Posted By: Yakety_Yak
SURFSIDE BTB, FRIDAY, JUNE 3RD (REPORT) - 07/25/20 12:11 AM
I know, I know, this report is way late. You know how it goes though. Life get's in the way of things. Better late than never is what I say, lol. No worries, you guys are going to get an interesting report. My report starts off with me waking up fairly early. I already have the car loaded and ready to go. All I need to do is wake up, get my clothes on, grab a few items, and out the door I go. I get in my car and take off. First stop I make is to Shipley Do-nuts. After grabbing a few sausage and cheese kolaches, I head toward Hwy 288. I usually stop at the Buc-ee's in Lake Jackson instead of the one closer to Surfside. The Surfside Buc-ee's is way too crowded and they are almost always or always out of ice. The Lake Jackson Buc-ee's seems to have ice when I need it. After stopping quickly for some ice, I finish off the last trek of my trip to Surfside.
Now that I am in Surfside, I head over to the public boat ramp (next to the coast guard station). I believe I was the first one there. It doesn't take me long to get things ready. As I am preparing my yak, others arrive. Not long before we launch, I run a quick meeting with the new guys going BTB. Don't worry, we formed a large circle and made sure we practiced social distancing. After giving a few bits of information, a few questions were asked. Once all questions were answered, we all went to our yaks and prepared to put them in the water.
We had around 20 kayakers at this outing. Five of these kayaks were paddle kayaks. One of the paddle yaks also had a trolling motor on it. I spoke to the kayak(s) that I felt that might not be good for this but despite my warnings, those individuals decided to give it a try.
If you have never been to what we call the coast guard boat launch, it's pretty cool. They have three boat ramps, a bathroom (not really all that great of a restroom), and a cleaning station. Once you are in the water, the area is protected from the jetty traffic. If you don't feel comfortable launching from the boat ramp, there is a cul-de-sac on one side next to the boat ramp that you can bring your yaks down to launch.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/xQYslMO.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/g2YeUq9.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/3uIXKax.png?1[/img]
Once everyone was on the water, we finally made it out of the cove. We split up in groups so that nobody was left behind.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/2dHHuv8.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/MsgjxYW.png?1[/img]
The mouth is usually kind of rough due to any kind of currents running in/out of the jetty's and the currents out in the ocean. When you combine all that, it makes for a washing machine sometimes at the mouth. The other thing you have to add in the mix is the boat traffic going out in the early morning. Everyone is taking boats offshore to go and catch snapper in federal waters. After everyone makes it through the mouth with no mistakes, we continue to head to the first buoy. Once we arrive, it was time to see who was going to continue out and who was going to head back. Only one person decided to head back due to possible early signs of sea sickness. That was a good call on his part. This person usually takes the sea sickness patch before going out and this time he forgot. I'm sure next time he will have the patch ready to go. For now, everyone else continues forward. At this point, we have to work at crossing the boat lane to the other side. The best way is to stay together as a group so that boats can see everyone.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/VjbLPsj.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/YRT5ZVH.png?1[/img]
Now that we are passed the boat/ship lane, it's time to head to the rig. The rig is approximately 5 miles from the mouth of the jetty. We are almost half way to the rig at this point. As everyone is kayaking to the rig, one person spots some birds hovering over the water while in flight.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/mIUbmgz.jpg?1[/img]
I found that on the prior trip out to the rig that early on the sharks and jacks were thick in the area. It was only after we were out about four miles to the rig that the kings were to be found. I decided to have everyone wait to drop lines until we were in clearer water so that people would not lose their king leaders to sharks. Before long, it was time to drop lines and start fishing. I deployed two ribbon lines and started to troll. There wasn't that many fish that were caught. A few sharks, a jack, and a few smacks were caught. Here are a few pics of people catching fish.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/yjsXp15.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/RVtYPeX.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/3kzcxzm.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Slob7a9.png?1[/img]
The one thing that I will say is that the current was extremely fast on this day. If you were a paddler, you definitely had your hands full. I've paddled in these kinds of conditions way back in the day and I can say from personal experience that it was no fun. The one person I was concerned about this entire trip was the 10' kayak trolling motor kayaker. His motor went out early on and paddling his yak was very difficult. Here is his kayak before the motor ran out of juice.
