First Ocean Rescue: Please do not go fishing in the Ocean in a Canoe

[ctfphoto]

So I decided to go to La Jolla Saturday to try for some yellows and try out my new sail while fishing on my new Outback.

Conditions where fairly choppy with about 13 mile per hour winds.

I saw these two guy fishing from what I thought was a sit in kayak but turned out to be a lake canoe about a mile and a half from the launch.

They paddled by me and asked some fishing questions as it was there first time trying to kayak / canoe fish.

We spoke for a few minutes and then went on our separate ways.

Less than five minutes later I look over and things don’t look right. The two guys are separated and I don’t see their boat. They yell for me, and I book over there as fist as I can.

Two guys in the water one with a life jacket, the other with NO Life Jacket. Really! WOW!

I take off my life jacket and throw it to the guy who doesn’t have one and tell him to put it on.

I collect their two fishing poles, two paddles, a knife and glove. The canoe is completely underwater. We try to right it, but it is too heavy. The owner says screw it, it’s only $50, let it sink.

Two other fellow fishing kayakers show up to help, Thank you guys. One said he saw the canoe when it was vertical and said it looked like the Titanic.

Out of no where two lifeguards show up on a jet ski and look really pissed off. I’m like dude, I’m just helping rescue these guys.

The lifeguards tell them they (the lifeguards) have to bring in the canoe and they did. The lifeguards dropped the two guys off at childrens pool and not the shores? They then had to run all the way to the shores to meet me to get their gear. We all learned valuable lessons that day.

A friend of mine asked if the were idiots or just unlucky. I will go with unprepared and having no idea what ocean kayak fishing is all about, which is, safety first.

These guys were actually really cool and learned a great deal and will be back out there again, prepared this time. They where very enthusiastic about the sport, so much so they then went to the bay and caught a fish after all of this.

Please remember safety first, and always wear your life jacket and make sure everyone has one.

And NEVER go ocean fishing in a CANOE!

[DanaPT]

Or a float tube.


Good work man.

[Geno Machino]

Great job!

10 times the good karma coming your way!!

Guys like you are what I like about this community!!!

Geno

[ctfphoto]

Thanks guys, but the way I look at it is anyone of you would have done exactly the same thing as you really have no choice in the matter. It not like sorry dudes I'm going fishing.

Anyway, we all learned from the experience and all have a great story to tell.

Like I said those guys were cool, just a little over enthusiastic about getting out there to try this awesome sport and not considering safety first.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Good Job ! -- I beg to differ regarding others doing the same -- once got abandoned by kids on a boat to drift in on my own to the beach.

[taggermike]

Mile n a half out to sea in a canoe? That's some seriously poor judgement. Guys must be thinking this whole yak fishing thing is a gimme. Good job helping them out. Its the absolutely right thing to do and i believe it against the law to not help a boater in distress. Kinda f'd up they need a law for that. Mike

[ctfphoto]

I think we may all need to prepare for an onslaught of this behavior when the new kayak fishing show comes out Friday

[surfisher]

Holy shit! That story sounds familiar. I had a few buddies who went to LJ last October in an old tandem ocean kayak. Apparently the winds were 15knots or so and they ended up taking in water, didnt have a pump, ended up ditching the yak to swim it in and the lifegaurds came out on the ski and towed them to childrens pool and they had to walk the kayak up the stairs and walk back to the launch to get their car haha. They said the lifegaurds manager told them to drop them off at CP instead of the shores.