Hobie Cat Forums

Don't know how it went for everyone this weekend but I had a bruiser of a Saturday and won a tournament .................. finally.

It took a 14 mile Hobie-backed round trip kayak odyssey to do it. Here's the story.

My brother Al and I had pre-fished only twice in an area of San Diego Bay that we did not know. We only knew that with such little experience, we would need to find sand bass (bigger and deeper) on structure as opposed to spotted bay bass which would be in the marinas but the locals would have an advantage over us; they know every nook and cranny. The fly in the ointment was that the spot we found that held solid fish in 45 feet of water is 7 miles from the launch for the tournament. At a 3 mph average it would take us a little over 2 hrs. to get there and then we would have to fight wind and current on the return leg which would make it a 2.5 hr struggle to come back. We decided that there is no challenge big enough for us not to take.

At 6:30 blast off ( nothing really "blasts off" in a kayak tourney but it sounds good....) we set our sights on the Coronado Bridge from our launch at Chula Vista Marina. It took us 2 hrs exactly to get to our spot, aided by a little tail wind. We went to our waypoints and it was a desert.....no fish marks on the sonar although the structure on the bottom looked good.......and no bites either. It took me about 15 minutes to find a spot that held fish and the first was 3.6 pounds. I caught it on a jig made by Al on a Champion 736 loaded with 50# PLine braid and 12# CXX top shot. Every drift through this little spot got you one bite. After four drifts I had three more bites, culled my three biggest and it was 9:45........time to go. I left Al who only had two fish so far fishing; he had to stay to get his limit of three. The tide had stopped and he had to wait thirty minutes before the tide started to move again....that was to be critical in the end. Sandbass don't bite if the water is not moving.

I made it back with thirty minutes to spare. Al finally caught his third fish but on the way back and due to the outgoing tied, got stuck on a sandbar and that caused him to be late eight minutes for weigh in. His weight would have put him in second place. Instead, he blanked as arriving late to weigh in means no fish weighed.

Great victory for me especially considering the fourteen mile round trip ............terrible day for Al in that he put in the effort and but for a slight timing issue, would have come out a hero. I'll be sixty in two weeks........fourteen miles in a kayak and I win the thing!!!!! I'm still pinching myself. All in all it was two hours out and just about three hours in, which gave me an hour and change to "make it happen". Thanks to a combination of Al's pre-fishing, his lures, timing, strategy and equipment (REVO BABY!!!), we pulled it off.

On the way back we had catastrophe come our way in the form of a sudden puncture of the left rear on my truck on the 405 which destroyed the left rear quarter panel and the lights. We were lucky to have retained control. With Al's help I manage to cross all the way over from the car pool lane to the right curb and luckily there was a AAA truck there that helped us change the tire. You guys would not believe what we saw on the freeway. I would NEVER work on the side of a CA freeway.........ever.

Thanks Hobie for a superior product without equal.

Dr. Angel Figueras
Dobyns Rods
Southwind Kayak Center
Humminbird Electronics
P Line
MadFrog Gear

Awesome story! Always nice when you beat the locals.

Great story. What an adventure.

_________________
Fish tremble when they hear my name

A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for.
--John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic, 1928

Great story indeed, Thanks

_________________
A couple of Sports
3 Revo 13s