Aaahhh. The rain finally let up yesterday, so I just had to get my new Diablo Chupacabra on the water. I had a late start unfortunately. First I wanted to pick up a SUP paddle to go with the stand-up paddleboard/kayak hybrid. Yes, I could have just used my regular kayak paddle, but, believe me, that isn’t an ideal situation. After checking out the dismal selection around town (hey, don’t tell me its the “off season.” Christmas was just a month ago), I picked up a decent, barely used paddle at Alder Creek Canoe and Kayak They had a couple others I would have really liked, but $300+ is out of my price range. From there, I had to head back home, load up the kayak, eat some lunch, and hit the water.

We had some pretty heavy rains last week. Actually, we had torrential downpours last week. Most rivers in the area pushed flood stage, and many towns an hour south of me are under water. That meant a couple things:

1. I’m staying out of the main flow, and hitting the backwaters
2. the water is dirty. filthy would be more like it. 8″ visibility.
3. there’s a ton of crap in the water (literally and figuratively)

I didn’t anticipate that I’d be fishing much, if at all. I did, however, bring along my 7wt fly rod and one good small sculpin pattern to toss around. That really didn’t happen. I did give it a throw, but mostly to see how the Chupacabra reacted to fly casting while I was seated on the elevated Larry Chair and while standing. The Chup performed excellently. I was quite impressed. But, as I mentioned, the water was nasty. So I just paddled around, but seated and standing.

The high water also means all the crap people kept in their back yards, or on their docks, ended up in the river. When the water’s dirty, it’s time to clean, so that’s just what I did. In the end, I had about 200 lbs of trash collected on the kayak. Fortunately some of that trash included large bins to put everything I collected. My single garbage bag wasn’t going to be of any use on this day. Worst of all the garbage was an oil drain pan, sitting just about a yard away from the waterline. And it was full. Not water. Oil. Fortunately it didn’t seem to leak at all, as it was most definitely underwater just a couple days ago. Horrible.

Plenty of other stuff too. I didn’t make it back to the launch until dark, so I couldn’t get a decent photo of the pile I made for the parks department (which I have notified). But, yeah, right around 200 pounds of trash, DVD player, CD cases, interior door handles, half of a TV, tire, and more.

The lil Chupacabra packed it all quite well!

When you’re on the water, other boats can present hazards for kayak fisherman. They can also be a lifeline. Cell phones are great when you find yourself in a hairy situation, but they don’t always work. That’s where the VHF radio comes in. It allows for on-the-water communication with other boats on the water, the Coast Guard, and you can also get weather information in case you don’t notice the storm moving in on your location.

I picked up the Uniden Atlantis 250 a couple years ago. I used it almost everywhere I fished: The Columbia and Willamette Rivers, the Puget Sound, and the Pacific Coast. The Atlantis was more than useful. I remember a very foggy day on the Columbia River sturgeon fishing. It was hard to see past the bow of my kayak, but between the VHF radio and my GPS, I knew where I was and I knew if anyone was coming. Sure enough, the radio alerted me to a huge cargo ship heading my way. I barely had my anchor in the water when it appeared just 100 yards away from me, and I was most definitely in its path. Had I not had the radio, I would not have had sufficient warning.

I chose the Atlantis 250 for a number of reasons. First off, price. My limited budget at the time allowed me to get the most basic of handheld VHF radios. The Atlantis 250, for just around $100, gave me the most features. It’s waterproof (JIS4 standards), comes with AC and DC chargers (and I charge the radio in my car way too often), and a backup battery pack to keep in my dry box. When it comes to electronics on the water, its always good to have a backup battery.

What I really needed, however, was a backup radio. The first time I pounded through the surf on the Oregon Coast I took a nice wave to the face. It wasn’t anything too serious and the waterproof rating of the VHF radio should have more than taken care of things. It wasn’t long until I heard a Coast Guard report sing through the Atlantis radio. Well, it wasn’t so much of a song as it was a cackle and gurgle. The speaker had filled with water. I shook out what I could, but for most of the day I had a real hard time hearing anything. The worse part is that I was fishing in a high traffic area, and the radio was important to inform me of boats coming in and out of the area.

