Mariner review by Todd Groessl
	First trip, Monday 9/5 I arrived at La Jolla shores at 5:30 am in the dark and prepared the Mariner for launch through the small 1-2 ft surf. After talking to some of the guys on the beach and showing off the new boat I set out at early grey light. Luck (aka poor timing) would have it that I would be able to test the surf capability on the first launch as I paddled into the largest set of the morning. There was no way around the step faces of the wave; I took two breakers on the bow and one square in the chest, each wave filling the cockpit to the top. Remarkable the huge scuppers drained the water in the cockpit completely between each wave allowing me to keep my momentum and punch trough the next one. As a made it past the breakers the large flare bow lifted me over the rollers nicely as I paddled toward the fishing grounds. I opened the hatch to see how much water had made it into the hull from the waves and there were only a few drips to be found. With my GPS installed and tracking, I could see that the Mariner was making good headway cruising around 4 mph at a comfortable paddling pace, very similar to my Cobra Tourer that is 3 inches narrower. The water was flat calm so of course there was no bow slap to be heard, just the whoosh of the water being parted by the V hull. After passing the edge of the ecological reserve, I set out to find some bait. It didn’t take long in the grey light to see the mackerel puddling on the surface and with a couple drops of the sabiki, I had 6 Spanish mackerel in the tank and it was time to start trolling. I could see off to the north that there were birds working in the deeper water, so I headed that way. As I arrived to the area it was teaming with life, birds everywhere trying to catch the anchovies that were being attack from below by hordes of pacific mackerel. I dropped the sabiki a couple of times and picked up a bunch of feisty greenback throwing the larger ones back and saving few nice candy size ones in the tank. There was over a mile long strip of mackerel out there working bait. After a while of watching the commotion, but seeing no larger fish, I moved back to the kelp line. The further I followed the kelp line out the fishier it got. Soon there were spots of mackerel and Bonita chasing anchovies everywhere you looked. It was almost too fishy as you didn’t know where to be in all the activity. Finally after rounding “The Hotel” I noticed some larger boils in the distance. I paddled hard to get to them, and even though the Mariner accelerated to top speed of over 5 mph quickly, the fish were gone by the time I got there. I circled around the area for a few minutes and again I saw the fish as large splashes and swirls erupted on surface, and again I raced for them, but they were gone before I could cast. This is run and gun fishing for yellowtail, something that I always look forward to in the summer. Finally after a couple more circles around the area the fish came up again, but this time right inside the edge of the kelp. I knew that hooking a powerful yellowtail in the kelp is usually a losing proposition, but I raced for them hoping for the best. I got to them in time and shot off my Tady A-1 light iron that hit the water just past the commotion. I put the reel in gear and started to crank, just as I got to the fish, four big yellows swirled as they turned to chase my lure. Racing after my fast retrieve, two of the followers broke the surface competing for my iron. Then it happened… I started to feel the tension on my reel and the rod began to load up, but the fish continued to come strait toward me with the lure in its mouth. The fish swam out of the kelp and almost to the kayak before it finally turned and began to peel line off my spool. Knowing that I was still very close to the kelp, I pulled hard, really hard on this fish. The brute on my hook had no problem peeling 40 pound line with heavy drag pressure off my reel, and the Mariner’s stability let me really work hard on this fish. It spun me around and embedded it’s self in a nearby kelp stringer, but with a hard tug it broke free. Again and again the fish headed for the cover of the kelp and each time I was able to break it free…luck was on my side! After a five minute battle and some serious adrenaline shakes a beautiful 26 pound yellowtail came to gaff. I let out a loud scream of exhilaration as the beauty came aboard; the first yellowtail on the Mariner. Soon after landing the fish I was greeted by fellow team member Ed Whited and after a few pictures we set off to look for some more yellows. By this time the area was again alive with mackerel and Bonita chasing bait all around us. With attentive eyes we looked for the bigger boils of the roaming yellows. Again and again we would see spots of them come to the surface chasing bait, and most were gone by the time we reached them. As the day went on the fish got finickier and finickier, even the ones that we had perfect casts on would not take our lures or bait. Finally as we were about to call it a day I got another one to hit my lure, a smaller, but tasty one. It had no chance against my 40 pound jig rod. Second trip, Wednesday 9/7 This was only to be a quick trip as I had to be at work at 9:00am. I usually use my Cobra Expedition on pre-work trips as it really lets me get out and back quickly to maximize the amount of time I get to fish. Though the Mariner is not quite as fast as the 18 foot, high speed touring hull of the Expedition, it has the stability and dryness to make the morning more comfortable and enjoyable. Not only that, but on the Expedition I am limited to two rods and no bait tank, with the Mariner I brought 4 rods and the bait tank with room to spare. I met Matt Moyer on the beach at 5:30 and by 6 we were paddling into the dim grey light. Once again my spectacular timing landed a nice wave on the bow and another in the chest. The Mariner punched right through with ease and again the cockpit drained unbelievable quickly. After a short paddle and a quick stop to pick up a couple of Spanish mackerel, we were trolling and looking for fish in the early morning light. It didn’t take ten minutes before Matt’s clicker was screaming and he was getting towed to the kelp line. Just at the point that I hear Matt yell, “It’s a good one!” the fish swan him into the kelp and broke him off… bummer. As I turned to paddle away I noticed some funny ripples on the surface of the water, and quickly turned the Mariner and paddled in their direction. As I arrived next to the spot a saw a swirl on the surface, quickly I fired of my lucky A-1 and after three cranks the line started ripping off my reel. Luckily I had hooked this one away from the kelp, but the fish turned toward the cover and began to tow me to shallower water. I worked on him for a few minutes before he finally pulled me to the kelp line and got himself tangled. I pulled hard to free him, but at first he would not budge. It just felt like a solid snag. I put my thumb on the spool and lifted my rod hard. Then I started to get some line. It still felt like dead weight, but I was making progress! A few more pumps of the rod and a couple cranks of the reel and I could see a big ball of kelp coming from the depths. As I got it to the side of the kayak I could see the lips of a nice yellowtail sticking out of the kelp ball. I reached my hand into the clump and found the edge of the fish’s gills and pulled him out of the weeds. Mariner yellowtail number 3 was aboard and it was a nice 20+ pounder. Having already caught two yellows this week I decided I would let this one go, but just as I was about to release it a Dante, a fellow fisherman paddled up and asked if he could have it. In exchange for a couple of pictures, it was his to have. Just as the photos were taken and the fish handed over, I heard Matt yelling that one had just inhaled his Salas 7x and I could see him getting towed out to sea. Matt worked this fish hard and didn’t give it the opportunity to make it back to the kelp. With in a few minutes he had a nice 17 pounder on the gaff. I looked at my watch after all the excitement and realized it was only 6:40am, we had only been on the water for 40 minutes and both of our days were made! We both paddled in grinning from ear to ear, ready for great day at work.
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