Estero Bay Kayak Fishing began as a way to share our love of fishing and the area where we live, work, and play. We are located along coastal San Luis Obispo County on California's Central Coast. This area is a kayak fisherman's dream with great fishing and epic scenery. Our goal is to share adventures, expand awareness for kayak fishing, and to help fishermen new and old get the most out of our local fishery. Let us know what's hitting in your waters. Cheers, "Tebbs"
Friday, January 30, 2015
Wilderness Systems Prostaff 2015
I am very happy to announce that I have been asked to renew my prostaff contract with Wilderness Systems Kayaks and Adventure Technology Paddles for another year. Wilderness Systems and AT have been very supportive and I am honored to be in the company of one of the best pro staffs in the business. Two of my buddies also made the teams this year and I would like to welcome Chad Britton and Andy O'Brien to 2015 WIldy and AT pro staffs as well! Well done fellas!
Sunday, January 4, 2015
New Years halibut video
Here is a video I did of the New Years Eve halibut catch from Cambria, Ca
New Years Eve Halibut Video
New Years Eve Halibut Video
New Years Eve 2014...Wind, Halibut, and a Mayday!
First off, Happy New Year! This is my first post of 2015 and I post it with the hope that we can all learn something or at least to reaffirm what many of you already know. It is kind of long but I hope that you enjoy it. After reading, post up your thoughts and any experiences you have had where you found yourself in trouble on the water.
12/31/2014 @ 07:45 - A group of 7 of us arrived at Leffingwell Landing in Cambria, Ca to find choppy seas and a steady east (offshore) wind. After some discussion of alternate locations and pros and cons we decided to give it a shot. The wind seemed to be dropping and by the time we launched the wind was noticeably less and the sea was starting to lay down.
08:30 - We had an easy launch and it really wasn't bad at all out on the water. We all worked our way out, a few of us getting out to 100 feet of water. At that spot I was marking some good fish feeding on a cloud of bait so I dropped a double hook, rock fish fly rig and immediately hooked up. It felt like a couple of small blues but as I brought it up I was surprised to see 2 decent sized macks. I lost one of them while unhooking the other. I figured since I had some good live bait I would give it a shot and see what I could make happen on this last day of the California rock fish season. I dug out a dropper loop rig that I had in one of my boxes. I pinned the mack through the nose on the in line loop and attached a Big Hammer Swimbait on a 4 oz. jig head on the bottom of the rig. The mackerel immediately took off with some really good, lively action. I had drifted out into 120 feet of water while rigging up the mack so I started to slowly work my way back in toward the rest of the guys hitting some structure here and there as I went.
09:30 - The wind was starting to pick up again and some of the guys were starting to slowly work their way in closer to shore. We began to do the same but just as we did my rod slowly doubled over like I had gotten snagged on the drift. After taking the rod out of the holder I gave it a little tug to see if I could un-snag it and it gave a tug back. Oh Yeah! Fish on! I gave the reel a few cranks and then the fish headed for the floor, peeling off line as it went. It made a good hard run and went straight to the bottom and stayed there. I told my partner, "this is either a really big ling or its a nice Halibut or White Seabass!". It took a little while to coax it up off the bottom and then it was just a matter of hauling in dead weight on the end of the line. It made one more small run and I was finally able to get it to the surface. At first color I initially thought it was a hawg of a lingcod then it turned and I saw the wide, flat body of a halibut. Hell yeah! I missed my first gaff shot, hitting it square in its dome. The second one found its mark right under its head in the soft underside. Once on the gaff I knew he was mine. I let out a huge WHOOP! and got him on the clip. I hooked him in 100 fow and he came in at just under 36" and just shy of 25 lbs.
