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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: The Best of Times  (Read 2313 times)

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Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
There aren't enough Really Good Days in life, but yesterday was one of them.  The air was crisp, almost chilly, when we met in the parking lot above one of our favorite beaches, and the day was forecast to be cloudy with a wind building from the south.  While that guy who, for some reason I'll never understand, seems to enjoy having me along when we go fishing, looked for a good way down to the beach, I was thinking I might want to go home and either put on heavier base layers or just stay home, sipping hot cocoa - fortified with a bit of rum - all day.

Thankfully, the forecast was wrong, and my companion found a good path to the water.  It's not easy to reach the ocean, across what gets to feeling like miles of the finest grit of sand to be found anywhere on the planet, and while this new trail only made it a bit easier, it had two clear advantages over any other trail: it was mostly grassy in the top section, and there weren't any logs to clamber-over in the lower section.

At the water's edge, I don't know what I was thinking about when I should have been thinking about getting in my kayak, but I put on one of my renowned comedy acts by chasing after a kayak that stubbornly refused to sit still long enough for me to leap onboard.  I think that's the second or third time in a row I've had trouble launching in the towering 9-inch surf common to that beach, and also the second or third time someone has turned around to ask, "What seems to be the problem, Tinker?"  Between sarcastic peals of laughter, you understand.

The water was, in a word, fabulous, yesterday.  Even up close, it was the most pleasant shade of aquamarine I've ever seen.  And clear?  Don't talk to me about clear water until you've been bobbing around in a kayak and can see the bottom, 30 feet below.  We were passing over a reef and someone started their customary talk about being able to see little fishes swimming around the reef.

"Look at all the tiny fish down there!  No wonder we aren't seeing big fish, they're all so stuffed they're in a post-Thanksgiving feast stupor!" and I was silently muttering my typical response of, "You're full of crap, dude.  We're in 30 feet of water..." until I looked down, and sure enough, there were clouds of tiny fish flitting-about on the reef, which my handy-dandy fish-finder told me was exactly 28.6 feet beneath me.  I was amazed earlier this year when I could see the bottom details 16 feet down into Sunset Bay, but seeing down 30 feet is a whole other universe of amazing.

Little sea urchins were waving hello and hermit crabs were scuttling about.  I couldn't quite make out what sort of fish I was seeing, other than the tiny kind.  When we'd drop a fly to the bottom, we could see sizeable rockfish come up to have a look but not bite.  Amazing.  And frustrating.

My companion broke the ice first with a rockfish that failed the Two Taco Test and went back.  Then he nabbed one that was surely not a monster, but big enough.  Not long after that, his rod tip bent over and started to jiggle, so I shouted over an encouraging remark that it looked like this fish might have some size to it...

Were he competing in AOTY this year, he'd have swept the board in the Tiny Fish category when he hauled in a rockfish that, stretched nearly to breaking, might have measured two inches.  "I didn't know they made rockfish that small!"  Neither did I until he showed it to me.

After my thoughtful shout, I have no doubt the deckhands on the fishing boat that passed us on it's way back to port could hear us laughing about that fish.

Fishing was tough work - we managed to boat a few keepers, but the fishing wasn't what made the day.  The air remained calm, the seas flat, the water clean - and I've already carried on about how clear it was.  Clear.  Clean.  The sun was able to keep us toasty warm even through the only thing that was a bit less than ideal about the entire day: the smoke wafting up from California.

It wasn't thick smoke but you could smell it every so often.  The issue I had was with an occasional whiff of what was surely barbecued pork.  Pork roasting on an open fire smells yummy, and I don't normally object to it, but I've seen too many movies and documentaries about them to not know cannibals always say people taste like pork, and no matter how hard I try, every time I smell a barbecue, I can't shake that thought.  It was an unsettling aroma yesterday, to say the least.

I had a city meeting to attend in the late afternoon and we headed back to the beach too soon on such a remarkable (albeit unsettlingly smelly) day, and that's when the day got truly remarkable.

My companion was ahead of me while I fiddled with stowing my fly rod and I looked up just in time to see him leap out, not landing with his normally admirable grace and style, but going down on hands an knees with what appeared to be a painful expression on his face as he wallowed-about in knee deep water in the worst possible location - between his kayak and the beach.

My companion has knee issues, and I kept asking, "Are you okay?"  "Are you hurt?"  "Are you injured?" as I passed, worried that I might need to leap out to rescue him.  That's the only reason that I wasn't paying attention to the beach that was rushing towards me until I buried the bow of my kayak in it, which allowed the monstrous 10-inch surf to turn me sideways and the next wave swamped me, filling my kayak with salty water and bushels of sand (the finest sand to be found anywhere on earth).

It's going to take a month to get all of that sand out of my kayak.

What I had mistaken for a look of agony was, in reality, that embarrassed look mariners put on after they've run aground and forfeited every bit of dignity they own.  I'm sure I had the same or similar look on my face while I, too, wallowed around in ankle-deep water trying to corral a wild, bucking kayak.

