Newbie Intro: AK Fishing Gal and Her new Hobie Outback

I am a born and raised Alaska girl who looooves to fish.  I grew up on Kodiak Island fishing with rod and reel, trolling, and seining for salmon, halibut, and every type of rock fish out there.  I began sea kayaking about 15 years ago.  My hubby (aka Michilutiiq in this forum) introduced me to sea kayak fishing a few years ago. Merging two of our favorite activities -- what a fantastic idea! No more do we have to choose between a fishing or kayaking trip. 

I've had a Necky sea kayak for years, which my hubby retrofitted with a rod holder so I could troll for silver salmon out of Seward.  He has a Hobie Outback with peddles freeing up his hands to bring in that big fish.  I liked his kayak so much I kept "borrowing" it, which I quickly learned he really did NOT appreciate. Want to see a grown man throw a tantrum -- borrow his kayak when silver salmon are jumping... My argument, "But Hon, your a man and men have way more upper body strength and I'm a woman and women have lower body strength so it just makes sense that you should use my kayak and I'll use your Hobie with the peddles" floated like a led ballon.  I was quickly back in my Necky pouting while he gleefully peddled and trolled his way to a HUGE silver....

To ensure such struggles don't occur in the future, we have ordered a Hobie Outback for me.   It should arrive any day now!  I'll use it for the first time at the Annual Homer Winter King Salmon Derby on March 22nd. I look forward to meeting several of the NWKA group members there!

I am a born and raised Alaska girl who looooves to fish.  I grew up on Kodiak Island fishing with rod and reel, trolling, and seining for salmon, halibut, and every type of rock fish out there.  I began sea kayaking about 15 years ago.  My hubby (aka Michilutiiq in this forum) introduced me to sea kayak fishing a few years ago. Merging two of our favorite activities -- what a fantastic idea! No more do we have to choose between a fishing or kayaking trip. 

I've had a Necky sea kayak for years, which my hubby retrofitted with a rod holder so I could troll for silver salmon out of Seward.  He has a Hobie Outback with peddles freeing up his hands to bring in that big fish.  I liked his kayak so much I kept "borrowing" it, which I quickly learned he really did NOT appreciate. Want to see a grown man throw a tantrum -- borrow his kayak when silver salmon are jumping... My argument, "But Hon, your a man and men have way more upper body strength and I'm a woman and women have lower body strength so it just makes sense that you should use my kayak and I'll use your Hobie with the peddles" floated like a led ballon.  I was quickly back in my Necky pouting while he gleefully peddled and trolled his way to a HUGE silver....

To ensure such struggles don't occur in the future, we have ordered a Hobie Outback for me.   It should arrive any day now!  I'll use it for the first time at the Annual Homer Winter King Salmon Derby on March 22nd. I look forward to meeting several of the NWKA group members there!

AWESOME!!!!!!!  I've got a spare outback if for some reason yours can't get it fitted out in time or something happens.  I highly recommend the turbo fins and sailing rudder upgrade.

I know its usually not good form to link to other fishing forums and such but this is event specific so I hope the moderators don't mind.

We have a few supporters out there and so I want to post the link.  It shouldn't have to be a reason, but because so many eyes will be watching, I want to emphasize that we have out act together, be courteous (we are invading the home turf of the powerboaters), and most importantly be safe and watch each other's backs. 

It's not going to be easy.  Last year 732 anglers, on 206 boats, boated only 162 fish.  99% were powerboats.  SO we have our work cut out for us.  I'll post a few gear tips later, but its sort of the minus 11 diopter guy without his glasses leading the blind.  I have yet to land a saltwater king between January and April.  It's a completely different ballgame than in the spring (May-June) and Fall (Sept through November).  So if you know veterans of this fishery, do what you can to grab some intel.  The intel must be March specific. 

Here's the link to the forum site where the official thread for the tournament is.  Let' do this and catch a few fish! 


http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/137799-Homer-Winter-King-Salmon-Tournament

oops...I thought this was one the winter king thread.  Will repost there as well.

Sweet, Thanks! See you in Homer.

Welcome Uuqutiiq.  Do your and your hubbies names means something?  What?

-Allen

Welcome Uuqutiiq.  Do your and your hubbies names means something?  What?

-Allen

Thanks Allen. Uuqutiiq is Alutiiq and means Bumble Bee. My husband is from Michigan. Merger of a Michigan Guy and Alutiiq Girl = Michilutiiq.

Welcome! Happy to see another husband-and-wife kayaking duo here. And another convert to pedal powered yaks. Looking forward to meeting you both in person. (Or did we meet in Seward last season chasing silvers?) With any luck we'll get acquainted (or reacquainted) in Homer for the Derby.

Welcome! Sounds like we will be meeting at the King Derby!

One point to make here..."tantrum" is kind of a strong word. Perhaps "emphatic" is a better descriptor. However, now we have a pair of Outbacks...so I guess I made my point.

Rudy--I did order the turbo fins and sailing rudder--that rudder was a big improvement on mine.

Looking forward to meeting all you folks down there. 

Awesome. Welcome aboard! I need to get my wife out to get more fishing in. The first time I did, she hooked into a 20-lb Chinook (on our Honeymoon - yeah, I'm THAT good) and started cursing at it like Popeye without his spinach. Needless to say, that night in the hotel was EPIC.

Fred "True" Trujillo

Welcome - We will look forward to some posts from you both.
My wife and I fish together - kayaks - and spend three months each year up your way. This year Wrangell, POW and Ketchikan.
Look forward to meeting up some day.

Thank you all for the warm welcome! My new Hobie Outback arrived today and my Hubby is going to order us down riggers so we can troll for Kings and Silvers this summer. I've SO excited and now have the fishing bug bad. :)

have you decided how you'll mount your downriggers?  I've been looking at quite a few posts on here, great suggestions.

Congrats on the new boat

Trying to decide. DR crank has to be within easy reach. Something to be said for putting them central...to eliminate tippy-ness. Oh my....learning as we go. :-)

Trying to decide. DR crank has to be within easy reach. Something to be said for putting them central...to eliminate tippy-ness. Oh my....learning as we go. :-)

LOTS of great information on downrigger mounting here.  After using it, I decided it would be a permanent addition to my kayak.  But after seeing all the other great designs, I would likely go to some of the newer less permanent mounts shown here.

The point being though, is a non-permanent mount at least initially is the way to go.  I struggled with it for a bit before I decided to take this route as a temporary method.  Worked great for using my downrigger as line hauler for shrimp pots 500 ft down!  OOOOooooo...shrimping.  That's only a month away.  I may have to try it again this year. 

But at any rate here's the link on how I did temporary mount.  Much less elegant than many of the other alternatives but it worked!
http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=6020.30

Sorry for the thread hijack.

We will see ya both in Homer!!!!!!