Approx. 10:00 - Once I got the fish secured on the clip, got my gear stowed, and laid him on my lap for the paddle in I realized how far south-west we had been blown by the wind. It also became clear that the wind was no longer just a nuisance, it was now a force to reckon with. It was myself and another member of our group who had stayed by my side during the battle with the fish in case I needed assistance. I was able to make slow progress against the wind in my Wilderness Systems Thresher 140, while continuing to check behind to make sure my partner was doing the same. The wind was continuing to build as were the seas. We started taking some pretty good chop over the bows and spray in our faces. The sea had turned angry my friends! As I struggled to make headway of my own I noticed that my partner was not, in fact it looked as though he was losing ground. I radioed another member of the group to report our situation but due to the wind noise and his own struggle to get back to shore we had trouble communicating. We continued to battle the wind and I made the decision to remain with my partner seeing that he was not going to be able to make it back in. I relayed to the others that we were going to need assistance but communications were still difficult. Finally, I made a difficult decision, I switched to channel 16 and called Mayday, Mayday, Mayday...
Making that call was one of the harder things I have had to do. I work for the fire department! I am the one people call for help, I knew my friends and co-workers were going to hear about it, and my own ego was screaming at me to quit jacking around and paddle for shore! But the reality of the situation was that we were in trouble and further delay was just going to make it worse.
..."vessel with the mayday, continue with your emergency" or something like that. To my surprise it was the USCG out of Long Beach calling me back. I figured it would be the local Morro Bay station but Long Beach (approx. 4 hours south of my location) had picked up my transmission on my little handheld vhf on channel 16. They relayed the information to Morro Bay and from that point I communicated with them. It took a little work to get them our position using landmarks on shore and our general position relative to shore. It took the vessel approx. 1 hour to make it up the coast to us (they temporarily got diverted to an overturned kayaker off of Cayucos, but he was rescued by the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol). At this point we were approximately 3 miles offshore and 5 miles south of the bridge at Leffingwell (our launching location), in 240 feet of water. Now, that distance wouldn't normally be an issue but with the strong offshore wind we may as well have been 100 miles out. While waiting for the Coast Guard we did our best to stay together and and to keep our bows faced into the wind and our kayaks upright. Eventually, the wind did start to subside and we were able to make some headway back towards land, getting to 190 feet of water at the time of pick up.
Approx. 11:00 - The Coast Guard arrived and we could hear the 47' Motor Life Boat before we could see it. Once they reached the area they were able to pinpoint our location by zeroing in on our radio transmission and came and picked us up. They were great guys who were more concerned with the fact that we had a fat halibut on board than they were about chastising us for our predicament. They hauled all of our gear on board and gave us a ride back in closer to shore. After taking some pics with the crew, did I mention how awesome they were, they dropped us off and we paddled the rest of the way back in. On our ride back in, the boat passed by a couple more guys from our group who had also been blown out and were working their way back in with the reduced winds. The USCG dropped us next to them and we all made it back in together safe and sound, but very tired.
Out of the 7 who launched together, 4 were blown offshore and the other 3 had battles of their own to make it back in. All members stayed on hand until they were sure that everyone was accounted for and safely back onshore. We all shared some happy, relieved, and sheepish laughs once reunited, glad to be able to share our story and looking forward to fishing together again.
Understandably, some people are saying that we put safety aside to fish, perhaps we did. But there was 7 of us there, the conditions that we saw and the forecast that we were working off of (showing the winds decreasing as the day wore on) looked to us favorable and they were indeed declining. It was basically a 2 hour window, from about 10:00 - 12:00, of strong wind that blew us out and led to the eventual rescue. When we were dropped off the winds had died away to a calm breeze and the water looked beautiful.
Lessons learned...
1. Never underestimate the effect the wind can have on you, especially an east wind on the west coast. Had we stayed in shallower and fished the kelp we would have been in better shape and most likely could have made it back on our own.
2. Never, ever, leave shore without a fully charged and functional vhf radio. This will be my mantra forever.
3. Always, always wear your PFD. Had we gone in the water and lost our grip on our yaks, it is very likely that we would have been separated from it very quickly in the wind and chop. We were in very choppy seas in 54 degree water. No PFD would likely have proven fatal.
4. Both of us normally have a gps unit with us but on this day neither of us had our with us, of course. Even though the USCG was able to find us, giving them our exact coordinates would have made it much easier. If your fish finder doesn't have gps, think about bringing a handheld unit with you.
