Bob Hall Pier "BTB" Report by Blake Colburn

Here goes another one of Yakety_Yak's reports. As you all know they are long so grab a beer or whatever it is your drink, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy! It starts around 11:00 am, Saturday morning (the day before the Bob Hall Pier outing). I was going to meet a friend, Andy, at my storage so that we could get everything loaded. Andy and I were riding together this trip. That way if we needed something, anything and everything we need would be available right there in my storage. Andy was at FTU already, which I live right behind, so I met him over there. From FTU, Andy followed me on to my storage. Once there, Andy began getting things organized in my vehicle while I attached the trailer. My stuff was already packed but most of my things were already on the yak ready to hit the water.

After we spent a short time getting everything ready, we left to my place. Once at my place, Andy dropped off his car and away we were to Corpus Christi. By this time, it was 12:00 pm (we were right on schedule). We drove until we got to Wharton, Texas. Once in Wharton, we got some Whataburger. Next, we went to Walmart so Andy could grab a few things. Finally, we ended up at Buc-ee's for ice and gas. After that, there were no more stops until we arrived at BHP (Bob Hall Pier). The drive took 3 hours in total roughly to get to Corpus and an extra half-hour to get to BHP. Once we arrived, it was like around 4:30 pm. A friend of mine, Frank, was already set up at the beach and held a spot for me. The beach was packed. Frank came down to BHP with his wife, Christina. Once we got there, we immediately got the canopy and tents set up so that we didn't have to do it in the dark later that evening. While that was going on, Joe pulled up to say hi. Joe has been wanting to do BTB for a very long time and this outing was what he was hoping to be a very first and productive trip for him. Joe brought his family with him. They stayed at the RV park just on the other side of BHP. Once the canopy and tents were done, I began to setup my kayak for the next day. This made it so that I didn't have to do anything the next morning but wake up, eat breakfast, and meet everyone on the beach for the outing. While all that was going on, Joe decided to start practicing going in and out of the surf in his Hobie PA 14.

Finally, the night came. Frank and Christina sat under the canopy with a lantern on. A few of us gathered there as well to chit chat. Andy had already gone to bed. I didn't stay up very long myself. After a short time, everyone was starting to wanting to go to sleep so things got quiet fairly quickly. I slept for some time but then I began to hear voices right outside of my tent. These people were walking really late up along the beach near the road side and talking fairly loud. That woke me up. I couldn't go back to sleep for a while so I decided to walk around. A few more kayakers had arrived during the night so I went by to meet everyone. After making the rounds, I finally decided to give it another go to see if I could get some more sleep. Before long, I was out like a light. Around 4:00 am, I decided to wake up and go to the restroom real fast then get another hour of sleep. At 5:00 am my alarm on my phone goes off and it was finally time to get things started.

First, I get up and get into some clothes that were suited for BTB kayak fishing. When I am going to be out for a full day I get into clothing that breathe and that is long sleeve so that I am protected from the sun and possible winds throughout the day. After getting dressed, I grab breakfast (cereal). Next, I wake Andy up. Finally, I get the yak off of the trailer, turned around, and it’s ready to go. From here I start to walk around as everyone is setting up their yaks to meet everyone. It’s always interesting to see the different setups. I initially made a video but I had a brain fart. I thought I was recording the entire time, and I was, but I forgot to put the SD card in the cam, lol. GO FIGURE!!!

Now it’s time to get the meeting going right before kickoff. I lay down a few important things for everyone to know (going through the surf, while on the water, and coming back in through the surf), waited to see if anyone had questions, and then it was time to hit the water. I didn’t launch immediately because I wanted to make sure most everyone launched and didn’t have any issues making it out through the surf. Shortly after, I decided it was about time to make my way into the water. The surf might have seemed rough for people but that is because many people were new. I can assure you though that the surf was not rough at all. As a matter of fact, it was a little less than what was predicted. As the day progressed, the surf was even calmer than in the morning. As I made it through the surf, what I did notice was the swells were a little more than predicted but that subsided as I made my way to the rig. Even as the day progressed, the swells subsided to almost nothing.

About half-way to the rig, I deployed my lines out. I am usually trolling with two lines out. I carry the same weight on my leaders most of the time (1/2 oz). If I want my baits deep, then I troll slower. If I want the baits up high, I troll faster. Sometimes if that method doesn’t work, then that is when I need to change weight to get what I need done. Shortly after I deploy my lines, I get a bend in the rod. Something was on it but it was not taking any drag. At first my thought was that I might have a small smack on the line. As I managed the line in, I find out it is a 1 ft shark. This shark caught my back treble hook. When the shark did that, somehow, he knocked off my ribbon leaving the first two hooks attached and no damage to the ribbon. After getting my long pliers and getting the shark off, I put the back end of the ribbon back on my king leader and back to trolling it was for me.

Before long I am about ¾ of the way to the rig and now I am getting a run that is stripping drag off the reel. I was pretty certain that this run was a king. I quickly bring my other line in closer and then grab my other rod with the fish on it and start reeling it in. I did manage to get video footage of that so whenever I get around to making the video, I will put it up. After the initial fight was over, it was a simple matter of getting in the line and gaffing the fish. After getting the fish to the top, it was in fact a king. Photos on the photo page.