From then on, I put a bit more care into the Uniden radio. I protected it better on surf launches, and, as I try to do with all my gear, cleaned it when I was done fishing for the day. It worked fine enough, alerted me to weather and boat traffic. I used it to let the Depoe Bay Harbor Master know when I was coming and going.

But it was a long time later until I used it to talk to others on open water.

I was about a mile away from a half dozen other kayak anglers on the Oregon Coast. I was fishing a killer school of rockfish and lingcod, and just had to invite the others. I knew they couldn’t have had as good of luck as I was having, so I gave them a call. Silence. I tried again. Silence. I switched channels. Silence. Ok, guess they don’t want to fish with me. I could see them in the distance and with all the paddling they were doing they couldn’t have had such good fishing as I had. Awhile later I was limited out and was ready to head back in for a beer. I started paddling towards the other kayakers and gave them another radio call to let them know I was heading back in. At this point, a half mile away, my radio call was returned with silence. I halfed the distance and at this point I could almost yell at them. It was then that they finally heard me. Later they reported that even when they did eventually hear me on the radio, it wasn’t great.

Now, I understand that sitting on top of the water as we kayak fisherman do, radio range is often reduced. However, if I could see someone, the radio should be able to do it’s job. Most advertised ranges for radios are line-of-site. And the Uniden Atlantis wasn’t living up to its potential.

The last straw came on my most recent trip to the coast. The night before I put the radio on the charger. Grabbed it in the morning as I headed out. The battery pack was a bit warm, so I figured it had a good charge. A few hours later, as I was gearing up, I clipped the Atlantis to my PFD as I normally do and turned it on. Nothing. Switched to my back up battery pack. Nothing. Terminals were still a good gold color and I saw no oxidization. But, I also had no power.

I still fished that day, against my better judgement, but I also kept close to others.

To me, the VHF radio is just as important as my PFD. Until I get this one replaced, I won’t be doing a whole lot of kayak fishing. It’s safe to say, I won’t be going back to another Atlantis VHF radio. If you have one of these now, I strongly urge you to find a waterproof case if you’re not ready to replace it.

Pros:
Clear speaker audio when not wet
packaged with DC and AC chargers
comes with a backup battery pack (AA batteries not included)
inexpensive

Cons:
speaker fills with water, sounding horrible
transmit range is very minimal
transmit quality is sub-par

Rating out of 5? I’ll give it a 1.5

If you’ve been to my blog before, then you know I’m a supporter of Recycled Fish. I have been since the moment I learned about them. My support has grown and now I find that I’m the PR Director for Recycled Fish! How cool is that!?!

Anyways.

Recycled Fish just opened an online fly shop, powered by West Fly. Through the fly shop, Recycled Fish can earn 30% from the sales, which can be a significant and very useful source of income for the non-profit. Buyers will find high quality flies for a variety of species – trout, salmon, bass, pike, redfish, stripers – and very affordable and competitive pricing.

To help sweeten up the deal and to help promote the new Recycled Fish Fly Shop, there are a BUNCH of cool give-aways going on. Throughout the rest of October (and actually started on 10/5) and running through November 10th, every purchase on the fly shop will be entered to win a brand new Rise Fly Rod. It’s super nice, and we’re glad that Rise is supporting us in this way.

Also, we’re asking bloggers to talk about our fly shop. Check it out. Check out Recycled Fish if you haven’t heard of us before (no, we’re not new, we’ve been doing this for awhile). And, if you blog about our new Fly Shop, you’re automatically entered to win a loaded fly box. It’s a sweet box, especially if you’re fishing in my neck of the woods, loaded with nymphs and dries. Great for river trout, the box carries a retail value of $65 through the fly shop. I don’t think it’d be hard to argue its worth much more than that either. Also, blogging about the Recycled Fish Fly Shop also enters the blogger into the same give away for the new Rise Fly Rod as those that make a purchase from the fly shop.

Finally, there’s one more deal – the first 10 bloggers to spread the word about the Fly Shop are getting free flies. Yes. The first 10 blogs that mention the Recycled Fish Fly Shop will get a half-dozen flies. Not a bad deal. I’m hoping that some of these folks will fish the flies, and review them too. But we’re not asking for that. We’ve had a number of posts made, but we’ve still not hit 10 – so there’s still time (and I’m not going to include this one). If you’d like more information about Recycled Fish, or the Recycled Fish Fly Shop, let me know!

