Kokatat’s kayak fishing ambassador Bryce Molenkamp had a busy year on the water. Read all about his adventures (and more importantly his catches!) below…
As the year is winding down I look back and remember all the good things that came by in 2009. Kokatat was always there to keep me with a fresh supply of the best gear so I’m really grateful for that.
The Supernova Angler paddling suit (http://www.kokatat.com/product_detail.asp?code=sna) has been my favorite winter and summer piece. It’s withstood a lot of use and come through shining. A big thanks to everyone at Kokatat and especially those hard working elves in Arcata, Ca!
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- Oregon Rockfish
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- Oregon Rockfish
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- Largemouth Bass
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- Pink Salmon
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- Pink Salmon
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- Crab
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- Sturgeon
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- Shrimp basket
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- Shrimp
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- Oregon Coho
Shrimp started it all off this year and was a real highlight. It’s a lot of work to pull a lot of line attached to a heavy trap in some serious current. But when there’s a full trap of Pink Shrimp at the other end it’s all worth it!
April was the month for me this year. I was really lucky to not only catch my personal best sturgeon but the biggest fish I’ve ever caught on a kayak period. It was an amazing fight that had it jumping completely in the air well above my head at one point. When I got it to the ‘yak it went seven feet and an estimated 180 pounds. It was an awesome fish and after a few photos was released to live another day.
Crabbing followed and got a lot of crab feasts to the dinner table. The pink salmon come back every other year and this year was amazing. It started good with a few 20-30 fish days but when the run hit full swing it went crazy. There were three days where I caught 50 or more fish. After two weeks I was officially over it!!
I got into some good freshwater fishing this year and topped it with a nice plump 18 inch Largemouth Bass. They’re hard to come by in the Northwest so it was really gratifying. Especially watching it swim off to make more big bucket mouth bass.
One of my favorites, rockfishing, did it’s usual and got lots of limits of lingcod, rockfish, Cabezon, and greenling. The Kokatat Nor’Wester GORE-TEX hat (http://www.kokatat.com/product_detail.asp?code=gnw) came through big time on a road trip when the summer weather pulled a u-turn and was sitting on the Pacific Ocean for 6 hours in the pouring rain.
I made a few trips down to Oregon to get in on this year’s great Coho salmon fishing. One trip went especially well where I ended it with 7 coho and a Chinook salmon. Salmon are good!
Now with the year winding down it’s time to…get ready to do it all over again! What’s that? The steelhead run is almost in full swing? Great checking in guys but I’ve got a steelhead card that’s got a lot of checkboxes open.
Happy New Year!!
