New member, fishing report, question...

New member from the Puyallup area.  I've been kayak fishing (and duck hunting) for a few years, and i've been reading this forum as a guest for a while.  My fishing kayak is a 12ft Old Town Vapor Angler, and I use a Lowrance 4x Elite.  Thought i'd finally join..  So, hi. 

Fishing report:  I went out to Point Defiance/Thea Foss this morning, got onto the water about 0900.  I was trolling a 60ft deep six, flasher, and brined cut plug herring from Thea park out to the mouth of the Puyallup, then north to Reconcilliation Park.  It didn't get too busy until noon or so, then the pleasure boats showed up.  They sure are a considerate group, aren't they?  Nothing is quite as friendly as flying past a small craft like mine in a 60 ft yacht at 30 mph, 20 feet away from me.  They all waved, but I was too busy bailing out water to wave more than one digit back.  Anyway.. 

I started off running the Deep Six with about 120 feet of line behind me, trying to get as low as possible, at 1-2 mph, in 170 feet of water.  I wasn't out but 15 minutes before I hooked into what I assume was a nice king.  It was my first salmon/large fish out of my kayak, and my first thought was that I snagged bottom.  What a hit..!  As soon as I started reeling in, it ran for the surface, but I was able to catch up when it got to the top.  It danced for a bit, then bolted.  I was able to get it back to within 10 feet of the kayak, but it slipped off when I grabbed my net.  It took about 2 hours before my next bite, and it was the same thing.  Ran for the surface, got it back to the boat, then it slipped off when I grabbed the net.  About an hour later, I noticed my reel twitching, so I reeled in.  I had a 10ish inch trout on.  I swear the trout wasn't that much bigger than the herring, I have no idea why that thing went after my bait.  Chucked him off, then trolled for about another hour before I had another decent bite.  It wasn't nearly the same fight as the first 2, but it was a lot more than something like a dogfish would put up.  Lost that one fairly quickly, and then pretty much called it a day.  Google maps tells me I paddled about 7.5 miles, half of which was against the current.  I'm going to pay for this tomorrow..  Lol..

Question:  This is my first serious attempt with the deep six, and I couldn't seem to get the little ball bearing to detach when I got a fish on.  Is there a trick to this?  My rod is a Shimano Convergence river stick, so it's a fairly stiff rod (but definitely not a dedicated saltwater trolling rig).  Is there just too much give on my pole to get enough leverage to detach?  Also, can anyone offer any thoughts as to why I was losing the fish right at the boat?  I was keeping constant tension on them, but they all slipped the hook.  Is trolling this setup just not a good idea in a kayak?  And before anyone says it, I know a 10 ft rod is really too long for a kayak.  But it's what I have right now..

Sorry for the long post, looking forward to reading the replies.

That's a great day of sound fishing there!! Not typical to hook 3 nice kings in a day this far south.

The ball tension can be adjusted by tightening/loosening the screw on the metal clip you snap into.

It's common to lose salmon when trolling. They often create slack line because of all the terminal gear hanging out there plus the barbless hooks. A relatively long rod (9' or so) that is made for downrigger trolling really helps a lot. You can keep them deeply bent maintaining a good bit of pressure on the fish. My goto rod is a 9' MH Shimano Talora.

Hope this helps.

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Huh...  A little screw?  Never noticed, thanks for the heads up.  I do a good bit of river fishing, so I was fairly stoked to have 3 on in a day.  I'm almost tempted to go back out tomorrow early and try again.  Have you ever tried using the deep six?  I'm curious if I would do better just using something like a 6-8oz weight instead..

I run divers in the ocean, but typically a downrigger in the sound. If you were getting hit like that on the diver, don't change! Just adjust the release tension a bit

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  Devil Doc,

 That's a great day fishing ------ but for the losing fish at the boat.
 
 Get rid of the net and just lip 'em like you would a bass. End of problem.

Lip a pissed off king?  Sounds exciting..  lol.  I've looked at downriggers before, but I'm just not talented enough to put one in a sit inside kayak.  I've tossed around ideas for mounting one in the storage area in back, but any way I come up with still involves trying to turn 180 to work it.  Seems less than ideal..  Do ya'all have any tips for getting the fish in the kayak with all that gear on the end of the pole? 

  Hey Doc,
  I was just messing with you about lipping a salmon. Mainly because I fished out of a SIT for many years and caught quite a few salmon from them. And I have lipped a few ......usually getting my hand pretty well shredded by their teeth.
  As  far as getting the fish secured in a sit inside kayak------- I'd usually just stuff them in the hull between my legs. I'd rip their gills 1st which usually meant there would be some cleaning out the hull later........but that's okay.
  Regarding a downrigger-------- IMHO forget about it. In most situations it is not needed and is more of a pain in the ass than a help. If you keep it simple I think you will find your time on the water a lot more enjoyable. Especially in a sit-inside kayak. At least that has been my experience. A 4 to 6 ounce weight and your bait of choice with a 3 foot leader will catch any fish in the ocean. And make it easy to land a fish in your kayak. River fishing is a different ball game but can still be simplified. Again......in my humble opinion. most folks take way more gear with them than they will ever use in a weeks worth of fishing. Maybe they are trying to be able to cover all situations they may encounter. Usually it is too much stuff on board though. Keeping it simple works. I think that the more crap you have on your line the more chance you have of losing a fish.
  Good luck with your future fishing adventures. Try keeping it simple. You might be pleasantly surprised.

                                           Mark