Well. There isn’t one. I know not everyone follows along with me on Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus, so here’s what happened.

The morning before I was set to work going over gear, again, for the 3rd time, as I loaded up the car. My new TFO TiCr had just arrived. I needed to pick up some backing and sinking fly line after work. My conventional rods were loaded inside the kayak, and the kayak was strapped on top of the convertible. Also inside the kayak was my dry top, seat, and PFD. I had a small tote with my waders, shoes, tackle and flies, cameras. I was set.

All I needed to do was go to work for 4 hours.

After all was loaded, I came back to get my phone off the charger. There was an email: “Isaac, head’s up, trips cancelled.”

After weeks of perfect conditions on the coast, things were forecast to get nasty the day we were to go. Ug. Really?!?

We had plans to reschedule, but the seas really haven’t calmed down much since.

Doesn’t look like the trip is going to happen this year. Lame.

Much thanks to the guys over at The Functioning Fishaholics for hooking up the new logo! I had casually mentioned the desire for a logo over on Google+ the other day, and, I’m assuming out of boredom, put a little something together for me. It’s nothing I had even thought of, but totally awesome and appreciated!

Thanks guys!

I’ll have some content later this week. Baffin Shoes. What I still haven’t learned about tournament fishing. and more.

I’m coming close to my dream fishing destination this next week. No, I won’t be traveling down to Cancun. There won’t be beautiful beaches, jungle canopies, or seemingly flat seas. But I will be in blue water chasing pelagic species. I’ll have a taste of my dream trip.

The Dorado or Mahi Mahi (aka Dophin too) has long been a dream fish of mine, and I’ve long felt that Pureto Aventuras, just south of Cancun, was where I would catch my first. The bright flash of blues and golds. The pull on the line. And, of course, I’ll be on the kayak, getting the slay ride in the Caribbean!

Why Cancun? It made simple sense to me. Especially Pureto Aventuras, the fishing is very close, and not a difficult paddle by any means to get onto the Cozumel Trench – just where you want to be to catch some of the warm water’s finest sportsfish and good eats. Fishing in the Summer months Blackfin Tuna, Bonito, Sailfish, and Marlins are also great fishing options – but I’ll be targeting the Dorado. My own devil.

Dorado and Sail - MobileBaits.com

I can see it…

Wake just before sunrise to a hot pot of coffee. I gather my gear and walk down to the beach to load my kayak up. Sonar. Check. GPS. Check. PFD. Check. VHF. Check. Safety Flag. Check. Fly Rod. Check. Spinning Rod. Check. Trolling Rod. Check.

As I warm up in the glow of the sunrise, it’s time for me to shove off. I make my paddle, pretty much straight out from the beach, the slight breeze giving me a bit of help. A short distance from shore, it’s time to drop my trolling rod. I know the trolling speed of 6kts that you’d have in a power boat is difficult in a kayak for any sustained amount of time. No trouble though, Just go. The Rapala Magnum X15 will do its job just fine.

Onward I go towards deeper water.

While just paddling along, enjoying the sun, the warm water, and the scenery, the rod goes off. FISH ON! Leaping out of the water is the flash of dorado. The golden sides only accented by the warm glow of the morning sun. As I fight this fish, I see the blue-green flashes of the rest of the school. I begin to sweat. Anxiously I almost seem to forget about the fish on the line, and start thinking of my next moves. Then, just inches from the boat, the fish I was fighting go airborne again! Wow! Wake up Isaac! Fight the fish, then worry about the rest!

Joe Hector - 30# Dorado

I swing the flyrod perpendicular to the kayak. If this fish wants to fight, I’ll use the kayak to my advantage. He’s gonna have to fight me sideways. He Jumps. Oh. My. God. This fish is huge. A trophy. Back in the water he continues working his way into my backing. I have to do something to keep this fish. I turn back, putting the rod parallel to the kayak, and start cruising along with this fish. The slay ride is on.

