La Jolla 4/25
 

Launched at about 5:30, punched through a couple breakers, got a little wet, but made it out fine. Went to the pier and made bait. Only managed 3 mackeral, but got tired of waiting and paddled south. Got to the spot and tried everything. One mac high, one low. Threw iron and plastic. To no avail. Flylined bait got hammered by something, but fish was gone by the time I grabbed the rod.

Paddled in around 12:30. As luck would have it, today was the first time actually leashing my rods (had bought the leashes back in November but was just lazy / overconfident and never used them). Thanks to Moyer I decided maybe I should leash just in case...

Well, guess there's a first time for everything. I thought I was fine sitting a little outside (I thought) and timing for a small set. Look back, and all I see is about a 3-4 foot face coming toward me. Oohhhhh Sshhooooot !!! Ok I didn't say shoot. I tried to lean back as much as possible, but the wave jacked me straight up and off my kayak. Kayak flips, set is still coming. Flip kayak over and proceed to look like an idiot trying to gather everything. Bait tank is hanging by the bunjees, rods are all in the water, darn it where did my sunglasses go?!?

Long story short I made it in eventually. Soaked and pissed off / embarrased. Lost my bait net (no big deal), rocket launcher broke off at base. And sunglasses were nowhere to be found.

If anyone finds a pair of black Native shades, please let me know. Darn things were $100 and almost brand new. Oh well.

At least the only people that saw the whole darn episode were some rental yakkers going out in a class. Instructor was probably pointing me out as an example of what not to do. My two buddies who paddled in20 minutes later thought it was hilarious. :evil:

At least I get to keep my rods & reels. Glad I decided to leash them.


--Todd

Sorry about your shades. I have a pair of Costa Del Mars somewhere at the point. Now it's only $10 shades for me.

The fish gods must be upset, although I do not know why since I too made a generous offering into their dwelling of the deep a month ago. :evil:

Sorry to read about that Todd - I always forget to stow the sunglasses. There were some big, sneaky sets out there yesterday that almost caught a few of us.
Arne

Yeah, the fish gods must be pissed. Surf was tiny on Saturday so I figured no need to leash my rods. Ended up donating a new Fenwick Salt Stick and Okuma reel to Neptune when I nearly flipped when landing :oops: Couldn't resist trying to surf a 2' set. :roll: ...I guess its back to the PVC sabiki rig for the time being...
Rex

bumer man :( I straped my rods down and kept my reels in the hull for my 1st few weeks of yaking...then I realized my 36" wide yak is pretty much unflippable and haven't worried about it since..that is about the only benefit to being the slowest 1 out there :lol:

My 33" wide Xfactor is pretty hard to flip too...it just tipped enough for a wave to knock my rod out of a rear flush mount. I'm going back to strapping stuff down at least for launches and landings.

Shades replaced
 

Art, taking your advice regarding sunglasses. Got a cheapy $20 pair at Rite Aid that are still polarized and UV protect. I think they wil be the dedicated kayaking shades. Might get a nicer pair for everyday use, but won't be paddling with them. I don't like the sunglasses with the cord. Guess I could stow them before landing, but after a day of beer drinking (I mean fishing) I forget to do stuff. If I lose a cheap pair, I won't be happy, but definitely not as pissed off as a nice pair.

Good to know I am not the only one that this has happened to.

Ryan and T-Rex, wide wouldn't have helped in this case, as the face came up behind me and lifted the back end of the yak straight up and tossed my behind into the drink. Knucklehead move to be sure, guess I can laugh at it now... ha ha ha.

See you guys out there!

--Todd

ops.

all good tho. Few weeks ago, I let certain individual talk me not into stashing my rods for landing, which I normally do. It was really flat, so I felt I ought to be OK; I haven't rolled in a while. The set showed up out of no where… I don't even know how I made it… Leaned hard into it, stayed up and surfed the foam sideways, then jumped out as it passed me…

I think getting through the surf and coming back definitely adds to the whole adventure. Wave has got to win sometime too. :wink:

But I’m back to stashing my rods.

I'm a big puss, but I never feel bad about hooking up a few rod leashes when launching or landing. It's just too easy to have a few seconds of inattention, have the kayak tilt a bit, and a rod is gone. After 6-8 hours on the water, my leg muscles are so slow, I don't feel confident in getting out of the kayak quick enough to not have a small wave tilt it over when landing.
The unhappy surf fisherman.

I don't stash mine, but I do have little loops over the handles that hold them in my bucket so they can't fall out. I never come in without them looped.

I can show you how to make some, bad lamb. :lol: