SOLO SKIFF PROGRESS THREAD

[ctfphoto]

Originally Posted by FISH11

Way to go Chris. I love mine, everytime I use it at La Jolla (once or twice per week) I am more impressed at the stability and ability in the open ocean.

Thanks, Mark. I love your setup.

I was out lobstering with Mikey Sunday night where we both limited :lobs ter:

That Solo Skiff has so much more range and way faster, less impact on the body.

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by ctfphoto

Thanks, Mark. I love your setup.

I was out lobstering with Mikey Sunday night where we both limited :lobs ter:

That Solo Skiff has so much more range and way faster, less impact on the body.

Congrats on the limiting on the lobster outing for you and Mikey. I planned it out so it's working smarter instead of working harder. The only real work is when loading and unloading, at home I made a cart that is equal in height to the truck bed and exender. That makes loading and unloading even easier than when I take out any of my kayaks. Since I made the ABS ramp and got the hand crank strap winch, at the beach unloading and loading are easier and quicker than when using my kayaks.

[ctfphoto]

Mark, I like that cart.

At first, I thought you had a cart for the launch ramp which will shred your solo.

How are you dealing with the launch ramp road rash?

[tak100]

Mark,

I would love to see your ramp and wench set up as well.

That last 6 inches is a major B.

Thanks!

[NICKWORN]

Got limits in 1.5 sets, sent plenty swimming on the last few hoops.

Buggzilla!!

[FISH11]

Those are some nice big bugs, congrats.

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by ctfphoto

Mark, I like that cart.

At first, I thought you had a cart for the launch ramp which will shred your solo.

How are you dealing with the launch ramp road rash?

I never drag any of my kayaks or the Solo Skiff across that concrete ramp with those diagonal groves and rough textures, it's like running your palm on a cheese grader. On ramps offloading is not a problem bow will float and I can ease the rear down into the water while sliding it down, for loading I use the same 2 piece ABS pipe ramp, I use at the Shores beach launch. It is actually easier at the beach because there is no boat wakes to deal with when aligning the Solo Skiff with the two ABS pipes. Then I use a strap hand crank winch to pull it up the ramp and into the truck bed. Here's a picture from a video clip taken on Thursday the 8th. Took out my dog to get her more used to the open water in the Solo Skiff. If she continues to like going out I will take her out sometimes to La Jolla when the surf forecast says it's going to be a lake.

[FISH11]

Today I went out and launched my Solo Skiff at La Jolla and after making bait started trolling a live mac south. After getting down 3/4 of the way to the South La Jolla MLPA, the wind picks up and keeps getting stronger. It was blowing harder than the forecast had for a small window of higher wind gusts. Long story short, is that as can often be the case, the forecast was off. It got real nasty and provably as bad as I had been in one of my kayaks. The huge difference is I was dry and other than consistent rocking, I had no problem either drifting or trolling at engine idle. If I had decided to wear my waders and waterproof jacket, I could even have cut through most of the chop at even higher speed. The temperature drop in air and water didn't help the fishing and made it a little cold while only wearing my board shorts and sweatshirt. The sun being out helped. It was a blast getting airborne so often when going through the larger chop and swells. Best of all, I wasn't even tired when I landed, was still dry and running around La Jolla for 5-6 hours uses $2.05 of regular gas. The SOLO IS A STUD!............................................. ........... This is a 60 second video of highlights from some of the rough water crossing.

[tunaseeker]

Saw your skiff on the beach but missed ya. The swell was super bad! 4' easy. Almost capsized at 80', had not seen it that bad in a long time. Managed a limit of goats though... Hopefully the weather forecast is more accurate next time! Cheers!

[FISH11]

Yeah when I was setting up and launched there were around 5 other kayaks I saw. A couple guys were having problems in trying to surf launch. The surf height wasn't bad at 6:45 but the intervals were close. I couldn't believe how high the swells got. Some times when drifting as a tall one would come up, it seemed as if I could reach out and touch the top of the peak just as the Solo floated right up the face of the swell and the swell had gone under the Solo. That was a wild ride that could have been fun if dress in waterproof gear. Congrats on the sheeps limit, that's some nice meals there.

[AlwaysFishing]

Mark I appreciates if you could post a video of how you've made the ramp and a demo of it in action.

Originally Posted by FISH11

I never drag any of my kayaks or the Solo Skiff across that concrete ramp with those diagonal groves and rough textures, it's like running your palm on a cheese grader. On ramps offloading is not a problem bow will float and I can ease the rear down into the water while sliding it down, for loading I use the same 2 piece ABS pipe ramp, I use at the Shores beach launch. It is actually easier at the beach because there is no boat wakes to deal with when aligning the Solo Skiff with the two ABS pipes. Then I use a strap hand crank winch to pull it up the ramp and into the truck bed. Here's a picture from a video clip taken on Thursday the 8th. Took out my dog to get her more used to the open water in the Solo Skiff. If she continues to like going out I will take her out sometimes to La Jolla when the surf forecast says it's going to be a lake.

[FISH11]

I will, sorry for the delay. I was going to go today and do that but this crazy weather made me change plans. Were I live we've had those 40-60mph winds for multiple days, hail, snow Tuesday and strong winds and rain yesterday. Tomorrow looked like another window and now it's rain part of the day in SD. This weekend and next week looks like rain and snow at home. Next change in weather I'll film some of unloading and loading using the ramp I made with ABS drain pipe and the removable hand winch set up. I'm hatting having to stay at home and not be out at LJ.

[AlwaysFishing]

Thanks in advance Mark. I will be picking up a used Solo next week! Can't wait to get it all together and get it in the water. It's going to be a learning curve coming from an OldTown Topwater 120 PDL but I think it will be a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by FISH11

I will, sorry for the delay. I was going to go today and do that but this crazy weather made me change plans. Were I live we've had those 40-60mph winds for multiple days, hail, snow Tuesday and strong winds and rain yesterday. Tomorrow looked like another window and now it's rain part of the day in SD. This weekend and next week looks like rain and snow at home. Next change in weather I'll film some of unloading and loading using the ramp I made with ABS drain pipe and the removable hand winch set up. I'm hatting having to stay at home and not be out at LJ.