got my first yak fish last night
 

Holy moly.. was a decent 32incher. Pulled me all over the place. I cant imagine anything bigger, I would have been pulled out to sea. First fish on a new reel too.. reel with good mojo? Yay. Was my first time ever in a yak. crazy experience. I'm not sure if i like fishing from it yet. I enjoyed cruising around all day, but something about the fish being mostly in control was unsettling. Especially since he was pulling me towards a current that my buddy and I barely got our yaks out of.. that was filled with boat traffic. i dunno what I would have done if he got me into it.

Thats awesome Chris!! One thing about yak fishing is its good to know your surroundings....or your "place" so to speak! I personally stay out of the lanes when ever possible and tend to fish the shoreline focusing on structure such as boulder fields! What area (general) were you fishing?

we were around plum island. we crossed over to the island without much incident, but when we crossed back it was mid tide. i got back over just fine, if not a hundred yards off target my buddy struggled though. they were his yaks, and i feel like i had more experience in them then he did. =/ he told me to go ahead to some rocks earlier, he stayed behind, and flipped himself in the current trying to anchor while i was out of sight.. i told him a million times we had to get out of the current before we could fish. he almost drowned himself.. lucky he didnt. lost all his tackle though.
anyway.. we ended up working pockets of lesser currents along the shore. but the fish started pulling me right out into the boat channel/current. luckily it made a 180 turn and headed back towards shore. i was freaking out, cause if he got back into that current around all the moored boats, plus the traffic, i wasnt sure what i was gonna do.. he had to have pulled me about 200 yards when all was said and done.

the original plan was use the yaks to get to spots and then fish from shore. but it turned into just fishing from the yaks after half the day was spent just paddling around. 3 or 4 cast in and i was on. that fish felt like a mac truck. it was actually incredibly heavy for its size. had my drag set pretty high, was pulling the yak, and taking line at the same time. best of all was jumping all over the place. actually scared another large striper, and that jumped out of the water next to the one i had on. sun was setting, calm water,was an awesome moment.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Next time you see your buddy give him a "Denozo" upside the back of his head for attempting to anchor a kayak in the Merrimac River :doh:

Make sure he stays away from the mouth of the river as well....then he'll just become a statistic.

Not a problem shooting back and forth across the river in a yak, but you have to REALLY pay attention to the current there or you will end up in trouble.

Congrats on the PB from the Yak....its a blast Ain't It. :hee:

Nantucket sleigh ride ;)
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I already gave him a verbal lashing for it. It was the mouth BTW.. at that point, i had circled around the front of the island, we had dragged the yaks through the water on the shore out to the front... i went around to the front side, lost sight of him, cause apparently he decided to try and set him self up along the ""edge"" of the current.. which there was none..i couldn't even begin to let him know how stupid it was. He kind of figured it out after dumping and almost dying.

and thanks. Was definitely an experience.. i'm thinking i prefer to be firmly planted On the ground though.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Yeah that's a prime example of what NOT TO DO in a yak. Hopefully you are right and he learned.

congrats on the fish, oh yeah it's a freakin blast huh? When you are in a yak you really do have to think about "what if I were to hook up right now" and be aware of the area like Larry said. If I'm going through a hairy place, I'll usually reel in my line to make sure I DON'T hook up!

You can beat it when they are towing you around though!

Some people are not that smart.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

If you feel like you are getting pulled into unsafe waters, place the rod back into the holder and paddle like hell to safe water towing the fighting fish. If you lose her so be it. You don't lose your life. Always carry a knife just in case you need to cut the line.

That was my initial thought, but I couldn't hold on to the rod with one hand to put it in the holder which was behind my seat, and awkward to put the rod in. Had my drag set higher than normal, cause it was a brand new reel, new line, and figured in a yak I could have it a little higher since the yak would give. So it was really tugging... and i was worried about stability, etc.. had no idea what to do at first. Had a paddle in one hand, rod in the other.. trying to figure out how to get to my knife which I left in the dry storage, it didn't work. Finally I just told myself to calm down, I had the fish about 20 yards away. I could pull myself to him in time. So relieve when i turned him towards shore.

Like i said, my original intent was to fish from sand bars on foot... but we stopped to get a few last casts in by where we launched before sundown..
ya know, the last hurrah when getting skunked, and you just want to cast until the eel flies off so you don't have to deal with it.. so I was not anticipating having to fight the largest striper I've ever caught
(Im terrible, remember) from a yak, with a surf rod..

hell of a time. I'Il remember it forever. And all the lessons from the day....

gotta get a yak now though. I doubt i'll fish from it much, but they are completely awesome for getting around to different spots. And scouting what's out under the water. plus its just a fun workout.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Catching fish Skishing is probably # 1 in my book, but from a yak is pretty cool also. Of coarse throwing Pikies off the rocks is right up there near the top !!!

I dunno, it doesn't sound to me like you guys planned all this that
carefully. I mean, either end of PI has got serious current; I've never
heard of anyone going out the Merrimack in a 'yak, unless maybe
they're top rated white water experts. Yakking has some serious
safety considerations. Before you go out, you should be checking
your tides, currents, fishing locations, likely boat traffic (yeah, they
can dump you too) everything, to be sure you know where you're
going and what you're doing. If you have any doubts about the currents
or tides at a spot, stay away until you're sure. Otherwise, you could
be in for a pretty salty-tasting surprise!

first striiper i ever hooed in kayak ...... paddle towards whitewater cast, hooked up, paddled backwards to safe water.... line straightend out, got pulled rite to where i hiooked her and did not want to be, almost pooped my pants, got rolled around three times, thank god for leashes... finally got my bearings and pulld away. hooked ever sinse tha day. i'll admit i have to keep a pic of my daugter on me to keeep me from being stupit

you could throw a drift sock over the side
to put the brakes on the fish a bit... :think:

you waited a long time for that ... i'm sure

You can always hold your rod along the length of your paddle and paddle to safety with a fish on the end of your line. It's awkward but you can do it. Or you drop the rod in your rod holder. I always give myself wide berths to dangerous situations.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

i bought the ocean torque and no do not have to worry as much. Putting the brakes on or hitting reverse is much easier in this rig and allows both hands to fight the fish. the only down side to trolling some plugs is the steady speed as opposed to the erratic speed of rowing. but being able to mark fish and hang over them in a rip while jigging is awesome.