TRAILER
Skunk Harder
EMBRACING THE STINKY HITCHHIKER
BY BRYCE MOLENKAMP Y
ou know that burnt rubber smell when nothing goes right? You come home ex-
hausted, not a fish scale in sight. It stinks. Tat’s why we call zero days skunkings. Have no fear, there is a brighter side. In
fact, donning the stripe is a valuable oppor- tunity to become a better kayak fisherman. It’s so helpful, I say to you and yours, skunk harder! Mistakes happen, in any sport. Don’t let
them get you down, however deep the self- inflicted wound. Did you make the perfect, stealthy ap-
proach to a school of fat fish, only to have your reel suddenly backlash, halting your lure midair so it comes crashing down well short of target with a giant KA-PLOOSH? Don’t sweat it. Although painful, errors open the door to improvement. In my early days, I suspected I wasn’t the
only one making ridiculous mistakes. I took several deep breaths, then made a few calls to kayak anglers I’ve always looked up to. Would they share their stories of stink? Chuck Espiritu, Northern California’s
multi-species kayak slayer, was the first on my speed dial. Tis man knows how to out- last frustration. “It took me four years to get my first stur-
geon. Guys around me were picking up fish but my rod lay motionless. Tere were rea- sons behind it and I was committed to find- ing out why,” Espiritu remembers.
62 …KAYAK ANGLER SPRING 2011 Espiritu was studious about his skunking.
“First, I realized I was putting my bait in the wrong places. Te sometimes subtle ‘dino bite’ was my next struggle,” he recalls. Te hard-won lessons, once learned,
stuck. Tey frequently come into play to this day, even for other species such as a re- cent favorite, white sea bass. “I skunked a few times until I started to
see consistencies. I realized which water temps the fish liked, paid attention to birds, seals and bait and slowly my confidence be- gan to build. I started catching them with regularity soon aſter,” Espiritu says. Next on my dial was Oregon kayak fish-
erman Ron Sauber. Tis guy already knew how to catch fish when he hopped onto a kayak. Or so he thought. When he chased his fish of choice, the
beautiful Chinook salmon, he discovered that a powerboat trick like trolling in shal- low bays doesn’t always translate directly. “I would lose speed the second I stopped paddling. My gear would sink into the
weeds. Tings quickly got frustrating. Tose days were tough and the skunkings never felt good,” Sauber says. He put on his think- ing cap, rearranged his rigging and custom- ized his game plan, switching out weights until he discovered the right formula. “Sticking with what worked and improv-
ing on it really made the difference. Aſter things started clicking it was just a matter of ‘stick and stay and make it pay,’” Sauber adds. Hearing how my friends overcame their
obstacles was a huge help in getting me over the hump…er, skunk. Today, these guys consistently put jumbo sturgeon, white sea bass and salmon into their tank wells, show- ing just how much they’ve learned. Like it or not, we’ve all got skunky days
ahead of us. Although I don’t look forward to it, the next time I skunk, I’m going to stop, think about where I went wrong and work the problem until it’s solved. I’m gon- na skunk harder! Skunk hugger BRYCE MOLENKAMP kayaks and fishes the Pacific Northwest.
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