Report submitted by 'Oz'

PINS Offshore Kayaking King-Macfest Report Padre Island National Seashore, TX August 22nd-23rd, 2008 Tweet

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Rain, Rain, Rain. But the seas were calming and despite the beach still being very dirty in close, Kip and I figured we would rock down and if it sucked liked it has the past few weeks, then we'd hit the kayaks offshore again. We left late Thursday night and got down the beach. Driving wasn't bad, just bumpy. We crashed out and woke up to see what it looked like. Well, looked like crap again. Surf was getting calm but water very dirty. Lots and lots of birds offshore up and down the beach so we park and get the kayaks ready. We only needed 3 more Kings for the month to cap out for Kayak Wars and were pretty sure we would eventually find them.

We get out and pass a few groups of birds hammering the anchovies. We fish them but only Skipjack appear to be around. We go out further and spot some larger schools of action. We finally get out and begin tossing top-waters in the chaos. Then Boom! The aerial displays for the weekend are about to begin. Throwing large topwater plugs weeds out the chances of the Spanish or Bonita and opens you to the Kings and Jacks or any other larger fish out there. Right off the bat we get hooked up and land our first Kings.

I land and release the King as Kip is doing the same.

Kip releases his and looks over as I am back in the action

Over the next few hours there would be an absolute onslaught of King Mackerel on topwaters. While we did knock out some on ribbonfish, the action was fierce and fun and addictive. Here are some pics from both Kip and I in no particular order.

Kip would finally get a large Spanish but for it only to be hit by a larger predator during the fight.

We would knock out a couple more Kings and then Kip and I would put baits out. There were Sharks breaching everywhere.Instantly I hooked up on an aerial Black but bit through the leader. Not long and I hook up again and go for a sleigh ride. After about 10 minutes I get in and release a solid Blacktip from the kayak.

I'd rig up again and about 30 minutes later another bait gets demolished on my small spinning rod while trying to get Cobia. After an awesome battle I get her up and its another nice Blacktip.

After hammering a load of Kings, a couple of Sharks, and losing some Cobia, we thought we were pretty wore out and the weather was getting unpredicatble. While it really hadn't rained on us, it was storming like crazy around our force-field.

We get a couple fresh shark baits out for overnight but they would stay untouched. We woke up the next morning right before the sun was coming up and knew it would be a good day. The seas were calm and already birds working past the 3rd bar. Kip and I still rigged out, head back out as the sun was rising. Again, mainly Skipjack and Spanish in close but the further out you got, the more violent and chaotic the action. Our goal was to try to stock up on Jacks for Sharkathon and knew they would be under the birds at times. We get out there and Kip gets hooked up on a big Jack... in a big Jack school. He eventually loses the fish as do I. With the fish all around us, he takes a short vid underwater to see if anything comes out and here is a screengrab of the result.

The Jacks would prove to be harder than expected and I quickly switched over to top-waters while Kip still tried to chase them around. I instantly hook up with a Cobia under the birds and get him a few feet from the yak before spitting the hook. From then on the Kingfish Slaughter continued. The exciting aerial acrobatics continued for a 2nd day and we began releasing King after King.

Then I get some on Ribbons

After releasing a King Kip is in the process of landing another solid King so I paddle over and grab a quick picture of another Smoker.

After another load of Kings, we try putting some baits out but the only real action is on the surface. Kip soon heads on in and I stay and duke it out for a couple more hours. On the way in he picks up a large Spanish on a Rattletrap and once again gets destroyed by something bigger during the fight.

It was frustrating to see the Spanish Mackerel jump 6 feet into the air and having a large King jump 10 feet into the air chasing them. Therefore I switched back over to the addictive crack known as top-waters and began to once again hammer the Kings. Then finally I get my first Cobia on a Top Water. His buddy is also curious.

The attention attracted another interesting and curious creature. After the release, the turtle stayed around and had his mind set on the mysterious surface plug. I played around with him and gave him a Ribbonfish but he took a chomp and only wanted to eat the topwater (don't worry, I didn't hook him).

After playing around with the Turtle and anothe Ling for about 15 minutes, I got back to the action and knocked out 3 more Kings.

I finally lost my trusty top-water to a big King and had two backups but needed to wire them up. By now the clouds were once again producing thunder in a distance I finally decided to call it quits. Those two days we destroyed fish on the surface. Aerial Kings on topwaters is a very addictive experience and is one of the funnest things i've done out of the yak. Sure sharks are fun, but they give a long boring fight where the Kings will breach upon impact with the lure and bolt through the water in lightning fast bursts. Very Cool. We managed to avoid the bad weather around us and both Kip and I had a blast as usual. All weekend we did keep 3 of the smaller Kings that weren't going to make it but released everything else. It was a killer trip and can't wait for the beach to clear up... otherwise we might have to resort to the kayaks again... muhahaha.

2 Day Total for Kip and myself...

- 34 King Mackerel landed (up to 35-40lbs),
- 2 Sharks and 1 Cobia also landed and released

- Oz

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