Little info i had about this place, other than is ideal for kayak fishing, so why not. Stunning morning, a soft breeze, conditions were amazing... from a distance I could see the farms packed with boats after boats after boats... and kayaks! which made me a bit skeptical (dont like crowded spots, personally).
Wife and friend launched their yaks while im still on shore trying to turn on my FF which simply wont power up. Checked connections, battery fully charged from night before, etc. It just wont. Im getting frustrated, and its already 8.30am, so I thought, I've fished all my life without one so... F* it... off I went.
As we got into the mussel farms I decided to trawl a softbait, a minute went by after I dropped it and my reel already started screaming!... I got snagged! onto the ropes holding those corner buoys at the bottom.


Head out of my lane, and noticed that now the wife is snagged onto her rope and cant get out as well! anyhow, after we freed ourselves we decided to try other parts of the farms... thats when I crossed paths and got talking to a fellow kayaker that noticed my pedal kayak pointing out 'its great and easy to go around the farms with pedals isnt?' (I wasnt sure at that point). He was from the East Bays Kayak Club - cant remember his name, he had a red Hobie yak with 'Yak Bro' stickers, invited me to the club.

A few hours went by, and nothing, I tried the entire rainbow of colors and shapes of Zmans... nothing. Just bites. My friend already had 3 on the back and a broken rod by 2pm, which is when he told us to go back in. I said, gimme 30 mins... so we picked a random lane with not many boaties around and hooked ourselves (this time not to a submerged buoy! much easier



My friend left in frustration (despite catching 3 decent pannies), and we decided to stick around since things were finally picking up for us and the weather was still spectacular. Boaties started to leave, and all of a sudden only yaks were around ourselves. Wind changed directions so I decided to hook on the following lane... 2nd cast and again... fish on!


At this stage is 3/3.30pm and we had pretty much the farms for ourselves and I knew we had to go back in... wife was getting tired, but I wanted to stay just for 'one more cast' she agreed, so I did... cast... got some soft nibbles... I prepare myself, a few soft twitches and we are on! ... this time I wanted to make sure it was coming home... at first it felt like an 'ok panny'.... yet when it got closer to the yak it decided to fight and bent the rod heavily... until it came up... a nice 12lb! was sitting next to my boat floating on its side... im so stoked!!, but I had no gaff or net as I gave my gaff to the wife when she could get herself out from the rope, so I made sure he was tired enough also realised he was well hooked so... 1, 2, 3.... lift it up.... and a second later, there it is next to me inside the kayak... I think i kinda screamed...

Now, we decided to head back in... not until we notice one last boatie at a distance having troubles - threw a grapnel anchor down and got snagged with the mussel buoy - so the wife decided to go offer a hand just to be met with some nice macho-arrogance 'all is fine and a mate is coming to help... nice kayak tho'. So she turned around and left...that is when we headed out from the lanes to the main 'corridor' heading back to shore when I decided to trawl one last time on my way out... I cast out and now my lure got snagged at the tip of my rod with the knot that ties my braid to the leader so I pull the tip of the rod back to check it out and I noticed that my alberto knot was completely undone, so as soon as I touched it with my finger, my leader came out! so that was it... enough for today. Too much to learn, but with a decent catch, and an even better and delicious lunch the next day.
34cm and a 55cm (5.2kg)
Panko fried snapper and fresh salad
