Homer report 3/28-3/29

Well I finally got my boat out for the maiden voyage. Went down to homer with the gf to take care of some stuff and brought the kayak. Camped on the spit Friday and Saturday night. It was rainy and the wind blew 20 knots until calming down a bit on Saturday evening. I did a shakedown attempt first and battled 3 foot choppy wind waves and strong winds. My next attempt was sat eveni g and I trolled for about 2 hours in fair conditions. I trolled coho killers with a flasher and a 10 oz wt. the whole time. On my first trip out I thought I had a strike, lifted the rod with excitement, and watched as my Scotty rod holder with the extension arm slips into the drink and sinks. In addition, the previous night the gf crawled in the cab of my truck to warm up and set off my can of bear dope. Half asleep she decided to whipe it down with my fleece. I found this out while experiencing a strong burning sensation while out on the water.
After scouring the town of homer I couldn't find another ext arm so I made due for attempt #2. This attempt I paddled out towards the green buoy and trolled to lands end and back. I did this 2x before it was getting dark. No action, just a couple cod, which I kept as a constellation. The tip of the spit was murky and I didn't fish there long.

What I learned: tie down your rod holder. It was difficult to determine where to fish w/o a depth finder. It was also difficult to know how deep I was trolling. What's the best method of guesstimating? Camping on the spit was nice bc it was free, I can launch from the site and paddle back easily. 20 kt winds from the NE were too much for me to deal with.
All in all about what I expected. I ironed out a few kinks this trip and am eager to get back. I'm hoping to i
Get a ff this week and have it for the next trip.

Great report!  Thanks for posting it!!!!

Well the simplest way to tell depth is when I troll my rod tip tends to be 1 ft or 2 ft above the water.  I glance back and see how many feet behind me it enters the water.  If my rod tip is 2 ft up and it enters the water 6 ft back, I figure its 1ft of depth for every 3ft of line.  It's not perfect because the line changes angle slightly as it enters the water but close enough. 

Thats one of the main reasons I stick to heavy sinkers in the 10 to 16oz range.  I use lighter only when I am fishing shallow since I don't want my gear running directly under that kayak.

When you have a FF, as I get ready to bait check if I am shallow is I will just run my gear until it hits the bottom and take note.  Sometimes if the gear is not running as deep as it should, there is junk on the hooks or its tangled up.   I always let line out 10ft at a time roughly to gauge how much line I have out.  Currents will significantly change depth....duh but its true.  If you have 100ft of line out, you'll be down 40ft going one way and 20ft the other way. 

But for this fishery, get a FF.  They concentrate right at the breaks and in the "corners".  You won't really need it in the Whiskey Gulch fishery.  A chart is good enough there though its always fun to mark fish.

When you see murky water consider two things.  One they will concentrate on the edge between murky and clear waters.  Also know that the clear water often is lying on top and the "line" at the top of the water may not be the "line" at the depth the fish are.  I criss cross the edge trying to stay in the clearer water 75% of the time. 

As far as losing a rod holder...Ive done it twice.  I am not sure why that is.  One scottie and one folbe.  I think its counter intuitive but I have heard you need to make sure the hole you cut is large enough to not impede the mechanism.  I know I sit there and try and cut the smallest hole. 

Pretty soon here its going to be time to switch over to Whiskey Gulch.  I can't fish this coming weekend due to the Sportsman show but the next time I go, I plan to go out of Whiskey Gulch or Deep Creek.  Still a tad early but maybe they are early this year and I really don't have a whole lot of experience to base that off of.

Great report! Thanks again!!!!

I use a Scotty rod holder in a deck mount for trolling, and was having a similar problem.  I'd be trolling, I'd get a strike, I'd grab my rod out of its rod holder, and the rod holder would pull halfway up out of the deck mount.  I never pulled my rod holder all the way out of the mount and lost it, because when it's in trolling position it's rotated 90 degrees from the position it needs to be in to stick it in the base.  But it definitely made me nervous.  So I replaced the normal Scotty deck mount with a locking deck mount, like the one shown below.  It works great.  You just stick your rod holder in the deck mount in the position in which you want it, and the rod holder will be locked in place until you push the button to remove it.