A few people managed to make it out to the rig. The further out everyone went, the swells lightened up.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/BUdCv8h.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/SiPErPD.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/5Y9Seqy.jpg?1[/img]
About five minutes in my trolling, I saw a paddle kayaker hanging over his kayak. I knew that posture. As I was getting close to him, he turned to the side and threw up into the water. He was full blown sea sick. I pulled my lines out of the water and got up closer. I could tell he wasn't doing well. I told him to relax and I would tow him back. I took my bungee strap from my paddle and used it for towing. My strap held up very well (A big thanks to Bruce Burnell for making the strap for me!). As I was heading back, I came across another paddler that was having problems. His arms were cramping from paddling through the current. I felt I could tow him as well. I leaned all the way to the front of my yak to get my other strap off of the front and used it for towing this person. Now I am towing two people. During the time it took to hook up both individuals, the current carried all of us to the opposite side of where I wanted to be. This was going to make it where I was going to have to fight the current to gain ground the entire time once I got closer to the jettys. I peddled for around 3.5 hours before we made it back to to where both guys felt comfortable enough to paddle back to and through the jettys. I detached the lines from their kayaks and away they went. I have never towed two people before. It probably would of been easier if the current wasn't so tough. I have been working out lately doing P90X. That might explain why I was not getting as tired. I'm glad I was able to help those two to get back.
Next I went to check on another person in a paddle kayak that over shot the mouth and was working against the current. I made sure that person got back as well. While I was taking care of that, the kayaker in the 10' kayak with the trolling motor was struggling. His motor went out very early on in the day and he was paddling against the current. He was losing ground the entire time. My buddy Bryce radioed to me to see how things were going. I told him that the trolling motor kayaker was not doing well so Bryce and Clinton went to help that person out. Bryce has a Native Slayer propel and Clinton has a PA 14. The interesting thing about Clinton is that he brings his dog with him on all trips. He has an Alaskan Husky. The dog's name is Lobo. I thought that was pretty cool!
Both kayakers attached up to the trolling motor yaker and began to tow him. The current was picking up as the day progressed making it difficult for those guys to gain any ground. By the time I finished helping another kayaker, I headed over to Bryce to see if I could be of any assistance.
I took over for Bryce. Bryce headed to the mouth to help anybody that needed help crossing through.
While I was helping Bryce and Clinton, Keith was working his way back. He was in a Heritage kayak and paddling like he had never paddled before. Keith managed to make the long haul against the current back to the mouth of the jettys and made it through.
Before long, Clinton needed to head back in. Now it was just the trolling motor guy and myself. I made a decision that we were going to make a beach landing. By doing this, we would use the jetty as a shield from the current. This made things so much easier in peddling. If I would have continued to head to the mouth, what would have taken me maybe 30+ minutes to get to the mouth by myself would have taken me around 3+ hours towing the trolling motor kayaker. It just made sense to do a beach landing. After all, I was only making about 0.25 mph (the current was ripping).
Now that the decision has been made to beach land and we are out of the way of the current, my next thing was to find a place on the beach that was not surrounded by a lot of people and close to an entrance. I needed to keep this as close to the jettys as possible so that we would not get carried back into the current again. Also, by keeping close to the jettys, this made it to where there would not be hardly any surf when coming in. As we got closer, my prediction was correct. There was no surf whatsoever. I found a piece of the beach that didn't have many people on it and it was right in front of an entrance to the beach. Right before going into the beach, I detached from the trolling motor yak. Coming to the beach was extremely easy. No issues for either of us. Once we arrived on the beach I grabbed my phone, car key, and VHF radio and I walked back to get my car to pick up both kayaks. As I was walking I made it back to the boat launch about 3/4 of the way when Jacob (He was one of the kayakers that came to this outing) stopped to see if I needed a ride. Jacob was already packed and was about to head back when he saw me. I was extremely happy because he had A/C in his truck and I could really use some air conditioning right at this point, lol. A big thanks to Jacob for hooking me up with the ride to the boat ramp!
Finally, I was at my vehicle. I went to go pick up both yaks and bring both of us back to the boat launch so that we both could pack up and head home. While I was getting everything ready to head home, another kayaker was pulling into the boat ramp with his keep of the day.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/CPoljzj.jpg?1[/img]
Not a bad smack at all!! Not many fish were caught due to many having to deal with the tough currents throughout the day. The reason why I especially wanted to write this report is because many people want to go offshore in a kayak. You really need to know if your kayak is the right kayak for offshore kayak fishing. Secondly, know your limits. The last thing you want to do is to make it five miles offshore only to find out you can't get back. Third, be sure to stay in your groups. There were a few times that people got away from others. I stayed back to be sure that nobody was left behind. Even though the trolling motor kayaker was behind me, I kept a very sharp eye on him at all times. Fourth, when going offshore, be sure to have a VHF radio. If you don't have one, stay with your buddy at all times that does have a radio. By following these few set of rules, you can help ensure that you will have a better time on the water.