5. Fish with a partner and stick within sight of each other. I think having 2 of us together kept the stress of the situation down as we were able to talk and somewhat joke about the situation. We were wondering how Fiji was this time of year.
6. Finally, if you think you are in trouble and are going to need help. DO NOT WAIT to make the call. Get help coming and if you end up not needing them you can cancel them. Remember, there is lag time involved with getting that help in place and to you.
Well, there you have it, in full detail. Questions, comments let them fly. I hope that by sharing this somewhat humiliating experience others can learn from it. I'll post a video of the halibut catch once I get it together. Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Tebbs
12/31/2014 @ 07:45 - A group of 7 of us arrived at Leffingwell Landing in Cambria, Ca to find choppy seas and a steady east (offshore) wind. After some discussion of alternate locations and pros and cons we decided to give it a shot. The wind seemed to be dropping and by the time we launched the wind was noticeably less and the sea was starting to lay down.
Our launch location on a calmer day
08:30 - We had an easy launch and it really wasn't bad at all out on the water. We all worked our way out, a few of us getting out to 100 feet of water. At that spot I was marking some good fish feeding on a cloud of bait so I dropped a double hook, rock fish fly rig and immediately hooked up. It felt like a couple of small blues but as I brought it up I was surprised to see 2 decent sized macks. I lost one of them while unhooking the other. I figured since I had some good live bait I would give it a shot and see what I could make happen on this last day of the California rock fish season. I dug out a dropper loop rig that I had in one of my boxes. I pinned the mack through the nose on the in line loop and attached a Big Hammer Swimbait on a 4 oz. jig head on the bottom of the rig. The mackerel immediately took off with some really good, lively action. I had drifted out into 120 feet of water while rigging up the mack so I started to slowly work my way back in toward the rest of the guys hitting some structure here and there as I went.
09:30 - The wind was starting to pick up again and some of the guys were starting to slowly work their way in closer to shore. We began to do the same but just as we did my rod slowly doubled over like I had gotten snagged on the drift. After taking the rod out of the holder I gave it a little tug to see if I could un-snag it and it gave a tug back. Oh Yeah! Fish on! I gave the reel a few cranks and then the fish headed for the floor, peeling off line as it went. It made a good hard run and went straight to the bottom and stayed there. I told my partner, "this is either a really big ling or its a nice Halibut or White Seabass!". It took a little while to coax it up off the bottom and then it was just a matter of hauling in dead weight on the end of the line. It made one more small run and I was finally able to get it to the surface. At first color I initially thought it was a hawg of a lingcod then it turned and I saw the wide, flat body of a halibut. Hell yeah! I missed my first gaff shot, hitting it square in its dome. The second one found its mark right under its head in the soft underside. Once on the gaff I knew he was mine. I let out a huge WHOOP! and got him on the clip. I hooked him in 100 fow and he came in at just under 36" and just shy of 25 lbs.
Approx. 10:00 - Once I got the fish secured on the clip, got my gear stowed, and laid him on my lap for the paddle in I realized how far south-west we had been blown by the wind. It also became clear that the wind was no longer just a nuisance, it was now a force to reckon with. It was myself and another member of our group who had stayed by my side during the battle with the fish in case I needed assistance. I was able to make slow progress against the wind in my Wilderness Systems Thresher 140, while continuing to check behind to make sure my partner was doing the same. The wind was continuing to build as were the seas. We started taking some pretty good chop over the bows and spray in our faces. The sea had turned angry my friends! As I struggled to make headway of my own I noticed that my partner was not, in fact it looked as though he was losing ground. I radioed another member of the group to report our situation but due to the wind noise and his own struggle to get back to shore we had trouble communicating. We continued to battle the wind and I made the decision to remain with my partner seeing that he was not going to be able to make it back in. I relayed to the others that we were going to need assistance but communications were still difficult. Finally, I made a difficult decision, I switched to channel 16 and called Mayday, Mayday, Mayday...
Making that call was one of the harder things I have had to do. I work for the fire department! I am the one people call for help, I knew my friends and co-workers were going to hear about it, and my own ego was screaming at me to quit jacking around and paddle for shore! But the reality of the situation was that we were in trouble and further delay was just going to make it worse.
