long story of life and death.....
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benjamin
- Seasoned Fisher
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- Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:00 pm
- Location: FLORIDA
long story of life and death.....
......and lost gear if anyone wants to read.
land pirates crew.....hatin on googans since 1984...
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kyfisherman
- KING MACKEREL
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BoatlessFisherman
- Fisherman - Owner - Administrator
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benjamin
- Seasoned Fisher
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:00 pm
- Location: FLORIDA
ok here it is...... i remember it like it happened last year.....
it was sometime in the middle of june last summer, my dad and cousin Paul were fishing for sharks north of the ft. pierce inlet state park. my cousin Paul was about to paddle out a couple of baits when he called me and told me to head down. he had mentioned that he was snorkeling out at the end of the jetty earlier that day and saw a school of huge mangrove snapper hanging out at the end with a few snook hanging around as well. so i loaded up my jeep with my lite ugly stik inshore/ fin nor combo, my brand new never been fished penn slammer rod/ shimano 6500 baitrunner combo, my castnet, and two bait cans.
the sun was about to go down but there was a full moon so i wasnt woried about the visability and the ocean looked almost like a lake past the 1-2 ft shore break. i castnetted a bunch of pilchards and tied the bait cans to the back handle of the kayak, stuffed the rods into the kayak holes, clipped my light on the bill of my hat and started paddling. my dad had mentioned they had a few hits so far on the shark rods but nothing landed yet. it was pretty much a perfect night to be out on a kayak fishing at night for snapper and snook. (other than the tiny pinhole in the kayak that i knew nothing about). the kayak was an old ocean kayak scrambler that my sister found at a garage sale for $100.
anyways.... after finally getting out to the end of the jetty with the sun now totally down, i rigged up the ugly stik with a fresh pilchard and threw out to where i figured the snapper might be hanging out. the bait wasnt in the water for 2 min when i started to notice how hard it was to balance the kayak. at first, i thought it might be the two bait buckets tied to the back, but i realized what the problem was...... after it overturned and i couldnt turn it back over. it was leaking and had been filling up with water. i grabbed all my gear, untangled myself from the bait can lines and climbed on top. i grabbed ahold of the upside down kayak and used my body weight to roll it back over. then i threw everything in and climbed on. i waited until i had enough nerve to try to sit upright. i did, and the sequence of events unfolded exactly the same way. i started to get nervous when i looked up and noticed how far away the end of the jetty was getting in the swiftly flowing outgoing tide, but i didnt want to leave everything.
eventually......there was too much water in the kayak to continue the same kind of struggle, so i used the little remaining air in the nose as a float and tried to stabilize it by wrapping my legs around it and paddle in. this didnt work either as my weight would cause the bubble to shift to the tail and i would slide off the front of the nose and into the water. i had to try to swim against the current with the water filled kayak and gear in tow. this lasted about ten seconds. it was dark and i could no longer see the end of the rocks. i had wasted too much time trying to save my gear, all the while drifting offshore. i decided to attempt to save myself and left everything. well i obviously made it or i wouldnt be typing this, but somehow i managed to swim face-first into two of those huge pink jellyfish on the way into the end of the jetty to top it off. i pretty muched kissed both of them.
once i got to the end, i just hung onto the edge of a big rock until i could gather enough strength to climb up and make the nightly climb over the rocks and back onto the beach. anyone thats climbed those rocks knows that getting out half way is a chore. at night its pretty rough. i felt like a shipwrecked sailor when i finally got to the beach. in exhaustion, i laid down next to my safe family members as they sat comfortably next to a fire they had made. i believe the first words out of my dad's mouth were, "where's the kayak?" .
it never felt so good to be alive, but those poor pilchards probably starved to death at the bottom of the sea in the plastic prison i doomed them to. all told..... i lost my sister's ocean crapak and paddle, my two rods (one of which saw its first and last trip to the beach that night), the two bait cans, and the L.E.D. light i clipped onto the brim of my hat. all that i came home with was the hooks and weights in my pocket, and the hat i hung onto....
