Lingzilla!

I managed to boat this fine beast while guiding a four-day kayak fishing tour in the San Juan Islands, Washington, using a handline from my sea kayak. Just after lunch, I put in with one of the clients while the others napped on the beach. My jig wasn't in the water for more than five minutes when I felt the familiar shake of a lingcod on the end of the line. As soon as I began to pull the rope in hand over hand, I knew it was bigger than the average fish; in fact it was right about three feet! After a few photos, I released it to go and make monster ling babies. Not to worry, I will post a full trip report and pics here soon!

For now, I'm preparing/getting excited to attend and compete in Northwest Kayak Angler's Oregon Rockfish Classic this weekend out at Depoe Bay, Oregon. I'm looking forward to hanging with some of the guys I normally only swap stories with online.

Here's to big fish and good conditions this weekend!

-Jason

TRIP REPORT: San Juan Islands Multi-Day Kayak Fishing. 5/4-9, 2010

After guiding several trips to the San Juans over the last few years, I finally had the opportunity to go with my girlfriend and another buddy. It's been four years since I've hit the SJ's for fun, and this trip was definitely worth the wait.

On Tuesday, May 4th, We drove from Portland, OR to Anacortes, WA, barely avoiding a fifteen car pile-up on I-5 North of Seattle. After arriving at Washington Park in Anacortes where we'd camp for the night, we were subtly soothed to sleep by the thunderous roar of Navy bombers practicing low altitude bombing runs over our heads. It wasn't quite the peaceful nights rest I'd hoped for, but as one local put it, "That's the sound of Freedom."

We rose early on the 5th, quickly packed up camp, and headed for the ferry to Orcas Island. Once at Orcas, we drove to Deer Harbor, where we packed up our kayaks and paddled out to Jones Island. 

We established camp on Jones in time to cook a nice meal and sip on a cold beer as we watched the sunset around the fire.

The following day, Shawn was feeling ill and spent most of the day resting and trying to get well. Shay and I decided to fish around Jones Isl. and take it easy. I managed to land two undersized lingcod, two rockfish, and a cabezon while jigging the handline from my sea kayak before lunch.

After catching a dozen fish or so that day, but no keeper lingcod, we enjoyed another magnificent sunset from Jones Isl.

We woke on Friday and Shawn was feeling a bit better, but still not one hundred percent. We decided to take a hike around the island with the hopes of a little exercise aiding his recovery.

I enjoyed the views, and I have to admit, taking time to enjoy the islands OUT of the kayak was a nice change of pace.

After our hike, Shay and I hit our boats and fished a bit more while Shawn got ready for touring. For some reason the fish just weren't biting like they were the day before. I changed jig colors a dozen times with no luck. I couldn't figure out why the bite had completely turned off, when I looked to my left and saw a dozen people staring at me from a boat on the water. I quickly glanced around and saw 4 boats with people on deck all staring at me. All of the sudden it dawned on me that they were whale watching boats. I turned to Shay and said " I bet there's an orca around.", not really believing my own words. I looked up the shore line and saw Shawn launching off the beach in his kayak. Shay and I started paddling towards Shawn, when all of the sudden, I see a huge black dorsal fin breach the surface 200 yards behind Shawn. "ORCA!!!" I shouted as I pointed out the dorsal. I've spent over 40 days touring the San Juans by sea kayak, and this was the first time I had ever seen orca whales. Needless to say, the three of us were giddy with excitement as we observed the whales pass through the channel right in front of our camp, sometimes coming within 300 feet of our boats. As the whales left our area, the tourist boats raced around the point to follow them as they headed North of Jones Isl. Although the experience was completely thrilling and amazing, I felt sorry for the whales. I thought about how stressful it must be having a half dozen power boats chasing you your entire life. I decided I would never follow the whales if I ever saw them again. I would simply sit and watch as they pass through and be thankful for the experience.

After the adrenaline from sighting orca whales from our sea kayaks had worn off, Shay and Shawn decided they wanted to paddle over to Limestone Point off San Juan Island with the hopes of running into them again. Shawn had left his digital camera at home, so I gave the camera to Shay, thinking pictures of orca are way better then pictures of me and fish. Without a doubt, when ever I don't have my camera is when the bigger fish strike. Shay and Shawn saw no orca, but I managed to boat two fat little lingcod two inches shy of the 26 inch minimum size.  Later that evening, as I was fishing at dusk on the North side of Jones Island, I felt my jig snag. I didn't feel the clink of the jig hitting rock, so I thought I had possibly snagged kelp and tried to pull the jig free. I felt it come up off the bottom briefly and I thought it was free. As I tried to wind in my line, again I felt the jig hang up. I pulled as hard as I could when I felt the jig begin to thrash around. It felt like a BIG lingcod, which I thoroughly enjoyed for two seconds before it took my leader to the rocks and snapped my forty pound line.

