Third Arm for Picture Taking

So I'm looking through the pile of 'convention' stuff we got at the boat show and I see this refrigerator clip. With a little sticky back velcro, I now have a way to hold my rod while I'm getting my picture taken with my catch (or making adjustments to something that I may be around when fishing - anchor lines, whatever). Don't underestimate the convention stuff.

Small - Smaller - Smallest Large Mouth Bass

Cool temperatures, overcast skies and a slight drizzle - but Marlon and I went fishing anyways. He landed a small bass and a bluegill - I got one bluegill and a bunch of bass including this decent sized one. On the other side of the coin I got a few of these tiny guys as well. The water is starting to cool down and the bluegills are retreating to the deeper parts of the lake. I'll take what I can get for now - I'll have to research what kind of fishing I can do and where once the temperature really drops. Or I'll have to figure out what else I can do to tickle my adrenal gland...

RAM Mounts on and Anchor Trolley for the Big Tuna

Here are a couple of pictures of the RAM mount balls in place. Pretty useful (nice tiedown point for the paddles during transport). Turns out with the fairleads on the kayak, you only need one of the 1/4" pulleys. I used a heavy duty carabiner for the accessory interface (where I'll lock in an anchor line, stake pole or drift chute). I placed the trolley on the starboard side since this side of the kayak is stored up when I have it in the garage (this will prevent the carabiner or the pulley from getting damaged or scraping the side of the kayak). If I haven't already said it - modifying kayaks is really cool -

Saturday Fishing with Friends in Maryland

After the show, we were going to take the kayak and SUPs out, but the weather didn't clear up until late in the afternoon. We did get a chance to go fishing and this was Marlon's first time fishing in brackish water. He caught a spot and a few sunfish. I caught a couple of sunfish and we saw a huge school of shad. As always - a great time had by all!

Sailor Pub

Nothing says "Nautical" like a dolphin throwing down an ale. With all the people at the boat show, there was no way we were getting in here - maybe next time.

Annapolis Sailboat Show

So this was one of the reasons we went to Annapolis yesterday. We are scoping out the live aboard catamarans to see what we would like to target in the future (3-10 years from now). We also checked out the Island Packets - nice boats all around! Between La and I, we didn't converge to a singular solution - she loved the Leopards and I had a leaning towards the Antares; but there was no question the Gunboat 66 was the sweetest boat at the show. I'm pretty convinced the Farrier 44SC is still the boat for us, but being able to get a feel for the size and space of others did help answer a lot of questions for us.

Fully Loaded

We loaded up the truck and hit Annapolis yesterday. The Darby Extend-a-Bed worked fine - no rattling or shaking at all. I loaded La's SUP, the ULI (not inflated), the kayak and all the paddles, lifejackets and kayak accessories - I think I could have put on another SUP and some boogie boards.

RAM Rod Tubes and 1.5" Mounting Ball

If you check out the walk through video on Youtube for the 2013 Cuda (Jackson Kayaks) you'll see that they have placed #10 screw mounts in areas where you would want to attach accessories (like RAM rod tubes and GoPro cameras that use #10 screws through conventional GoPro mounts). Well - I checked on Jackson's website and they sell the 1.5" ball mounts and the 2008 model RAM Rod Tubes - and the inserts that support the high seat mounts on the Big Tuna also fit the 1.5" mounts. That means you can use these same tube/mount setup that comes on the 2013 models on your 2012 (but you are limited to where the seat holders would be). Next I'll start looking for the inserts (Lowes or Home Depot) and see if I can install them in other spots. Or I'll just save myself the trouble and install yakattack GT90s. We'll see what works better.

Darby Extend-A-Truck Rack

Trying to lift the Big Tuna on to the Thule top racks can be easy, but not necessarily the best option if I'm going to carry other things at the same time (like long SUPs - since they are wide, there isn't enough room to place the kayak and SUP side by side). So I ordered this option from Austin Kayaks (great place to order from if you are looking). I'm going to add trailer lights and reflective red tape for enhanced visibility, and a rack pad so it could slide on and won't bang against the cross rail. We're headed to Annapolis again this weekend - primarily the Sailboat Show, but also to paddle/fish/eat out. I should have the rack decked out tomorrow - check back to see the final product.

