Tag Archives: Kayak Fishing

Trip News

12.22.20 Our 2021 SCI schedule is open to the public

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Well… after a week of the busiest booking period we have ever seen here at Fish Village we can finally announce the trips to the public.

We have received feedback (both positive and negative) from many people regarding our booking process for the 2021 San Clemente Island kayak mothership season. Please know it is never our intent to exclude anyone. We are in the business of selling fishing trips and want to sell as many trips as possible. We are actively researching ways to improve our process and have already identified several areas to be improved.

Our mailer was initially intended to provide an easy way to keep you guys actively aware of our trip offering. Our website has since evolved to the point where we can drive trip news to specific trip pages. The mailer gets lost in spam folders, email servers with over zealous delivery rules and sometimes the email is delivered to an endless pit of other promotional emails. It is inefficient and as we have learned… it may cause frustration with our customers. We can\’t have that!

If anyone is wondering how we sold out so fast, we received over 250 emails in less than three (3) hours of sending out our first email. For our customers that have been on this trip before and didn\’t get a chance to get on these trips… I am sorry. We added another trip and we almost sold out of that one too. We simply were not prepared for that kind of response. We will NEVER make that mistake again.

2.5 Day San Clemente Island Kayak Mothership Trip

  • $875 per person
  • $300 deposit ($100 due within seven (7) business days, remaining $200 deposit due on or before 1/29/21)
  • Final balances due on our before 4/30/21

3.5 Day San Clemente Island Kayak Mothership Trip

  • $1,300 per person
  • $400 deposit ($100 due within seven (7) business days, remaining $300 deposit due on or before 1/29/21)
  • Final balances due on our before 4/30/21

A friendly reminder that we do not allow Hobie Pro Anglers or ultra-wide kayaks on these trips.

If you want to book a trip or be added to the waiting list, please click on the link(s) above and fill out a Trip Inquiry Form.

DaysDatesStatus
2.5 days6/10 – 6/13 (CCKF)Sold out
2.5 days6/17 – 6/20 (Fresh n Salty)Sold out
2.5 days6/24 – 6/27Sold out
2.5 days7/1 – 7/4Sold out
3.5 days7/4 – 7/84 spots
Village Talk

12.21.20 Do You Remember Your First Yellowtail?

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One of the greatest gifts that I have ever received while on this Fish Village journey was a story from a first time Fish Village customer. Richard Williams booked a spot on one of our 2.5 day kayak mothership trips to San Clemente Island last June and such a good time that he wrote us a short story about his experience. We loved this story so much we just had to share it.

Do you remember your first car?  Mine was a 1950 Ford that I found in the back parking lot of an apartment building in Bethany, Oklahoma when I was sixteen.  It had its original exterior color, faded mint green, and original interior, light beige vinyl.  I got it for $275.  Push starter with three on the column.  I was the cool kid at a school of only 300 students, until Bill Reynolds showed up a month later with a \’57 Mustang. 

Do you remember your first kiss?  Kim Klopfenstein.  I finally got the nerve up and asked Kim out.  Of course I had to then ask her dad if I could take his daughter out (which is another story) and after he said yes I picked her up on Saturday and off we went to the local burger joint, Braums, and then to the movies.  ET was playing at the time so we drove to the theater, parked the car and I got out and started walking to the theater.  All of a sudden I realized that Kim wasn\’t with me.  She was still sitting in the car, waiting patiently for me to open the door for her.  My parents taught me better than that so I ran back and apologized profusely.  After the movie, I drove Kim home and on the front porch I mustered up my nerve and had my first kiss.

