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Panhandling

Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
Blakfin Tuna (BFT) are hitting the sand hard here last couple of days... guys are trolling circles around the reefs.

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I haven't been out yet - these are all from yaks...
 
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Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
Gave it good try yesterday. Work wouldn'tlet me launch until 1230. 5 hours of trolling 50° winds, 63° sea temps. No knockdowns but lures in the water. Gonna try again in the next WX window. Hope to bring some along this weekend to the hog hunt.

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LoL in the groups I'm in its known as the Sunset pic- if you post one up, it goes without saying you didn't catch any keepers :ROFLMAO:
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Young guns that braved bad conditions last Sat and Sun were well rewarded.
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Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
@switchhitter
The thing is there are three kinds of kayaks. What makes you happy is based on what your desired outcome is.

1. Sit-in - only paddles make these go. Everything from ocean going to rivers to surfing.

2. Sit-on - these come in
a. Peddle
b. Paddle

If you want to fish and enjoy 🎣 fishing than the Peddles are the only real option.

I have both types of Sit-on yaks, peddle and paddle. Fished with the paddle yak for a couple years, tried a peddle and NEVER looked back.

But. I love a paddle kayak, if you're just out tooling and groving in the swells/chop its a shitton of fun. We take the paddle yaks over and 'surf' small clean sets... its a blast.

That's a wilderness system 14 paddle yak, 2005 I believe. Just about the last time went fishing in a paddle yak. Just too hard as your hands have to switch a seemingly infinite number of times. Pole, paddle, pole, paddle, bait, paddle...etc etc
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The yak I went trolling yesterday with is a Hobie Revolution 13.

All Hobie's are peddle driven, I call them bat wings, some makers drives are propeller driven.

By all means, I tell everyone when looking for a kayak, put our butt in it while its in the water - before you buy. Try them - you've yak'd before so in a min you'll know... and you'll be hooked.
 

Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
Got it done this AM... 25.6# Blackfin
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Going out in 39° air and 62° water is no joke. We almost lost a newbie guy, pvc waders, no VHF, no buddy.

My post the coastal FB yak group.
Teamwork between mariners to get another safely to shore.

Guy flipped and was in peril. He was wearing WADERS they filled up and he couldn't get back on board and when he did the extra weight flipped him two more time until cold exhausted him and he just quit.
It's not a game, not who's got a bigger voice. Safety first fellas.

I'll let others out there add. I just relayed the msg via VHF to USCG and coordinated the lifeguards at 38C... others got him on a pro angler and to the beach.


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Tuna's back on the menu...
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Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
Opening day of Recreational Red Snapper season this AM and atrocious conditions, continuous lighting, squalls etc. Hopefully no one gets sideways in the slop.

When the big storms roll in from the North with a heavy swell from the South there are only two inlets that get dangerous as hell with a following sea.

Exactly whats happening.
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Stressless

Active Member
2,128
85
Keene, OH
Caught my personal best Saltwater Fish today, used two web sites to get an estimate, a 6' Goliath is ~270# and a 6.5' is ~371# so somewhere in there and I'm estimating length a bit low I think... Anyway - Fabulous day off Navarre this AM!

Using a butterflied sand perch a snapper ate and I had him for a 5-6 seconds and wham!; the grouper hit - based on the pull of the snapper figure it was 18-20" big bait!

I wrestled with the big ol'gurl for 15m or so and kept 25-35# on it most of the time, got it halfway up around 8-10 times and it just wagged it's tail and went right back to the bottom. I put "Maximum Effort" into the last pull and dragged her up. Got her alongside, air bladder was keeping her up, got the hook out of her lip - a 2/0 mutu brought that beast up.
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After I got the hook out, I tried lifting her tail to get her head pointed down but she just thrashed ... 4- or 5 times, the tail root on that girl was over a foot in width and the tail was way bigger that a 5 gal bucket lid so I was having issues trying to lift. I started getting a bad feeling after 5 mins or of actively trying to get her back down via the tail lift so I put my mask and snorkel on, with the cam above it. I was just going over the side, one leg was already in, to grab her head and shove her down and she made the flip that I caught on film to get back down. Good catch and release!



Got my two ARS and back for the 1000 work call.

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