Hookup .........! Batrat, No its a............ - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

toadstoadsonly · 06-23-2011, 12:07 PM

First off I have to thank you Tagyak and others on the board for tips which definitely speeded up my learning curve since I am a newbie to the exotics. I picked up another yak so I didn’t know which one to bring Prowler or my Stealth I decided to go stealth because the prowler did not have the electronics hooked up yet.

I headed out Tuesday night with two of my buddies at 10:30 pm with a plan to get out there early knock out in the car for a couple hours and launch at 3am. The sleeping part did not go very well tossing and turning antsy to get on the water I ended up getting about 30min of shut eye. At 3am we set up and paddle out to the grounds to meet a fleet of boats and a few kayakers by 6:30 there had to be 40 vessels on the water. None of us seen any action amongst the fleet about 7am my clicker starts screaming zzzzzzZZZZZZZ…….. HOOKUP>>>>>>>! All I could think is please don’t be a batray please no batray…. The fish darts right and haul ass towards my buddies kayak I yell “watch out the fish is under you felix”, then it makes a directional change and darts left, then right man this fish was all over the place, he then swims towards me, and freight trains me straight down trying to dog me on the bottom maybe he saw kelp. I just let him do his thing for a little and I say heck I am using a kelp cutter rig time to put the wood to this bad boy I short pump hard and get the fish to color No Batray…… really it wasn’t a ray was the yellow kind I pull out my gaff stuck the fish in the brain, fish went stiff, game clip GAME OVER… I went to get my hook out I touched the hook with my index finger and the hook popped out the mouth was not even punctured the only thing holing my hook in was the constant pressure. My first LJ exotic and to boot everyone was telling me this was the only fish landed in the whole fleet it was an extremely slow day out on the water. We stick it out till about 1pm to see if my buddies could tie into one of the exotics but no avail for us or anyone else that stayed late.

Till next time

Go Big Or Go Home

StinkyMatt · 06-23-2011, 12:26 PM

Great fish! Big ass smile!

Congratulations!

swank · 06-23-2011, 12:26 PM

Way to go TTO, when I saw your post about heading out on Wednesday I expected great things :P

ful-rac · 06-23-2011, 12:43 PM

Awsome very nice! That's a beautiful fish!

congratulations!

mtnbykr2 · 06-23-2011, 12:49 PM

If you hold your head just right I suppose it kinda looks like, no not a bat ray, looks like sashimi to me...nice fish

theluckypig · 06-23-2011, 12:57 PM

tagyak · 06-23-2011, 04:14 PM

way to go man. glad to see that you got a nice yellow. hope to see you next time

yakrider · 06-23-2011, 04:28 PM

good thing you dint let up on him!
nice job!

bigbarrels · 06-23-2011, 05:51 PM

congrats

FlyFishinYakr · 06-23-2011, 05:52 PM

Congrats on your catch.
Thanks for posting, enjoyed the read.
FFY

roadx · 06-23-2011, 05:53 PM

congrats!!! killer fish

Quote:

My first LJ exotic and to boot everyone was telling me this was the only fish landed in the whole fleet it was an extremely slow day out on the water.

makes it even more special

Fiskadoro · 06-23-2011, 07:08 PM

Nice one.. Congrats on the quality fish.

Jim

467echo · 06-23-2011, 07:18 PM

Nice fish, and nice meeting you on the water. I was the guy in the hobie nearby wishing I was you!

JohnnyCope · 06-23-2011, 08:13 PM

Blood and guts makes me nuts! Nice fish man!

06-23-2011, 12:07 PM	#1
toadstoadsonly Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Newport Beach Posts: 149	Hookup .........! Batrat, No its a............ First off I have to thank you Tagyak and others on the board for tips which definitely speeded up my learning curve since I am a newbie to the exotics. I picked up another yak so I didn’t know which one to bring Prowler or my Stealth I decided to go stealth because the prowler did not have the electronics hooked up yet. I headed out Tuesday night with two of my buddies at 10:30 pm with a plan to get out there early knock out in the car for a couple hours and launch at 3am. The sleeping part did not go very well tossing and turning antsy to get on the water I ended up getting about 30min of shut eye. At 3am we set up and paddle out to the grounds to meet a fleet of boats and a few kayakers by 6:30 there had to be 40 vessels on the water. None of us seen any action amongst the fleet about 7am my clicker starts screaming zzzzzzZZZZZZZ…….. HOOKUP>>>>>>>! All I could think is please don’t be a batray please no batray…. The fish darts right and haul ass towards my buddies kayak I yell “watch out the fish is under you felix”, then it makes a directional change and darts left, then right man this fish was all over the place, he then swims towards me, and freight trains me straight down trying to dog me on the bottom maybe he saw kelp. I just let him do his thing for a little and I say heck I am using a kelp cutter rig time to put the wood to this bad boy I short pump hard and get the fish to color No Batray…… really it wasn’t a ray was the yellow kind I pull out my gaff stuck the fish in the brain, fish went stiff, game clip GAME OVER… I went to get my hook out I touched the hook with my index finger and the hook popped out the mouth was not even punctured the only thing holing my hook in was the constant pressure. My first LJ exotic and to boot everyone was telling me this was the only fish landed in the whole fleet it was an extremely slow day out on the water. We stick it out till about 1pm to see if my buddies could tie into one of the exotics but no avail for us or anyone else that stayed late. Till next time Go Big Or Go Home

06-23-2011, 12:26 PM	#3
swank Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: The I.E Posts: 92	Way to go TTO, when I saw your post about heading out on Wednesday I expected great things :P __________________ Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day. ~Author Unknown

06-23-2011, 05:51 PM	#9
bigbarrels Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Vista Posts: 1,111	congrats __________________ The shorter you are, the bigger your fish appear

06-23-2011, 07:18 PM	#13
467echo Rookie of the Month Club Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Mira Mesa Posts: 483	Nice fish, and nice meeting you on the water. I was the guy in the hobie nearby wishing I was you! __________________ they are getting bigger....

06-23-2011, 12:26 PM	#2
StinkyMatt Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Under a bridge Posts: 2,169	Great fish! Big ass smile! Congratulations!

06-23-2011, 12:43 PM	#4
ful-rac Emperor Join Date: May 2009 Location: Buena Park Posts: 3,649	Awsome very nice! That's a beautiful fish! congratulations!

06-23-2011, 12:49 PM	#5
mtnbykr2 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: newbury park ca Posts: 2,323	If you hold your head just right I suppose it kinda looks like, no not a bat ray, looks like sashimi to me...nice fish

06-23-2011, 12:57 PM	#6
theluckypig Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: San Pedro Posts: 694

06-23-2011, 04:14 PM	#7
tagyak Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Alhambra Posts: 506	way to go man. glad to see that you got a nice yellow. hope to see you next time

06-23-2011, 04:28 PM	#8
yakrider Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 611	good thing you dint let up on him! nice job!

06-23-2011, 05:52 PM	#10
FlyFishinYakr Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Nor Cal...30 min from Bodega/Tomales Bay, 1hr from Clear Lake, 2+ hr to Berryessa & the Delta Posts: 729	Congrats on your catch. Thanks for posting, enjoyed the read. FFY

06-23-2011, 07:08 PM	#12
Fiskadoro ....... Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,509	Nice one.. Congrats on the quality fish. Jim

06-23-2011, 08:13 PM	#14
JohnnyCope The Four-Finger discount Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Lost Posts: 267	Blood and guts makes me nuts! Nice fish man!