At 7pm I paddled 100 yards off from the sea lion colony on Jones Isl., hoping to avoid a territorial dispute, and then continued South along the shore. Just as I rounded the South point, my VHF starts chattering, "kayaker Jason, kayaker Jason, kayaker Jason. Come in kayaker Jason. Do you read me? Over." Shawn and Shay were calling to inform me they were at Limestone Point, over two miles away, beginning the channel crossing towards Jones Island. I replied back, "Roger kayaker Shawn, I read you loud and clear. Estimating your arrival at Jones at 8pm. Confirm. Over." Shawn replies, "That's affirmative. 8pm arrival at Jones. Over."

I was impressed with the range and clarity of the VHF. A few seconds passed as I thought about our communication and how professional it sounded, when I hear Shawn's voice again on the VHF, "Kayaker Billy Bob, Kayaker Billy Bob. Come in Billy Bob. This is Rubber Ducky. Kayaker Billy Bob, you don't have to make that 'Scchht' noise. It does it automatically. Over." I couldn't help myself, and I replied, "Roger Roger. What's your vector Victor?" That incredible bit of comedy quickly put an end to any hint of professional communique.

I fished until I had a visual on Shawn and Shay crossing the channel, then paddled back up the West side of Jones towards camp to meet the two. After devouring another amazing dinner and a few adult beverages around the campfire, we drifted off to sleep, still buzzing off the orca encounter and the hook-up with the huge lingcod.

The following day was our last full day in the San Juans, and as I'd spent most of my time floating and fishing around Jones, I felt the need to do some touring. We decided to cross the channel to San Juan Island, paddle the shoreline South to Friday Harbor where we'd refill our water bags, then cross back over to Shaw Island and head back to Jones North through the Wasp Island group. It felt good to cover miles and hang out with Shay and Shawn on the water. The currents were mild, the weather was sunny and beautiful, and it was an exceptional day just goofing off and paddling.

Shawn's Derek Hutcheson impression.

We battled a bit of wind and current in the face as we paddled back to Jones, which was actually a nice change from the pond-like conditions we had experienced so far. I fished briefly after our return with no success. I'm pretty sure after pounding the island for two days strait, I had annoyed every fish there. It was time to move.  Although I didn't catch any fish that evening, I did enjoy another spectacular sunset on the water.

 And the light at camp was amazing:

The last morning we packed camp and loaded up our kayaks for the trip back to Orcas Island. I was feeling a bit discouraged after not hooking up the previous evening. Usually I drop the jig, and within a minute or two of jigging I have a fish on. I decided to just enjoy the paddle back to the launch and not concern myself too much with fishing. Just as we rounded the South West corner of Orcas Island, Shawn said he had seen a fish jump. I thought that a bit unusual and asked, "Was it shaped like a big trout or like a dinosaur?" I didn't think there were any salmon species present in the San Juans at that time, but wasn't really sure. The only way I could imagine a bottom fish jumping on the surface was if it was chased by a sea lion, so I assumed Shawn was joking. I asked Shawn, "Are you telling me you want me to fish? Because, you know I can make that happen for you." As we were talking, I dropped my rootbeer colored scampi 40 feet down to the bottom. One pull, two pulls, strike and miss. One pull, two pulls, FISH ON! I managed to boat another nice rockfish in about 15 seconds of fishing. Shawn managed to get the fish being landed on HD video, which I'll post here as soon as it's available. It was the perfect way to end a perfect trip.

We unloaded our boats at Deer Harbor, threw our gear in the jeep and caught the ferry just in time to make it back to Portland Sunday night.

All in all, quite an amazing experience that I can't wait to share with clients in early June. There is still space available for you to join us in our epic adventure. Call 503-285-0464 to reserve your spot today!