Thanks to everyone for coming out to this trip and participating! I hope to see you guys at the Bob Hall Pier outing. Tight lines!!
Now that I am in Surfside, I head over to the public boat ramp (next to the coast guard station). I believe I was the first one there. It doesn't take me long to get things ready. As I am preparing my yak, others arrive. Not long before we launch, I run a quick meeting with the new guys going BTB. Don't worry, we formed a large circle and made sure we practiced social distancing. After giving a few bits of information, a few questions were asked. Once all questions were answered, we all went to our yaks and prepared to put them in the water.
We had around 20 kayakers at this outing. Five of these kayaks were paddle kayaks. One of the paddle yaks also had a trolling motor on it. I spoke to the kayak(s) that I felt that might not be good for this but despite my warnings, those individuals decided to give it a try.
If you have never been to what we call the coast guard boat launch, it's pretty cool. They have three boat ramps, a bathroom (not really all that great of a restroom), and a cleaning station. Once you are in the water, the area is protected from the jetty traffic. If you don't feel comfortable launching from the boat ramp, there is a cul-de-sac on one side next to the boat ramp that you can bring your yaks down to launch.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/xQYslMO.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/g2YeUq9.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/3uIXKax.png?1[/img]
Once everyone was on the water, we finally made it out of the cove. We split up in groups so that nobody was left behind.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/2dHHuv8.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/MsgjxYW.png?1[/img]
The mouth is usually kind of rough due to any kind of currents running in/out of the jetty's and the currents out in the ocean. When you combine all that, it makes for a washing machine sometimes at the mouth. The other thing you have to add in the mix is the boat traffic going out in the early morning. Everyone is taking boats offshore to go and catch snapper in federal waters. After everyone makes it through the mouth with no mistakes, we continue to head to the first buoy. Once we arrive, it was time to see who was going to continue out and who was going to head back. Only one person decided to head back due to possible early signs of sea sickness. That was a good call on his part. This person usually takes the sea sickness patch before going out and this time he forgot. I'm sure next time he will have the patch ready to go. For now, everyone else continues forward. At this point, we have to work at crossing the boat lane to the other side. The best way is to stay together as a group so that boats can see everyone.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/VjbLPsj.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/YRT5ZVH.png?1[/img]
Now that we are passed the boat/ship lane, it's time to head to the rig. The rig is approximately 5 miles from the mouth of the jetty. We are almost half way to the rig at this point. As everyone is kayaking to the rig, one person spots some birds hovering over the water while in flight.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/mIUbmgz.jpg?1[/img]
I found that on the prior trip out to the rig that early on the sharks and jacks were thick in the area. It was only after we were out about four miles to the rig that the kings were to be found. I decided to have everyone wait to drop lines until we were in clearer water so that people would not lose their king leaders to sharks. Before long, it was time to drop lines and start fishing. I deployed two ribbon lines and started to troll. There wasn't that many fish that were caught. A few sharks, a jack, and a few smacks were caught. Here are a few pics of people catching fish.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/yjsXp15.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/RVtYPeX.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/3kzcxzm.png?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Slob7a9.png?1[/img]
The one thing that I will say is that the current was extremely fast on this day. If you were a paddler, you definitely had your hands full. I've paddled in these kinds of conditions way back in the day and I can say from personal experience that it was no fun. The one person I was concerned about this entire trip was the 10' kayak trolling motor kayaker. His motor went out early on and paddling his yak was very difficult. Here is his kayak before the motor ran out of juice.
