First Post-Injury Dive

by jimrussell | Feb 5, 2017 | Fishing, Fishing Subjects, Kraken, Saltwater, Saltwater Fishing, Video

My last dive was in October and since then have been dealing with a painful knee injury (partial tear of the quadriceps tendon in the lateral patellar retinaculum). Not being able to get out on the water has been HARD for me, but have finally regained full range of...

My Favorite NorCal Species

by jimrussell | Jan 25, 2017 | Fishing, Fishing Subjects, Internationalisation, Kraken, Saltwater, Saltwater Fishing, United States, Video

The ocean in Northern California is home to an incredible diversity of fish and marine life. Of course, some fish are tastier or prettier or more fun to target than others. Here is a video I made showing some examples of seven of my favorite NorCal fish species taken...

Last adventure for 2016

by William Pfingst | Jan 19, 2017 | Fishing, Kraken

Started the year off right with my personal best striped bass at 37 inches. Didn’t come close to breaking that but had a great time trying while chasing line sides. Was introduced to a new fishery over the winter  holiday season and fell in love with it....

JK Journey 14 review

by John Bonaventure | Jan 5, 2017 | Journey, Recreational/Touring, Reviews

My kayaking passion is ocean rock gardening (ducking in and out of the rocks and waves). So for me the true test for a kayak is how does it handle dynamic water in close with the rocks. Swell was 4.5 feet at 18 seconds today so it made for some challenging conditions,...

Valentina’s First Tournament

by jimrussell | Sep 23, 2014 | Fishing, Fishing Tournament

Paddled several miles offshore with my eight year old daughter Valentina between my legs hoping to find her a big enough fish to win the annual Kayak Connection tournament in Santa Cruz. Well, a strong south swell totally shut down any bite for us at all. : 9 Then ran...

Fishing for Dorado in Baja

by Jim Sammons | Sep 20, 2014 | Cuda, Fishing, JK Team Posts, Saltwater Fishing, Video

Jim Sammons, Sean White and Luther Cifers fish for big Dorado in Baja...

First Blood on the Illuminati

by jimrussell | Sep 11, 2014 | Cuda, Fishing, JK Team Posts, Saltwater Fishing

Met up with my NorCalKayakAngler buddy Brent to get him some water therapy and hopefully get first blood on his new prize Cuda14 Illuminati!! We were treated to excellent conditions with stellar 25-30+ foot viz and minimal surge. First stop was one of my favorite...

Self Rescue (part 2)

by Marcos M | Sep 10, 2014 | Cuda, Fishing, Freshwater, Instructional, JK Team Posts, Saltwater

The cold water safety/self rescue clinic was a success. We had a total of 14 anglers attend. Some were completely new to ocean fishing and some had over 20 years of experience. Sean Morley was kind enough to be our instructor. He shared his knowledge and experience...

Yellowfin Tuna in a Cuda 12…West Coast Style

by JK Fans | Sep 5, 2014 | Cuda, Fishing, Saltwater Fishing

Brent Torgeson from OEX (California) with a Yellowfin Tuna We decided to take the kayaks offshore on a little mother ship trip, we stopped just East of the 302 in Mexican waters in a school of porpoise.  Starting chumming, launched the kayaks and started to explore....

NEW VIDEO: One Fish, Many GoPros; EPISODE 8

by Drew Gregory | Sep 4, 2014 | Cuda, Cuda LT, Featured Post, Fishing, Freshwater, JK Team Posts, Trip Reports, Trips, United States, Video, Video

This is the latest One Fish, Many GoPros episode from a trip out to California I made with Jackson team members Brooks Beatty, Rich McDade and the guys from KayakFishingSupplies.com, Brent and Andy. They showed us a great time on the mighty Colorado River which, quite...

2014 Pay It Forward Paddle

by jimrussell | Aug 23, 2014 | Cuda, Fishing, Fishing Tournament, Saltwater Fishing

Pay It Forward (PIF) is a fundraising paddle/potluck/raffle event that a few buddies and I have organized since 2010 to help NCKA (NorCal Kayak Anglers) members battling cancer or other serious illness. From 2010-2013 we raised over $40,000 for my buddy Joel Lotilla...

Trophy Abalone Mission

by jimrussell | Aug 14, 2014 | Cuda, Fishing, Saltwater Fishing

Wife and kids were out of town for the weekend and I wanted to dive so sent some buddies a text to see what they were up to. My buddy Charlie wrote back “Abs on Sunday. Secret spot. Come up.” : ) Left the house at 4am with Joe who had just got back from...