maiden Voyage 9-2-10

[tunaseeker]

Well it was real foggy out there 9-2-10 and traffic was a bear getting there. Did not launch until 830. First time through the waves was not too bad until one came out of no where and slammed me in the chest, got through that though. Made some bait (Macs) out by the yellow buoy. That seemed to go well, got about 6 in less than 20 min. Pinned on a mac to fly line it and headed out toward the sport boats. Started to troll the mac south along the edge of the kelp. Wind started to pick up and white cap the swells. Started to toss me around a bit, 2-3' swells . I was looking at shore and got hit by a big choppy swell and it knocked me out of the kayak. Was able to get back on quickly but a lot of water seemed to get into the yak. I opened up the center hatch and !#@#@#! it was half full of water! Quickly hunted for my pump (Thank god I had one!). It was stuck at the bow, as I got toward the bow more water came in as the yak was getting lower in the water. AHHHHGGGGG. Finally got it out and pumped the hull. Ok, back to trolling the mac. Got a quick zing on the pole, gave it a 5-10 count and started to reel in. Seal stole the bait. That happened 2X, lost one to the kelp. I notice my yack getting lower to the water aging. Hummmm. @#@#!!##!@ Half full of water again and I can hear water trickling in this time, great.... Drifted the kelp for smoother surface and pump out the yak. Pull the pedals and row though the kelp get to shore and thankfully no flipage. What a maiden voyage…I get the yak home and discover that the wheel scupper has a crack in it allowing water to get into the hull. Must have cracked it at Mammoth trying to get up a steep bank when my wheel hit a rock. Didn't plan on catching fish on my first outing but didn't plan on almost sinking 2 miles away from shore either! The second outing has to be better that this one! Met some real nice yakers out there, thanks for the tips!
Todd