A crazy man (me) and his dog go fishing on the ocean.

Long post here that has been a long time in the making and that I didn't plan for or expect to happen.

I want to start by dedicating this to the professional K9 trainers and handlers who, working with their canine partners, do so much good all over this planet, whether it's military/law enforcement, search & rescue, or trained support/aid dogs, these human/canine teams are awesome.

I am just a dedicated family dog trainer with a deep love of larger 'working' dog breeds, especially Labrador Retrievers.  Right out of grad school, we got "Zippo" from my wife's Aunt when he washed out as a field trial dog at 6 months.  Both his parents were field trial champions but he was destined to be a family dog, and he fit right in with us.  I trained him as a proper wilderness trail dog, on leash always, off trail to the uphill side and quiet whenever we encountered horses, and if we greeted people on the trail like old friends, he was relaxed and friendly.  When our boys were young, he made week long wilderness hikes possible for us, here he in his prime, summer of 1992, 2.5 yo and about 85#, he is carrying 25# (only 5# of that is his food for the week).  We camped, took camping canoe trips, and eventually our 16' PB.  But he would have been a horrible kayak dog, he loved to swim way too much.



Fast forward to late 2012 (skipping over 'Cinder' and 'Gus'), we were fostering rescue labs for Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue in Phoenix, "Princess6" came to us after wandering out of the desert and hiding in a guys shed, vet estimated her age at 1, she had been spayed and abused.  She hid in our garage the first night, we finally coaxed her into the house the next day and I started trying to guess her real name.  It didn't take long, her chest sort of gives it away.  Once I guessed her name, she bonded with me and that put an end to adopting her out.



About this time, I was closing a deal to buy a PA12 and take up kayak fishing, with plans for Pepper to ride on the back deck some of the time, like on small coastal lakes and maybe the Siuslaw river now and then.  Little did I know where this was headed.  By the time I moved to running an Oasis solo in 2016 and set up a flat front area for Pepper, she was showing off her skills.  I should add that she doesn't swim or like getting wet, she wants to be on the boat with me, that is a big part of what makes this all possible.  We took lots of long outings on Siltcoos that fall and she developed great balance, front paws up on the edge of the Oasis on smooth water, instinctively she stayed down low when we were crashing whitecaps or boat wakes, and totally oblivious to me catching coho (but keen on the fact that after I caught a big fish, she always got plenty of treats).

Our first "Siltcoos Limit":


But on the Oasis, she occupied the area that I needed to carry crab pots, tend them, and store crab.  No room behind me on the Oasis for her.  Then Hobie announced the 2019 Outback and I was in love- big rear deck for her, plenty of storage up front for everything I needed for multi-species outings plus crabbing.  I added immersion protection for her from 'doggiewetsuits.com", plus her MTI Underdog PFD that floats her up from below, we practiced our self recovery, using the rear deck for re-entry which is easy peasy, then fished Siltcoos, crabbed the Siuslaw, then started crabbing/bottom fishing lower CoosBay in December, and, well, waited for the right conditions to head for Simpson Reef. 

It was the perfect day to test her on the ocean, 3' + 1' swells, light wind, misty and a bit choppy water, not smooth as glass, and the fish cooperated.  She did not seem to be effected by the swells after about 4 hours, took treats as usually the whole outing, but as usual, was very excited as we got closer to our launch point and, well, DQ.




YouTube video is "Ocean fishing with Pepper on our 2019 Hobie Outback", video link:   



Footnote:  species that Pepper and I have now caught from a kayak: 
jack Coho, adult Coho, jack Chinook, black and copper rockfish, kelp greenling, lingcod, cabezon, dungeness crab (Siuslaw, CoosBay, ocean), rainbow trout, SRC, SM bass, LM bass, yellow perch.

remaining on our list:  adult Chinook, California Halibut.

(non-kayak catch with Pepper's help:  razor clams, winter steelhead from shore)

Thank you so much for sharing this!

Liked the video so much I shared the link on my FB page   

that`s not crazy thats very cool! wish i could trust myself enuff to do that, i`d have a dog if i could.

Great video!

Read this yesterday; wanted to come back and comment.  Always have had dogs in the house.  Last dog was put down with cancer last Aug.  A new family member arrived 3 weeks ago.

Yesterday was the first day of a training class together.  Even if YouTube videos are better than the trainer, it gives us a weekly, set asside time to train and bond and it's good for socialization. 

Nice to read about your adventures.  I did buy a life jacket for the new family member already, but he hasn't been in the yak yet. 

I should probably mention that our ocean outing took place on June 25, which was Rachelle and my 36th anniversary.  She was very pleased with the fresh crab and ocean fish dinner that Pepper and I brought home.   


This is my favorite fish picture with Pepper from Nov. 2017, beautiful 32" coho buck from the south end of Siltcoos.  (I sent this in to ODFW recently when they were collecting images to use):



but the context is what makes it so special to me, about 2 hours into our outing that day, we fished through a drenching 20 minute coastal deluge. Pepper showing her stuff as a true fishing companion- laying quietly in the front of the Oasis while I worked the shoreline with a spinner, and then on one of those casts, magic- all hell broke loose 5' from shore before that big boy peeled off line out into that open water behind us.  Here is the 'just out of the net' image of that same coho:

 

Wow, that's awesome stuff. I'm curious about the Oasis (operating as a single) and how you found it in comparison to the Outback for longer ocean trips.

I'm working on the doggie passenger, we're at ~6km round-trips (whatever that is in miles) on calmer seas with no fishing. You're setting the bar extremely high here, but it's great motivation to keep at it.

Wow, that's awesome stuff. I'm curious about the Oasis (operating as a single) and how you found it in comparison to the Outback for longer ocean trips.

I'm working on the doggie passenger, we're at ~6km round-trips (whatever that is in miles) on calmer seas with no fishing. You're setting the bar extremely high here, but it's great motivation to keep at it.

the Oasis was a good boat on the ocean, very stable, it felt sort of like a self-draining canoe, but missing all the great features of the new Outback.  The new Outback is easily 1mph faster for the same pedaling effort, perhaps 1.5mph.   

Nice write up Roger. Somehow, I don't think my Pyrenees or Labradoodle would be up for that! Also, I would definitely need a bigger yak!😁