I launched from
about 2 mi. south of the parking lot at 8:30 am, after my three friends
launched their drift boat. (South
of the tower, not quite to the waterfalls.) We were out about half a mile, and there
within five minutes of getting rigged one of the guys had a fish on. Seemed like we’d found the spot, so we
stayed there for the duration. They anchored, and I stayed within 100 ft more
or less while they shouted encouragement in my direction. At least, I think that’s
what they were shouting.
I had an 8 oz banana weight attached to a 10/0 circle hook
on 200# mono, baited with some blue label herring I’d brined up two weeks ago.
Nothing special. I jigged that
bait in 40 ft. of water for about 30 minutes before I got a bite from the
bigger of the two fish on the day.
This time, I was patient and remembered all the suggestions
I received here after my ill-fated reverse sleigh ride of two weeks prior. After setting the hook, I took the time
to hold tension on the line while pulling up the rudder and keeping the rod
forward to follow the fish. SO
much better than being pulled backward!
The fish pulled out quite a bit of line, dragging me along while I
slowly set the drag. I could tell it was a fish I could land, so my mission was
to tire the thing out. I was able
to bring him up to the surface beside the boat 3 times. Each time but the last,
he hovered and then dove straight down before turning south and pulling me
along. After the third time, the fish was tired and so I put down the rudder
and started to pedal my way back to the other boat.
I held the fish about 10 ft. below the surface when I pulled
alongside the friends. All three
guys were eager to help: gaff, gun, harpoon at the ready. The fish wasn’t moving so I reminded
them that this was the first fish I’d caught on this new kayak and I really
wanted to boat it myself. They
guys said I’d never get it in the net. One of them leaned over and handed me a
T-handled fish picker, and I gaffed the fish with that and hauled it onto my
lap. Just barely. Another of the guys leaned over with
his big gaff, and swung that fish off my boat and into the bottom of the drift
boat. That was it. Later we put a tape on that fish, and
it measured 45” so probably was 42 lbs.
Since that rig worked so well, I just rebaited the same hook
and sent it back down again.
Missed one. It was about an hour before the next fish bit – still in the
same general area. The second fish
was the smaller of the two, later taped at 43”, so estimated at 37 lbs. It only ran on me twice, and didn’t
take me as far from the drift boat that was still at anchor. I was whooping and
hollering from the sheer thrill of the ride. After I got that fish up to the surface the second time, it
didn’t sound again and so I dropped the rudder and peddled over to my
friends. That took less than 10
minutes. On the second fish, I didn’t have any qualms about just letting the
other guy gaff the fish and put it in the tub.
Great fun!
Plus, I managed to avoid impaling myself on the fish picker. On
reflection, that was probably a bad decision on my part – but all’s well that
ends well. I think I need a harpoon though. Open to suggestions, that’s for sure.
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