Almost pulled overboard! - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

yaky yak · 04-15-2012, 10:26 PM

Hit the shores early this morning before light. The sets were comming in one after another making for a dicey launch in the dark.
Wore my new waders for the first time, and stayed dry even after catching several waves in the chest.
The wind wasn't to bad but the water was pretty choppy with a big swell every once in a while to keep ya on your toes. I tryed to find bait but didn't have much luck so not wanting to waste gray light, I tied on a white single hook jig with a red head, and put a Gulp squid on the hook and was jigging it in about 65 ft of water near the kelp. I had .put 60 pound power pro braid on my reel with 40 lb floro leader. Because I was so close to the kelp and had such heavy line I had the drag pretty tight.
I hooked up kelp a time or two but was able to pull the jig loose with the drag button down.
My fish finder started to go off and was reading fish below, at almost the same time something slammed the jig. The weight of the pulling fish against the tight drag was to much and almost took me over the side. I could feel massive head shakes, I finely loosing my drag but it was to late and the hook pulled out

Only action of my day on the water. I came in around 4:00 pm fishless. I only made two macks all day out there. It got really nice for a few hour out there but was blown out after 2:00.
Seemed to be a lot of activity early dawn, but wasn't much happening for me rest the day. The water was cold 56 deg. getting to 58 later on.
Only saw two other kayakers out there all day.

Whiting17 · 04-16-2012, 08:17 AM

I launched right after you, same results did find a few Mack's in the kelp but nothing else wanted to bite.

lowprofile · 04-16-2012, 09:02 AM

well, there ya go guys, cats out of the bag. Angel sharks like irons and Gulp!

well, congrats on the almost fish. try throwing your legs over each side while you drift with bait. makes it more stable to pull on fish. also using the leverage of the fish and rod, turn the nose towards the fish and the kayak will act as your drag and you'll never have your line slip when using heavy gear. turned sideways though is a different story. i've been towed sideways and had to lean the opposite direction, so far ove that if the line popped i would have gone in.

yaky yak · 04-16-2012, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowprofile

well, there ya go guys, cats out of the bag. Angel sharks like irons and Gulp!

well, congrats on the almost fish. try throwing your legs over each side while you drift with bait. makes it more stable to pull on fish. also using the leverage of the fish and rod, turn the nose towards the fish and the kayak will act as your drag and you'll never have your line slip when using heavy gear. turned sideways though is a different story. i've been towed sideways and had to lean the opposite direction, so far ove that if the line popped i would have gone in.

As much as i like to think WSB, those head shakes were massive, shark came to mind on my almost fish. This fish went straight down and under my yak so I couldn't get no leverage.
There was a lot of bird action south. I didn't want to paddle back against the current to check it out. Could of should of. I'll be back out there soon. We have some nice weather coming, maybe it'll warm the water a few deg.

taggermike · 04-17-2012, 10:31 AM

After about 40lb line things can get dicey on a kayak I've gotten hung up yo-yoing with 40. Crap, I could barely pull hard enough to break the line. And pulling was tipping the yak. It's also hard to use the heavier line becasue the fish will just tow the kayak instead of pulling drag off the reel. Like lowprofile said, putting your legs over the side helps with ballance and gives the yak more drag for the fish to pull. The position I have found to put maximum presure on a fish, particularly a big YT that is strait up and down, is to get the rod butt under my under my right thigh. I put my left foot on the gunnel of the yak and lay the rod on my instep. The rod is now parallel to the water with 3-4 guides strait down under water. With a fast graphte rod this really puts the hurtin on the fish. When I see a guide or 2 come out of the water I'll crank the reel until the rod is bent again. If my low torque high speed reel can't crank in line under the load I will reach out to the lowest guide with my left hand and pull the line to the reel. I do not ever pump the rod in this technique. In this position I have a low center of the gravity and the line is very close to the side of the kayak but will not touch because of my foot. It's sort of a kayak version of east coast tuna fighting style(vid 1) and long range rail fishing(vid 2). I rambled a bit but I hope you get an idea of this technique as I have never seen any one fish like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WUVlPIWpdc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz7Gi...feature=relmfu

Mike

04-15-2012, 10:26 PM	#1
yaky yak Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Riverside, calif Posts: 130	Almost pulled overboard! Hit the shores early this morning before light. The sets were comming in one after another making for a dicey launch in the dark. Wore my new waders for the first time, and stayed dry even after catching several waves in the chest. The wind wasn't to bad but the water was pretty choppy with a big swell every once in a while to keep ya on your toes. I tryed to find bait but didn't have much luck so not wanting to waste gray light, I tied on a white single hook jig with a red head, and put a Gulp squid on the hook and was jigging it in about 65 ft of water near the kelp. I had .put 60 pound power pro braid on my reel with 40 lb floro leader. Because I was so close to the kelp and had such heavy line I had the drag pretty tight. I hooked up kelp a time or two but was able to pull the jig loose with the drag button down. My fish finder started to go off and was reading fish below, at almost the same time something slammed the jig. The weight of the pulling fish against the tight drag was to much and almost took me over the side. I could feel massive head shakes, I finely loosing my drag but it was to late and the hook pulled out Only action of my day on the water. I came in around 4:00 pm fishless. I only made two macks all day out there. It got really nice for a few hour out there but was blown out after 2:00. Seemed to be a lot of activity early dawn, but wasn't much happening for me rest the day. The water was cold 56 deg. getting to 58 later on. Only saw two other kayakers out there all day.

04-16-2012, 09:02 AM	#3
lowprofile #1 on fishstick's hitlist Join Date: May 2011 Location: Sea level Posts: 1,478	well, there ya go guys, cats out of the bag. Angel sharks like irons and Gulp! well, congrats on the almost fish. try throwing your legs over each side while you drift with bait. makes it more stable to pull on fish. also using the leverage of the fish and rod, turn the nose towards the fish and the kayak will act as your drag and you'll never have your line slip when using heavy gear. turned sideways though is a different story. i've been towed sideways and had to lean the opposite direction, so far ove that if the line popped i would have gone in. __________________ MLPA- My Largest Poaching Area

04-16-2012, 08:17 AM	#2
Whiting17 Junior Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 28	I launched right after you, same results did find a few Mack's in the kelp but nothing else wanted to bite.

04-17-2012, 10:31 AM	#5
taggermike Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Chula Vista Posts: 1,589	After about 40lb line things can get dicey on a kayak I've gotten hung up yo-yoing with 40. Crap, I could barely pull hard enough to break the line. And pulling was tipping the yak. It's also hard to use the heavier line becasue the fish will just tow the kayak instead of pulling drag off the reel. Like lowprofile said, putting your legs over the side helps with ballance and gives the yak more drag for the fish to pull. The position I have found to put maximum presure on a fish, particularly a big YT that is strait up and down, is to get the rod butt under my under my right thigh. I put my left foot on the gunnel of the yak and lay the rod on my instep. The rod is now parallel to the water with 3-4 guides strait down under water. With a fast graphte rod this really puts the hurtin on the fish. When I see a guide or 2 come out of the water I'll crank the reel until the rod is bent again. If my low torque high speed reel can't crank in line under the load I will reach out to the lowest guide with my left hand and pull the line to the reel. I do not ever pump the rod in this technique. In this position I have a low center of the gravity and the line is very close to the side of the kayak but will not touch because of my foot. It's sort of a kayak version of east coast tuna fighting style(vid 1) and long range rail fishing(vid 2). I rambled a bit but I hope you get an idea of this technique as I have never seen any one fish like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WUVlPIWpdc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz7Gi...feature=relmfu Mike