Do you remember your first yellowtail?  Leave it to a fisherman to bring anything back to fishing.  It was June 27, 2020 at around 3:30 pm by San Clemente Island.  The captain of the Islander had moved the boat because of the wind, and we launched the kayaks. Right out of the gate, Tim Boyer from Pure Watersports caught a yellowtail.  I had spent the day before toiling all day in hopes of my first yellowtail.  Nothing.  But I knew it had to be today.  I had fished all day long with one line weighted with live bait and then a free line with live bait.  I had a couple of hits that I thought might be a yellowtail, but then later discovered that it was just a seal following me and stealing my bait.  I was about to give up for the day, but I remembered Tim telling me to hook the bait by the butt and the bait would swim deeper. Why not give it a try? At this point, I was willing to try anything.  After releasing the bait into the water I could hear it take the line slowly into deeper water, so I knew that the trick worked. About ten minutes into it, I could hear the bait getting nervous from the amount of line it was taking. Something\’s up. I slowly reached back and grabbed the rod, and that\’s when the reel started to scream. I flipped on the drag, and we were off to the races! The rod doubled over and the line was flying off the reel. I reached up and tightened the drag ever so slightly to give some resistance.  It helped, but this fish was not slowing down! Is it a shark?  A black sea bass? I had just witnessed one of the other guys bring in a five foot shark and ten minutes later a 75 pound black sea bass.  Then I was worried that the fish was on my lighter set up, so I looked down and it wasn\’t, so I knew that my odds had just increased.   I kept saying to myself \”just be patient, don\’t overwork the fish.\”  Sure enough, after about fifteen minutes of tug-of-war, I saw color.  The most beautiful thing to see was the silver and yellow.  I got it in, pulled it on board, and in my excitement, I didn\’t even bother to measure it or weigh it.  I do remember the fish\’s nose was at my seat and the tail ran past my feet.  When I went back to the mother ship to hand off the fish, I had a hard time lifting it, it was that heavy!  But of course I was pretty spent at that point.  It was truly a great experience and something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Richard Williams (Fish Village customer)

Trip News

12.19.20 Another day, another trip added to the schedule

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Another 2021 San Clemente Island kayak mothership trip update.

We were serious when we told you that we were going to hustle to get more trips. We were serious when we said YOU are our #1 priority. Today we made it happen.

We added a NEW San Clemente Island 3.5 day kayak mothership trip to our schedule. That is right… not just another trip… but LONGER. Why? BECAUSE MORE FISHING IS MOST DEFINTELY BETTER.

Earlier today we sent out emails to everyone that tried to book with us, but ultimately missed out. They have priority right now to get on our newly offered trip. We had to make sure that they at least had a chance to score a spot on what many call a bucket list trip. These trips provide unique opportunities to fish an incredible island fishery in your own kayak.

Over the next few days we will be working with our booked guests to provide them with an opportunity to move their reservation to our newly offered 3.5 day trip which could result in newly open spots. We will have this wrapped up by Tuesday. If spots are still available, we will go public with our dates and a waiting list for sold out trips. Cancellations still occur… so it is wise to jump on the waiting list when the trip is sold out.

Trip News

12.18.20 Many are happy and some are not

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Some of you are probably wondering… what the hell am I talking about?

We just launched the 2021 San Clemente Island kayak mothership trip season schedule to our mailing list subscribers on Wednesday promptly at 6:00 PM. We knew that people wanted to get on this trip… we knew that people missed out on this trip last year due to COVID AND we knew that a lot of you are going crazy sitting at home.

We expected a large response… but we didn\’t expect a GIGANTIC response to the point where we couldn\’t even keep up. My poor wife who largely runs the administration of our company behind the scenes has been on a tear over the last two (2) days. She is booking all of you, she is creating the invoices and managing our email inbox all at the same time… normally not a challenge, but WOW this time she needed some help. So Joe and I stepped in to lend a hand to get through 300+ email requests, 40 DM\’s, 88 bookings and 80 invoices that were generated as a result of this release.

This is not a burden… this is exciting. This means we are growing. This means that we are providing a quality experience that people want to be a part of. We have always felt that this particular experience is something that every kayak angler would want to be a part of at least once. Even freshwater anglers find themselves at home on this trip… it seems to speak to just about everyone.

This trip is connecting the entire California kayak fishing community from NorCal to San Diego. Heck, we even have a few that travel from Nevada and Arizona. This means that the Islander crew gets a few more trips to work, means more money for them and their families. It also means a spike to the local economy in San Diego with hotel stays, meals, parking, etc.

