Today our 2021 San Clemente Island Kayak Mothership trip guests received our newly updated Trip Guide. This web based Trip Guide helps our customers prepare for their trips.
Imagine the number of questions people have when going on a new trip. We don\’t like anyone to be surprised or worse… un-prepared.
Our Trip Guide will provide you with answers to our most commonly asked questions. This includes insights on where to meet, what to bring, how to pack, parking, trip itinerary and more.
Below is a sample of what our customers receive (please note this is a screenshot, thus the links will not work):
This story is about my first La Jolla kayak fishing experience.
I have been fishing damn near my entire life, however I have only been kayak fishing for a less than a decade. So in my first couple of years as a kayak angler, I had a lot of new experiences.
Getting stuck in the kelp
Octopus on your kayak (another Fish Tails story coming soon)
Surf launches (several Fish Tails stories coming your way)
Pooping (too many to tell, but I will tell some anyways)
For those that have launched their kayak out of La Jolla knows that there is a large surf zone that you have to punch through to get to the fishing grounds. Usually it doesn\’t take much effort to get past the surf zone, but the odds are high that you will get wet or soaked in the process.
Fortunately this funny story has nothing to do with me eating shit in the surf zone at La Jolla… instead this story is about a quick conversation I had with an old lady at 5:30 in the morning pulling my yak towards the shoreline.
Wayne Johnson… a Dana Point local kayak angler out of Pure Watersports – Dana Point asked me if I wanted to fish La Jolla with him. This guy has been yanking on big yellows, white sea bass and halibut from a kayak for quite some time… I figured I could learn a few things so I said yes. So we met in Dana Point, loaded up the kayaks and headed south to La Jolla.
We circled the neighborhood to find a decent parking spot and began to unload the yaks. Wayne was quick to be ready and started to head down to the water. As I slowly worked my way to the shoreline, an old lady stopped me and asked me…
Old Lady: \”What are you doing with that canoe?\”
Me: \”I am going fishing mam\’m.\”
Old Lady: \”Here?\”
Me: \”Yes, right down the street.\”
Old Lady: \”What about the surf?\”
Me: \”We hope for the best.\”
Old Lady: \”DO YOU GET WET?\”
Me: \”Most of the time.\”
The look she gave me was worth the drive. She was confused and annoyed with me all the same. To be fair… she called my kayak a canoe. This story makes me laugh.
Our partners helped prepare us for our Louisiana trip last November. Our team was armed to the teeth with purpose built tackle and gear. We couldn\’t keep it all to ourselves so we are sharing some of it with you. We built an entire tackle pack + bonus gear for one lucky winner.
R&D Fishing Tackle + Fish Village custom topwater lure
Owner Weighted Twistlock 3/0 1/16 oz.
Owner Twistlock Flashy Swimmer 3/0 3/16 oz.
Bayou Buck\’s Twistless Sister in-line spinner 1/2 oz.
Z-Man Texas Eye Jigheads 3/16 oz. (Glow)
Z-Man Bullzeye Spinnerbait 1/8 oz. (Gold)
Z-Man EZ Shrimpz (Greasy Prawn)
Z-Man Minnowz (Motor Oil)
Bugg\’s Fishing Beastie Bug (Blue Crab)
Bugg\’s Fishing Bitty Bug (Blue Crab)
Matrix Shad 3\” Lemon Head
Matrix Shad 3\” Shrimp Creole
Plano tackle box
Sticker pack
Rules
Must be a Fish Village mailing list subscriber
Must follow us on Facebook
Reply to our post and tag five (5) Facebook friends
Reply to our post with… \”I want to go fishing with Fish Village\” and include #redfishtacklepack
Check out our Facebook page for the announcement of this contest on Friday afternoon 1/15/21. This promotion will run from 1/15/21 – 2/5/21.
We will pick a winner on Friday 2/5/21 and announce on Facebook and post to this page. We will check to see that you are on our mailing list, that you are a Fish Village Facebook page follower, that you shared our post with five (5) Facebook friends and that you replied to our post with \”I want to go fishing with Fish Village\” and tagged #redfishtacklepack.
Re-told from the events that occurred on July 15th back in 2017.
