Ultimate Kayak Fishing

Small Craft Advisory

Well, we did it. The 1st Annual Block Island Fishing Tournament, that is. And, I can honestly say I have never seen/paddled in rougher or higher seas. The swells on Friday were in the 8 - 11 foot range, generated from the offshore hurricane by Bermuda. The island had five times as many surfers as kayakers! Small craft advisories were in effect.

However, my friend Kevin and I paddled the west side out of the Great Salt Pond on Friday evening into the darkness. I had four hookups that evening, and three were substantial fish. The problem for me was that because the surf was so big, by the time I would reposition my kayak to handle it, then grab the rod to fight the fish, I hadn't set the hook properly and it was off in a minute or two. However, I mentioned to Kevin that if you could simply put out of your mind the distinct possibility of death, it was really quite beautiful out there watching the sun go down over the mighty surf.

That evening would prove to be the best fishing we would encounter all weekend. The wind picked up on Saturday at 15-20kts, with gusts to 30kts. But, we got out there again before sunrise on Saturday, and fortunately the swells had come down somewhat (maybe to 4 - 6 feet). I paddled out of the Great Salt Pond and around the point to just off that area, and then out to the buoy, but there were no fish cooperating. So Kevin and I headed into the pond, and fished the incoming waiting for albies that did not arrive. Once we turned around the corner to head back into Cormorant Cove to our launch point, the winds were amazingly fierce. We headed into the strongest winds I have ever dealt with in a kayak thus far, landed the yaks, and went to get breakfast at the airport.

After spending the middle part of the day listening to the NOAA reports of increasing winds for the rest of the weekend, we decided to get some live eels, walk out to the end of the coast guard jetty, and surf cast for a couple hours into sunset/darkness. We decided that trying to handle these winds in the dark from a kayak was silly, but we still wanted to play with a big bad striper before we gave up. We were amazed that we didn't get one hit at all. We talked to the local surf casters along the shoreline, and they got skunked for the evening as well. We were now done for the day.

Sunday we slept in. In the tent, that is. Good thing we staked it down! The winds were gusting to 40kts at times, and we were spent. We hooked up with the rest of the tourney guys at noon to swap stories, etc., and found out that only one fish of any importance was caught, in eight feet of water, just off the dock where "Seadogface" launched his kayak in the first 15 minutes of the evening on Friday. He was now the official winner of the 1st Annual Block Island Fishing Tournament! Everyone else was skunked too. The problem was that because of the swells and wind, no one could get to the better spots. As an aside, the motor boats that could get to them were bringing in 45 inch stripers, and many of them. These were mostly being caught off Black Rock Point.

We couldn't change our ferry reservations for earlier than the 7 PM that we had because everyone wanted to get off the island early, so Kevin and I decided to see if we could practice doing surf entries and exits off the beach on the east side of the island that might be a little more sheltered from the wind Sunday afternoon. We then planned to paddle south and fish the rocky shoreline near Old Harbor point. I launched my boat first and realized that I did not have my paddle leashed, so stopped to do so and upon looking up I saw an 8 - 10 footer coming in. There were still remnants of the hurricane -- rogue waves -- that would occasionally come through all day we found out. I really thought I would be flipped completely upside down as I quickly turned directly into the wave, and the boat was at about a 60 degree angle up. I realized that the wave was starting to break when my boat hit it, however, I paddled very, very, quickly and glided over the top, and smashed down the backside just before it broke. I looked back to see Kevin upended as he was still trying to get into the boat at the beach line. Amazing surf! Amazing boat that Scupper Pro, the geometry is near perfect, in my opinion. It's a shame they are discontinuing it.

We paddled for about three hours into even greater wind than the previous days, and rode the occasional enormous swell, being careful not to get too close to the rocks as they broke. However, we didn't get any hits throwing striper magnets -- no flies today from us in this wind -- but I did see Sam (nice guy we befriended at the Twin Maples Hotel while waiting for the start of the tourney) throwing flies from the shoreline, and later that evening, while we were all riding the ferry back, he said he caught a nice bass there in the mid twenties range. He also said he thought we were nuts out there, and was amazed at what a sit-on-top kayak was capable of. We were now done for the weekend, and used the wind to sail us back to the beach for a very nice surf exit.

I can honestly say that even though these conditions made it almost impossible to get success with the kayak, I want to go back to the island and try again. I met so many fishermen, both in the tourney and out on the water, that were approachable, knowledgeable, and willing to share their spots and techniques for potential success. And, seeing the pictures of the fish that were being taken by the motorboat fishermen, I am also convinced that Block Island fish are very large, and worth the effort to get to them. Block is in a different league altogether from what we have here. Finally, the setup that the Twin Maples Hotel has for fishermen is unequaled on the island. From a floating dock right in front of the rooms, to great room rates, to the cool little tackle shop with it's folklore on the walls, to the enigmatic and crusty John, the owner, who runs the place. I learned an enormous amount about how to fish Block Island while hanging out there for a couple hours between our forays into the surf.

All in all, we got to check out our new setup with the VHF radio (keeping in touch with Todd the tourney organizer, from the water) and Kevin and I perfected our use of our walkie-talkies in dry-bag arm sleeves in the dark, and in the rain. Also, I was very impressed with my friend Kevin's willingness to expand his abilities in his kayak. This was only Kevin's second time out in his yak! We stopped by a local shop and picked up two stickers (silhouettes of the island) and celebrated our tenacity by adhering them to the bows of our boats, our own small badges of honor for this weekend!

-- Oilcan

PS: Kevin, thanks for the steaks and hospitality Thursday evening -- mmm, mmm, grass fed beef!!