The USCG arriving at our location
..."vessel with the mayday, continue with your emergency" or something like that. To my surprise it was the USCG out of Long Beach calling me back. I figured it would be the local Morro Bay station but Long Beach (approx. 4 hours south of my location) had picked up my transmission on my little handheld vhf on channel 16. They relayed the information to Morro Bay and from that point I communicated with them. It took a little work to get them our position using landmarks on shore and our general position relative to shore. It took the vessel approx. 1 hour to make it up the coast to us (they temporarily got diverted to an overturned kayaker off of Cayucos, but he was rescued by the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol). At this point we were approximately 3 miles offshore and 5 miles south of the bridge at Leffingwell (our launching location), in 240 feet of water. Now, that distance wouldn't normally be an issue but with the strong offshore wind we may as well have been 100 miles out. While waiting for the Coast Guard we did our best to stay together and and to keep our bows faced into the wind and our kayaks upright. Eventually, the wind did start to subside and we were able to make some headway back towards land, getting to 190 feet of water at the time of pick up.
Approx. 11:00 - The Coast Guard arrived and we could hear the 47' Motor Life Boat before we could see it. Once they reached the area they were able to pinpoint our location by zeroing in on our radio transmission and came and picked us up. They were great guys who were more concerned with the fact that we had a fat halibut on board than they were about chastising us for our predicament. They hauled all of our gear on board and gave us a ride back in closer to shore. After taking some pics with the crew, did I mention how awesome they were, they dropped us off and we paddled the rest of the way back in. On our ride back in, the boat passed by a couple more guys from our group who had also been blown out and were working their way back in with the reduced winds. The USCG dropped us next to them and we all made it back in together safe and sound, but very tired.
A couple members of the Morro Bay USCG crew that came to our aid
Out of the 7 who launched together, 4 were blown offshore and the other 3 had battles of their own to make it back in. All members stayed on hand until they were sure that everyone was accounted for and safely back onshore. We all shared some happy, relieved, and sheepish laughs once reunited, glad to be able to share our story and looking forward to fishing together again.
Understandably, some people are saying that we put safety aside to fish, perhaps we did. But there was 7 of us there, the conditions that we saw and the forecast that we were working off of (showing the winds decreasing as the day wore on) looked to us favorable and they were indeed declining. It was basically a 2 hour window, from about 10:00 - 12:00, of strong wind that blew us out and led to the eventual rescue. When we were dropped off the winds had died away to a calm breeze and the water looked beautiful.
Back on shore with almost 25 lbs. of BUTT! You can see in the background how calm the sea had become again.
The following day I took 2 large bags of halibut filets over to the boys at the USCG station as a thank you. Thanks again guys!
Lessons learned...
1. Never underestimate the effect the wind can have on you, especially an east wind on the west coast. Had we stayed in shallower and fished the kelp we would have been in better shape and most likely could have made it back on our own.
2. Never, ever, leave shore without a fully charged and functional vhf radio. This will be my mantra forever.
3. Always, always wear your PFD. Had we gone in the water and lost our grip on our yaks, it is very likely that we would have been separated from it very quickly in the wind and chop. We were in very choppy seas in 54 degree water. No PFD would likely have proven fatal.
4. Both of us normally have a gps unit with us but on this day neither of us had our with us, of course. Even though the USCG was able to find us, giving them our exact coordinates would have made it much easier. If your fish finder doesn't have gps, think about bringing a handheld unit with you.
5. Fish with a partner and stick within sight of each other. I think having 2 of us together kept the stress of the situation down as we were able to talk and somewhat joke about the situation. We were wondering how Fiji was this time of year.
6. Finally, if you think you are in trouble and are going to need help. DO NOT WAIT to make the call. Get help coming and if you end up not needing them you can cancel them. Remember, there is lag time involved with getting that help in place and to you.
Well, there you have it, in full detail. Questions, comments let them fly. I hope that by sharing this somewhat humiliating experience others can learn from it. I'll post a video of the halibut catch once I get it together. Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Tebbs
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