Sea Kayak Fishing Course at Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium

Well it has been awhile since I have posted. I have been busy learning to use a sea kayak so that I could aid in instructing an Introduction to Sea Kayak Fishing course at the annual Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium. Dan and I were graciously invited by Sean Morley to co-teach with JF Marleau.

I had the best rigged kayak for fishing.

Utilizing the buddy system.

The day of our class was of course the worst weather we had had all weekend. It was raining, and the wind was blowing about 16mph. Determined to make the most of it, JF, Dan, and myself agreed that our best option was to start the day off with some classroom time and see if the weather improved. We had been looking forward to the class for months and there was no way we were going to let a little foul weather get us down. This was after all, the first time a fishing course had been offered at Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium (GGSKS) and we were determined to make it a memorable event. We introduced ourselves to our student and then shared our knowledge of kayak fishing. Unfortunately when we wrapped up our talk the weather had not let up. Despite the weather, we headed for Baker beach, hoping that the southwesterly wind was blowing over the top of San Francisco, creating a wind shadow at the beach.

Dan's best crabby face!

When we arrived, we were pleased to see that indeed the wind was barely blowing at Baker Beach. We had lunch, geared up and hauled our kayaks down to the surf. The plan was to drop crab pots and fish for surfperch out of the 'yaks, since most other sportfisheries are closed this time of the year.

Our one and only surfperche caught by JF Marleau.

We launched the kayaks into the surf and paddled out with determination. First we dropped the crab pots. We had been seeing people catch crabs off the beach using snares all weekend, so we figured this would be our most successful endeavor. On a comical side note, Dan, JF, and I were so engrossed in the rest of GGSKS that we did not manage to pick up proper crab bait. We are resourceful fishermen however, and scrounged up some left over chicken salad and cold cuts from the event kitchen.

Stowing crabs in Dan's kayak.

With the crab pots launched it was time for surfperch fishing. We helped each other remove our fishing gear from inside our kayaks. Unlike a sit on top, the best place to store your gear is inside the hull, so the buddy system is often required. Once we had our rods put together we paddled ourselves into shore where the waves were breaking and began fishing. After about 30 minutes JF hooked up and landed the one and only surfperch of the trip. The crab pots, proved much more successful. We ended the trip having caught around 20 crabs, 3 of which were legal. Overall the class was a success, having educated our student and accomplishing our goals of catching surfperch and crabs. Can't wait until next year!

Awesome end to the day.