We are working longer hours than normal right now to get you all booked and billed + ADD MORE TRIPS. This won\’t take long… most likely by Monday at the latest. We have already requested more trips from the Islander and may be adding a 3.5 day option as well, as we received a lot of requests for a longer trip. This is our highest priority right now… YOU are our highest priority right now.

Trip News

12.17.20 Wow, that was fast!

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Well… we said these trips would be highly contested and we also said that we expected to sell out within 24 hours. We are just about there with only a few spots left.

Last night we received over 250 emails (all after 6:00 PM). We have never seen a response like this. We were floored. This tells me that people love this trip, NorCal\’s Fresh n Salty rolls deep and that people want to get out there and live. This makes us so happy.

We are in the process of responding to every single person that attempted to book. We expect to get to all of you today. For those expecting confirmation emails after we you completed your form… we cannot automate that because we have to ensure that we process them in the order they were received. We would hate to confirm that you have a spot or worse don\’t have a spot and we were wrong. This is sort of like when you order something online and you have to wait to get the confirmation email that they have it in stock and will be delivered.

Sooo… what are we going to do? First, we need to talk to the Islander and get more dates (STAY TUNED). Second, we need to close out the remaining few spots.

We heard rumblings that some people that subscribed to our list did NOT receive the email. First let me say this… It is our intention to include everyone. There is no one that we want to exclude. Next I want to say that we literally want to book you all. So when we hear that people missed out because of a failure with technology… we got really bummed out.

Unfortunately we cannot control whether or not your email server thinks our email is spam. Our process includes a SPAM test and a compliance check. It passed both tests before we sent this out. We literally tested multiple times before sending right at 6:00 PM. Nonetheless, we are bummed that people felt that they missed out. Based on the 250+ email response, we had no idea that some of you were having issues until we started receiving text messages and DMs.

We will be looking into this problem and determine if we can improve upon this process. We want you all to have the best chance possible to fish with your buddies.

Trip News

12.15.20 2021 SCI Kayak Mothership Trips Coming At Ya

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We are suuuuppper excited about the 2021 season… the idea of wiping the slate clean, disinfecting ourselves from COVID and getting back out on the water. It\’s where we all want to be… sounds soooo damn delightful. We all need this!

Every year we see incredibly high demand for these trips. If it weren\’t for COVID-19, we would be launching at least six (6) dates for the 2021 season. With a great initial response to our trip marketing campaign and over one hundred (100) new email subscribers over the last two weeks we expect to see the highest demand for these trips we have ever seen. If we are right, this means we will be adding more trips to the 2021 schedule to meet the demand.

We want to create opportunities for you to fish with people that you know or to forge new relationships with people in your community. Last year we tested out the concept of \’community based\’ trips with the Central Coast Kayak Fishing (CCKF) trip. With more trip inquiries than any other trip… I would say that the community concept was very well received. So we are doubling down.

We are serving three communities aka California regions:

  • Southern California
  • Central Coast (Central Coast Kayak Fishing)
  • Northern California (Fresh n Salty)

We really like this approach as it is centered around communities, which something we believe strongly in. We think 2021 will be a breakout year for these trips. What is the best way to get on these trips? SUBSCRIBE, SUBSCRIBE, SUBSCRIBE!!!

It is simple, we have a mailing list that is free to join. You do not have to sell your soul to gain access. We do not spam and you can unsubscribe at any time.

To learn more about these trips, check out our trip page.

Trip News

12.2.20 More Fishing and More Wind

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I wish that I could report that the conditions eventually swung into our favor, but that was not the case. As a matter of fact, most would argue that it got worse. Morale was low for some of the Cali guys as the struggle was most definitely real. Even the seasoned pros were struggling to find the fish and if you could find them… staying on them was the next game that you had to master.

