Anybody Remember Hank Lowry?

I remember Hank Lowry going back to '98. In fact, Hank's yarns were so entertaining, that I collected them and posted it to the "trivia board" at work. And it just so happens that I have a copy of that original posting so that we all may reflect on the magnitude of Hank's achievments:

Subject: Kayak fishing: Reelin' in the glory!!!

Having recently taken up the practice/sport of kayak fishing, I sought out and found a web site dedicated to the subject. Most of the subject matter posted at this site concerns gear, technique, and location…typical stuff. Then, SPLASH, along comes Hank Lowry to lend some real color to the tales of the coastal kayak fisherman. Very few anglers ever encounter requiem sharks (sharks that are potentially dangerous to man)…Hank seems to find them with every cast. There is some speculation that Hank isn’t “for real,” but I think you’ll agree that he spins a good yarn, and the the entertainment value is there nonetheless. These postings are in chronological order starting from the earliest to the most recent, and represent the impressive body of work that is, to date, the anthology of Hank Lowry.

Lucky to be alive!!!

Posted by Hank Lowry on March 02, 1998 at 08:47:29:

Hi all! Just bought a new scupper and took it out off Pt. Dume last week. DON'T EVER TAKE YOUR KAYAK 7 MILES OFFSHORE AFTER A LARGE STORM!!! The waves were not that large in the morning. Maybe 4 to 6 feet high. IT took me about an hour to get past the waves. Wow, wiped out about 3 times! Then I paddled out for about 2 hours. I guess i paddled out a bit to far. I turned around and could bearly see the shore! Now this was offshore fishing! I fished for a couple of hours and landed 2 large halibut. One being about 40 lbs. Also hooked up with something so large that I couldn't even turn his head off the bottem with 40 lb. line! (Maybe a black sea bass?) Well the seas started to pick up. Swells as high as 5 feet! I started to head to shore. Now I was faced with offshore winds! It was hard, but I was making good time heading in. BIG PROBLEM!! HAD TO TAKE A LEAK!! BAD! Tried to piss over the side and fell over board! A huge wave hit my boat. By the time I swam back to my boat my paddle was gone!! And so were my fish. I floated out there in the water till about almost dark. I couldn't even see the shore!! Luckly a sail boat saw me waving my arms. The swells were so high (8 to 10 feet), that I couldn't get on their boat, plus it was dark now! They called the coastguard on their radio, and I was picked up at about 8 pm. I'm ok now, but learned some good lessons. Next time I won't paddle out so far.
Hank

Night fishing off Pt. Dume

Posted by Hank Lowry on March 11, 1998 at 23:29:21:

Hi All ! Had a great time fishing of Pt. Dume last night. Found a good launching site (and safe one), about a 1/4 mile south of Paradise Cove. Paddled out at 12:30 am, right thru Paradise Cove out to Pt. Dume. I've heard rumors that small sharks, and black sea bass can be caught in this area at night. Swells were calm, with little wind. I paddled out about a mile or so along the canyon. I mounted the light off my mountain bike right on my yak. (works pretty good!) I brought along about 40 lbs. of chum, which I made myself. There's no room on my yak for this much chum, so I floated a small rubber dingy behind me. This dingy comes in handy bringing big fish to shore too ! I was fishing with my 6/0 reel and 60 lb test. It gets a little scary out there in the middle of the night! I was dropping large mackrel down about 100 yards and hooked up with 2 small blue sharks. (One being 4 ft.) and released them. It was getting close to 3:30, when I decided to drop the last of my chum (about 20 lbs. I guess). I sank the largest mackrel I had. 10 minutes nothing, 20 minutes nothing.....then BANG!! My rod tip hit the water! My yak spun around, and my line was screaming! This FISH was pulling my boat! It took me about an hour to get this fish near the boat. I didn't even know what kind of fish I had hooked. I kept my light in my left hand while holding on to my pole, reeling with my right hand. Then I saw what I had.....I was hooked up to a 9 ft Hammerhead Shark!!!!! He even hit my yak with his tail! Well I'm no fool, I cut the line and paddled to shore as fast as I could.

I plan on going back one day, but I need some of you to go with me. How about it? E-mail me and we'll get that dude!!!
Hank

Paradise Cove & alcohol

Posted by Hank Lowry on March 16, 1998 at 21:45:56:

Hey Guys!
Fished Paradise Cove this morning, and had some luck. Caught two flatties, with one hitting the scale at 14 lbs. Then I got in a little trouble. It seems that the LA County Lifeguard boat was tailing me! After about 30 minutes they came along side of me. They said I can't drink beer when I paddle a boat. Then they took the rest of my 12 pack! They claimed I was drunk and escorted me to shore. Is this legal? They also said that if I ever do this again, they were going to call the police.

Does anybody know the law concerning kayaking and alcohol? Next time I'm bringing soda!!!

