A Newbies First Kayaking Trip

Ok here is my tail of my madden voyage...
I got up and turned on my Icom IC-M36 Floating hand held vhf radio to check the weather report…Now I know I could have Googled it or watched the news but heck it was much cooler listening to it as waited for my first mornings cup of coffee to finish brewing, there's nothing like the smell of those freshly ground beans at 6:00 am.
I decide I would load up the Explorer and head  over to Lacamas Lake which is about 5 mikes from my house in Vancouver WA.
Upon arriving at the lake the view was beautiful, the water was glass with an occasional ripple from the light breeze… I had the lake to myself! Just me, a friend, and a few ducks for support!
After donning my Kokatat T-3 Super Nova Angler Paddling Suit, Steven and I walked down to the dock with my new Yellow OK T-13 in tow…I put on my red Kokatat Ronin PFD and boarded the Yak, with a slight wobbly stroke from the 240 Aquabound Sting Ray 2 Piece Paddle away I went….a feeling of calmness flowed through me, a feeling of peace and oneness with nature.  I knew that this is what God intended life to be… it was all about him and me and the quiet beauty of nature… for I was home!
After honing my paddle strokes I decided it was time to see if I was capable of managing a re-entry into the Kayak so I paddled to a shallow spot and gave it a try…Wow not to hard, made it with the first try! So I decided I would give it a second go and with a hard kick and a turning motion, up and over I went clear to the other side and into the water…Well looks like I’ll need a bit more practice! But at least I knew it could be done.
The paddling suit kept me warm and dry and the life vest fit well and did its job.
Later after the Yak was securely tied to the Roof of the Ford, I felt a great sense of “job well done” everything worked well and smoothly all without a hitch!
While pulling away I looked in the rearview mirror I knew that I would be back and that many more wonderful experiences lay ahead of me!
I want to give thanks to all of those who took the time to share there experiences as well as there product choices for it was all of you that made my first experience a good one, one that I’ll remember for years to come!

Thanks,

Chuck

Almost sounds like a commercial

How was the fishing?

No fishing... just wanted to test all the new gear!
But belive me, the fishing is comming!

My son told me that LaCamas was closed due to a 'bloom'. I'd check this out and maybe make sure you wash your new yak down real well.
Dan

Ok here is my tail of my madden voyage...
I got up and turned on my Icom IC-M36 Floating hand held vhf radio to check the weather report…Now I know I could have Googled it or watched the news but heck it was much cooler listening to it as waited for my first mornings cup of coffee to finish brewing, there's nothing like the smell of those freshly ground beans at 6:00 am.
I decide I would load up the Explorer and head  over to Lacamas Lake which is about 5 mikes from my house in Vancouver WA.
Upon arriving at the lake the view was beautiful, the water was glass with an occasional ripple from the light breeze… I had the lake to myself! Just me, a friend, and a few ducks for support!
After donning my Kokatat T-3 Super Nova Angler Paddling Suit, Steven and I walked down to the dock with my new Yellow OK T-13 in tow…I put on my red Kokatat Ronin PFD and boarded the Yak, with a slight wobbly stroke from the 240 Aquabound Sting Ray 2 Piece Paddle away I went….a feeling of calmness flowed through me, a feeling of peace and oneness with nature.  I knew that this is what God intended life to be… it was all about him and me and the quiet beauty of nature… for I was home!
After honing my paddle strokes I decided it was time to see if I was capable of managing a re-entry into the Kayak so I paddled to a shallow spot and gave it a try…Wow not to hard, made it with the first try! So I decided I would give it a second go and with a hard kick and a turning motion, up and over I went clear to the other side and into the water…Well looks like I’ll need a bit more practice! But at least I knew it could be done.
The paddling suit kept me warm and dry and the life vest fit well and did its job.
Later after the Yak was securely tied to the Roof of the Ford, I felt a great sense of “job well done” everything worked well and smoothly all without a hitch!
While pulling away I looked in the rearview mirror I knew that I would be back and that many more wonderful experiences lay ahead of me!
I want to give thanks to all of those who took the time to share there experiences as well as there product choices for it was all of you that made my first experience a good one, one that I’ll remember for years to come!



Thanks,

Chuck

HE HE....Welcome to the Yak sid eof the Force

Almost sounds like a commercial

Yep, I misted up, just like at some heartwarming ads.

Remember, re-entering a virgin is much easier than one festooned with rods, rod holders, fishfinders, landing nets, and carts.  Keep practicing.

Did you get any water in the suit?  Did your head go under?  What was Steven doing while you paddled about?

Man, newbies these days got it good!!!

