Well the fishing is starting to wind down from the summer mayhem that many kayakers were able to experience this year, but don’t let the lower fish counts fool you. There are still fish to be found if you’re looking in the right places. As you notice some of the smaller yellowtail (under 15lbs) begin to disappear, watch for the quality of fish to increase. Soon those big homeguards will have their neighborhood back and that makes for some quality catches.

Water temp has begun to drop in the last month and most of the yellowtail seem to have moved out of the area. The white seabass have not quite shown themselves for the fall bite just yet, but the halibut are always around. Still a lot of bonita in the area which holds out hope for another wave of yellowtail before the summer fishing is officially over.

This month we’re reviewing the battery boxes that we make at OEX Point Loma. These boxes are made out of Pelican dry boxes which are designed for scuba diving and keep the contents completely dry. We install a female deck connector to the side of the box and wire a 12v 10amp battery on the inside. Just connect the male end of the deck connector to your desired electronics and you have a completely waterproof, removable, rechargeable battery that doesn’t take up much space and will run most fishfinders and bait tanks all day long. Remove battery from case and use any 12v charger to re- charge. We don’t recommend a charge setting much higher than 6amps without damaging the battery. A 2amp trickle charger works great.

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Like the boyscouts say, always be prepared. If you’re fishing La Jolla, bring a gaff. If you’re fishing the bay, don’t forget that measuring tape. It’s a good idea to make a checklist of things you normally bring with you so you’re not face to face with that monster halibut and nothing but your hands and a game clip to get it in the boat.

If you’re new to the sport, go out a couple times and get a feel for what you need to do to your kayak to make it more user friendly for you. It’s unreasonable to expect to have everything dialed in from your maiden voyage on. It’ll take a trip or two (or twenty) before you really know where you want to put things and what accessories you really want to bring with you.

For a quick list of some must haves, we’ve assembled a general kayak fishing checklist here.

When selecting a rod/reel for a kayak fishing application you’ll find that you’re gonna want more than one rod. Kayak fishermen often carry 4, 5 or even more rods so that they’re prepared for every situation. One rod may have an iron tied on in case boils pop up so that the angler doesn’t have to re-tie another rod to put on a jig (which would give the fish enough time to sink out, or move on). One rod may have a flyline rig with no weight while another has a 2oz egg sinker so that the angler can cover the entire water column while trolling. Another rod may have a sabiki rig ready to go at all times in case the angler comes over a school of bait throughout the course of the day. The amount of gear is specific to each person’s fishing style and targeted species but the less time wasted re-rigging stuff is more time your hook is in the water, and when it comes down to it that’s how you maximize your odds.

Go through the mental process of catching a fish and make sure you have all the gear you’ll need. From your terminal tackle, to your rod/reel, to your bait and then landing and storing the fish, make sure you’ve got everything you need.

September was a busy month for us here. With our season starting to wind down a little bit we’ve had a little time to have some fun! A couple weeks ago we took our pro-staff to San Carlos, Mexico as a trial run on a local dive boat to check out the possibility of running mothership kayak fishing trips on the boat. The trip was a huge success and we can’t wait to start booking these things in 2007. A great aspect of these trips is that you can bring your own kayak and all your own gear. It will all be trailered to Tucson, AZ where it’s transferred to their air conditioned van (with dvd players) and then driven to San Carlos. Clients will have the option of caravanning with the tow vehicle to Tucson, or flying to Tucson and jumping in the van from there. The boat will be in dry dock over the winter to get re- powered and upgrade the interior, along with some more kayak friendly changes. We’ll keep you updated when we’re ready to book the trips. Until then check out the full report with pictures.

Once we got back from Mexico we found ourselves with 5 days until the Big Water’s Edge tournament. We had a great turnout (~85) and payout for 1st place was $1400 plus two additional jackpots. Adi Ljubowic won first place along with both jackpot options with a 26.4lb halibut with only 15 minutes left in the tournament and a mad dash, last second weigh in. His total winnings were $2205! Thanks to everyone that showed up, next year should be even bigger!