Winter Worries

[Handymansd]

I woke Wednesday morning to the knowledge that I would be sitting in the water catching bugs that evening. My day drug on as I continually thought of all the fun I would have over the next couple of days with out work. When the sun started waning I bolted home, threw the Lobster, and Fishing gear in the truck and off I went! I got to my not so secret MB spot and tossed in my nets just at dusk. I pulled them up after dark...Nada. Hmmmm.... I usually have at least one short from 5 nets. So I try again... Nada. Hmmmm... this could be a long night. So I move and try some other spots that I know have been producing. Nada. Many of the other lobster guys have called it a night but I don't know when to quit. Well, the fog has been pretty thick but I saw no immediate signs of it and the dew point was still OK so out of the bay I went, headed for sunset cliffs and the kelp structures. I found a decent spot by some comercial buoys and started the process of pulling up shorts... 8-9 per net. Just a matter of time until I get some legals... right? Nope... I did this for 2 hours por Nada, some of the shorts started looking legal until I got out the guage. I look up and am amazed that I can barely see the front of my yak! I am surrounded by the thickest fog I have seen! I cannot see my buoys' lights, the pier, the cliffs... nothing. That's ok I'll use my compass and navigate back to the bay... Oh ya... new yak, I have not installed the new compass yet.
After an hour trying to locate my nets without being able to see them I finally found the last one using my GPS. I literally had to stare at my compass heading to get back in on a haphazard straight line. I got caught in the surf at the tip of the northern breakers wall before I even saw it's light! I have never seen fog so thick! By the time I was halfway down into the bay the fog suddenly lifted and I was back to where I started. So I decided to pack it in and head in for the second shift. Lobsters win this round.... but I have 30 of their friends in the Freezer!

I headed to the Jewell for the second shift of my trip and launched through medium surf, mostly dry, I think I was the only out but then again someone could have launched 30 ft away from me and I would not have known. I was at my bait spot enjoyng a hot cup of coffee by 4:15. I loaded up with 4-5 small candybar greenies and 3-4 micro spanish. I was trying not to get vertigo from the building swell and fog. You couldn't see the waves coming until zooom... up you went. A good day to have everything leashed. I headed straight at a 272 heading until I reached an area between 300 - 700 ft. in an area I personally know has had fish lately....
I swear I found myself going the wrong direction in the soup at least 20 times, on the way out, if I was not totaly not glued to my GPS. The fog was not as thick as OB. But is was so thick, and the swells so big that a couple suprise ones almost tossed me ! It was so easy to get turned around on my long trip out. As I approached my area my GPS warned me that I was operating on dead batteries. That's OK because I always keep a spare set in my camera case. I took out my camera case to find that my wife took the batteries out and did not replace them! A cold feeling of terror washed over me!! Chit!! Panic moment... I am 6-7 miles out in the middle of the friggen ocean, solo, in exteremely thick fog with no GPS or Compass!! Chit!! I can't even hear the shore from this far out!! I am screwed!!! Which way is East? The only way to tell which way is up is the water beneath me. I am the safety first king and here I am totally screwed! I finally come to the realization that I have batteries in my bail-out bag for those emergency situations that I can use! I was still a little freaked out waiting to see if they were good. I remember all those times I drug this stupid bail out bag around, and I am very glad that I did not give up the habit of making sure it was there. Otherwise, I would probably be out halfway to Hawii right now yelling Marco over the VHF. I am also going to need new waders as the pucker factor not only left shit stains in them, but pulled them so far up that the feet ripped out of them.

When I finally arrived, (it took three times as long in the very heavy fog) I found what I was looking for on my second yo-yo with the trusty B/W Salas with squid in the middle of the water column around 150 ft depth on the drop! It was a pretty quick fight for the depth but I had to untangle him from the bait line while trying to keep the tension on him. I was unable to take pics, sorry... no batteries, you would not have seen anything but white fog anyway! He was nowhere as big as Tyler's and Josh's but he was still a good end to a potentially bad day. And I was pretty happy because he was quite a bit bigger than the ones I had last week, and a chit load better than none at all.

I came in immediatly to find that the surf was not where I left it! It sounded like a freight train! You could not see it, just hear it crashing. Scary, but I really did not care, as I was ready for the dry land, and I did not care how I got there. I battened down the hatches and timed my shot by waiting to be lifted by a big one... waited for two more... then paddeled like a mad man posessed, then I saw it! O crap! But I made my timed run in through the surf like a professional surfer! As I looked back at the surf I could not picture a kayak making it through it easily! (now why can't I get that on film?) On the beach by 10:30. It was time to go home and clean up so I can get that most needed rest. All in All an Epic adventure double shift!

Score card:
Lobsters.........0
YT................1 (33# 1oz on the digi)
Tired Yakker....1

I earned this bastard!

Moral of the Story... Please remeber to be safe out there guys! Have a throw bag with an extra set of batteries and other safety stuff. Take a GPS & VHF, or maybe a buddy, or take your buddies', especially during the winter. It is just not worth what could happen. The fog was so thick that you could have been lost within a couple hundred ft. of shore. And keep in mind that the surf may not be where you left it when you return!