My first time?  It was 2003.  I had a Cobra Triple at the time that I owned with my buddy Tom.  One day I decided that we could indeed fish off of it, so called up Tom and we made plans to hit Santa Cruz for some California Halibut.  I had an old milkcrate that I pipeclamped some PVC into for rod holders.  Went out and bought the cheapest gaff I could find (which I still use today!).  Gear was an old 2mm shorty farmer john paddle jacket that I had laying around from my whitewater days.  That was it.  No electronics, no drysuit, none of today's modern amenities.   Results: 12# butt in the box.

Second time out, more of the same.  I got a 34# butt and Tom got a 26# butt.

How about you?  What was your first time like?

-Allen

How about you?  What was your first time like?

-Allen

Picked up a used Cobra F-n-D off Craigslist in 2006 (litterally owned by a little old lady).  Rigging consisted of a bow line and an old butt bag stuffed with jig heads and bodies.  Safety gear was my surfing wetsuit and a wake boarding PFD. 

Results: 3 Black rockfish between 17" and 19".  One keeper ling and a Cabezon.

And, it's only gotten better!

-Spot-

Almost sounds like a commercial

Yep, I misted up, just like at some heartwarming ads.

Remember, reentering a virgin is much easier than one festooned with rods, rod holders, fishfinders, landing nets, and carts. Keep practicing.

Did you get any water in the suit? Did your head go under? What was Steven doing while you paddled about?

Steven sat on the dock and played with his new MP3 player....He gave good support and helped me get the yak of the car and into the water! Need a cart!

The suit was great! I did go completely under just to see if the suit would let some water in. It did not.  
I was completely dry. I know if I was in the water for some time it would slightly, but I was completely dry, I'm very Happy with this product!
I wore a Politic Power Dry
Drysuit Liner by Diktat it  was slightly damp with sweat not from lake water.

I know that this was the best case situation and that many other factors can change things dramatically.

I will be practicing!!

Chuck

First time for me:
 
Three Arch Rocks off Oceanside Oregon...cobra fish and dive off craigslist $400, 4 mm full body wet suit ala Joes sidewalk sale, regular old life jacket, paddle, bow line, small dry bag with some jigs .  Result.. limit of black rockfish and the satisfaction that I made the right choice switching from a 28ft sportfisher to a 2nd hand kayak.  haven't looked back since

First time for me was on a lake, outside of Waterville, Maine in 1996. I was working at a sports summer camp and they had a fishing derby with kids and counselors. Some used aluminum canoes, some, including me used these awful plastic kayaks. I'm not really sure if they were for flatwater or whitewater, but they were early 80's P.O.S's about 10ft long. I came in 2nd in the tournament, catching 12 small mouth.

I wore a swimsuit, and had a PFD, and a huge old heavy paddle, and a tackle box in the cockpit.

First time for me was Alder Lake.  I was in my Tsunami 140 (SIK).  Didn't have a rod holder, and I was trolling with it wedged between my legs and the hull.  Being in a SIK, back then, I was probably trolling WAY too fast. I managed to land a crappie on my little rapala lure.  The next weekend I went back with some wedding rings and landed 5 Kokanee within an hour.

April 2006: Bought a used Scupper Pro form someone off of CL for $400. Borrowed some fishing poles from my girlfriends' dad. Hit up Mission Bay in San Diego for a few hours and I don't think I even had a nibble. The tankwell for the Scupper Pro is too narrow for a milk crate, so I found a plastic bin at Walmart and pipclamped some pvc tubes for rod holders. One launch at the beach at Ocean Beach and that thing was toast!
About a month later: First trip out to La Jolla, threw on a 1 oz. yozuri iron jig and on one of my first drops to the bottom, hung it up on a reef. Instead of pointing the rod down into the water, I bendo'd it as hard as I could to try and pop the line and ended up breaking my brand new Berkley Big Game rod in half which I had picked up at Walmart on clearance for $11.

Lacamas has always looked good to me. Round Lake (across the street) looks like a great spot for panfish as well. Very cool first experience!

My first time out sucked   
Carried my boat down Cardiac Hill in Palos Verdes. CA (think Beverly beach without the stairs) paddled around a bit, huli'd coming in on 6" waves (that's not a typo) then back up again.
Just plain painful.

The second trip was the magic. Fall '95 I met 4 guys from Spike's board at Cabrillo Beach at 11 pm. Sounded like a recipe for disaster meeting 4 strangers in the middle of the night on a secluded beach in Los Angeles
It turned out to be a great crew and a beautiful night.  I only caught one undersized Hali as there was an algae bloom. But the algae made for THE coolest bio-luminescent light show imaginable. Every paddle stroke was like stirring embers in a fire. Every little wavelet that hit the hulls lit up blue. Unfortunately, our fishing lines lit up like neon as well all the way down to the bait.
Didn't matter, I was gut hooked.

Not my first kayak fishing trip, but it's the first I remember...

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