Your Friend,
Hank

Arrested for shooting my 9mm from my yak!
Posted by Hank Lowry on June 07, 1998 at 18:19:47:

Hi Guys! I'm back. Just finshed doing 60 days in county jail! I'm glad to be out, and to be fishing again.
Back in April of this year, I was night fishing off Pt. Dume and got into big trouble! I was fishing about 3 miles off shore and hooked into a large Mako shark! (When fishing with large amounts of chum from a yak, please wear a raincoat) My yak and I were covered in blood! But anyway, I had no way to bring this big fish in. I'd say about 6 ft long and he was just flying out of the water!!! This shark was pulling my yak at a pretty good pace. After about an hour, I got hold of the leader, but he was still wanted to eat me!!! He attacked my YAK!! Now I was in deep shit... I didn't want to cut this fish off. I pulled my 9mm out and started shooting!! I got off about 7 rounds and he took off. I mean he really took off! He took off with my line, reel, and pole! I also lost my gun! It's a little hard to shoot a large fish from a yak in the dark. 15 minutes later the Coast Guard shows up! It seems many people from the shore heard the shots and called the police. They thought somebody was in distress out on the water. My luck! I didn't have my gun, but they found all my shells, plus, they found a hole on thetip of my yak that I shot thru. ( I shot my own yak!)Well... I was arrested for shooting a firearm from a kayak and having a few beers. I got 60 days.

But I'm out now, and back to fishing (no guns.... just a little beer)

Take Care,
Hank

He’s burly... He’s salty... He’s fishy... He’s drunk... He’s undeniably the greatest kayak fisherman to have ever pitted himself against the fury of the ocean, denizens of the deep, and credibility... He’s HANK !!!

Seeking IGFA All-Tackle Record- Need Help!

Posted by Hank on March 03, 2002 at 21:30:16:

Greetings Yak Fisherman,
Just wanted to let you know, late in the month of June, I'm planning to go out and set a IGFA All-Tackle World Record by landing a HUGE Scalloped Hammerhead Shark! I will need plenty of help and volunteers. This is something that I've been planning for years.

The Plan
With tons of research, I found out, in early summer that schools of Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks migrate to the deep canyons off Pt Dume.It is in these deep canyons that colder bands of water meet up with warmer bands of water. It is here where they give birth. The females could be as large as 10-14 feet and push close to 1000 lbs.!!! If we're luckey... We might be able to snag one of these creatures. Yes... this could be very dangerous. I will be modifying my Malibu 2 with a Birdsall Fighting chair! No one has ever fished like this before. This will be EXTREME FISHING!!! I'll need at least 6-8 boats. All yaks! ( No power boats) Nothing smaller than Malibu 2's. I will need guys with experience in handling dangerous fish. And you've got to be a strong paddler! NO WHIMPS HERE. I will be supplying all the gear for this trip, as I'm working to get some sponsors. Why so many boats? Because it's going to take this many boats, just to drag this freakish fish in! I'll be needing 2 gaff boats that will be supplied with Pulpit Harpoons/ and buoys.(We will be having several meetings and training exercises before we set out. I will need a chum/bait boat. I will be picking up a few hundred pounds of custom chum (frozen grounded-up squid, ray, octopus, and seal). Plan on your boat to get pretty messy. Our primary bait will be Sting Ray. I have a friend whose is a commercial fisherman out of Channel Islands, who will be supplying us with Ray meat. We will also need a knock-out boat. We have to be able to kill this fish somehow! I need someone with a large caliber hand gun. A 9mm will do the job! I will need a rescue/medical boat. (Just in case) Volunteer Lifeguards/EMT'S are needed!!! We are also planning to have a media boat join us. This entire adventure will be videotaped, with huge lighting set-ups. WE WILL ALL BE FAMOUS!!!
Plan on being on the water most of the night and into the next day. Food, gear, safety products will be posted soon. JOIN UP TODAY!!!Again... YOU MUST BE EXTREMELY FIT!
Hank

First training session canceled due to shark sighting!

Posted by Hank on March 13, 2002 at 00:12:34:

Fellows: Just wanted to let everyone know that this Friday night's training session has been canceled, due to the fact, that six members of our team have dropped off. It seems that over the weekend, a large Great White shark was spotted in the Pilgrim Banks area. Some commercial fishermen friends of mine told me that macks and seals were exploding everywhere, out of the water! Pilgrim Banks is about 25 miles out from Leo Carillo. Wouldn't you know it, this is where we were going to launch, Friday night at 10:00 PM. Now I need six new men for our adventure. We will wait about 2 weeks, to let this BIG BOY clear out of our area! Don't get me wrong... I'm not afraid of these fat fish! When my time comes to leave this earth, I hope it's me and a Great White... FIGHTING TO THE DEATH!!!
Hank

Hank Lowery Critically Injured in Boating Accident!!! - Ricky Lamour

Posted by Ricky Lamour on March 17, 2002 at 22:03:37:

Just wanted to let you know, Hank was seriously injured last night during our first training exercise. Things went from bad to worst on the water. There was no way we should have gone out last night. We were short three boats and the weather was a little rough, but Hank wanted to go out. Now Hank's in a coma and on a ventilator and has a 50/50 chance to make it.

