American Lake 3/4/17

Took to American Lake again today.  3rd Day out on the new Hobie Outback, no fish slime on her yet.  I started by dragging a Pink Hoochi tipped with Pink Berkley maggots about 8" behind a watermelon Sling Blade (small one).  I had this about 10 feet down on my down rigger.  I also per recommendation by other NWKA folks started dragging a broke back repella on a second rod.  I put in at Russel's landing on North Fort Lewis and headed north. 

I got one hit on the Repella between the VA and the North Cove, but he wasn't committed.

Then as I rounded the first bouy of the North Cove on the West side my down rigger pole started bouncing.  I popped it off and it was fish on.  I was very excited as this would be my first fish from a kayak.  As I got the fish closer to the boat I craned around hoping to get a glimpse and find out if I had a Koke or a trout on the line.

Well lets just say my big noggin and an 8lb down rigger ball hanging off the side of my yak was more than I was ready for and over I went.  So as I splash down in 42 degree water the first thought through my head is holy crap its cold, second thought was thank God for the advise from NWKA and my drysuit purchase. 

So there I am in the water with an upside down kayak, two poles with line out, one with a fish on, and a down rigger deployed.  First time attempting self rescue (don't put this off).  I was glad that I just purchased leashes for all my poles last night as I was having trouble trying to push my yak over with my pole in my hand.  Dropped the pole, swam round to the side with the down rigger, climbed on to the bottom of the boat and pulled it back over on me.  Climbed in and started to untangle the mess.  Down rigger was fine, but my two poles were tangled.  Got the rapela pole unwrapped and started to reel in the slack on the down rigger pole. 

Holy cow can you believe after all that the fish was still on    

I Reeled it being much more careful as I pulled it in.  Nice Rainbow, about 15 in. (Next purchase is a Hawg trough)

Only lost my fishing license and my Berkley maggots. 

Picture is not to good, I was still a little frazzled by the experience.

I will never forget my first fish from a yak.

Jeez! I can relate. Good job on the rescue and landing the fish. I've come to realize that the lakes are colder than the ocean and I think I will start wearing my dry suit in lakes now, at least this time of year. Great story.

Jeez! I can relate. Good job on the rescue and landing the fish. I've come to realize that the lakes are colder than the ocean and I think I will start wearing my dry suit in lakes now, at least this time of year. Great story.

I actually thought about going without my dry suit since it is just a lake and there are no waves, glad I didn't.  Given the downrigger on that side, it didn't take much more to push me over.  I was 2 miles away from my car when I went over.  It would have been a tough pedal back.  Not sure I could have made it to the car, might have had to go to a house.

8lb DR ball?!? Holy heavy balls Batman!! Reduce that thing to a 4 or 6lb ball. If you are using braided fishing line on your DR you should never need more than 6lb. Even in the sound.

DR came with the ball.  Haven't switched the cable out for braid yet.  What braid would you recommend? And how much?

Wow, what a story to tell! And glad you're still around to tell it. When I first started I saw the drysuit as optional, but have since learned it's a necessity for most of us, sure you can do without, but it doesn't mean you should if you have the means not to. My rule is if the water temp and air temp don't equal at least 120 degrees I wear the drysuit (always in salt,) but everyone has their own rule.

Also I would concur with polyangler, you can definitely get by with a 4lb ball, I have trolled with a 4lb ball at 80ft at Odell lake, no problem. I do run 150lb braid on the DR, although that's likely overkill. You do need to be careful using too heavy braid otherwise it may show on your fish finder, 150lb works fine for me although 100lb is likely way more than sufficient. You don't need the specific Scotty brand braid, any braid will work.

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DR came with the ball.  Haven't switched the cable out for braid yet.  What braid would you recommend? And how much?

Any braided fishing line around 50-60lbs is great. Some will argue to go even lighter. I've got 150'ish yards on mine. You'll never need that much, but it leaves excess for break offs and such. Make sure to run a mono leader about 10ft of similar weight as the braid. This makes tying terminal gear easier, and the stretch gives you a little buffer for when you reel the ball all the way into the boom. I broke off a couple balls before figuring this part out...

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Thanks for the feedback guys.  Braid and a smaller ball on the list.  I would love a 6 lb pancake weight, why don't they make those 

It wasn't pretty but got the skunk off the boat.

No need to get fancy [emoji6] The thin diameter of the braid, and lower profile of the lighter ball will go a long ways!

Always nice to spill blood on virgin decks!! Way to overcome!

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Thanks for the feedback guys.  Braid and a smaller ball on the list.  I would love a 6 lb pancake weight, why don't they make those 

It wasn't pretty but got the skunk off the boat.

Nice fish and glad you made it home.
I made my own pancake "ish" weight. Kind of a fun project but not easy.if you got a plasma cutter it's easy lol.

That downrigger and 8 lb weight look pretty familiar, lol.  Looks like the cutdown worked pretty well and nice mount job.

Great recovery...better yet control of the situation.  It's interesting how many times the fish you remember the most is far from the largest you'dd get at some point forward.

Thanks Trident, the downrigger works like a dream and the mod to the boom was cake.  I think I will get a rotating base in the future. It would allow me to spin the arm out of the way and drop my legs over the side to straddle the boat. 

You are right, don't think I'll be forgetting that fish 

Great story Smitty.  It's not a matter of if you're going over, it's a matter of when.  Always be ready for that unintended swim.  Great job on the recovery and the first of many fish!

Glad you got back on. Hopefully you don't feel all sketchy when you get back out. I've seen a couple of my buddies eat it in the surf and now they are somewhat tainted, butts puckered every time after and not likely to continue. Get comfortable getting on and off, know the tipping point of your yak, and don't be tainted like my buddies![emoji6]


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I think I will be okay, it more boosted my confidence in my suit than anything else.  I have spent a lot of time surfing and SUPing in Hawaii so I am use to the in and out thing.  I really just wanted to get the fish back in the water.  My phone teather  was kinda wrapped around some stuff and I didn't want to pull it out of the dry pouch after the dunk.