Video: Bastrop Bayou Parade of Lights (2008)

Working off Thanksgiving dinner

The holidays are under way so don’t put it off; get ahead of the game. Burn off that extra helping of dressing and repeated trips to the dessert buffet now. I hope you at least took a little walk between the main courses and dessert. Or maybe you burned off a few thousand calories shopping yesterday on black Friday. No matter how you do it get off your derrière while you still can! For damn sure don’t wait until after Christmas and New Years to make some half-hearted resolution to do something about the few extra pounds.

OK, so in my case it’s more than a few. So I took preemptive action on get-away-day and went kayak fishing on Wednesday right up until it was time to pull out for Granny’s. And I did actually take a good little walk between the huge plate of Thanksgiving dinner and the gluttonous dessert plate that came later. Then after returning home Friday afternoon, I bolted on down to the kayak shack, loaded one of the new Drifters into the truck, and went out to Salt Lake to see if I could tear up some fish.

I probably could have found an easier way to get a little exercise on Friday but the problem is that back on Wednesday I was tearing up the Spotted Seatrout when I had to pack up my gear and head back to the house to make it in time to leave for Thanksgiving. As soon as my bait would hit the water something would hit it. Every shrimp was catching a fish. All through Thanksgiving my mind was pre-occupied with getting back out to the spot and continuing where I left off. I dreamed of paddling the kayak across the choppy lake.

But that, of course, is not how it worked out. At all. Right off the bat it was too windy which can take most of the fun out of kayaking. There were some people fishing from shore with a kayak still on the truck. But I don’t even know if the wind caused the fish not to bite or not as I only fished for about fifteen minutes before prudence suggested I head back across the lake. I may be a bit crazy, but I’m not stupid.

From where I launched the boat I couldn’t see the radio tower that I use as a landmark to steer by. There was a light haze but I figured the tower would eventually come into view as I paddled a tack to take me due east towards my spot. When I finally got to the spot I still couldn’t see the tower, which concerned me a bit because I need navigation aids to get back across as well. As I was casting the dead shrimp that I had purchased “live” not an hour before from Bastrop Marina at Demi John, I am keeping an eye on the various landmarks to my west that are vanishing rapidly in the haze, or what I now had to consider was fog, considering how foggy it had been the previous morning.

Even as the idiot in me said, “Aw come on, just fish a little longer, you just got here, there’s still plenty of time to get back,” some other infrequently-heard-from voice said convincingly enough to rise over the cacophony, “Don’t be an idiot, paddle your ass back across the lake before you wind up paddling around out here by yourself in the dark foggy night. Moron.”

So, though much disappointed, we headed back. Empty handed except for a bucket full of dead shrimp.

It took about twice as long to get across both ways as it should have. On the way over it was due to high winds and also I missed the spot be a good margin and had to paddle along the shore line for a distance to find it. On the way back because the wind had shifted a bit more westerly and I was paddling almost directly into the wind.

The spot is about a mile and a quarter across the lake if you paddle in a straight line. Without a handy compass or other visual navigation aid paddling in a straight line on open water is near impossible. I had a compass, but it wasn’t handy. One of them emergency jobbers. But overall, it was great exercise and good practice with the Drifter in not so good paddling conditions.

Gear: Ocean Kayak Drifter

I’ve had the Ocean Kayak Drifter for a couple of weeks now and have been out in it six times already. Twice just paddling on Bastrop Bayou, once fishing in Bastrop Bayou to test the “angler” setup, twice fishing in Christmas bay and twice fishing in Salt Lake. A couple of the fishing trips I was alone and so far I am the only one to catch any fish so I don’t have a lot of video yet of the actual fish catching, but I can comment on the yak.

In ideal conditions an able yakker could probably make an Ocean Drifter go at a steady 4 mph, but I would be conservative here and say when planning a trip use 3 mph as the baseline for this kayak mostly due to the drift. True to its name, this kayak is a drifter, even when you don’t want it to. On a day with any significant wind, plan on the front end of the kayak getting blown around like a wind vane.

