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I am of course talking about me. The trip started with a stupid mistake. Pretty much EVERY time I go fishing I run through a checklist in the truck before leaving the house. On Sunday, I said to myself "I am sure I have everything so I am just going to go". I make the hour drive to the ramp and when I go to get my cart (wheels) to plug into my kayak so I can roll it down the ramp after I load up and guess what - no cart!!
That means I need to hand carry everything down, then put it in the kayak, and then shove off. All that carrying made me overheated so I decided to pull my kayak out around the dock so as not to block the ramp while I went up to the truck and stripped off a few layers. I accomplish that and I am walking back down to the dock and look, there's my kayak floating down the Columbia!!
Yep, I forgot to tie it off. I did that once a long time ago and then I was able to grab it before it got away. No such luck this time. It was a good 100' down the river when I saw it. So I stripped off my rain gear, put my PFD back on and jumped in the river. Really took the long walk off the short pier. Now if I was smart I would have stripped down (since no one else was around) and kept my clothes dry. Of course I did not think of that in the moment.
So I backstroke my way out to the kayak (easiest way to swim in a PFD in case anyone is wondering), grab a hold of my kayak and swim it back to the dock. This time I did tie it off while floating beside it. I then swam over to the ramp, walked back out the dock and put my rain gear back on and started fishing.
Now I started fishing pretty close to the dock which is pretty protected from the wind. I was a little chilly but not too bad. I even caught a couple of bass on back-to-back casts on a topwater at that spot. I then headed out around the point into the wind and the rain was starting as well. I immediately started shivering like crazy but I kept fishing thinking I would just warm up under my rain gear from the casting and retrieving. I picked up two more bass on that point, once again on back-to-back casts which was fun, when I started shivering uncontrollably.
The only good news is that the layers I had stripped off before were dry since they were pre-swim. I went back to the ramp and tied my kayak up and took off my two wet shirt layers and put on dry ones. Of course by then the inside of my rain gear was pretty wet and I could do nothing about my lower half being soaked.
I headed back out and it was a bit better. I still shivered a fair bit but at least I was not feeling hypothermic anymore. The next spot I hit was a dud but the spot after that had a good bite going on the drop shot. I caught 5 bass pretty quickly, including my day's best (only 2lb 5oz). For some reason I decided that I should move after making two casts without a bite.
The next two spots were duds, then I picked up 1 fish off of each of the next two spots. on the jack hammer stealth blade I was looking for giants but catching dinks. I was really trying to make the big swimbait bite happen. I was throwing a Megabass Magdraft (that I had just bought) on a new rod I had bought for that purpose (Dobyns Fury 704). I love the way that rod casts that bait but unfortunately I can't speak to its fish fighting capabilities
I did have one hard bite that didn't stick but that was it for a lot of casting.
The next few spots I fished were duds and then I cam upon another spot where the bass were eager to eat my drop shot. Once again I caught 5 bass pretty quickly (a couple of them were complete dinks) when once again I decided that I could do better somewhere else on size.
Of course, the next spots I fished were duds. Then the wind shifted and picked up from 11mph to 31mph in just 20 minutes time. I went from mildly shivering to freezing my behind off again. I caught a fish on the wobblehead and missed another a cast or two later when I decided I had better head back.
I have been out there in some pretty rough weather but I think this may have been the worst. The wind had created by waves (maybe 3 or 4 feet for the big ones) and it was a white knuckle pedal back to the ramp. I was constantly fighting the rudder to not get turnend by the waves as they crashed into me from behind (at least the wind was at my back on the way to the ramp). I was pedaling around 4mph but when a big wave would hit me it would jet me ahead to 6mph (as told by the Garmin) and almost drive the nose of the kayak under. I had to keep a slight angle to the waves to keep from burying the nose of the kayak.
I tell you I was super glad when I finally made it around the point and into the protected area by the ramp. I was shivering and exhausted but grateful. Of course, since I had forgotten my cart I was rewarded with hand carrying everything back to the truck to end the day.
