I love tourist.....

[THE DARKHORSE]

Not only do they provide great entertainment while I prepare to launch, but are generally happy to take a photo. Another empty afternoon with no kayak fisherman and a couple of boats. The sporties were gone after 4:00p.m. and the Yellowtail came out to play.



I could of caught as many as I wanted, but had more important things to do. Like peddle for my life, since I neglected to properly fasten my drain plug . I turned around and noticed my fish was dragging in the water (hmmmm, that's funny) and freaked when I opened my center hatch (half full of water ). Survival mode kicked in and I started bailing as fast as I could. Dumped my bait, emptied the tank, and peddled past quite a few lucky schools of Yellowtail on my way in. They were taunting me, and gave me a virtual escort half the way home. The good news is that my kayak passed the "fill up with water test" at home. I have a good idea where I'll be sunday afternoon, how about you?

[amsurferoceanbeach]

Nice
You need to buy a 16$ hand operrated bilge
pump.

[TheSherThang]

Great report . Makes me want to drive down from Los Angeles for a shot at the YTs . Definitely get a handpump. Even a water gun from ToysRUs can act like a bilge pump in a pinch.

If I head down, I'll be on channel 72 and fishing from a red Malibu X-Factor. Give me a holla!

[Matt]

Don't worry Josh I got a bilge pump you can use!! Of course then you would actually need a radio to call someone over!lol Nice catch man!

[THE DARKHORSE]

Originally Posted by Matt

Don't worry Josh I got a bilge pump you can use!! Of course then you would actually need a radio to call someone over!lol Nice catch man!

Thanks Matt, but I think I'm going to hire DGAX. If anyone can install a rooster-tail internal 500GPH bilge system, complete with cockpit "that was easy red button", it's him. The last thing I want is another scare like that when I'm 25 miles offshore chasing tuna with the Hobie sailing model. I know I can swim for days if I have too, but never want to impersonate a top water plug to the wrong kind.

[dgax65]

Big red buttons in the cockpit are so old school. Could I interest you in a bilge pump with an automatic float switch?

Don't even have to worry about turning it on.

How about a 10 gallon per MINUTE bilge pump?

We could rig the overboard discharge from the rear deck. You would look like a Yamaha Waverunner spittin' a rooster tail.

[bajadog]

[blackcloud9]

Nice fish Josh.

Saw your post, and I went out and looked around outside off WindanSea this afternoon (Sunday), 2 - 7 pm.

Got a couple little scoops of sardines from a departing PB, slow trolled dines while catching a few rockfish for dinner on the bottom (110'+plastics). The bull kelp is sure healthy outside the kelp line.

Late evening, I saw some moving bait and some "noses" puddling around, fired the Tady 45 and got bumped, but missed. Beautiful evening on the water.

Just had a red snapper fer dinner ... mmmmm.

[Willy]

Hey darkhorse, what did you catch that yellow on?
Just curious.
Thanks,
Willy

[THE DARKHORSE]

Thanks for the idea Doug, automatic float switch, that's a good one. After thinking about it, the 12gph is probably plenty, but I would still prefer overkill. In case of a real emergency situation 25 miles offshore, I'm going with the 500gph (the Yamaha look). I wouldn't mind turning the pump off after it did it's job, in short order.

Willy, I caught this fish on the flyline, 10" Greenback, #1 owner hook, on #30 flouro, in 90ft, around the 3/4. That afternoon I peddled past close to ten different schools of Yellowtail. Some were pretty stealthy, quietly puddling with a slight (but obvious) surface disturbance. A couple other schools didn't have a care in the world, violently boiling on surface bait, and moving plenty of water around.

I was out this afternoon (monday) with no boats, and no signs of life on the surface (major change from the past couple of days). A strong uphill current and a distinct visability line around the 1/2 (from 5-8ft vis at the condo then close to 15ft vis around the 3/4). No guarantee, but any day now could go off. Good luck!

[bajaboy]

An old retired merchant told me once..."A scared man with a bucket will out bail any pump!".........

[cajunman]

If you have a bait tank pump on board, consider rigging so you can simply take it out of the bait tank and use as a bilge,
(using an old back packing adage of having two or more uses for everything you carry)

[glenniesan]

Nice one man! We were paddling the AM shift all over place por nada!! Way to get on em!

[dgax65]

Originally Posted by cajunman

If you have a bait tank pump on board, consider rigging so you can simply take it out of the bait tank and use as a bilge,
(using an old back packing adage of having two or more uses for everything you carry)

I tried that with a bait tank that I made a few years ago. I put a 3-way valve set-up on the pump intake line. (you can see the 3-way at the bottom of the picture)



I just wanted a way to pump out the bait tank at the end of the day. This could work as a bilge pump, but it wouldn't be practical with most kayak designs.



With a slightly longer intake hose you could reach the rear hatch on an X-Factor or an eXtreme. You would need a rediculously long intake or a removable pump/power supply to reach the center hatch on most other kayaks.

I toyed with the idea of installing a bilge pump for a while. In theory, it makes a lot of sense to have one. There are, however, some practical issues that make it difficult. I noticed that my Kayatank fills about 3/4 full as soon as I sit on my kayak. That water comes through the intake pump. That could happen in reverse with a bilge pump. Water could enter through your overboard discharge fitting and backflow through the pump, flooding the kayak. You need a good stop-check valve or a discharge plug to prevent this from happening. Even I have my limits for added weight and complexity. I just carry a trusty hand pump.