CAUTION! Josh tried to sink my kayak!

[computerguy]

I’ve been lurking on this site for quite some time. Over the last couple of years I noticed a common thread with many posts, they all said thanks Josh, I learned so much. These posts are all followed by a picture of a trophy catch. I kept wondering who is this Josh (The Darkhorse) and how can I go fishing with him?

I started putting out the feelers asking some of the kayak fishermen that I know about Josh. I asked ffice:smarttags" />Jon Schwartz http://www.bluewaterjon.com and he went on and on about how great Josh is and how he can read the water like no other. I read an article about Josh on Jon’s site and my blood was boiling with anticipation.

A few weeks later I was talking with Paul, PAL (http://www.kayakfishingzone.com ) and he told me that I should definitely go out with Josh. That sealed the deal. My 51^st birthday was coming up and I decided to treat my self to some fishing lessons. I wasn’t too interested in catching fish I just wanted to learn the things that I could not figure out. What kind of line, what kind of hooks what size, all the nitty gritty details that I could not put together myself. I finally hooked up with Josh and gave him an inventory of my rods and reels and got recommendations of what kind of line to get and how to rig up my gear.

On our 1^st trip out, less than 10 minutes after we pinned on the 1^st mackerel, it was an instant hook-up . I could hardly gain on this fish it was peeling drag like crazy, and Josh is barking at me like a drill sergeant. Reel REEL reel it was tough gaining any line on this fish. Finally I start making some gain and paused for a second to rest. Josh yelled at me, this is not time to rest, get it in this is a done deal. His concern was that a sea lion would steel the fish. I get the fish to the boat, swing it to Josh and he gaffs a beautiful Yellowtail . After we bleed and secure the fish I thought that we would be doing the happy paddle back. No way, Josh wasn’t done, we were off to look for the next Yellowtail.

After fishing for a while without any more luck for Yellow’s we decide to target White Sea Bass. Josh showed me some things that just blew my mind. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I did hook-up to a White Sea Bass, unfortunately it got away. But from what I learned I have the knowledge to got out and feel confident in catching one.

Here is a picture from my first trip with Josh .
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A few weeks later I’m feeling more confident and thought I knew what to expect from Josh. I got to the beach and started to rig-up. I could tell it was a really fishy day. There was a guy that just got back with 2 beautiful Yellowtails. Just past the surf zone we see Yani doing the happy paddle with a quality Yellowtail. The red tide was crazy dark brown water. As we get past the red tide the water was looking great.

I pinned on a Mackerel and put out about 50 yards, I didn’t even get the rod into the rod holder and I got bit. I was fighting this fish and it was dejaview with Josh barking orders at me, coaching me all along the way with the fight, followed by a successful gaff shot.
Sweet I was so stoked.

After catching two more large Yellowtails, my arms were like rubber. I didn’t have any more fight in me, but Josh insisted that we keep fishing. He said you can’t stop fishing now, you can’t leave while the bite is hot. I got another hook-up followed by Josh doing a great gaff shot and now we have 4 on board. I thought how epic is that 4 yellowtail on a kayak. I hardly had room to put my legs, with over 50lbs of fish on board. Now my arms are aching, I begging with Josh, can we now go back? He said we should try to get your limit of 5 Yellowtail. I was praying that I wouldn’t catch another fish, I was beat.

Josh now wanted to go after a White Sea Bass. With 4 very nice Yellowtails on board he now wanted to get a WSB, holy cow, this guy was trying to Sink My Kayak. Josh was very insistent in going for the WSB he said that he could just about guarantee that we would catch one, and I believed him. However I was beat, I didn’t have any strength left to fight a WSB. I pleaded with Josh to call it a day. I could tell that Josh was very disappointed. But I was delighted that we were headed back. We saw several others out there mostly with one Yellowtail but I was the only one with 4. What an epic trip.

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I really enjoyed meeting and fishing with Josh and what I learned was absolutely mind blowing. I caught more Yellowtail on these 2 trips than I have ever caught in total. But more important is the knowledge that I gained and the confidence that I now have to go back and give it a try on my own… Thanks Josh for the great time .


This photo was taken by Jay.. Nice to meet you Jay, thanks for the awesome picture.

Normally I wouldn’t even dream of catching and keeping 4 Yellowtail and won’t in the future. One nice fish is plenty. This was a once in a life time experience for me. None of the fish went wasted. I gave a lot of the fish away. I have lots of happy friends and neighbors. I would rather have the fish eaten fresh than keep it in the freezer for 6 months. The Yellowtail have been excellent on the Grill. A friend of mine smoked some and it was out of this world. Another friend recommended making some cevichie, I’m looking forward to trying that next.
Tight lines.
-Jeff