new to yakking, threw it in at La Jolla this morning- the forks have mellowed since the beginning of the week, pretty slow today, tough to make bait- stoked, managed a nice C&R of a black seabass between 60-70 lbs., my guess, stoked to see her swim home. Epic sleigh ride with the 40 lb. buttoned pretty tight on the TN30. I like this yak thing- I was wondering how guys land these big fish on the yak, found out it's epic, you can dig in your heels and pull hard, let the fish drag the boat, better then stand up IMO- can't wait to figure this stuff out some more- :D

...I only tried the yakking thing a few times too for some mackerel on the krok one time, and a few sandies on the white single tailed grub another time. Getting a workout, tan, and fish at the same time is always fun though. That BSB must have been fun!

Nice Nietz! SD Harbor soon...

Dan, let me know when! I might be yakkng for the corvina and stuff next weekend, not sure- bass should be going off!

Todd, where are you launching the yak? Baby beach is a long paddle, launched at Strands last week, pretty nutty getting the yak in and out throught the surf (especially at night!!) }(

Hey Chris, good to see you've joined the plastic navy. Why don't you come down to Shelter Island next Sat for the final tourney of the Plastic Navy Tournament Trail? It's going to be fun and the raffle is going to outrageous. I pre-fished today and the sandies are defintely making a show.

Nice job on the black too. One thing you can do to wear down a big fish or keep it from going into the kelp is to throw out a drift-chute. I know the thresher guys use 'em.

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!

How's it going, Ed? I have been eyeing those tourneys. Probably not this Saturday, but I will definetly be fishing some in the future. Good luck down there!!

...have been borrowing the rental yaks at Monarch that the hotel guests sometimes use. Can only use them on weekends after summer season though and only when conditions are calm per lifeguard discretion (which means the ocean has to be like a lake). Easy launch from the beach to the boilers outside of the point which do have some bass on them.

I added a kayak to my tackle collection 5 years ago and here's a few fish fighting tips I've picked up since I started.

I have always used 8' rods on my kayak and I doubt I would ever go shorter then 7.5 the only thing is if you have to re-thread your guides on the water it can be difficult with the long sticks.

Regardless if you fish a short or long rod when a fish takes quick unexpected turn on you and goes under your kayak some times you wont' be in a position to follow the fish around the bow or stern but if you put your rod tip down in the water following the fishes direction of travel (bow or stern) your kayak will spin around and put you right back in to a good position for fighting the fish.

Also if your fishing a rod with a lot of backbone especially so with longer sticks it's a good idea to back off the drag a little bit because if you get a BIG fish that's still hot up to the kayak that fish just might decide to take one last ripper run and if it does there's a chance that it will roll you. If your rods are tethered which they should be then hang on because you don't want that fish to pull your yak away from you. It sounds crazy but it happend to a friend. He had to hand off the fish so he could right his kayak and pull his rods and paddle back up on to the rig. Then he paddled back over took the rod back and finished fighting the fish which was pretty much done at that point. It was a Black Sea Bass safely released. Lessons learned.

JerryG

good input, Jerry- thanks! gotta love the yak!

Hey Chris (and anyone else), are you fishing next Saturday? I'm looking to fish somewhere in Laguna for some boileraction, or maybe launch at Dana and paddle up and fish the Monarch area.

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!

Ed, not exactly sure of the weekend plans, but a Saturday S Laguna mission sounds like a fun time- I was thinking a beach launch from Strands would be an easy way to cut down on the paddling, but I've since learned that the longer paddle may be worth it! LOL Launching from Strands at night with just a waist high+ swell was a mission, for sure- I'll take the paddle, especially since it's downhill on the way home-

YEah Strands would be a pain, not just the launch but that long arse hill. My back would be done in just getting down to the beach. I'd love to fish T.I. too, but launching at Aliso isn't my cup of tea. I got rolled in my tube a few times there. Now the cove above the flag in Laguna (off Cliff) is O.K. and good fishing too. I've done the launch ramp to Monarch before and it's not too bad. Just got to plan for a long day. That's one of the places I was considering for Sat. We'll talk more as the weekend gets closer.

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!

Ed, let me know if you want to hit S Laguna- My buddy wants to charge the forks at LJ, but I'd rather stay close to home- The butts in Newps will be stupid too, one more option...

I'm still thinking Laguna. But maybe launch at NP and paddle to the CDM boilers? Where have the butts been manifesting themselves? Channel entrance? IF so we could hit them on the way in and/or out.

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!