A few people managed to make it out to the rig. The further out everyone went, the swells lightened up.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/BUdCv8h.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/SiPErPD.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/5Y9Seqy.jpg?1[/img]
About five minutes in my trolling, I saw a paddle kayaker hanging over his kayak. I knew that posture. As I was getting close to him, he turned to the side and threw up into the water. He was full blown sea sick. I pulled my lines out of the water and got up closer. I could tell he wasn't doing well. I told him to relax and I would tow him back. I took my bungee strap from my paddle and used it for towing. My strap held up very well (A big thanks to Bruce Burnell for making the strap for me!). As I was heading back, I came across another paddler that was having problems. His arms were cramping from paddling through the current. I felt I could tow him as well. I leaned all the way to the front of my yak to get my other strap off of the front and used it for towing this person. Now I am towing two people. During the time it took to hook up both individuals, the current carried all of us to the opposite side of where I wanted to be. This was going to make it where I was going to have to fight the current to gain ground the entire time once I got closer to the jettys. I peddled for around 3.5 hours before we made it back to to where both guys felt comfortable enough to paddle back to and through the jettys. I detached the lines from their kayaks and away they went. I have never towed two people before. It probably would of been easier if the current wasn't so tough. I have been working out lately doing P90X. That might explain why I was not getting as tired. I'm glad I was able to help those two to get back.
Next I went to check on another person in a paddle kayak that over shot the mouth and was working against the current. I made sure that person got back as well. While I was taking care of that, the kayaker in the 10' kayak with the trolling motor was struggling. His motor went out very early on in the day and he was paddling against the current. He was losing ground the entire time. My buddy Bryce radioed to me to see how things were going. I told him that the trolling motor kayaker was not doing well so Bryce and Clinton went to help that person out. Bryce has a Native Slayer propel and Clinton has a PA 14. The interesting thing about Clinton is that he brings his dog with him on all trips. He has an Alaskan Husky. The dog's name is Lobo. I thought that was pretty cool!
Both kayakers attached up to the trolling motor yaker and began to tow him. The current was picking up as the day progressed making it difficult for those guys to gain any ground. By the time I finished helping another kayaker, I headed over to Bryce to see if I could be of any assistance.
I took over for Bryce. Bryce headed to the mouth to help anybody that needed help crossing through.
While I was helping Bryce and Clinton, Keith was working his way back. He was in a Heritage kayak and paddling like he had never paddled before. Keith managed to make the long haul against the current back to the mouth of the jettys and made it through.
Before long, Clinton needed to head back in. Now it was just the trolling motor guy and myself. I made a decision that we were going to make a beach landing. By doing this, we would use the jetty as a shield from the current. This made things so much easier in peddling. If I would have continued to head to the mouth, what would have taken me maybe 30+ minutes to get to the mouth by myself would have taken me around 3+ hours towing the trolling motor kayaker. It just made sense to do a beach landing. After all, I was only making about 0.25 mph (the current was ripping).
Now that the decision has been made to beach land and we are out of the way of the current, my next thing was to find a place on the beach that was not surrounded by a lot of people and close to an entrance. I needed to keep this as close to the jettys as possible so that we would not get carried back into the current again. Also, by keeping close to the jettys, this made it to where there would not be hardly any surf when coming in. As we got closer, my prediction was correct. There was no surf whatsoever. I found a piece of the beach that didn't have many people on it and it was right in front of an entrance to the beach. Right before going into the beach, I detached from the trolling motor yak. Coming to the beach was extremely easy. No issues for either of us. Once we arrived on the beach I grabbed my phone, car key, and VHF radio and I walked back to get my car to pick up both kayaks. As I was walking I made it back to the boat launch about 3/4 of the way when Jacob (He was one of the kayakers that came to this outing) stopped to see if I needed a ride. Jacob was already packed and was about to head back when he saw me. I was extremely happy because he had A/C in his truck and I could really use some air conditioning right at this point, lol. A big thanks to Jacob for hooking me up with the ride to the boat ramp!
Finally, I was at my vehicle. I went to go pick up both yaks and bring both of us back to the boat launch so that we both could pack up and head home. While I was getting everything ready to head home, another kayaker was pulling into the boat ramp with his keep of the day.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/CPoljzj.jpg?1[/img]
Not a bad smack at all!! Not many fish were caught due to many having to deal with the tough currents throughout the day. The reason why I especially wanted to write this report is because many people want to go offshore in a kayak. You really need to know if your kayak is the right kayak for offshore kayak fishing. Secondly, know your limits. The last thing you want to do is to make it five miles offshore only to find out you can't get back. Third, be sure to stay in your groups. There were a few times that people got away from others. I stayed back to be sure that nobody was left behind. Even though the trolling motor kayaker was behind me, I kept a very sharp eye on him at all times. Fourth, when going offshore, be sure to have a VHF radio. If you don't have one, stay with your buddy at all times that does have a radio. By following these few set of rules, you can help ensure that you will have a better time on the water.
Thanks to everyone for coming out to this trip and participating! I hope to see you guys at the Bob Hall Pier outing. Tight lines!!