-Jason

Alder Creek Paddle Festival 2010

April 24th and 25th, 2010 marks the official beginning of our "season" at Alder Creek. We kick things off on Saturday with our annual, free Paddle Festival at Vancouver Lake in Vancouver, Washington, with over 200 boats to demo. Representatives from Kokatat, Werner Paddles, Valley Sea Kayaks, Necky, Current Designs, Eddyline, Ocean Kayak, Wilderness Systems, Hurricane, P&H, Aquabound.....Pretty much everyone in the paddle-sports industry has product on the beach available for you to demo on Saturday be it kayak, sit on top, stand up paddle board, canoe, or inflatable.

Sunday is less demo and more clinic oriented. I'll be there along with some of the guys from Northwest Kayak Anglers and Ocean Kayak giving kayak fishing clinics on everything from rigging your boat for fishing, to on the water tips and techniques.

Attend the Paddle Fest and receive a coupon good for 20% off one item at the shop!

Check the link above for event info and directions, and give us a call at 503-285-0464 should you have questions or concerns.

Hope to see you there!

Jason

TRIP REPORT: Kayak Fishing Tillamook Bay, Oregon. 02/21/10

The weather in Oregon has been absolutely stunning for the last few weeks. I don't care what the scientists say, or how dry it will be this summer... I love el Nino.

On Sunday, 2/21, the ocean laid down to around 6ft@12-15s, the sky showed not a single cloud, temperatures averaged 50F, and winds blew steady out of the East at 15mph with gusts to 20. My friend Jerrol and I launched from the marina at Garibaldi on to Tillamook Bay and paddled South toward the jetty entrance an hour before low tide. The bay is quite shallow in this area, in fact the bottom was in sight most of the way towards the jetty. This made for a much more dynamic environment than most of the other smaller bays on the coast. The shallow water produced some nice 2-3ft wind waves to play on, and just a small channel every now and then would make for a funneling action resulting in several mild rips to mess around with.

We paddled to the bayside edge of the South jetty and hopped out on the cobble beach to asses the situation and discuss bail out options & capsize plans. With a general strategy set, we jumped back in our boats and paddled down the South jetty towards the Pacific Ocean. Jerrol shouted something along the lines of "My goal is to not end up on the 6 o' clock news." I just laughed as we rolled up and down on the 3ft swell that made it through the bay entrance.

As the sea floor fell out beneath us and turned from sand to rocks, we dropped our jigs and began fishing. I used my handline again, this time with 40# Berkley Big Game Trilene. I've been experimenting with heavier line weight and knots for the last few months, and finally found what I was looking for with the Big Game Trilene. I was fishing with my favorite, most faithful fish-catching lure of all time; a four-inch pink buzzbomb. As unimaginative and low-class as this lure is, it has never, ever been skunked.

The 15-20mph East wind proved to be exceptionally challenging. Blowing strait down the jetty towards the ocean, it made keeping a line vertical almost impossible. This factor, combined with the waves and outflow around the rocks made for some seriously technical boat handling just to keep my line in position for one or two jigs before getting blown out again. It was a great place to practice boat control & conditions management, but not so great for a relaxing day of fishing.

After attempting to fight the conditions for an hour, all the while knowing there's lunkers below us but no way to get to them & offer a decent presentation, we decided to paddle across the entrance to the North jetty and find shelter in the lee side of the rocks & stacks located there. We tried again to fish the deeper water along the jetty, but faced the same problems with the wind, so we paddled further in and found shelter behind the "Three Graces".

We knew we were out of big lunker territory, but we knew there would be some smaller lingcod & possibly some greenling around the rockpiles, and we started fishing. A short bit later I started getting nibbles, but missed a few sets. Finally I managed to boat a small lingcod, around 20 inches, which I quickly released. A few minutes later, Jerrol hooked up in the same spot with another small lingcod around 20 inches.

We fished a while longer, then paddled through a nice rock garden towards shore to have lunch. Jerrol asked something along the lines of "What's the best way through the rocks?" I gave him a funny look. "Well you're the expert!" he said. Again I just laugh as we bob up and down next to the piles. I said something along the lines of "Try not to run into them." It's not that I was apathetic for safety, or mocking his questions, but I hadn't been here before, and when I'm not guiding, I entertain myself with allot of, "I wonder if I can get through there?", or, "I wonder what will happen if I go this way?", and allot of times it ends up with a "How do I get myself out of this one?" We paddled through the garden with no issues, landed on a cobble beach and had lunch.

By the time we finished eating, it was getting close to quitting time, so we floated back to the marina on the incoming tide as we mooched our jigs. Jerrol spotted some activity on his fish finder around the pilings at the fisherman's dock at Garibaldi, and we fished for a few minutes there with no result before pulling out at the marina where we launched.