In good conditions the Ocean Drifter is moderately comfortable. In the winter use of scupper plugs is essential as true to it’s reputation, the Drifter is a wet ride. For someone over 200lbs, the water comes in through he scuppers upon boarding and never drains.

In adverse conditions, such as high winds, the Ocean Drifter is not very comfortable and doesn’t perform very well, as mentioned above. A rudder should help alleviate the drift problem to some extent but such add-ons start to make an inexpensive kayak into an expensive one. The wet ride you just have to live with. I recommend wearing some waders in the cold water months and forget about it in the summer months.

Even at full speed the Drifter can turn on a dime, but it does not track very well at all no matter what. While paddling it takes on water over the sides in as little as a one foot chop, and everything in the boat gets soaked in chop bigger than a foot and half. Without a real keel to cut through the chop, the flat hull rises with the wave and then slams back down. The resulting spray soaks everything so stow your camera bag and dry wear. A practiced stroke is required to keep the boat on tack. However, unlike my first kayak, the Pelican Castaway 116, the Drifter is very stable and never did I fear the yak might flip.

The molded foot pegs cause my feet to fall asleep after an hour or so of paddling. I prefer the adjustable pegs. And for the two hundred dollar premium charged for the “angler” package at least one cleat and two forward facing flush-mount rod holders or at least one center mounted rod holder should be included. Why there is no forward-facing rod holder is a mystery. I wont even mention the well-known fact that the tank well will not accommodate a standard milk crate, the holy grail of rigging out a fishing kayak.

A big positive about the Ocean Kayak Drifter is that the front hatch doesn’t leak at all. The Pelican Castaway required a pit stop about once an hour to drain the inside of the boat. I had to completely seal the scuppers with epoxy sealant due to the welds failing and the front hatch never held out a drop of water from the day I bought it.

Another positive on the Drifter is that is relatively small at 12′ 4″ and weighs only 54 lbs. which allows the boat to be easily and safely tied into the back of a pickup truck making it convenient for a single person to quickly load and unload.

I wouldn’t buy the Drifter in the “Angler Edition” for $599 but for $429, which is only about $50 more than you can buy the Pelican Castaway 116, it is a worthy kayak that I would not hesitate to reccommend over the Pelican for basic or entry level kayak fishing, especially for the bigger guys. The Pelican comes with a paddle and a built-in backrest included, which are extra on the Drifter, but those items are at the very low end and will need an upgrade if you plan to kayak much. I do recommend a good seat as the seat on the Castaway literally rubbed my back raw. I could only paddle so much as my raw back could stand on any given day.

Camping at Castaway’s on Lake Conroe

I’m not so sure how much fun the kids had but Lake Conroe was a good time for me. Recreate in the morning and evenings; eat and relax during the heat of the day. No TV and no cell phone. For what more could one ask?

We camped a few days at Castaway’s RV Park and Camping. The cabin was almost a deal killer and I thought we might have to abandon the facilities. I wouldn’t try to host a dinner party out of it, but for camping the cabin has all the amenities including A/C, kitchen with fridge, microwave, toilet and shower, etc. No complaints there. One of the best things is that you can park right at the cabin. In other cabins I’ve camped at I had to lug all my gear quite some distance from the parking area to the cabin. Which isn’t so bad until you have to haul it all back.

If you are out of doors most of the time you wont even notice the deficiencies of your cabin much. The cabin had no TV which I thought was a nice touch but the kids were in shock over for the fist day and a half. The electrical outlets are few and far between so a couple of short extension cords with power strips would be handy. The single little A/C window unit is nice and does a good job at night but the lack of weather stripping on the doors and windows negates much of it’s effect during the day so take a box fan or two.

Knowing beforehand that the cabins were of a minimalist nature, I guess the only negative point I would stress and what almost killed the deal was the bunking. Hard and tight. The first night I got into one of the bunks I banged my knee so hard that I screamed obscenities loud enough to make the women in the next cabin blush. Then it took my wife and both kids applying a come-along and a can opener to get me out of it.