I first want to say that Hank seems to be getting a lot of bad press on this web site. The guy has had a pretty tough life. He's been in prison most of his adult life and all he wants to do is get that world record fish. That's his life right now! The man is a gentle giant. He's got arms the size of telephone poles! Being 6'6" and weighing over 340 lbs., this is a guy you want on your boat when you are fighting a huge fish! So please give this guy a break! He needs all of your prayers right now.

This is what happen last night> We launched at about 11:30 last night, out of Leo Carillo, after the winds died down. The seas were rough, but not bad. We paddled about four miles out to Short Banks. Hank has this thing about paddling deep into the dark, to simulate the actual distance and exposure, so we will be ready for our record attempt. We met a friend of Hank's out there,who came in a 18' Boston Whaler. The first part of our training was to simulate a large shark in the water so Hank could try out his heavy gear along with his new fighting chair/kayak set-up. What we did earlier in the day was to take a king-size mattress and rolled it up as tightly as we could and tied it up with rope. We dragged it behind the Boston Whaler, while Hank was hooked up to the mattress. Well... It worked! This mattress was giving Hank a battle! The fighting chair worked great. Hank was pulling and pulling! The 130-lb. test line was hanging tough. All this while Hank was pulling three kayaks from his stern. We did this for about an hour or so. Hank was very excided. We unhooked the mattress from Glen's Whaler and decided it was time to try out our new harpoons. Jackson and I positioned are Malibu II about 15 yards from the mattress. I threw the first one and missed, coming up short. Hank yelled out "Throw it like a man you sissy!!!" Now it was Jackson's turn. Jackson hurled the harpoon like a missile... and it slammed into the mattress! What a shot! Everybody was cheering. Now it was my turn again. We had drifted another ten feet to the port side when I chucked it. I gave it everything I had. I threw it so hard that when it hit the mattress it bounced off the top and flew through the air. THE HARPOON WAS HEADING FOR HANK'S BOAT!! Hank couldn't dive out of the way because he was strapped in his fighting chair. WHAM!!! The harpoon hit Hank in the right thigh! Everyone started to panic!!! We had one lifeguard with us and he was on Hank's boat in a flash! There wasn't a lot of blood and Hank seemed to be ok. He was looking at me and couldn't believe I just harpooned him! Steve was trying to stabilize him and we knew we had to get Hank the hospital fast! This is when things went from bad to worst!! HANK'S BOAT WAS STARTING TO SINK!!!! Apparently the waterlogged mattress was sinking and got tangled up with Hank's bowline. Because of Hank's weight and the fact that the fighting chair is mounted in the front of his boat, the bow was going underwater and the stern was going up! It happened so fast... we couldn't cut the bowline and everybody was thrown into the water! Within seconds, Hank was under water! Three of us pulled off our PFD's and swam down to save him. The water was so cold and it was pitch black! We couldn't see a thing! We got our hands on Hank and unhooked his belt, but we couldn't pull him out of his fighting chair!We had to go up for air three times before we pulled him free. Would you believe that one of the guys on the boats actually grabbed the rope that was attached to the harpoon that was in Hank's leg and was pulling! What an idiot! When we got Hank up to the surface, he wasn't breathing. We had to get him in the Boston Whaler and fast!! We yelled to Richie to keep a look out for sharks... with all this thrashing and blood in the water, this could be a real disaster! It took us ten minutes to haul Hank out of the water. He was as heavy as a car! Once in the boat, Steve began giving Hank CPR. We had a VHF radio and called the Coast Guard. We had a rescue helicopter over us in 15 minutes. We shot off some flares and they zoomed in on us. When the copter came in close, I thought we were all going to perish! The wind was incredible!! Two of our kayaks broke free and vanished into the darkness! They dropped this tiny basket down and expected us to put Hank in it. Are they CRAZY! Hank won't fit into this But we had no choice, Hank was going to die, so we crammed him into the basket and secured the harpoon to a cable and up he went! Hank was barely breathing and unconscious when he left the boat and we could only pray for his survial. We still had to get to shore, but now we were missing three boats. Everyone was freezing and exhausted. We all huddled together on the Boston Whaler and headed for Port Hueneme w/ one kayak in tow.

We are all ok, but Hank is not doing to well... The Doctors at St Johns Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, say the next 48 hours will be crucial. I will keep this web site posted on Hank's condition.

Ricky

There were additional posts of Hank sightings at Lake Mead and again in the Paradise Cove area. The Lake Mead story was harrowing, as Hank was reported to be missing and presumed drowned, leaving adrift his unmanned kayak, complete with empty beer cans. But, he came up for air again in California, and that was the last I've heard of him. Come back to us Hank!!!