Folks, you can't both stand up and laugh as hard as we were laughing at ourselves, and we practically had to crawl out of the sea.  I am, and always will be, grateful that it's not a popular beach - and it's hard to get to - because there are never any witnesses to my amazing, uncoordinated displays and my lack of common sense.  No need to lecture me, I know that, had my companion been injured, the proper thing for me to do would have been to go ahead and land my kayak and after dragging it above the waterline, turn and shout for help.

The tale doesn't end there, however.  I dashed home in time to rinse the sand out of my hair and other places, then ran out for my meeting - with my kayak still strapped on top of the truck, which then allowed the town's counselor to rush in, waving an iPhone in my face asking me if the picture was of me.  It seems someone standing on the dock had taken a picture earlier in the day of a lone, heroic kayaker silhouetted in the spotlight of a single bright beam of sunlight, and it was already on line in some social media site.

The kayaker in the picture is a mere speck - you have to squint your eyes and look at it just so to even see the speck, it's so tiny - but since there wasn't another kayaker on the ocean within at least hundred miles, it had to be either me or my companion.  Of course I did the honorable thing as said, "Yep, that'd be me."

I don't get many chances to amaze folks, so I try to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way.

There just aren't enough really fine days in any year to be on the ocean in a kayak.  Yesterday was one of them.  Heck, there aren't enough days like yesterday in a lifetime to satisfy me, but you know, the thought that most disturbs me, now, as I write this, is why my companion didn't answer when I asked if he was injured because my concern that I might need to leap out to rescue him was why I wasn't paying attention to the beach, and why I, too, ended up dripping wet and coated in sand.

He's the kind of guy who'll give you the shirt off his back to use to wipe dog poo off your kayak, you know.  I can only assume he was just sharing another unique experience with me.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2018, 08:34:29 PM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


hdpwipmonkey

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Cornelius, OR
  • Date Registered: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 1481
Another great story Tinker.  Glad everyone ended up ok in the end. 
So where's the picture if the loan kayaker in the sun?  I wanna see it.
Ray
2020 Hobie Outback "Chum Chicken"
2018 Native Titan 10.5 "Battle Barge"
Wilderness Tarpon 100






www.facebook.com/HOWNOC


2016 Junk Jig Challenge
Category - IT’S NOT A DRINKING PROBLEM IF YOU’RE BEING CREATIVE
1st place - The Drunken Bastard


AndyFishes

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Location: Port Townsend
  • Date Registered: Oct 2016
  • Posts: 109
That was great to read for those of us who don't get to make it out as much as we'd like.

Nice days should never be wasted!


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
That was great to read for those of us who don't get to make it out as much as we'd like.

Nice days should never be wasted!

Nice days should never go to waste!  I consider myself lucky that surf12foot's weekends are on weekdays because as sure as there are green apples, the weather will change before the real weekend.  Plus, there are fewer folks around the docks to witness my escapades on a Tuesday.

Another great story Tinker.  Glad everyone ended up ok in the end. 
So where's the picture if the loan kayaker in the sun?  I wanna see it.

I don't know where that picture's posted.  I was too busy sucking up the glory I (might have) earned and basking everyone's admiration to ask, but I'll find out.  Until then, this is that other guy:
« Last Edit: November 14, 2018, 08:37:56 PM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


hdpwipmonkey

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Cornelius, OR
  • Date Registered: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 1481
Wow that ocean looks nice.  What a great day to be on the water.
Ray
2020 Hobie Outback "Chum Chicken"
2018 Native Titan 10.5 "Battle Barge"
Wilderness Tarpon 100






www.facebook.com/HOWNOC


2016 Junk Jig Challenge
Category - IT’S NOT A DRINKING PROBLEM IF YOU’RE BEING CREATIVE
1st place - The Drunken Bastard


C_Run

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Independence, OR
  • Date Registered: Apr 2011
  • Posts: 1214
Order up some conditions like that for me, please. I've been thinking I'm done for the year but...


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Wow that ocean looks nice.  What a great day to be on the water.

Don't be silly, every day we can be on the water is a great day to be on the water, but yes, the conditions were exceptional the other day - and we both still managed to dump our kayaks on the landing, for pity's sake.

I'm told this is where you can find the photo that made me famous (among eight people).  I don't Facebook so I can't see it to be sure it's the same one, but I have it from frequently reliable sources that this is it:

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2345395782159843&id=100000683312698&set=a.396769470355827&source=48

And for those who, like me, don't use semi-clever cellular radio phones to troll the internet, this should be it:

http://facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2345395782159843&id=100000683312698&set=a.396769470355827&source=48


Order up some conditions like that for me, please. I've been thinking I'm done for the year but...

I'll ask surf12foot.  He seems to have better connections with the Weather Gnomes than me because conditions are always excellent when he decides to make a visit.  It might be good weather through Thanksgiving, so...
« Last Edit: November 15, 2018, 04:20:10 PM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


bb2fish

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Oregon
  • Date Registered: Feb 2013
  • Posts: 1499
Neither of those Facebook links work for me, Kevin....and I like you.  ;D


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Uh..  I'm sorry?  I sent the link to my kids, who do use Facebook, so I'll ask them is they can see anything.  I just get a "You MUST Log In" gateway, which I cannot do.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...