...............benjamin
it was sometime in the middle of june last summer, my dad and cousin Paul were fishing for sharks north of the ft. pierce inlet state park. my cousin Paul was about to paddle out a couple of baits when he called me and told me to head down. he had mentioned that he was snorkeling out at the end of the jetty earlier that day and saw a school of huge mangrove snapper hanging out at the end with a few snook hanging around as well. so i loaded up my jeep with my lite ugly stik inshore/ fin nor combo, my brand new never been fished penn slammer rod/ shimano 6500 baitrunner combo, my castnet, and two bait cans.
the sun was about to go down but there was a full moon so i wasnt woried about the visability and the ocean looked almost like a lake past the 1-2 ft shore break. i castnetted a bunch of pilchards and tied the bait cans to the back handle of the kayak, stuffed the rods into the kayak holes, clipped my light on the bill of my hat and started paddling. my dad had mentioned they had a few hits so far on the shark rods but nothing landed yet. it was pretty much a perfect night to be out on a kayak fishing at night for snapper and snook. (other than the tiny pinhole in the kayak that i knew nothing about). the kayak was an old ocean kayak scrambler that my sister found at a garage sale for $100.
anyways.... after finally getting out to the end of the jetty with the sun now totally down, i rigged up the ugly stik with a fresh pilchard and threw out to where i figured the snapper might be hanging out. the bait wasnt in the water for 2 min when i started to notice how hard it was to balance the kayak. at first, i thought it might be the two bait buckets tied to the back, but i realized what the problem was...... after it overturned and i couldnt turn it back over. it was leaking and had been filling up with water. i grabbed all my gear, untangled myself from the bait can lines and climbed on top. i grabbed ahold of the upside down kayak and used my body weight to roll it back over. then i threw everything in and climbed on. i waited until i had enough nerve to try to sit upright. i did, and the sequence of events unfolded exactly the same way. i started to get nervous when i looked up and noticed how far away the end of the jetty was getting in the swiftly flowing outgoing tide, but i didnt want to leave everything.
eventually......there was too much water in the kayak to continue the same kind of struggle, so i used the little remaining air in the nose as a float and tried to stabilize it by wrapping my legs around it and paddle in. this didnt work either as my weight would cause the bubble to shift to the tail and i would slide off the front of the nose and into the water. i had to try to swim against the current with the water filled kayak and gear in tow. this lasted about ten seconds. it was dark and i could no longer see the end of the rocks. i had wasted too much time trying to save my gear, all the while drifting offshore. i decided to attempt to save myself and left everything. well i obviously made it or i wouldnt be typing this, but somehow i managed to swim face-first into two of those huge pink jellyfish on the way into the end of the jetty to top it off. i pretty muched kissed both of them.
once i got to the end, i just hung onto the edge of a big rock until i could gather enough strength to climb up and make the nightly climb over the rocks and back onto the beach. anyone thats climbed those rocks knows that getting out half way is a chore. at night its pretty rough. i felt like a shipwrecked sailor when i finally got to the beach. in exhaustion, i laid down next to my safe family members as they sat comfortably next to a fire they had made. i believe the first words out of my dad's mouth were, "where's the kayak?" .
it never felt so good to be alive, but those poor pilchards probably starved to death at the bottom of the sea in the plastic prison i doomed them to. all told..... i lost my sister's ocean crapak and paddle, my two rods (one of which saw its first and last trip to the beach that night), the two bait cans, and the L.E.D. light i clipped onto the brim of my hat. all that i came home with was the hooks and weights in my pocket, and the hat i hung onto....
...............benjamin
land pirates crew.....hatin on googans since 1984...
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kyfisherman
- KING MACKEREL
- Posts: 635
- Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 1:22 pm
- Location: Grayson, Ky
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benjamin
- Seasoned Fisher
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:00 pm
- Location: FLORIDA
yeah....its a long but 100% true story, and the only thing that would have made it a better one is if i would have had to fight off a huge tiger shark or something to get back in, but im sure they were around anyways. they had been gettin hits off the beach. spooky to say the least. it was very exhausting. i slept well that night.
land pirates crew.....hatin on googans since 1984...
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BoatlessFisherman
- Fisherman - Owner - Administrator
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Perichois
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