Greetings From the South Sound

Hi all,
My name is Doug, I live in the south sound area.  Unfortunately, about the only thing I fish for in the south sound are squid.  Mostly, I follow the bite, and travel.  When we first moved here, and bought a boat, we spent a lot of hours beating the water for little in return.  Now we try to be more targeted.  In the summer we fish Sekiu, Neah, Lapush with enough success to have regular fish dinners.  We also do a lot of crabbing and shrimping.  I spent many years white water kayaking in the SE, and have paddled sea kayaks on occasion.  While fishing, I have observed kayakers out on the water, and talk to them when we cross paths/make sure they are OK.  It dawned on me that I could fish a lot of places on the coast by launching a kayak from the beach.  This would negate bar crossings, and long boat rides. 
I started looking at kayaks with the capability to launch through surf.  3 mph currents are common along the coast, so the kayak would also need to be fast.  Moo Moo Outdoors made a video on Stealth kayaks which introduced me to kayaks that would do what I wanted, without worry about being impaled with fishing rods, or losing my gear during a surf landing.  I purchased a Stealth Fusion this winter.  I also came home with a damaged 525 Pro Fisha that I will repair.  I added the usual outfitting/electronics, and purchased shorter rods that will fit in the hull.  Last weekend was my fifth trip to Neah this spring, and I have been coming home with nice catches every trip.  I try to be as safe as possible.  I take 2 handheld vhf radios with me, wetsuit, extra paddle, etc.  Recently, I picked up a Cobra Viper to try to improve my fitness with some weekday trips to local lakes.  I usually cover a lot of ground on any given trip. 
I joined this forum to look for other people to fish with.  I know that people like to be alone, but it is not a bad idea to have some backup if things go pear shaped.  I want to fish Rialto, Makah Bay, and down on the Oregon coast this year.  I am not looking for hand holding, I just want to find other kayakers to have some adventures with.
Cheers, Doug Walker

Welcome to the NWKA Doug.  Congrats, you are off to a roaring start!  Enjoy the madness......

Hey Doug,
I live up north on Whidbey but looking for some guys to join on the coast.
 I have a Revo 16  / Outback 13 and waiting for my Stealth.
Chuck

Welcome!

Hey Doug,

Glad to see Club Stealth has expanded to 2 members now.  I have a Fisha 555 I picked up last year.  Just got through converting the rudder from fixed rudder to a rear mounted one.  Still tweaking that, but I enjoy the yak a whole lot more than I did with the fixed rudder catching on everything.   I attached a few images of FF  wire install, the rudder, and yak.

I love your "cork" plug.  Way to repurpose!

It came with a screw in fitting, I  could not figure out how the frack you get the FF wire in there, this mod was much easier. I drilled a hole in the center about the diameter of the wires, uses a knife to cut a groove to the hole so I could insert the wire, narrowed the the cork slightly and  when I had it all installed, added some goop to it to seal it up.   I know it won't keep it 100% water proof but hey if the water is getting in through that point, I have bigger issues on hand.

I attached a few images of FF  wire install, the rudder, and yak.

Thanks for the inside view of your wiring method. Gave me one of those "Duh, why didn't I think of that" moments.

My FF power cable runs forward of the front hatch on the Outback where I connect my 9amp battery box. The power cable has always just flopped around and the battery box was unsecured in front of the hatch tub. Not ideal if I rolled the boat or was bucking a rough chop.

Your cable tie mounting pads are the perfect solution to moving the cable out of the way and also providing some connection pads for small bungees to hold down my battery box. Ironically I have a sack of those pads that were to be used as tether connection points for my GoPro cameras I never used and forgot about.

Hi all,
My name is Doug, I live in the south sound area.  Unfortunately, about the only thing I fish for in the south sound are squid.

Hey Doug good to have a squidder on the board. Hope you will pass on some pointers and tips from those outings. I have been making plans here in Alaska to try fishing for squid but am still in the development stages although I have all the tackle. Our squid are VERY unpredictable in timing as well as location so its been a futile effort so far. And no one has been able to dial them in with any success. But they show up in salmon bellies at times so we know they move into our areas now and then.

Am curious, do you use an underwater light or a surface light to attract the krill and squid if you fish at night?  What about lighted squid jigs or lights on your line?