Wednesday 11/18 – 25+ mph winds

We woke up to howling winds, I mean it was ripping. Just about everyone questioned their desire to get up, get ready and fight the wind AGAIN. I will say this; most of the group had a strong will to push on through… I was not one of them on Wednesday. A handful of us decided to stay back and do a bit of work instead of fighting the wind.

However team #nevergiveup continued to grind. The Cali guys started getting on fish. Each respective group reported catches signaling that better times might be ahead. NOPE… mother nature was relentless and kept throwing high winds at us.

At least this time around fish were caught and the Cali boys were finding success. With team fish/catch photos and lots of fish to fillet… this without a doubt boosted morale in camp which led to a lot of whiskey drinking and good eats. Well truth be told… no matter what we did led to a lot of whiskey drinking and good eats.

Thursday 11/19 – 20+ mph winds

Soooo… like out of a story book we woke up at the crack of dawn to low winds which felt like NO WINDS compared to the last few days. All of us were well rested and ready to make the most of our last day of fishing in southern Louisiana.

Once again we staggered our launches and launched all 18 anglers into an area of the marsh that had proven to be successful and full of fish. We quickly spread out and started to get skinny. Everyone found an inlet, cut or pond with the right falling tide conditions and just killed it.

Brian Nelli reported in early with multiple large trout caught and a bunch of redfish. This was the sign that we were about to have a good day. As I drove up an inlet I spotted a small pond with clean water and all of a sudden I saw a bunch of mud come up signaling that there was a good sized fish there. I aimed, threw and missed horribly. I reeled in and re-casted and put it where the fish had no choice but to eat it. And just like that… I had my first sight casted redfish on a kayak. My homie Brooks Beatty was on the scene with the camera and coached me into landing it myself. I almost made the mistake to net the fish before the fight was over… thanks for the advice Brooks! More to come on this! And as I suspected I would… I landed the fish on a Buggs Fishing Beastie Bugg 1/4 oz. (Blue Crab). It was so sweet I had to text Heath Hippel (owner of Buggs Fishing) and say thanks for making this possible. I kept the lure and brought it home for the mantle.

The low winds didn\’t stick around for long, our window was tiny but we took advantage of it. The stupid high winds picked back up and eventually flushed us out of the marsh into a large opening and we all eventually ended up together as if it were planned. A super cool way to end the trip… basically all of us together sharing fish stories and talking about how they sight casted a fish.

Bottom line… our team caught fish. Our team figured out the extremely tough conditions with the help of some seasoned professionals and a relentless desire to catch fish, despite the challenges.

I was surrounded by incredible people that refused to quit… what an honor that was.

Trip News

12.1.20 Days 1 + 2 Tough Fishing, Tough Conditions

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We all came to Louisiana with the same goal in mind… to do as much fishing and eating as possible before our time ran out. Everything in between was just a bonus. Though the in between stuff was pretty damn fun too… let\’s talk about the fishing right now.

Monday 11/16 – 20 mph winds

Soooooo, we may have dodged some quarantines, we even dodged a potentially deadly tropical storm that at one point was expected to hit south Louisiana but what we couldn\’t dodge was the damn wind.

We staggered the launches for our large 18 person group throughout the morning starting at first light. Our floatilla went through what appeared to be a movie set but was really just real southern Louisiana marsh living. An incredible back drop for our day of fishing. The sun was shining, the clouds were scarce, the weather was nice… but the wind was howling. High winds and kayaks make for a challenge… extreme tides with a lot of flushing water doubles the challenges.

None of this stopped Jessica Bryant from Mississippi from sticking a \”marsh pumpkin\” as she likes to call them in super skinny water sending a warning shot to all of the boys on the trip. Wind, flushing water or not… it can be done. What a bad ass… that was just the beginning for her.

We (and by we I do not mean me) only picked off a few fish that day before the group was dejected and worn out… by no means was this the start that we wanted, however it is the start we were dealt. We will persevere.

Monday night 11/16 – Bowfishing via airboat

The camp we stayed at Deep Delta Bowfishing specializes in you guessed it, bowfishing charters. Now, this already sounds cool, but let\’s add the fact that they run airboats for their bowfishing charters. This we had to see for ourselves… so we did a thing.

