Disclaimer on Video: Expletives Can Be Heard
Kevin Nakada shared with SF fans a rare accomplishment for any Southern California kayak-fishing enthusiasts: launching from shore and returning with a bluefin tuna. Nakada — fishing-team coordinator with Hobie — says he’s been trying for three years to pull this off. Here’s his story:
“I was fishing off La Jolla, California, on August 29 from a Hobie Pro Angler 14 when the tuna bit. I was fishing unassisted, meaning no bait hand-off, no boat tow (mothership), no gaff assist. The tuna bit just over a mile away from the nearest shoreline as I drifted a fly-lined mackerel fished on 30-pound fluorocarbon. The bluefin weighed about 35 pounds — an extremely rare catch, caught in nearshore waters only 120 feet deep, within a mile away from shore. Normally, off the San Diego coast, anglers catch bluefin during the summer in waters exceeding 1,000 feet, miles offshore, and almost never from kayaks fishing unassisted.”
