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Fenwick Island Surf

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  • Fenwick Island Surf

    Went to Fenwick Island for the weekend and hit the surf on
    Saturday morning. Weather was looking pretty rough and the surf was pretty intense. Some waves were taller than me it seemed (6'1'') but we decided we could do it if we just timed it between sets.

    I got a new cart (paddleboy from REI or something) and it was awesome on the pavement, felt like a plow on the sand. Good to know now I guess though.

    We put the rods in my rodpod and launched with a minimal amount of gear, no crate, no fishfinder, no tackleboxes (except what was in the tray under the hatch), and pretty much nothing else besides a paddle. I think I might go that way more often, much easier. Anyway, I see a break in the set and I run and drag my yak behind me, paddle in left hand get knee deep and jump in my kayak and paddle out as fast as possible. Great timing! I was pretty happy with it for my first surf launch in less than ideal conditions.

    My buddy jumps in behind me and gets out as well. He'd gone out on Thursday and got distracted after coming in, wave crashed and broke his nice paddle... woops. So after a quick trip to the kayak shop, he had a new carlise magic paddle or something. Seemed to work fine.

    We fished our faces off for about 3 hours and couldn't catch a thing. On Thursday he said there were a lot of bluefish and had a couple of sharks come inspect him... nothing doing on Sat. We saw a few fish that we thought could have been blues, but we never got anything to bite. I tried drifting for fluke, but we were moving way to fast in the current and the wind so ended up just casting and trolling for blues with no results. All in all it was a fun day playing in the waves.

    When we were ready to come back in we stowed everything in the rodpod and then decided to practice ditching. I wanted to see how easy it'd be to paddle my trident standing up in 4+ foot waves. Not easy. I got a few strokes in and then started to loose it. I ditched early with hopes of keeping the kayak upright... it worked. I got back in with out much effort and was back in the saddle. Now to try surfing... picked a smallish wave and started paddling... got picked up and immediately had the feeling of oh s*** what did I get myself into! I leaned back as my rear end started to rise, as the wave broke it tried to kick me to the right so I dug hard and leaned into it....

    Success. Put the nose right on the beach! I don't think I'm ready for West Coast launches or seas much higher than we had, but it was at least a successful surf practice.

    Pictures to follow.
    Used to fish more.

  • #2
    Hey Michael,

    Except for the lack of fish it sounds like a lot of fun. Not sure if I'm up for a surf launch in my Drifter. I would think something a little more agile for that. But what do I know?!?! I'm sure the surf was ah, a bit sporty on Saturday! Glad you had a good time.

    Took a couple guests on the boat on Sunday. Cleaned up on White perch and a couple croaker too above the Bay Bridge. They wanted fish for a fish fry so that's what we did. Breezy in the morning so used a drift sock. Worked well. It laid down nicely later on...

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    • #3
      Thanks John- It was pretty fun to play around in the surf! I'm sure most guys on here have done it, but I've never gone out in waves that bi.

      Sounds like you had a great trip, I think I'm going to head there this weekend and try my hand at some livelining!
      Used to fish more.

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      • #4
        Sounds like you had a good time regardless of fish. I was going to practice surf launching a couple of weeks ago while in OC but i got cold feet

        Plus there were far to many spectators around to view me floundering in the suds..

        I need to come up with a storage solution for my rods if i want to try out front. I have a tarpon 120 and can just see me getting flipped by a way and snapping my rods on the bottom.

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        • #5
          I hear ya on the spectators! I was in Topsail the weekend of the 4th and there were way too many people on the beach waiting to watch me eat it!

          At least in Fenwick the waves break right on the beach and if you time it right you can get out past the breakers quickly. In topsail they were breaking on a sandbar about 50 yds out and then reforming and breaking on another sand bar... seemed like a disaster.

          I would have thought the surf fishing in the slough would have been great too... nothing but skates!

          What hatches do you have now? My buddy can almost fit his rod in if he goes through his front hatch and takes the reel off first. I was thinking you might be able to put a 6'' or 8'' hatch in behind your seat so that you could put the rods under you from there, not sure how much space is under the seat though...
          Used to fish more.

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          • #6
            That's a good idea.

            The hatch in the front is more than large enough to fit a rod in. Don't know if i can reach it while on the water though. I'm a little top heavy

            I have a 8" round hatch in front of the seat. I might be able to fit a 2 piece blank in there. Might be an excuse to make a 3 piece travel blank. I'm always looking for excuses to build a new rod

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            • #7
              That's true and I guess reaching behind you would be a little awkward too. I think the three piece would work for sure and I am all about excuses for new gear...

              At the very least it will encourage you to bring less stuff which is definitely a good thing!
              Used to fish more.

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              • #8
                Pictures!









                Used to fish more.

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