Great White Scare!

Jack and I launched our kayaks at 7:30 am and lined up for bait.  The 30 minute wait was worth the beautiful sardines we received.  These were the best I have seen this year.

We decided to go to the pipe.  We haven't bothered with the headlands this year as the kelp is mostly gone with this warm water year.  The hot sun was cooled by the high clouds and we welcomed the shade.  Air temperatures would reach the 90's before we returned home.

I baited up with a strong sardine using a 1/0 Mustad 92677 hook and a half ounce sliding sinker.  The water was blue and crystal clear.  I dropped in my sardine and watched it race down until it was out of sight.  Then it got hit so hard it back-spooled my reel.  It took me 15 minutes to untangle the mess.  By then Jack was radioing me:  "Jan, you better come!" 

I peddled over and he was hooked up to a nice yellowtail that was pulling him in circles.  Jack finally pulled the fish up and stuck a gaff in it.  What a beautiful 22.6 lb. yellowtail.  He put it in the game clip, bled it and decided he should take it back to dock since it was only 9 am and the water temp was 75 degrees.

Jack's neighbor, Jim, had started out with us but he continued on out to the barber poles while we fished the Pipe.  After Jack left,  I headed in his direction but Jim was coming back my way.  Jim's kayak doesn't have peddles so he has to paddle.  He was trolling artificial baits instead of live bait.  I told Jim that Jack would be back out after he dropped off his yellowtail.  Jim told me he had seen the largest shark of his life out at the pipe.  He only saw his dorsal fin and tail and described it as large.  He hadn't seen the head.  I thought it was probably a hammerhead as there have been many hammerheads around.

Jack radioed that he was on his way back and I said I was in 60 feet of water and heading deeper. Soon I was in 85 feet of water and close to the first barber pole when I got bit.  I put the reel in gear and "bing" the fish was gone and so was my hook and sinker.  Just then I felt the bow of my kayak get bumped from below and the fin of a great white shark surfaced in front of me and circled back on my left. 

I started peddling as fast as I could towards land.  I was afraid to look back so I just peddled.  I radioed Jack and told him what happened but he couldn't understand me.  Guess I wasn't speaking slowly or clearly enough.  That was my second encounter with a white shark while in my kayak.  The other time was in June 2008 just after I had purchased my kayak but then the shark was just cruising the headlands. And "Yes", I do know what white sharks look like up close and personal.  These are photos of large great whites that I took in August 2006 while on the Excel fishing Guadalupe Island.  That dorsal fin is unmistakable!

Jack and I fished a while longer along the pipe.  My bait got slammed a couple more times then I caught and released a calico bass and we decided to call it a day.  We were off the water by 1 pm just as the clouds let the sun through.  I cleaned up my kayak, Jack filleted his yellowtail and Tim provided the cold beverages and promised to join us next week.  Looking forward to next week.

Sitka 2015

Monday, August 10th Jim Carlisle and I met at John Wayne Airport for our flight to Sitka, Alaska, for our annual fishing trip with Outbound Alaska Charters owned by Herb Tennell.  We met Basil Pappas in Seattle when we changed planes.  We checked into the Westmark Hotel then made a shopping run for snacks and beer.  We hit the sushi bar for dinner that included fresh, local Ikura (salmon roe).  It was delicious.  Al Scow joined us later that evening.

6 a.m. the next morning we bundled up for the rain and boarded Jager.  Captain John had us fill out the paperwork for licenses and fish processing while Riley set up the rods and salted the bait then we were off.  We made the 50 mile run south to the fishing grounds.  Two hours later we were fishing.  John said to drop to the bottom for halibut or fish 150 feet and up for salmon.  As soon as we hit the bottom, we hooked a halibut.  We had limits of halibut (4) in minutes then fished for salmon.

I generally fish the bow, however, with the constant rain I fished the port side for a little shelter.  We caught limits of black bass along with our limits of silver salmon (24) then tried for Kings.  Unfortunately by the time we needed to head back to dock, we failed to find even one king.

We were back to dock around 4:30 p.m.  Even with our wet weather gear on, we still got damp and chilled.  The hot shower really felt good.  It was still raining when it was time to go to dinner so we took a Taxi - Hank's Taxi - to Ludvig's Bistro.  Everything we tried was good and Ludvig's serves huge portions.  We were glad Basil has made reservations here for two nights during the week.

Wednesday morning we were back on Jager bright and early.  John informed us that the seas were rougher than the day before so we couldn't make the long run.  After traveling an hour or so, John poked around in several coves looking for fish.

It rained off and on all day and fishing was slower.  When it was time to return to dock, we had 18 coho salmon, 1 king salmon and 2 halibut.  Another welcomed hot shower followed by a beer. 

We decided to eat in the hotel bar.  Ramon (from the movie The Proposal) was back.  He remembers Basil and me each year.  I had the Halibut Nuggets appetizer for dinner.  There were so many pieces of halibut, that I packed it up for lunch the next day.

