First Fish Follies

A couple of weeks ago, I caught a small Jack, fishing from my kayak.  It wasn't much of a fish, but it was quite a good teacher.

I didn't expect to catch a fish.  That's lesson one: Semper paratus! I had just positioned my kayaking partner, The Boss, in the best spot and, out of boredom, I randomly tossed a small spinner to a spot I would never have thought a fish might like.  One fancied both that spot and my spinner.  Surprise!

Lesson two was: Even a four or five pound fish can pull your kayak around if it builds up a full head of steam and has some determination.  It was lucky that this was one determined little sucker because I'd drifted perilously close to a tangle of logs.

Lesson two sub B was: Make sure your fishing partner knows you want them to come over and lend a hand.  It's better that they know before hand then to see them happily paddling on upstream.  As an added benefit, you'll spend a whole lot less time muttering unkind things about their parents.

Lesson three was - as I may have mentioned elsewhere: Don't leave needed things in the truck.  You're going to need a net or fish grips.  You'll wish you had your pliers or hemostats.  There are things you'll need.  It's best to bring them with you.

Lesson four was: Lipping a salmon is not the most fun thing I've ever done in a kayak.  Even little salmon have teeth and I seem to have a tender spot towards the base of my thumb.  See Lesson three, above.

Lesson five was: Remember your paddle floats and is on a leash.  I didn't need to try to balance it, me, and a fishing rod when trying to unhook a lipped fish with dainty fingertips.  Toss the paddle in the water!

Lesson six was: Freespool!  Get some slack in the line!  I don't use barbed hooks, but, call me anal retentive/obsessive-compulsive - everyone else does - I carefully bend down only the very end of the pointy tip of the barb to make a semi-barbless hook. They don't come out quite as easily as a true barbless hook, but they come out a whole lot easier - and lots less traumatic for the fish - than untouched, barbed hooks.  Nonetheless, it's tricky to remove a hook when your rod is bent in a beautiful parabola and you're using your fingertips to pull the hook out.  The fish and I went four or five rounds of "Almost out... Ow!" before I finally stopped poking myself and freed the scaly little beast.  Slack line is sometimes A Good Thing.

Lesson seven was: A Jack is a freebie.  It was a wild fish.  I have issues with me keeping a wild-born fish.  Me keeping them, mind you.  Not you.  Just me.  So, I released it.  I have since been taunted, without mercy I should add, for having put a perfectly good Jack back in the water just because it had all of it's fins.

It was a small fish but I learned a lot.

Thanks for sharing the lessons learned.  Good stuff for a newb kayaker like me. 

Sorry, but I am calling BS on # 7. Guys, I know this character and have fished surf perch with him a couple of times. Tinker does not shed a tear for the wild surf perch as he goes about happily filling his bucket with them. Yo, you shoulda kept the jack!

I learned a lesson this year, my fourth year kayak fishing. Don't drive 70 miles to fish without bringing the paddles. It really puts a damper on the day's activities.

I learned a lesson this year, my fourth year kayak fishing. Don't drive 70 miles to fish without bringing the paddles. It really puts a damper on the day's activities.

I think I might have peed my pants.  Just a little.   

Surf perch aren't fish, they're lunch.