The only good think I can take from this is that I think I used up all my stupidity and bad luck for at least a year. I should be wrecking them for the foreseeable future
No pictures on the day but here is the video.
That means I need to hand carry everything down, then put it in the kayak, and then shove off. All that carrying made me overheated so I decided to pull my kayak out around the dock so as not to block the ramp while I went up to the truck and stripped off a few layers. I accomplish that and I am walking back down to the dock and look, there's my kayak floating down the Columbia!!
Yep, I forgot to tie it off. I did that once a long time ago and then I was able to grab it before it got away. No such luck this time. It was a good 100' down the river when I saw it. So I stripped off my rain gear, put my PFD back on and jumped in the river. Really took the long walk off the short pier. Now if I was smart I would have stripped down (since no one else was around) and kept my clothes dry. Of course I did not think of that in the moment.
So I backstroke my way out to the kayak (easiest way to swim in a PFD in case anyone is wondering), grab a hold of my kayak and swim it back to the dock. This time I did tie it off while floating beside it. I then swam over to the ramp, walked back out the dock and put my rain gear back on and started fishing.
Now I started fishing pretty close to the dock which is pretty protected from the wind. I was a little chilly but not too bad. I even caught a couple of bass on back-to-back casts on a topwater at that spot. I then headed out around the point into the wind and the rain was starting as well. I immediately started shivering like crazy but I kept fishing thinking I would just warm up under my rain gear from the casting and retrieving. I picked up two more bass on that point, once again on back-to-back casts which was fun, when I started shivering uncontrollably.
The only good news is that the layers I had stripped off before were dry since they were pre-swim. I went back to the ramp and tied my kayak up and took off my two wet shirt layers and put on dry ones. Of course by then the inside of my rain gear was pretty wet and I could do nothing about my lower half being soaked.
I headed back out and it was a bit better. I still shivered a fair bit but at least I was not feeling hypothermic anymore. The next spot I hit was a dud but the spot after that had a good bite going on the drop shot. I caught 5 bass pretty quickly, including my day's best (only 2lb 5oz). For some reason I decided that I should move after making two casts without a bite.
The next two spots were duds, then I picked up 1 fish off of each of the next two spots. on the jack hammer stealth blade I was looking for giants but catching dinks. I was really trying to make the big swimbait bite happen. I was throwing a Megabass Magdraft (that I had just bought) on a new rod I had bought for that purpose (Dobyns Fury 704). I love the way that rod casts that bait but unfortunately I can't speak to its fish fighting capabilities
I did have one hard bite that didn't stick but that was it for a lot of casting.The next few spots I fished were duds and then I cam upon another spot where the bass were eager to eat my drop shot. Once again I caught 5 bass pretty quickly (a couple of them were complete dinks) when once again I decided that I could do better somewhere else on size.
Of course, the next spots I fished were duds. Then the wind shifted and picked up from 11mph to 31mph in just 20 minutes time. I went from mildly shivering to freezing my behind off again. I caught a fish on the wobblehead and missed another a cast or two later when I decided I had better head back.
I have been out there in some pretty rough weather but I think this may have been the worst. The wind had created by waves (maybe 3 or 4 feet for the big ones) and it was a white knuckle pedal back to the ramp. I was constantly fighting the rudder to not get turnend by the waves as they crashed into me from behind (at least the wind was at my back on the way to the ramp). I was pedaling around 4mph but when a big wave would hit me it would jet me ahead to 6mph (as told by the Garmin) and almost drive the nose of the kayak under. I had to keep a slight angle to the waves to keep from burying the nose of the kayak.
I tell you I was super glad when I finally made it around the point and into the protected area by the ramp. I was shivering and exhausted but grateful. Of course, since I had forgotten my cart I was rewarded with hand carrying everything back to the truck to end the day.
The only good think I can take from this is that I think I used up all my stupidity and bad luck for at least a year. I should be wrecking them for the foreseeable future
No pictures on the day but here is the video.
