Alone on the salt

Well beyond the last glimpses of urban sprawl, beneath a towering headland, afloat on a grey sea, echoing grey sky I sat fishing.  Ordinarily, this would be nirvana. 

Kykfshr must not have gotten my 5:00AM message.  Can't blame him.  Heck, nothing wrong with fishing alone... ordinarily. 

Since I'd launched, I'd covered a couple of zigzaggy miles.  This was my 1st trip since installing a fish finder and I was having a great time marking all the structure I'd only found by brail on past trips. 

Drifting across an underwater point I knew well by feel and by fish, my stomach tightened.  “Relax” I told myself, “It doesn’t get any better than this”.  But the unheard voice spoke louder.  I could feel my skin shrink and bristle.

You know that voice.  The one that tells you to stop as you step from a curb.  The one that makes you pause before vaulting thru a fresh green light.  The one that tells you you’re in the wrong neighborhood or the wrong bar or the wrong spot.

“Eh, there are fish around the boulders next to shore too.”  And without hesitation I move in amongst them.  But that feeling, like being watched, doesn’t fade.

“OK dude, you’re being stupid”  I do my best to ignore it.  I face shore and finess a black scampi thru the cobblestone and battered tectonic holdouts.   As the reverberation of lead on rock reaches my hand yet again, there is an explosion of air and sound and vaporized water not a rod’s length away.  Panic rocks my bones and I swing around to face my terrible fate.

 To my great relief, I find that my stalker is merely a curious baby whale.  Maybe 15 feet from stem to stern.  He’s paused, half emerged, eyeballing me like a toddler examining a colorful bug.  I laugh nervously and offer a greeting.  He draws a deep breath I take for a return and, with his curiosity satisfied, moves on.

Nice writing ...

In Alaska last year we say a pod of humpbacks feeding.  I pulled to maybe 100 yards to try to get a picture.  After about 30 seconds I had one come not 10 feet from my kayak.  In that situation you feel VERY VERY small.

-Allen

awesome!
 I have wondered if I have the testicle fortitude to remain calm in that same situation!
We have the Grey's passing up and down the Coast most of the year it seems, just a matter of time before it happens.
I have been on shore and ahd a similar experiance at Whaleshead Cove, adult was about 50 yds away, we both got an eyeful of each other.
 Easy to forget that  we are never "alone" on the Ocean.
I think it was the NCKA site I read some one post that when Yakin' the Ocean, "we may be on top of the water.....but not the food chain".
 Great read
Spot, I wish you would fish with a buddy out there. As an ex avid backpacker-mtn biker-high country trout fisherman and now Yakker, I know that the survival rate for single persons in these environments is greatly reduced than with just one more friend.
Not at all on yer case, just wanna keep hearin' about yer experiances. We are all grown ups and make our own decisions.
Be Safe my Friends.   

Sounds like your "spidey-sense" is working as well as your Fish Finder.

I lack the confidence still to go out on the salt, let alone go it alone.  Getting closer to wanting to try it though.

Hope you are enjoying these adventures as much as we all enjoy your writting of them.

-= Scott

Fun read Spot. Yeah fishing alone on the salt is something that takes some good judgement. I'll usually only do it when it's a.) Calm as all get out b.) I've got all the safety gear I'd ever need.

• Wetsuit
• VHF
• Cellphone in waterproof case
• Rescue light
• Flares
• PFD
• Dive knife
• Bilge Pump
• Compass
• Rescue Whistle
• Signal Mirror
• GPS of some sort
• Extra batteries for the GPS
• Spare paddle

Call me paranoid but I didn't make this list for no reason..

Z

Aaahhhh-  a Spiritual Moment on Mother Salt.

Very nice writing Spot, and thanks for sharing.

Such moments are certainly one of the major reasons for doing what we do, and then there's the fishing!

Rob.

Hey Spot,
Great story and told well.