I was really hoping for a lunker on this trip, but I was extremely pleased with our adaptations to unsuitable conditions. The bottom line at the end of the day is that, despite the challenges, we adapted and were still able to get fish. If nothing else, I found a great spot to practice technical boat handling in a relatively safe environment, and had a load of fun soaking in February sunshine and sea air with a friend.

-Jason

Outfitting a Kayak for Fishing

Those of you that regularly follow my ramblings here know that my choice of kayak tends to be long and skinny, and my fishing gear and rigging is about as sparse as it gets. So when Mr. Baja walked into the shop and told me his idea of the perfect fishing kayak, I had to step out of my own skin to get a proper angle on the best set up for him, not me. Over the next week or so I would close my eyes and picture myself as a non-kayaker with time on my hands in Baja, and a desire to catch fish. Maybe diving off into the warm water and snorkeling, soaking up sunshine while sipping a margarita or Modelo, and fishing are what my priorities would be.

With this in mind, I laid a plan to outfit Mr. Baja's choice of the Ocean Kayak Torque. The Torque has a trolling motor "plug & play" prop as it's niche. Normally I scoff at this sort of thing. I generally don't approve of pedals and motors, as to me, they're not really kayaks. But if I put myself in Mr. Baja's shoes, with his priorities in mind, the Torque is actually a pretty bad-ass little machine.

Here are a few pics of the outfitting I did:

This is the finished product: The Scotty Stabilizer Kit behind the seat gives a bit more confidence for standing and fly-casting. A Surf-to-Summit tackle bag with four rod holder tubes goes behind the seat.

I installed an Eagle Cuda 350 Fish Finder on to the battery-hatch with a RAM Ball Mount. On the front deck in front of the battery-hatch is a RAM Five Piece Accessory Bar, with a fly-rod holder, bait-caster/spinning-rod holder, waterproof electronics box for the Droid phone, and the most important thing; the swivel-cup mount with koozie for keeping your beverage of choice cool and upright in rough seas.

For the transducer, the cleanest and easiest set up was the "shoot through" method. For this I cut a block out of closed cell foam, and carved out a hole just a tad smaller than the transducer. To secure the foam block to the hull, I etched the hull with Dragon Skin, and applied mondobond to secure the block in place. Around the shape of the transducer, I carved a shallow channel and applied silicone sealant, and set the block in place. The silicone sealant allows water to be trapped inside the void for the transducer, which is vital for proper sonar function. To make it work, you simply add a few tea spoons of water to the void, and squeeze the transducer into place in the void in the foam block.

The transducer cable is routed through the vertical wall of the battery box, and up through the hatch lid to the fish finder. Both holes for cable access are plugged with a bit of closed cell foam. Both access holes are above the water line.

The battery I selected for the Torque is a Sea Volt sealed marine  group 24 12V 79Ah battery. This monster gives the motor 3.4 hours of run time at full tilt, and also provides power for the fish finder.

Simply attach the red and black cables for the motor and the fish finder, close the lid and power up!

 

Below is the view from the cockpit. I bolted the five-piece accessory bar through through the deck and into a quarter-inch thick piece of polycarbonate board to ensure structural integrity in the event of big fish tugging on it.

On the side I installed the Native Anchor Trolley. This unit allows you to position the anchor towards the bow or stern, so you can hold your position & direction in wind or current while fishing. With the addition of a caribeiner and float attached to the anchor line, it also allows you to quickly ditch the anchor should you hook up with a hog, or fail to see the debris or boat moving right at you.

It turned out pretty sweet. I think it is ideal for Mr. Baja, and I can't help picturing myself floating around in the hot sun and warm water with a cold one in my hand, fishing for mahi-mahi & yellow fin tuna.

The water test was impressive. When the Torque was running at full tilt into 1kt of current, it averaged 3kts. I paddled along side it in a sea kayak and was easily able to outpace it, I wouldn't eve say I was trying, but I didn't have a margarita in one hand and a rod in the other when I was outpacing the Torque either!

There is a larger prop available, and with the large battery in this particular boat, I'd say it's capable of 6 or 7kts, which is about as fast as the average person can paddle a sea kayak. There's a small percentage of kayakers who could paddle 7kts for 3.4 hours strait, so I can see the point of the motor, but I will stick to my paddle. To me, that's what makes the whole thing fun.

Until next time,


Jason