If your rod holder is (or was) mounted in a flush mount, don't replace the flush mount with a locking flush mount, because they aren't waterproof.  They work fine if they're mounted on the gunwale of a motor boat, but if you use them in a kayak, water can enter the kayak through the locking mechanism and through the bottom of the socket, which isn't sealed like it is in the non-locking flush mounts.  Which is not a good thing.  See http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index.php?PHPSESSID=2bc2gh3l1en1r3qo806ucrrpf5&topic=10065.0 .

As far as how to tell the depth at which you're trolling, after you get a fish finder, consider adding a downrigger to your kayak.  A downrigger will allow you to precisely control the depth of your lure with respect to suspended fish or the bottom.  When you get used to using a downrigger, long-line trolling or lead-line trolling may start feeling unacceptably random and uncertain.

I don't have any suggestions about how to reduce the problems you experienced with your girl friend.

Ferns, thanks for the report. I will be on the water later in April but will be hitting it hard in May forward, weather permitting of course. I have to get my first Kayak King and trick a shark to taking me for a ride.

Yes a ff would be nice but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all this gear. When I first kayak fished on the salt 10 years ago I borrowed a 8 foot surf kayak and used a shovel as a paddle with a piece of squid for bait. Now the hobie, mirage drive, rod holders , trolling gear, dry suit, ff, harpoon...well I guess 1 fish can make it all worth it, and heck look what power boaters spend. I'm planning on studying some charts or getting a ff. how are you guys charging the battery on multi day trips without electrical hookups?

Rudy, I am hoping for a next weekend trip as well.., weather and life permitting. I'd like to camp on the beach at wg or nearby and fish sat and sun.

By all means keep it simple!  But yah, subduing a 100lbs halibut takes the right equipment. Landing multiple kings consistently takes a certain amount.

I take my FF seriously enough that I lug around a 20AH lead sealed battery.  Good for three days or so depending on of course length of day.

Like I said, you won't need a FF for Whiskey Gulch. Or Silvers in Seward.  But for places where fish orient to non visible structure, it will double your odds.

I might have a FF for you to try. 

Ok. I have an extra. Do you by chance have a smartphone with Navionics on it? Here's my cheap black and white one. Does 80% of what you'll need.

I second the motion about the locking rod holder. I was too lazy to change mine out for the derby although one arrived in the mail with my new rod holder. That laziness nearly cost me my new rod holder and if anyone saw me fighting the salmon I hooked then they would have initially seen me reeling with the rod holder still attached to the rod because it unseated.

I planned on hitting Whittier either Sat or Sun for rockfish but am now tempted to pop my WG cherry. Heck, maybe I'll get a nice fish and finally have a NWKA worthy pic to post  . If you're serious about going this weekend then let me know Fern.

As for the battery situation, I run two 12v Cabela's batteries in series and that charge lasts quite some time. I've done one overnight trip and they still had about 50% charge left in them (I have gauge mounted on them). Just to be safe I have an extra set that is also fully charged and ready to go. I know that's a little extreme or pricey but it's what I started with and now I'm just too cheap to upgrade to a battery like Rudy has.

Ok. I have an extra. Do you by chance have a smartphone with Navionics on it? Here's my cheap black and white one. Does 80% of what you'll need.

Rudy,
That looks sweet! I don't have the app but I could buy it. Does the app and the ff go hand in hand?

Ok. I have an extra. Do you by chance have a smartphone with Navionics on it? Here's my cheap black and white one. Does 80% of what you'll need.

Rudy,
That looks sweet! I don't have the app but I could buy it. Does the app and the ff go hand in hand?

Not this FF.  But I have a brand new Vexilar sonarphone that when paired with the navionics software, it sends data to update the charts for navionics.  I got it sent free and I am supposed to test it and upload data.  I was thinking I have my kayak set up for a FF already.  I was going to put it on my spare kayak but I want to make sure they get more data.  The Navionics app is worth buying anyways.  Upgrade to the sonar charts.  They have good tide and current info as well.