Tomato Soup 9/7

[GregAndrew]

That is what the water looked like yesterday throughout most of the kelp and extending well beyond that in most areas. Current was running downhill, so be ready for a paddle/peddle back if you head south. There was bait to be made on the inside, but it was scattered pretty good. Landed my first Yak YT and missed one other run for my 10.5 hrs otw. Funny thing is that it nearly never got to land (but I will get to that in a minute). Chased Wade around all day (I think we may have been in Mexican waters for some of the day). But it was well worth it for me popping my yak cherry. At one point, we were paddling along bs'ing when we stumbled upon a herd of wild Tailcus Yellowus. Not sure about Wade, but I nearly doodied my shorts as the water erupted with the scattering herd (note to self: have the iron ready to go at all times). Anyway, we get back in just a bit off the beach and Wade asks if I want an otw shot. So I unhook the fish and take out the gameclip to get the $5 shot. After a few pics I go to set the fish in my legwell behind me (I am sitting sideways of course in honor of Wade) and it slides over the side into the water. The good news is that it is floating at the surface, the bad news is that it is just out of reach. Did I forget to mention that we had tied our yaks together for the photo session? Well, now I cannot get back to the fish to snag it with my gaff. As we float even further away quickly removing the ties that bound us the fish sinks . Wade, sitting right above the fish watches it sink on his FF and says "Where the hell is the diver when you need him?). He then looks around and sees a couple of openwater swimmers about 100 yards away and says "there he is, stay here right on this spot till I get back". Well, I am not sure how, but he sweet talked the two of them into changing course and coming over for a look. Unfortunately i had drifted a little before they got there and their dive through the tomato soup was unsuccessful. Ironically, for some reason I had my FF on still, which normally gets shut off at the Reserve. So I checked my track, figured out which direction that was from where I was sitting and said " It should be over that way". The further of the two "divers" immediately sees the fish on the bottom, but they both have wetsuits on making them very buoyant. Luckily 1 of them had fins on which allowed him to swim down the 18 feet and retrieve the wayward YT. Can't thank you enough Wade, for putting me on my first yak YT TWICE!!! Good to know that the swimmers can be good for something more than slaloms (they were great about the whole thing). Now I just have to sweet talk Wade into posting a pic so this is more than just another BS fish story.