Pulling me and the kayak along is wearing on this beast. I start bringing the line in, inching the two of us together. Again he jumps. My-oh-my. I keep bringing in line as the fish allows. Working this fish the best I can. Finally, it sees the kayak. He knows what he’s in for. His color flashes again, and now he’s angry and screams off again. But, he’s tired. Short sprinted runs and aerial displays are wearing on him quickly. Time to finish this battle.

Kayak Dorado. BlueWaterJon.com

As I land, on the beach, my wife walks out from the jungle where she’s been walking around, laughing with monkeys, and searching for snakes and bugs to tell me about. I pull out my two dorado. One Monster. One a nice average. She gives me a congratulatory kiss, and, with a grin, I ask, “Up for some ceveche for dinner?”

This blog entry is my submission for the Red Tuna Shirt Club and Outdoor Blogger Network Writing Contest.

The Final Week of registration is upon us.  The Recycled Fish 24 Hour Fish-a-Thon is the non-profit promoting a lifestyle of stewardship biggest fundraiser.  Teams from around the country compete in a weekend of non-stop fishing on September 9th and 10th.  Awards for the most money raised, and the most fish caught are substantial, and there are plenty of other prizes to go around as well.

“Anglers will fish around the clock and across North America to raise awareness of problems facing our fisheries, and money to help solve those problems,” said Teeg Stouffer, executive director of Recycled Fish, “anglers living a lifestyle of stewardship both on and off the water, because our lifestyle runs downstream.”

Teams fishing in this years 24 Hour Fish-A-Thon will also compete to win the fishing trip of a lifetime to places like the world famous Mississippi Delta on the Gulf of Mexico with Griffin Fishing Charters for redfish and trout. Or – venture to the North Woods for trophy muskie, pike and walleye with Spring Bay Resort. Got a taste for the mountains? Montana’s Bucking Trout Ranch and a guided fly fishing trip with Mike Stack from Fish Tales Outfitters for rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout. To learn more about the trips being offered this year, please see our news article Epic Trips Await 24 Hour Fish-A-Thon Anglers.

Lines are cast Friday, September 9 at 7 pm until Saturday September 10 at 7 pm. During the event anglers are also encouraged to pick up any trash and use tackle that is easier on the environment, such as lead-free weights or biodegradable baits and lures, and practice good catch-and-release tactics. “Fishing for 24 hours can be quite the challenge. It’s like the marathon of fishing,” said Ben Leal, Program Director for Recycled Fish. “One of the great things about this event is not only does it helps raise funds for Recycled Fish, it also helps raise awareness on a specific body of water that each team is fishing on. This year each teams message will be, ‘We are more than sportsmen…We are stewards.’”

Now’s the time to get a team together and head over to the Recycled Fish 24 Hour Fish-a-Thon registraion and get to work!

Participating anglers take photos of their fish and self-score their catch at the online Angling Masters Fish Calculator, then submit their score to the Fish-A-Thon judges. Top prizes go to the team with the most funds raised and the team with the highest score based on their best five fish photos. Prizes are also given for the best photos, the most “unusual” trash picked up and more!

So, as I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve been hosting Kayak Fishing Radio West for about two months now. I’ve had a ton of fun and some frustrations as well. Some of the shows are just awesome, and I’ve had a great time recording them. Others have been just me re-hashing what fishing reports I could come up with. I’ve had some great guests like Michael Rischer, Jeff Anderson, Allen Sansano, and Dennis Spike. Also had a couple pre-recorded interviews with Mike Iaconelli and Gary Loomis.

Kayak Fishing Radio was started last fall by Atlanta-based kayak angler Chip Gibson. His Thursday night show is a round-table event with folks from across the US chatting about kayak fishing, area reports, etc.

Shortly there after, Rob DeVore began hosting a second show, and the Kayak Fishing Radio Network was born. Rob is now on Tuesdays and is all about kayak fishing the Gulf Coast of Florida.

I picked up the third show, Kayak Fishing Radio West, on Tuesdays after Rob’s show. Kayak Fishing Radio West is all about kayak fishing from California, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.

Mark Wheeler started a fourth show on Wednesdays – The Mid-Atlantic Show. Mark highlights kayak fishing in fresh and saltwater for the Mid-Atlantic states from North Carolina.