Ronstan Blocks for Kayak Anchor Trolley System

We stopped in at West Marine while we were at Annapolis. I bought these Ronstan Line Blocks (pulleys for you land lubbers) to serve as the two ends of an anchor trolley system I am going to install on the kayak.

Annapolis EOM Swap Meet

We got up early yesterday and loaded up the truck with the boards/stuff we didn't need and made a run at selling them at the East of Maui Windsurf/Surf Swap Meet. La loves yard sales and true to form she had fun at this one too. We sold four boards and a bunch of equipment everything but one windsurfer - this made a huge dent in displacing the cost of the Big Tuna Kayak we bought about a month ago and opened up the space for the kayak. La actually got reminiscent when some of the boards were sold - parts of our lives together leaving our grasp - enough mushy talk. Funny how the finite space in a garage can drive your weekend activities - not the fun part necessarily, but the reorganizing, the procurement and selling of equipment. I have literally spent the entire last four weekends either organizing the equipment in the garage, sorting through what boards to keep and what goes on the culling block, driving interstate to buy and sell stuff and going back home to rearrange again. I think we are very close to steady state now. With all that action going on, we did find a couple of hours to go fishing yesterday - on the kayak. We caught two - only two. A front was moving in fast and I think the barometric change had something to do with the activity level. All in all a great fun day!!!

New Flies

I got a chance to tie up some flies today. Some electric chickens, several killer bugs, some egg flies and one chartreuse sabiki. The sabiki was killing it! Same cast of characters - bluegill of all sizes and some smallmouth bass. On one cast, I had hooked onto a pretty sizable bass - splashed up a bunch of water and threw the hook. Needless to say I'll be tying up more sabiki flies - I might even try to fish them on the Potomac and land some of the migrating shad. I am also going to get the kids their own fly rods - really short tenkara rods from tenkarabum.com - they are ready to catch on better equipment.

Tackle Direct - In Person

On the way back from a business trip this week, I stopped by this place. While I was at my last duty station, this place took good care of me - quick shipping, awesome selection and a willingness to ship USPS to FPO addresses. It was good to stop in and see the place in person. If you need anything fishing related, give Tackle Direct a ping, you're likely to find what you are looking for at a really good price.

Underwater Crop Circles

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/09/mysterious-underwater-crop-circle-art-discovered-off-the-coast-of-japan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+colossal+%28Colossal%29

Made by the male of this little species of puffer.

Sunday Catching on the Amphibious Assault Craft

We went fishing off the kayak this afternoon at the lake behind our neighborhood. Yeah the Amphibious Assault Craft is really that long - just over 14 feet. The Surf Taco's bed is just over 7' - so it is hanging out there in the wind. Our drive was only 2 minutes (going really slow) so I didn't want to load it on the top racks. Out of the bed, the kayak was pretty easy to handle. To me this thing is a SUP on steroids - I stood up the whole time while Marlon and Noe sat down up front. The anchor chain works great! I'll probably still rig a small 3 pound claw anchor so we don't swing in the wind. We caught today! I used the Soyokaze and ended up with two Smallmouth Bass - the first was 8" the second was probably 3" - and several Bluegill. Marlon caught his first Smallmouth Bass and bunches of Bluegill. We reconfigured the chairs while on the water and started throwing the fish in the live well - all caught and released. I recommend painting the inside of the tank with gray spraypaint and drilling holes in it like Drew did on the youtube videos. That will definitely help with seeing whatever you've thrown in the tank - bait or catch. If you have kids that like to fish, you need one of these Big Tunas. The kids both said repeatedly - "I can do this all day!!!" I know what we're doing next weekend ;)