Another short trip - not a happy ending and a lot of lessons learned

[mwatson71]

Launched at 4am this morning to catch the 4:15-6:15 major. First cast, 16" speck in the bag. Several more casts, several 12" specks and 14" reds. A fish every cast, but none big enough. Like 10 specks and 5 rat reds. I decide to move out to where I can hear more fish feeding in the distance. I am fishing the middle of the channel and there are fish hitting the surface all around me but none will take my lure. I head over to another light and see a few shadows swimming through. I flip my Tsunami into it and hook up with a rat red. I make a loop and toss it in again. The fish heads to a piling and I pedal closer to try to keep it out of the beams. It turns and heads straight under the Hobie, which has now pushed up against the beam.

I turtled.

Rod in one hand, hanging on to my upside down Hobie with the other, suddenly realizing the current is pushing me off of the dock. I try kicking my feet to push back to the dock, but realize I am not going to make it. I have to ride the current to the next dock. I start to breathe, start thinking of worst case scenarios and figure the worst case scenario is that I get pushed all the way out of the channel into the open water and then I can flip the Hobie and reload. I am wearing my PFD. I miss the next dock. Okay, two more docks, two more chances. I manage to get to the next one and grab a hold of the ladder. The tide is low so I can barely reach the bottom rung. One hand on the ladder (still holding my rod with the red still on the other end) and one hand on the Hobie. I wrap my feet around the piling and try to flip the Hobie. I can't flip it. I've turtled in my T160 and had no problem flipping it and getting back in. I've never flipped in the Hobie. I've never practiced righting the Hobie. So I just float there hanging on to the ladder, my rod, and my kayak.

Fortunately, a boat comes by with two fisherman and I ask them for help. They pull over and we manage to get the Hobie right side up. The problem is the hull has now partly filled with water and is unstable and I have no way of emptying it out. They offer to take me in the boat and tow the Hobie back to the launch which I of course graciously accept. One of the guys takes my rod and reels in the 21" red. I get in and we get back to the launch. I thank them and wish them luck and they head off to their day of fishing. I spend about 10 minutes draining the water out of the yak, load up, and take my wet ass home thinking about what went wrong and what went right.

Lessons learned:

Always wear your PFD. Pretty good chance mine saved my life this morning or it at least gave me one less thing to worry about so I could focus on what to do.

Things attached to the kayak stay attached to the kayak: net, crate, paddle, Mirage drive.

Things not attached to the kayak are now at the bottom of the channel: Shimano Ultegra spinning reel on a Waterloo Salinity rod, Shimano Sahara on a Falcon rod, fish grips, hook remover, and a lot of lures and tackle that dumped out of the crate.

Just because you can flip one kayak doesn't mean you can flip another kayak. And Hobies, at least mine, fill with water pretty quickly. It was probably upside down for 8-10 minutes.

So I'm kind of bummed that most of my gear was lost this morning, but I am happy that I am sitting here able to write this post. Perspective.

[Ron Mc]

ouch.
Maybe you needed a new 2020 Twin Power - good prices from Japan.

Don't take this personal, an FYI (or others interested) on home-made rod leashes
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 6#p2292116

[impulse]

Small consolation, but you're welcome to borrow my magnet fishing rig... I keep it around for those times when I drop tools and other stuff off the dock. (Edit: Or dump my kayak. It usually happens when someone's getting in or out at the dock, but...)

I'm in Sea Isle. I think you know which lights.

[SWFinatic]

Thanks for the report! Hate to hear about your day and tackle/gear. Obviously the bright side is you made it safely back and you're writing to tell about it. It's a good reminder to us all how fast it happens.

[mwatson71]

Don't take this personal, an FYI (or others interested) on home-made rod leashes
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 6#p2292116

Yeah, maybe the worst part is I have rod leashes. They were in the back of my SUV. My son and his friend used them when they were trolling in the surf a few weeks ago and I just didn't stick them back in my crate. The current was flowing probably half of what it was the other morning and I just didn't think it would happen. I've only turtled one other time in my T160 when I was yanking on an anchor and when it freed I flipped.

It was a last minute move to bring the other two rods because I have been doing so well with one rod/one lure lately but I wanted to take one with a topwater so I could fish a reef at sunrise.

[mwatson71]

Small consolation, but you're welcome to borrow my magnet fishing rig... I keep it around for those times when I drop tools and other stuff off the dock. (Edit: Or dump my kayak. It usually happens when someone's getting in or out at the dock, but...)

I'm in Sea Isle. I think you know which lights.

Are you there now? Could I swing by around 3:45?

[impulse]

Sure. Brewster Key. With a canoe and a Blue Wave in the driveway.

[Crusader]

I turtled.

Lol. So, Hobie is small enough for a fish to turtle you, but too big for a man to flip it back?

It is hilarious you didn't let go of that fish. I'd do the same Good thing it all ended well.

[TxAquatics]

Lesson learned. I always want to practice deep water reentry, however fishing first always wins. Glad you made it out ok.
I need to work on practicing water reentry to kayak.

[mwatson71]

I turtled.

Lol. So, Hobie is small enough for a fish to turtle you, but too big for a man to flip it back?

The hull wasn't full of water when it turtled me. I am not sure why it filled with water so quickly but makes me real reluctant to go BTB in it.

[SWFinatic]

I turtled.

Lol. So, Hobie is small enough for a fish to turtle you, but too big for a man to flip it back?

The hull wasn't full of water when it turtled me. I am not sure why it filled with water so quickly but makes me real reluctant to go BTB in it.

Depending on what model you have the front hatches on Hobie's are secured only with a bungee so the hatch isn't locked down. When the kayak is upside down the hatch naturally falls down a little and even more if you have stuff inside your hatch that is now pushing down on the lid. Either way it creates an opening and allows lots of water inside the hull. On my PA I added rubber latches that does lock the hatch down before I went BTB just in case this happened. Aside from the hatch there's other areas where water can come in when it's upside down like the rudder steering handle and round or square hatches. You can add petroleum jelly to the round/square hatch seals to help with water coming into them.

[mwatson71]

Thanks. Very good information to have. When I first got this Hobie Shoffer came over and helped add new bungee to it but I can definitely see how water got into it. I love the idea of latches because I never put anything inside the front hatch. My guess is the round hatch also had water come in there as well so I'll try to fix any issue there as well. I just couldn't believe how fast it filled but I guess with me hanging on to it and the current likely pushing the hatch lid open the water had lots of chances to get in.

[SWFinatic]

Here's a pic of my latches. This is on a PA. For other kayaks you may have to find a different style latch. McMaster-Carr.com has a great selection.

[Chubs]

Sucks to hear it man, but glad you made it out safe and sound.

I highly suggest you watch Blake's video on flipping the outback
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 5#p2198986

Waterloo rods are great but they must be bad luck night fishing rods, I flipped with my Waterloo phantom and lost it to SLP last year. And same situation, I normally put floats on all my rods but that time I say "nah I'll be fine, never flipped before!". ... Yup...

[TexasJim]

mwatson: Rotsa Ruck on recovery with a magnet. 98% of all your kayak fishing gear will be non-magnetic: rods, reels, lures and most tools. A few internal reel parts will be steel, otherwise, no. If you know pretty much where you turtled, a small grapple, or even a large treble hook might snag the big items. You only need to snag a line to locate a rod & reel. Good luck!

...TexasJim...

[mwatson71]

We tried with no luck. Plus, with the current and depth (14' according to a homeowner on the canal) they probably drifted hundreds of feet.

[Johnny5455]

Dang, sorry you lost some tackle but glad you made it back safe. I also need to practice deep water recovery. Thanks for the read.

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