Another Little Lesson

Triton says this: thou shouldst not surf boat wakes with fly rods lashed to thy rigging.

Surfing your kayak is both fun and practical. Leaning forward a bit and riding out a wind wave or wake will get you from A to B a lot more quickly than letting the waves roll under your boat (though don't forget that the way back to A lies against the force of the waves. Plus, Triton also saith: beware when the tidal current turneth against the wave). I can't remember the name, but there is an expert, godlike kayaker, known for his trips in arctic, who makes incredible average speeds on the open water by surfing swells and waves as much as possible.

But Triton does not like his waves to be trifled with. In a playful, show-offish mood yesterday, I saw the Larkspur ferry launching and figured I would show my kayak fishing buddy Jim how easy it is to get a wave ride off its wake. I've done this before, and I did indeed double-check that both rods, spin and fly, were secure in their usual places. And when the wake came along, down went the bow, up went the stern, and WHEEEEE! Or wait -- is that the tip of my superexpensive Sage 8wt bending down under the water like that? Wow, is that the rod breaking on the second section down, and hanging weakly on like a snapped twig?

Sure enough, that's what it was. Maybe that little wake ride wasn't such a brilliant idea.

Fortunately, the rod is covered for repairs, and better yet, we ended up not needing fly rods on that outing. I found one small fish right after launching, but that was it. The typical process of elimination begins: so far, the early fall stripers are not where we have fished. When we fished there, anyway.

While I was at the launch dealing with all the gearables -- the rudder, the GPS unit, the sponsons, the pump and paddle float, etc. etc. -- some old fella out of an RV stood and stared intently at my every move. To my "how's it going up there?" he nodded and just kept staring. At length, he ventures to say,

"That looks like a LOT of work!"

To which I reply unthinkingly, "Yeah, especially if you're LAZY."

And that kind of ended the conversation. Snap off! Including rod tips, alas, especially if you're STUPID.