I arrived at Dunkin Donuts in Duxbury a little early so I listened to the radio and people watched until Adam arrived. The sky out the driver's side window looked gray and threatening and the wind was up. Scattered thunderstorms and 15 plus winds were predicted for this afternoon so I wondered if we'd be able to pull this thing off. I only have one day to paddle before the second half of my vacation starts so I'll kept my fingers crossed.
Adam pulled into the parking spot next to mine, his red and white Tempest loosely secured to his roof rack looked as though it had seen its share of adventures. Hopefully it would see another one today. We discussed the weather and decided to play it by ear, if worse came to worse and fishing wasn't an option we'd at least get a paddle out of it. I followed Adam to a nearby put-in that I hadn't been to before. "This place will give us quicker access to a number of different fishing spots," Adam explained. But the parking at this location was very limited. After checking out the conditions on the bay we thought it best to put in at Howland's Landing and had no problem finding parking there. Mark had said he would try to catch up with us around 4:30 so Adam told him we'd be monitoring channel 72.
The tide was well on its way out but Howland's Landing is a good place to put in at low water and there was still plenty of solid ground to launch the boats. We geared up and were underway by 4:00 pm. The wind was blowing fairly steady from the South and since I brought the Capella today for added (fishing) stability I found myself fighting the weather cocking a little more than I would have liked. We were headed towards Clark's Island and as we passed Captain's Flats and away from the protection of land the waves and wind increased and it was more of a chore to keep the boats going straight. Adam uses a Greenland paddle and I noticed he would continually use a specific stroke to stay on course without slowing his forward progress much. He told me it was called a stern draw and was used to pull the stern of the boat towards your paddle which brings your bow back on course. He demonstrated and explained it a couple more times as I gave it a try. I've read articles about the stern draw but it's not always easy to visualize performing a stroke when reading about it. After trying it a few more times I began to get the hang of it and my forward progress improved.
<center><img src="http://kayaking.pidgeoncoop.com/images/yakfishing2.jpg" border="1"></center>
Before long and after a good workout we reached the southern point of Clark's. Adam said we would paddle around to the East side of the island and try our luck in Saquish Rip. I'd been out here a number of times before but had never seen the water moving quite like this before. We paddled up to a point where a small spit of land uncovered at low tide blocked our way. Adam took this opportunity to rig up the two rods he had brought with him and by the time he had finished, the current had carried him onto the spit. He hand walked his way off and motioned me to come over and take a rod. He began to scull towards me so I did the same towards him. Unfortunately I was sculling on my weak side so with my paddle vertical a little too much lean and a little extra wave action I soon found myself upside down. I looked up and saw light then brought my paddle around to set up. I tried not to think about the fact that I was in the Capella and had done most of my rolls in the Sirius. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself and snapped up. I came up slowly but the important thing is... I came up, and avoided embarrassment. I'd always wondered what would happen to my hat when this happened and now I had a chance to find out. It was drifting away from me fast and I couldn't maneuver quick enough to get to it. Feeling a tad proud of my recovery I resituated myself while Adam grabbed my hat. He handed me a pole and I secured it under my bungees. "We should paddle a little further down to where the rip is weaker," he said. As we continued on, the paddling was effortless due to the movement of the water. The sky felt very low and was still gray but there was that soothing sense of peace on the water that you sometimes feel before or after a storm. A distant rumble of thunder drew an eye towards the sky but there was no lightening and the rain stayed away. The current was still pretty strong and trying to fish and steer the boat at the same time didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. I pulled up to a ball mooring and held on to think for a minute. "You want to tie up to one of these," I yelled to Adam? He agreed it might not be a bad idea and tied us both up to the mooring. We cast our lines over and over in just about every direction but nothing was biting. I was encouraged by a few bumps that felt like strikes but soon realized it was probably just the lure hitting the bottom since the only thing I was catching was seaweed. We moved to two different mooring balls with the same result.
<center><img src="http://kayaking.pidgeoncoop.com/images/yakfishing1.jpg" border="1"></center>
"This reminds me of fishing with Mark, I never catch any fish when I fish with him," Adam said.
"Speaking of Mark," shouldn't we have heard from him by now," I asked?
"Maybe he looked at the weather and changed his mind."
We continued to paddle all the way around Clark's and it was almost 5:30 now. We decided to call it a day and head back. The tide had turned about an hour ago but the flats were fully exposed forcing us to paddle where the water was until we reached the channel. We tried to raise Mark on the radio a few times but got no response. Once in the channel we saw a few fish breaking the surface. I pulled out the rod again for a few more casts while Adam trolled?.. but still nothing.
<center><img src="http://kayaking.pidgeoncoop.com/images/yakfishing4.jpg" border="1"></center>
We found Howland's Landing pretty muddy when we returned but manageable as we helped each other carry the boats back to the car. Standing at the top of the boat ramp, Adam spotted someone out on the flats with a kayak at his feet. "That looks like Mark," he said as we watched for a few minutes. We tried the radio again but still no response. Either he's too busy fishing or it's time to trade in that Cobra for a new model.
Adam said he was going to wait around awhile to see if Mark came in but I was already overdue and didn't want the wife to worry. We talked about the possibility of a future trip to Monomy which should give me something to look forward to.
<center><img src="http://kayaking.pidgeoncoop.com/images/yakfishing3.jpg" border="1"></center>
Although we didn't catch any fish I did learn a few things about kayak fishing... it's better in the fall and spring, its better with less wind but near moving water, and it's better to fish closer to a turning tide. Hopefully I got that right. I also learned that I need to practice my weak side sculling draw a little more as well.
When I got back I emailed Mark and razzed him about his failing Cobra VHF. He said his batteries were dead and it never left his truck. He returned the razz saying that although we didn't catch any fish that day he, on the other hand was catching fish from the time he got out until long after we we were gone but has still yet to show us any proof of it. Personally, I think it all hogwash.
Thanks again Adam for taking the time to show me the ropes. I really enjoyed myself and hope we can do it again sometime. The beer is on me the next chance we get.
For more information about kayak fishing check out <a href="http://search.blogger.com/?as_q=fish&ie=UTF-8&ui=blg&bl_url=paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">this list</a> of blog entries found on Adam's <a href="http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>.
An Intro to Kayak Fishing
Moderator: Chip
An Intro to Kayak Fishing
Last edited by Birdseye on Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:05 pm, edited 8 times in total.
P&H Quest LV - Yellow/white/blue
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getnoutside
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Nice report. I was out there sailing the day before and I remember thinking that you guys were going to have a helluva time fishing if the conditions didn't change. I brought my rod, but couldn't let go of the "controls" long enough to set things up. I was holding the sheet and rudder so tightly I couldn't straighten my fingers when I got back to the truck. I made it back to Powder Point from Clarks in about 20 minutes with both the wind and large waves at my back. My GPS registered a maxspeed of 8mph and an average of over 6mph. Not the ideal conditions for trolling.