We loaded two (2) airboats up with 11 anglers and went for a scoot across the marsh. Hot diggity damn that shit was fun! You can ask the guys on my boat… I was screaming the whole way \”FASTER\” just like a kid would.

The consensus was… we all loved it, the fish ARE safe when we have bows in our hands and we want to do it again! Not gonna lie… it was satisfying to shoot a fish instead of hooking a fish. I absolutely loved it… cold as hell, but loved every second of it. An unforeseen highlight of the trip.

Tuesday 11/17 – more 20+ mph winds

That 5:00 AM alarm was rough on Tuesday morning considering we had such a long day AND half of the group spent the night bowfishing… all of us were regretting that decision when we were stumbling around to get ready. Not our finest start… OK it sucked. But we did get out.

The winds were freaking relentless. We split up into three (3) groups to try to find marsh with water in it and to get the Cali boys onto some fish. For the most part, this group knows a thing or two about redfishing in the marsh, only a handful of us needed some help in understanding what to look for, how to approach skinny waters, what baits to use, etc. By the end of the second day we had that down… but the winds wouldn\’t let up.

The only blessing was that the groups started to report more fish being caught and then I had my first run-in with a redfish while in my kayak (I caught one on the dock in PAC)… and it was a doozy. Using a popping cork and some friendly advice from Eric Muhoberac from Louisiana Kayak Company I managed to frustrate a 31 inch redfish into biting. Then the hooting and hollering began. She was a beauty. How is it that my first kayak redfish is a fatboy!

As I was worried that my undersized net wouldn\’t get the job done, Eric swooped in and and landed my fish with an appropriately sized net. This moment was incredible, I let out a bellow of a cry and Eric followed with a sweet yell of success. Robert Field felt the disturbance in the force and he knows that sound… he knew that I found my fish and immediately jumped on the radio. Joe was there to film the final moments and snap a few good pics. I can\’t wait to share them with you…

Though the fishing was not on fire… there were signs of life, moments of joy and a glimmer of hope that all of us will get our redfish. We had two (2) more days of fishing to go… WE GOT THIS!

Trip News

11.02.20 San Clemente Island kayak mothership 2021 season update

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First off… we know you are pumped, we know that you want to book your next trip. We are asking for your patience.

Normally we would have announced the trip dates already, traditionally right around Halloween. This year is different due to COVID, the election and more. The Islander isn\’t announcing their 2021 season charter prices until early to mid November. This sets our overall schedule back by a few weeks.

We already have the dates for the 2021 season, however we cannot accept any bookings until we know what the price will be in 2021.

With a new season comes some re-defined rules for this adventure:

  • No Hobie Pro Anglers or ultra-wide kayaks
  • If you cannot swim, you cannot participate
  • VHF radios are mandatory
  • COVID waivers for cancellations will be required

If you are booking with more than 60 days before the trip, you can cancel within seven (7) days of booking and receive a full refund. Outside of that exception there will be no refunds issued.

And the biggest change to this season is that these trips will be Community Based trips meaning that each trip date will be reserved for a specific community, group or organization. This creates opportunities for groups to go on these trips with their village of friends and family members.

To learn more about this trip, head over to our trip page. To learn more about San Clemente Island, California head over to our location page.

Trip News

11.02.20 GBI New Zealand 2021 season dates (On Hold)

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We were so freaking excited about these trips when we launched them back in March. Unfortunately our new trip campaign coincided with the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak across the globe. This caused us to cancel our Dec 2020 trips with hopes of sparking up new dates in the spring of 2021.

COVID continues to damper our mood because we cannot land on a date that seems to be a lock for this trip. Instead we are monitoring the New Zealand travel website and the U.S. travel website like a hawk. When we see that you can safely travel without quarantine, we will open up the schedule again.

We want to send you on this trip… but we will NOT do so until it can be done safely.

To learn more about this trip, head over to our trip page. To learn more about Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, head over to our location page.