Stressless

Loaded up and thought I'd hit the old pier for any Cobes that might have lingered there overnight. Got to the top of the dune right at Nautical twilight after hearing the surf INSIDE THE TRUCK at the parking lot... gulp... Then as I was loading a dude on trash duty and I were talking and he said, "yep the surf really come up from yesterday afternoon." ... gulp... so I sat at the top and looked down at a pounding surf that almost pure swells - not much wind chop on top at all.



Took abou 10 mins to get myself talked into going heading into the beast but went down to the edge. Swells were comming SSE and stacked about 50- 60 secs apart for the BIG ones. Got her in about 100 yards West of the pier where there was bit of a rip going out (only made the curls higher!)



Launched into it and my two pieces of advice are



1. DO NOT STOP



2. PADDLE LIKE YOU STOLE IT



Had all scuppers ut and rigged for if I got rolled first wave rolls in and it's 10" high white water - KEEP STROKING DEEP PULLING HARD couple yards second wave I'm in a 75F bathtub.. no a whirlpool - now the yak is heavy, sloppy hard to steer - waves starting to build back up to Doom Size. KEEP GOING you will not be able to turn around between waves. Got two more way over the bow but my butt was planted into the plastic and not coming out. My pinfish were having a blast I on the other hand was wondering WTFO but really having a good time... Got past the breakers, let my heart and stomach catch up with the rest of me and broke out the poles from where I lashed them. Trolled a pinfish around had two pulled off and two cut offs. No hook-ups. While there I saw four or five other yaks try adn make it out with about a 60% success rate. Gottafish got SMASHED and tore up - his report is at https://www.gulfcoastkayakfishing.co...;replyto=15368 a couple other guys got dumped adn stayed on the beach - a few intrepid (rhymes with STUPID) souls got out to meet no fish and almost no bites. So here's the vid - the buoy off PC reported 4-5" swells I sit about 3' up in my Yak and you can see I'm in a big hole.



Oh ya getting in usually the hardest part but the God's smiled on me and let me pass between a coupel HUGE sets. Jumped out about 50' out and 5' deep and tailed her in through the slop.



<EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/EO5Lnlc_e7E&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1 width=425 height=344 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always">



:doh



Stressless</EMBED>

Team Hobie

Bob:

Mark Madach and I ran into the same thing at Pensacola Beach. I jumped in right as the last wave of a 5 count big set rolled in and then realized my rudder was bungeed down. Dang. Jumped out, released the rudder and then hauled a$$ through several head high but very clean waves. Your description of the heart and stomach needing to catch up is so true. What a blast.

Caught a 35 lb king about 2.5 miles out. Had several other breakoffs and spanish cut through lines and black swivels. Ramoras were thick, not to mention attached to the bottom of Mark's yak.

As the wind picked up the surface got choppy out of the SE and I knew that the nice clean waves were now turning into a washing machine at the shore. I counted a set of 4 then paddled like hell to follow the last big one in. I darn near endo-ed but landed safely with a huge sigh of relief.

The waves were a little smaller than last May and I am glad I went but I definitely need more practice in the surf.

I see you have entered the tournament. Are you aiming for inshore or offshore? Navarre or ??

In any case good luck and we'll see you at the ceremonies.

Ted

Stressless

Ted,

I was fishing with you last year when you caught the first king - very nice by the way. I'll be hitting whatever the wx Gods provide us. I like offshore better but if it's like Sat I'll be fishing for bream in Yellow river :letsdrink

Bob

NICHOLAS

Well said! I was one of the other two guys who made it out with you, I was in the orange prowler 13 and my friend Jacob in the tarpon. His dad got dumped and watched from the beach! Jacob had one good run near the pier but the fish got the best of him and broke off on the rubble.

The only reason we stayed out as long as we did was the waves coming in! Jacob caught a good wave and rode right on to the beach, I backed, we got lucky both ways.

Once on the beach we unloaded and we back out with bare yaks to get a little more experience in the surf, I found that it is nearly impossible to ride a wave on my yak with out the nose going under and tumbling.

All in all a pretty fun day on the water, even without the fish.

need2fish

Wow - saw Kreg's post. Glad you made it out (and back in) without getting dumped.

gottafish

The waves started small, the 2nd to the last wave going out was big and the next to the last wave was bigger and did me in. I have been in worse waves, but the rip currents were really bad. I heard the flags were yellow in the morning at Pensacola Beach, but they had to rescue a lot of people that morning.Nice king, Ted! I wished that I could have done some fishing myself. :bangheadKings that size in the kayak are quite a thrill! Sound like there were lots of us kayers that got wet that day, but hopefully the seas will calm down for the tournament.

__________________
Hobie Outback (Key Sailing)
'11 GCKFA Tourney 2nd Place King Mack
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Cobia/King Kayak Tournament Winner
'11 GB Optimist Fishing Rodeo 2nd Place Cobia
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB King Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Key Sailing Snapper Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Bluewater Offshore Kayak Tournament 3rd Place King Mack
'11 KBF Red Hot Nights Winner
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Tarpon/King Kayak Tournament Winner
GCKFA Master Kayak Angler

Tex@OIP

Its looking like it might begoodthis weekend. Me and yakflies are most likely going to be in the tournament but want to see the weather first. Sorry to hear about some of the rollovers...All I can say is I have been there. The days that are almost too rough for kayaking seem to have the best results fishing wise!

__________________
http://www.oceanepics.com/tex/

Team Hobie

True that Tex. The worse the seas the better the fishing.