Photo Credit: William Ragulsky
With the Appomatox River Co demo day on the horizion I decided to order a new kayak and rig it up with Luther and Dan from YakAttack (www.YakAttack.us). They are widely known to be able to rig up some works of art and I was thrilled to get my kayak to them. I asked Wilderness to send my kayak to the ARC Hampton location and on the day before the big demo day I found myself waiting at the store for the delivery truck. It showed up and unloaded two kayaks shipped to me, neither one was my Tarpon 140 I ordered! I got on the phone and with help from Vic, the store manager, ARC not only replaced the missing yak but rigged the rudder before I got to the demo day! Now for the rigging, I spoke to Dan and gave him my intent and he blew me away with his products! He created and installed a larger camera pole I need for taking those shots when fishing alone, and created an awesome custom Black Pak, a Marine Eagle Globe and Anchor on the hatch and a Wilderness Kayaks Fishing Team logo on the side, a first for Yak Attack! I was thrilled as he rigged my kayak before the demo day started!
Photo Credit: Kam Goodrich Photography
Photo Credit: Kam Goodrich Photography
After having a patron ask about the stability of the Ride 135 I jumped in and stood on the front hatch.
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Photo Credit: Aaron Dryden
Standing on the ledge of the rear tankwell at the end of the day, 185 lbs on the very back of the boat, pretty stable.
Photo Credit: Kam Goodrich Photography pulled the trigger on Chuck Morris' camera.
This was the Wilderness Systems demo day crew and I love my new Tarpon140 rigged by Yak Attack!
So to back track a bit, I have been fishing a few times and its been hit and miss, mostly miss. I blame the rust from the 7 months off and added the pressure of trying to make up for all the fishing I missed the first week back from Afghanistan. 
Photo Credit: William Ragulsky
Photo Credit: William Ragulsky
Catfish on a spinnerbait bass fishing... Bad luck. You're probably thinking I read all that and this is the first fish pic??!!
Photo Credit: William Ragulsky
Looking for something a bit bigger. Bad luck continues.
Photo Credit: William Ragulsky
Sight fishing with nothing in sight... yep, more bad luck.
So when an opportunity to fish with fellow Wilderness Systems team member Rob Alderman of www.OutBanksKayakFishing.com I jumped at it, the only catch is I needed to be in Hatteras at 0400 in the morning. Usually an early morning is no big deal but I had demo day 3 hours in the wrong direction the day prior. On the day of the demo I woke at 0300, picked up my buddy Billy at 0400 and drove all morning to reach the site for set up at 0700. Worked all day in the water and sun and left at 7pm to drive another 3 hours home, drop off billy, drive to my house then pack my truck up for my week in Camp Lejuene, then left to drive 4 hours to Hatteras just to grab an hour of sleep in the parking lot of the marina. Woke up and began loading yaks and rigging tackle! 
Loading my kayak!
4 Wildy Ride 115s locked and loaded up front!
After this Im gonna let the photos tell the story of what happened until I drove the 4 hours to Camp Lejuene the next evening.
Almost sun up.
Lots of boats following us out of the inlet!
Sunrise on the water, nothing better!
Follow the leader!
Photo Credit: Rob Alderman
Breaking in the new kayak properly!
I gotta brag a little bit here, I wasn't sure if the Release Reel SG and Shimano Terez MH rod would stand up to kayak fishing for AJs, between whipping the rod against the water while jigging or setting the hook at such a high angle from the yak. I lost two in a row because they would make a run for the tower legs and break me off, on the third I pushed the lever all the way forward and leveraged the rod against the bow of the yak during its runs to the legs. This should have broke the rod and I was expecting it to but I had no issues. I was VERY surprised that this rod could take such abuse. I lost the next one only because while winching it up he literally ran me into the tower without slowing down, big girl I assume but every fish lost is "big" haha.
Photo Credit: Rob Alderman
Photo Credit: Lisa Alderman
It was pretty clear!
Photo Credit: Rob Alderman
Luther with an AJ!
Photo Credit: Rob Alderman
Photo Credit: Rob Alderman
Photo Credit: Rob Alderman
As I was pulling this little guy up out of the water a larger shark aprox 6ft comes out of no where and slams the fish into my yak taking its head off while pushing me sideways! The mate and Rob both saw it happen. It was pretty crazy, the shark disappeared and we didn't see him again...
Then after cleaning and loading it was time to make another 4 hour drive, reaching my room at nearly 1am. Sometimes its not all catching and excitement, but sometimes it is if you put the time in.
Any one interested in a mothership trip contact Rob Alderman at www.OutBanksKayakFishing.com or email at fishmilitia@aol.com and let him know I sent ya, he'll treat you right! Thanks to F/V Reel Nauti for a great trip!
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