!

Thanks in advance.... yak less handyman!