Thursday dawned with clear blue skies and the promise of warmer weather.  John said the seas had calmed enough for us to make the long run.  Unfortunately, the rest the fleet was waiting to follow us since their fishing spots were not as successful as Herb and John's.  John set us up further out of the cove than we had fished on Tuesday.  It was pretty much instant hook-up on halibut when we hit the bottom.  The silvers were biting pretty well and then Jim caught a king - a 45 pound king salmon.  John said it was the biggest king they had seen this year.  Al caught a nice one too but it was dwarfed by Jim's slug.  We caught our 24 silvers, 4 halibut and 3 kings before returning to dock.

We cleaned up and Jim and I walked the town in 68 degree, sunny weather.  This weather was a welcome change.  Tonight was our second dinner at Ludvig's.  The bistro didn't disappoint us either.

Friday, Day 4 started out a little differently.  We were completely fogged in.  John decided to make the long run and when we reached the ocean portion of the trip (the last hour), the seas were glassy calm.  Once we arrived, John anchored up on our regular spot and we quickly caught our halibuts then started catching silvers.  Basil caught a 19 leg starfish - twice.  Jim caught a nice king salmon and I caught a baby king.  The fog lifted around noon and it was another nice day. 

We managed to get our limits of halibuts, most of our silvers and 3 of our kings before John moved the boat.  We drifted closer to shore picking up the rest of our silvers then I hooked and landed a nice king salmon.  We returned to dock early and had an early dinner in the hotel.

Saturday was our last day of fishing and Jim and Basil wanted to fish for Black Cod.  John headed west, north west through the sound and out on the ocean until we reached 1400 feet of water. 

Riley set up two electric reels and baited the hooks with pink salmon and dropped them to the bottom.  It took 7 minutes to reach the bottom and almost that long to hook some fish.  Once the button was pushed it took another 7 minutes for the fish to reach the surface.  Jim and I fished on the bow for salmon while the line made it's up and down trek.

The first drop had 2 fish on each rod.  Great start.  We dropped again with the same results.  These were not the small black cod we caught two years ago.  We repeated the process until we had 14 black cod - all 20 to 30 pounds each.  

I was on the bow as John and Riley prepared the rods to make another drop, when I heard a loud crash on the deck.  I looked through the front window and saw Al face down on the deck with his feet inside the cabin.  He wasn't moving.  My chest tightened.  John, Riley and Jim helped turn him over and lifted him onto the ice chest.  Al said his right shoulder took the brunt of the fall.

We helped him into the cabin, put ice on his shoulder and headed back in. John had his wife meet us at the dock and she and Jim took Al to emergency.  Basil and I went back to the hotel and got Al's ID and Medical Card then John took us to the hospital.  Xrays were taken and apparently nothing was broken - just badly bruised.  Al was given prescriptions for pain medications and John took us back to the hotel.  Al rested for the remainder of the day. 

After dinner, we met Herb in the Lobby to settle up then we all converged in Al's room. Al seemed in good spirits considering his ordeal and I think he appreciated the visit. Next morning Al made his early flight but had packed his meds in his checked bag.  That made for a very painful flight.  As if that wasn't enough, his checked bag didn't arrive until later that evening.  Poor Al.

Basil and Al had 4 boxes of fish while Jim and I had 3 each plus one to split.  We had Al and Basil take all the Black Bass.  Everything else we split evenly.  Quality Fish Processing did our fish which was different from last year.  We hope the fish is up to last year's quality.

Jim, Basil and I caught the 10 a.m. flight to Seattle then Basil headed to New Jersey while Jim and I returned to Orange County.  One of my boxes of fish was left in Seattle but arrived around midnight and some fillets were partially thawed.  We weren't very happy with Alaska Airlines service.

I ended up with 175 pounds of salmon, halibut and black cod.  My poor little freezer was so full, I gave about 50 pounds of salmon and halibut to our good friends the Kondo's.

We are enjoying our catch!

Kayak Memorial Trip

Jason Fleck lost his mother a couple weeks ago and wanted to honor her memory with a wreath of flowers on the water and Jason's wife, Hillary, made the floral wreath.  Wednesday August 5th, Jim Carlisle and I joined Jason to witness his private moment remembering his mother.  Rest in Peace Penny!

Jason had never been on a kayak before and Michelle, at Tim Boyer's Dana Point Jet Ski and Kayak Center, set Jason up with a Hobie Pro Angler 12.  Jackson gave a quick run down on kayak basics before we left the harbor.  Much thanks goes to Michelle who met us at 7 am for the early morning launch.

After watching the wreath float away, we peddled out to the headlands to try a little fishing.  I had picked up live sardines from the receiver so I was fishing live bait.  Jim had frozen squid and plastics while Jason fished Gulp Jerk Shad and had a surface iron ready if a yellowtail popped up. 

 We fished the headlands until 11 when the wind came up.  We headed towards the breakwater and fished the wall while we drifted drifted at 1 to 1 1/2 knots solely due to the wind and current.  Although we fished hard, the fish didn't cooperate. We got back to dock around 12:30 pm, cleaned up our gear and kayaks and Jim provided the cup of cheer. Thanks Jim.

 Enjoyable day on the water even without catching fish.