paddle outta santa bawbra hawba

[jrodda]

This is a report that's a bit of a read, mostly because I'm putting together a lot of information I've gathered, and finally trialing an "offshore" pursuit on my kayak. I've avoided open water on a kayak because I can't seem to handle more than a 1ft swell without getting woozy, I figure from being so low to the water. But I finally pushed myself, and found the right time and place to try.

I wanted to test a couple things.
A: my sea legs
B: my fish finder
C: my ability to successfully drift fish

I've had a fish finder for about 6 months and I've only used it on rental boats in lakes, particularly for stripers. Recently I found a set of rock piles on google earth 2 miles out of SB harbor to survey as a Plan A, and if I got woozy, I could stay in the harbor for halibut. 0.5 foot swell, 5mph wind, and a decent tide swing had me feeling like it would be a good a time as any to trial this. A little mist to the morning but manageable.

So I got to the harbor at 7:30, launched by 8. Almost no swell but a bumpy little wind chop  the first mile. Then I got out of the protection of the point and a 1-2ft swell came from the west, which made for some confused swell at times.

Arrived at my spot at 9. Well, I fell about 100 yards short of my waypoint, but for good reason. I was metering a few small schools on the way over along the bottom that seemed worth dropping for, but I told myself I could go back later if I wanted, and Plan A should be at least as good.

And that was the mantra, until I came up on a school that was 50 feet off the bottom and all the way down, and thick. Immediately decided this would be Baby's 1st Waypoint on-the-water. Judging by my experience on cattle boats, blue rockfish and whitefish tend to stack high like that, or so the captain would say. As soon as I hit the bottom with the dropper loop, I was bit. Sure enough, pull it up and it's a whitefish. Then another. Reset the drift, another and another. 10-16" or so. 1 drift was enough for 2 drops, sometimes 3. I figure I was drifting 3/4mph west, which was counter-intuitive, considering the wind came from the south and the primary swell was coming from the west. Still figuring this all out.

Anywho, I must have caught a dozen whitefish in an hour before I felt my wooziness coming on. Having my head down constantly unhooking fish (good problem to have) and checking the fish finder/GPS got to me. I kept 2 fish for lunch and started back. 1/2 mile outside the harbor there was another decent school on the bottom in 50ft, so I dropped down and nabbed a nice mackerel that will be shark bait. Lost track of that school so headed the rest of the way in. Off the water by 11:30.

Being that my goal was to drift fish and use the fish finder to catch fish, and I did that, I'm content with the day. I want to improve my sea legs, so doing this more often will be key for that. A bigger boat would also help, maybe something I could actually stand in and have my head a little higher relative to the swells. A motor would be nice too, 5 miles later and the lactic acid is burning me up 6 hours after! Still, the kayak is, by a landslide, the most affordable way to become more proficient in captaining fish boats, me thinks.

I could do another session or two of drifting SB piles for rockfish and new misc species, but eventually I hope to transfer the skills over to other species and places.

[sasquatch]

Try some Bonine for the seasick. Looking down while rigging will get me once in awhile. Looking at the big picture of your surroundings and glancing at the finder quickly now and then rather than staring at it as you paddle should help.

Unhooking fish you might just have to power through.

Sounds like a successful trip.

[BenCantrell]

I like it, that's my style of day! Setting a few goals in terms of skills to work on and then checking them off. And whitefish at 16 inches is pretty big!

[jrodda]

I've done Dramamine most of my life which takes the edge off. I may try bonine again.I had a bad time on a Hatteras with bonine, 4ft swell with a 6 second period, and all day trolling/diesel fumes in back. All I did this time was 2 ginger pills the night before and forgot to take anything in the morning, so considering that i didn't do so bad today. I've been thinking of investing in one of those magical electric wrist bands, maybe if i find more time to go out I'll justify  it.

16" was a nice surprise when 70% were dinks, really wish I'd tried rigging my 15# with the dropper instead of the 40#, would have been a real blast, although they all fought well on the 40.

[1morecast]

That sounds like a very productive day on the water. I never get on a boat without a hit of Dramamine two hours before departure. Keep at it!

[Latimeria]

Nice on the dozen whitefish! One of my favorite eating tacos!

Bummer about the sea sickness. I've never had it, but I've worked on boats where everyone was sick. You'll get it dialed in for sure! Already catching limits and checking off the boxes!