I\’ll set the stage for ya… it is the July Fishing w/ Friends kayak fishing tournament that is held out of Pure Watersports in Dana Point, California. The event is merely a small gathering of like minded individuals that like to place a small friendly wager to see who can catch the biggest fish. Truth be told… we probably all do it for the feast afterwards.
So Charlie, Tommy, Joe and I started our day like usual… late, slow and always annoying Charlie. See… I am an anxious person, but I am nothing compared to Charlie. No matter what we do… he is annoyed with us, yet he likes to hang out with us. We don\’t get it.
We lazily pointed our yaks towards the \”Pipe\”, a known underwater rock structure just outside Dana Point harbor and Doheny Beach. We fished it with our usual amount of banter, breakfast beers and Pop-Tarts. At some point we were over it and moved on to another spot closer to shore. As we worked our way back towards the harbor mouth we stopped to bullshit some more.
An extremely lazy Charlie had a Shimano Waxwing dangling just below his kayak when something started to happen. Now… let me be clear. Charlie was NOT fishing. Now the photos may suggest otherwise, but this f\’n guy wasn\’t even fishing.
Charlie was screaming, cursing, laughing and perhaps in a slight panic (we all know the truth). He was hooked big. We all backed away and let him do his thing. A short fight later… this freaking guy has a giant White sea bass draped across his lap with that shit eating grin on his face.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I mean look at that freaking tail.
Though we may be talking shit on Charlie and making fun of how he landed that giant White sea bass… he got the last laugh that day as he giggled all the way back to the dock and took all of our money.
Our trip had kayak anglers from all over the country including some of our friends from Central Coast and NorCal. Throughout our trip we referenced our friends from up north as the Cali boys. The name stuck and it was appropriate.
Let\’s start with the Above the Hook Productions crew… Ryan Arguello, Paul Williams and Alex Casillas. We have been on a few adventures together including Panama, San Clemente Island and now South Louisiana. These guys love to kayak fish and film which is perfect for us because we needed to have solid camera coverage all throughout our eighteen (18) person crew.
Ryan from the ATH crew relaxing with the rest of the team our first night in Louisiana.
The Above the Hook crew did an outstanding job of covering the trip despite the challenges that were thrown at them. The new territory, the stupid relentless winds and a new fishery make for challenging filming conditions, but did that stop them… NOPE.
At one point I had the privilege of bowfishing with Ryan, Paul and Alex (master drone operator) and got to watch them do their thing. From capturing the experience on cell phone videos and bad ass cameras, live social media updates and some of the baddest nighttime drone footage I have ever seen… these boys came to play. Watching them work as a team while we bowfished for redfish in the Louisiana marsh was rad. This moment stood out for me as a moment to remember.
Check out this teaser video they put together and released on Facebook… we love it and we want more!
Jesse rigging up before our first day on the water.
The other member of the Cali boys crew was our teammate Jesse Landry. Jesse has been a Fish Village ambassador before it was a thing… he has been on a number of our adventures and knows the Above the Hook guys well.
Jesse is the definition of chill. He looks out for others and is a heck of a fisherman. When we were loading up the kayaks into the trailer in Oceanside shortly before we took off for Louisiana, Jesse handed me multiple coolers full of beer and fish. Not just any beer or fish… but good beer and freshly caught and processed salmon, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and halibut. Are you kidding me?
His instructions were simple… share and enjoy. So we brought that beer to Louisiana and shared with our friends and my family has some damn good fish to eat over the next few months.
The funny story behind this generosity was that he was basically a zombie as he didn\’t sleep for 24 hours+ and was hopped up on Red Bull. First thing he did when he saw me was talk shit about my shoes and then hand me a bunch of beer and fish. It was like being slapped and then hugged right after.
Ryan, Paul, Alex and Jesse… thank you for being a part of our village.
To read the first installation of this South Louisiana: Behind the Trip series, click here.
Sorry that it has been quiet on the blog front lately… that ends today!
We hit the minimum threshold to guarantee the 6/20/21 – 6/23/21 San Clemente Island 2.5 day kayak mothership trip, which means if you want to get on one of our trips… the time is now. Only one (1) spot remains until we have sold out of 132 spots across all six (6) trips. This blows my mind!
Don\’t miss out… jump on this incredible trip today.
To book your spot on the 6/20 – 6/23 trip or to book your spot on a waiting list for any of our sold out trips, click on the link(s) below:
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