Old fisherman new to kayak fishing

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excav8r
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:22 am

Old fisherman new to kayak fishing

Post by excav8r »

Hi All,

I heard about your site last night from a mailman neighbor of mine who is a sponsored, tournament salt water bass fisherman, and who is a fishing nut (like me but worse). He makes and sells his own lures and has more rods and reels than I have ever seen, and is out this morning fishing around Catalina for some tuna, dorado, and maybe a marlin. He said you guys were probably the best source of information on kayak fishing, and that I ought to check out your site to speed up my learning process on ocean and bay fishing. He is probably a member of your site, but I am embarrassed to say I don't know his name...

Well, let me introduce myself...
My name is Dave, and I am a 64 year old grading contractor who lives in Irvine. I have been retired and enjoying the Life of Riley for about 2 years now. I finally got my first kayak 3 weeks ago, after thinking it looked fun for years. I am a family guy and have been married for 36 years to my beautiful wife, and I have 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters. Life is good.

I am an avid fresh water flyfishing fanatic, and have spent a LOT of time in the Eastern Sierra's fishing it's rivers, creeks, and lakes. My fresh water fishing career started off with salmon eggs at the age of 5 (my dad would tell me to hold them in my mouth on cold mornings to keep them warm), night crawlers, lures, and finally into my favorite of all, flyfishing. I have also been trying a little float tube fishing in the last couple of years on some lakes in Mammoth, and had a lot of fun on Lake Crowley off and on, this last couple of months.

I did a fair amount of salt water fishing with my dad back when I was a kid. Surf fishing at Newport Beach and San Onofre and Carlsbad, pier fishing, fishing the Back Bay at night for bass and halibut back in the day, and a few trips on the ocean on some charter boats. I haven't done much salt water fishing in a long time, but I am about to change that. The ocean is a lot closer than the Sierra's and this kayak fishing looks very fun, and there are a lot of places near Irvine to fish. I will probably fish a lot in Dana Pt. and maybe Newport Harbor since they are close, but there a lot of other fun places I am sure this site will discuss!

The kayak I bought is a used Ocean Kayak Drifter, that is equipped with a Humminbird fishfinder, 3 rod holders, and a live bait tank with an aerator and 2 more rod holders (or net and gaff?), 2 batteries, a cushioned seat with back, paddle, and an adjustable anchor pulley system on one side. I bought it for $500 from a college kid who needed some money for the school year, and didn't have the time to go fishing anymore with all the schoolwork and sports. It seemed like a reasonable deal for the money, and when he told me that he also needed the money for airfare for some missionary work in Rowanda, Africa for Saddleback Church, it was a no brainer and I didn't negotiate!

I have had the kayak out 3 times now in Dana Pt., getting familiar with it, taking it out in the open ocean a bit, and yesterday was the first time I tried a little fishing with it. Took it to Dana Pt. Harbor and was surprised to catch a 24 inch barracuda and a 20 inch halibut in about an hour and a half of fishing near the outer edge of the harbor. I think I'm hooked (and I am lucky that halibut didn't break my medium wt. fresh water fishing rod after bending it double!).

I ordered a kayak life jacket last night (instead of borrowing one again from the kayak rental place). I have talked to a few guys kayak fishing down in Dana Pt. and it looks like a gaff would be smart, and I obviously need to get some salt water fishing gear.

Anyway, I sincerely hope you guys will accept me as a new member. I have a lot to learn, and would really like to read your forum, get some ideas and techniques, and contribute to the site myself once I start fishing.

Thanks a lot !
Dave
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