Well sometimes you just have to try things that seem a little weird like going BTB at night when most people won’t. Crazy Yak (CY) and I decided to give it a try for different reasons. Mine was for the adventure and “because it’s there”. It’s also easier to get away at night for an extended period of time as night fishing doesn’t interfere with any of my families schedules. 
CY will have to explain his own insanity when he posts up his version of this story.
So we hit the Houston ship channel because CY was more familiar with that water in case something unforeseen happened. It was a beautiful still, calm night and seemed like a good time to go. We met during lunch to ensure we (I) was properly geared up with leaders and lights and after passing CY’s inspection we decided to leave Houston when my wife came home from work. I called him at 6:00pm and by 6:20 we were on our way.
I have to admit I had been so busy preparing for the float that I hadn’t visualized myself paddling through the surf at night. As we were driving down the board walk looking at the water a touch of trepidation spread over me. I started having a conversation with myself and the voice of reason sounded just like my wife. “Why are you going out at night? Why do you want to do this? Aren’t you worried about….?” It was then I realized that maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. I mean adventure is one thing but was this really stupid? I decided not to say anything to CY and I was way too proud to back out. “Let’s get to the beach and see how it looks” I said to myself.
The water looked great! I lost all fear while gearing up. This was a very exciting time; my heart was pounding and we couldn’t get unloaded quickly enough. We snapped a couple of pictures and launched.
Paddling through the surf after CY proved to be exhilarating. That last thing I wanted was to turtle on the way out and sit wet in yak all night. I concentrated hard; my resolve undeterred and tried to properly time the launch. Determining the right time to jump in and start paddling was made more difficult by the night. “Ooh that water is cold” I said to myself. Taking my time I finally saw my chance. Boom! I was talking to my self as the water splashed over the front of my yak, swamping me. “Paddle now; stay straight, IS THAT ALL YOU GOT? BRING IT! Paddle harder, here comes another one. IS THAT IT?” I hit the accelerator and before I knew it I was in some pretty flat water. SUCCESS! I find talking my self through challenging times helps me.
I paddled around a bit while CY located the ledge we wanted to fish with his electronics. Struggling to attach/test my new bow light (magnets) I managed to get it functioning. (The magnets held very well and I had no problems with it at all.) CY gave me the signal and I dropped anchor. I baited two lines with fresh crab and a 4oz triangle sinker. The current was strong but the anchor held well. While we were enjoying the shooting stars and cool breeze a school of dolphins joined us. All around us they seemed to be interested in what we were up to. CY started banging on his yak and the dolphins were immediately curious. After they moved on we could hear them splashing (leaping or throwing fish) out towards the deeper area of the ship channel in almost total darkness. It felt incredibly strange being out there in the darkness. Not uncomfortable strange just something totally unfamiliar. I loved it. It was time to rig up my flounder pole.
Since the current was so strong using a one ounce bullet weight seemed appropriate. The first cast snapped my line like a twig. I heard my sinker and artificial shrimp tail splash out in the darkness. Dang was not the term used but you get the idea. Retying at night in a yak with large ships passing in the night is not the easiest thing to do. It’s amazing how large a wake an oil tanker makes while traversing the Houston Ship Channel! Retying accomplished in fairly short order; the founder gear was out bumping the bottom.
Three poles in the water and not a fish in sight. Three hours later we decided to call it a night. Heading in was fast as the current assisted us. CY almost turtled as a wave snuck up behind him. I was lucky and rode the waves to the beach without incident. WHEW! BTB at night accomplished. I can’t wait to do it again. Anyone want to join us?
Taking pictures at night with my [u]new[/u] camera proved to be very challenging. The picture quality is poor but hopefully it will give you some idea what it was like out there.
Gearing up
Let’s GO!
Crazy Yak on the water
Da Moon She Come Up
Unfortunately we didn’t get a single bite or run. We did have a lot of dolphins visit us and check us out. We had some HUGE tankers wake us but no mishaps, turtles or fish. We left after 11:00pm even though we planned to leave after 1:00AM because there were no fish on the electronics and it was SLOW!
Overall it was a very interesting trip. Night fishing is much more difficult in its self but when you add the surf, a kayak and a ship channel it’s even more interesting. I’ll do it again only I’m going to wait until it warms up a bit.