I was quite upset because the whole purpose of the cabin from my point of view is to have someplace cool to sleep at night. The rest is just an add-on feature so I don’t have to pack a lot of stuff. Without a decent bunk, it’s a deal killer and I was seriously contemplating loading up and making a move to someplace else. I hit the front couch to think about the situation and fell sound asleep within five minutes. I was dog tired from my first kayak trip on Lake Conroe. If two big people are on the trip someone had better bring some sleeping gear as the couch is a solo affair.

The basketball court and putt-putt golf are nice to put on the brochure but in the middle of the summer in the heat of a late July day basketball ain’t happening and the putt-putt looked like a hurricane blew through blowing all the little houses and windmills and flags and such clear away. Like in the middle of the desert or something. Sahara Putt-Putt. But if you have stuff to do on the water and are only staying for a few days the lack of these other activities is not missed.

Some other negatives:

• The picnic tables were filthy and I avoided them completely. Take a scrub brush and some pine sol if you want to use them to eat on, or touch them in any way.
• There were eight steps leading up to the cabin porch which got to be a real bore, especially when cooking on the small pit installed at each cabin — up and down, up and down…
• Your neighbors are very, very close to you
• Not that I noticed, but was informed no fart fan in the john.

Castaways RV Park and Camping is probably best if you have your own boat to launch as they have a nice double boat ramp and a private dock right out the front door of the cabins. Sweet. But even sweeter if you are a kayaker is the soft flat sandy beach to launch from. During off use I could just pull the kayak a few feet onto shore and leave it until time to go for another exploration.

Boarding and deboarding at my regular launch site here locally at Bastrop Bayou is off a dock so high above the boat that every attempt at getting on or off is like performing a complicated gymnastical feat. None of this at Castaway’s sandy beach. Just hop on the boat and go. A sweet launch greatly improves your kayaking enjoyment.

However, once in the water there are few places to go that are not over three miles away. I know 3 miles sounds pansy but that is a one way trip on open water with boat traffic in a cheap ass Pelican Castaway 11′6″ kayak that takes on water inside the hull. I had my emergency gear but I didn’t want to use it under any circumstances. Not on vacation. If you ride a long, sleek touring kayak, I doubt this distance would pose any problems.

Castaways is the perfect place for beginner’s to have plenty of calm, shallow water to learn how to paddle and maneuver a kayak in addition to enough territory to go on some longer trips. But if you want to go paddle the shores of Sam Houston National Forest or tour the marinas at the fancy country clubs you will need to be in pretty good shape and have a decent kayak. For me though, I’d rather put my kayak in closer to where I want to be, then spend my four hours doing what I want to do in the spot I want to be in, not paddling five to ten miles to and fro.

On our last day on Lake Conroe, I rented an Ocean Kayak Drifter from the kayak rental guy, Larry, at North Lake Conroe Paddling Company. From his launch site me and my daughter were able to paddle less than a mile to get to Lake Lucy, a supposed existing lake prior to the flooding of Lake Conroe in ‘73 and supposedly a “secret” spot for professional sport fishers. Well, there’s a lot of fish in Lake Lucy for sure but where I was looking at them I don’t know how you could catch them from any kind of boat as there would be no way to get a line in and out of the area without getting the hook tangled in branches and vegetation on each and every cast. From a kayak I could drift right on top of a hole and jig it, if I had been fishing.

Fishing wasn’t in the original plan when I first bought my kayak, but it is starting to become more appealing each time I see a large redfish or trout swimming by the side of the boat or a big catfish break the water at the bow. I don’t plan to be visiting Baja anytime soon, but check some of these videos.

So for anything more than a couple of days of recreational paddling, I recommend camping somewhere nearer to your destination or else plan on dropping off and picking up at better launch sites.

Overall, I would use Castaways again as a base camp for some serious kayaking, fishing, or skiing, but I don’t think I would take the family there again.