I get those shivers on the Columbia right in front of the house.  Do you think whales get 30 miles up from the mouth?
Peace
Mike

Thanks guys. 

You'd better watch it with the praise though or I'll be subjecting y'all to more bad prose.

As for fishing alone on the salt, sometimes you just don't have a choice.     I've spent decades trying to avoid other people out surfing and fishing small rivers and this habit has carried over to my kayak fishing.  You'll be happy to know though that my fathers day present has already been revealed to be a waterproof marine VHF radio. 

A limit of Lings and 2 x 20" Blacks were the payoff.

great story!! I have a problem with sea lions scarring me. I will be out there on a calm, flat, quite day when all of a sudden a sea lion pops up next to me and just stares at you.  I have had  a close call with a blue whale to. I headed for shore as fast as I could to get out of his way. He was feeding on the fish I was trying to catch so I let him have first pick!

Having seen a huge white in the same area years ago while surfing, the image below is what I'd expected see when I turned around.   
Hey GBS, you're welcome to come along some time.  Hope you don't mind if I tie a couple of #70 circle hooks to your yak and maybe add a couple of squid strips to your stern line. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/17/eashark117.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

Yeah, we still live in GWS country. Gotta show respect.
Nice link spot. This pic... man, I can feel those teeth!
Z

Thats some awesome fishing there, Spot. Thanks for the story. I know the feeling.
I don't surf any more, but some of my longtime surf bros still do. A couple are (or were) from OR. I heard you mention the G-spot, my good friend Jack Bird used to surf there. He was surfing with Josh Gizdavich and the late Kenny Doudt at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, in Nov 1979, when a big Great White grabbed Kenny. He was lucky to survive  and had quite a tale to tell, wrote it all down, self published: "Surfing With The Great White Shark." by Kenny Doudt. Jack and Kenny were best friends, and that's how I knew Kenny, through Jack.

He didn't let it keep him out of the water though, and eventually moved to Kauai. Both his sons became hot surfers, too. He passed away surfing on Kauai a year or so ago, doing what he loved.

Jack tried to talk me into going back out on a light epoxy longboard the other day. My old wetsuit has some scary looking stuff growing in it. I may have to get a new one.

I had a sea lion grab a steelhead right out from underneath me while I was waiting for a set one Dec near the Jetty at Westport. Steely must have been trying to hide from the sea lion, right between my legs. The sea lion followed, bumping both of 'em. I was freaked out big time until I saw the sea lion surface with the chromer in its jaws. That incident sprouted some of my first gray hairs.

Dang CHM, you are O.G.!  I met Kenny at Josh's shop many years ago and was lucky enough to hear the story re-told by the guys who were there that day.

There's probably a good chance that you and I have crossed paths at some point as I usually get up your way a couple of times a year.  Maybe we can hook up for a surf or some fishing this year.

great story Spot. I'm always getting freaked out by something on the ocean when i'm by myself. Had the occasional sea lion pop up right next me, but no close encounters with whales yet, but i'm sure it will happen sooner or later.

Luckily i've had at least one other person out with me lately and somehow it makes me more comfortable. Strength in numbers i guess. Like a GWS  is saying to itself "oh, I can't bite this guy in half, hes with someone"...


Just something about being  a foot off the ocean on a piece of plastic that makes you feel so insignificant, like a piece of bait...

More guys in the water give you better odds that the GW will go for them and not you! All NW surfers know this.

Spot, please do give me a shout if you are headed up this way with your yak. I'm not sure about going surfing again...been a member of Surfers Anonymous in good standing since Aug 2001.
I tell ya though, it was a living hell hiking out on the Jetty for rockfish in March and April with offshores grooming the peaks so nicely, and nearly everybody that isn't a local up playing in the snow, and all the locals working or waiting for later. "I could have those perfect 5 foot barrels all to myself!" kept running through my mind, rampantly destroying much of the remaining gray matter.

Zoo'd out already here now.