A new show is premiering this week with Chuck Levi. Redfish Chuck Monday will focus on fishing the Atlantic Coast side of Florida.

My first show went live on May 10th with Portland local Mike “Jammer” Rischer. He’s a Hobie Pro and is on the Next Adventure Paddlesports Fishing Team. Mike’s a killer salmon fisherman, and it was great to get him on the show while Spring Chinook were still running the rivers.

Show number two brought another Oregon local – Jason Self. Jason runs a couple guided trips around the San Juans, runs several paddling and fishing classes at Alder Creek Kayak, and more. Jason is taking part of a big trip through the Gulf of Mexico and making awareness of the results of last year’s oil spill

Week three was a great show with Allen Sansano. Allen is the founder of North West Kayak Anglers and North California Kayak Anglers forums, Ocean Kayak Pro, and has fished everything from Mexico to Alaska.

My fourth show featured up-and-coming kayak angler Rudy Tsukada. Rudy has been picking up chinook and halibut on his Mini-X!

Rory O’Connor started off the month of July. Rory lives in Washington, and, prior to the show, had picked up an awesome 45lb halibut of the Washington Coast.

A week later another Portland resident, Jeff Anderson, was on the line. Jeff started kayak fishing California and had a lot to say about Oregon and Washington Fishing. Jeff is a Hobie Pro and member of the Next Adventure fishing team

Dennis Spike was on the show the week before ICAST. This was one of my favorite all time shows. Dennis started the very first kayak fishing website – www.kayakfishing.com.

Most recently was the ICAST wrap up show with interviews from Mike Iaconelli and Gary Loomis. For lack of guest, it was good to have the interviews recorded from ICAST

You can catch all the Kayak Fishing Radio shows, and keep up-to-date on the schedule by going to www.KayakFishingRadio.com. All the shows are also on iTunes if you can’t join in live. One of the coolest features, if you can join us live, is the chatroom that runs during the shows. If you don’t feel like calling in, you can listen and chat. The chatroom is also a great place to ask any questions you might have.

There was a ton of great new products at ICAST this year. Here are a few clips shot with Temple Fork Outfitters, VestPac, and Tallon

TFO won ICAST’s best new fly reel with their BVK. This reel was sweet. Lightweight. Strong Drag. Awesome.

The VestPac was a product I wanted to see before I got to ICAST. It too won its category at ICAST.

And, finally, the Tallon receiver will change how Lowrance users mount their sonar

I’m not sure how I managed to overlook posting here on my blog about Kayak Fishing Radio West! I know I thought about doing so several times, but I never managed to click over and get this posted.

Last week I was approached by Chip Gibson of Kayak Fishing Radio (KFR) asking if I would do a West Coast show. I had to give it some thought. I have listened KFR several times, and was even a guest on more than one occasion. Based on the East Coast, KFR topics mostly covered east coast species and fishing styles. There were a few shows, though, that talked West Coast fishing with myself and Dennis Spike of Coastal Kayak Fishing. West Coast talk was usually reserved for Rob DeVore’s Late Show. While 11pm might be late for some on the Eask Coast, it wasn’t quite late for the West Coast.

Rob and Chip at Kayak Fishing Radio felt it was time for the West Coast to have its own show, and I accepted the opportunity to do so. Starting tonight, 7pm Pacific Daylight Time, I will be hosting Kayak Fishing Radio West on Kayak Fishing Radio. Tonight I will have Michael “Jammer” Rischer on the line. He’s our local Hobie pro, and last year he won the Oregon Rockfish Classic, the Cape Disappointment Crab Derby, and was a top-10 finisher on the NWKA Angler of the Year competition.

We’ll be talking salmon fishing, as Jammer has been tearing them up for quite some time, and has even promised to get me on the fish as well. We shall see.

Listen in tonight! Listening in live allows you to join us in the Chat Room, and also affords you an opportunity to give us a call during the show. You can also download Kayak Fishing Radio as a podcast to listen at a later time.

The direct link to tonight’s Kayak Fishing Radio West is here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kayakfishingradio/2011/05/11/kayak-fishing-radio-west

All shows are part of Kayak Fishing Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kayakfishingradio

And, finally, Kayak Fishing Radio on iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/kayakfishingradio-blog-talk/id412308754