Kayak trips & fishing reports 2009

[DarkSkies]

I sent up this thread because sometimes I write too many details and didn't want to burden the regular fishermen with reading through them. This is more of an online journal for me and the trips I'll be making, so I can go back next year and see when, where, and how I was catching fish.

For any other kayakers out there, feel free to jump in here and post your detailed reports and stories if ya feel like it.

If it's just a quick fishin report from the yak, you can post in the regular regional fishing reports forum. Post wherever ya want, all welcome here.

[DarkSkies]

(There were no fish caught this day except the bunker I livelined)

It was raining when I set out, and cleared up gradually. I knew it would rain all day, and wanted to be prepared for the worst, as I was fishin some channels and open water. It took forever for me to get on the water, I started at 5am getting all the things ready.

There's a checklist you should have, or at least in your mind, every time you start out. Safety gear is high priority. I had a brightly colored PFD, all my gear leashed or tethered to the yak, and a plan of where I would swim to if somehow I got separated form the yak.

I also had a couple of new things I bought, an anchor and rope which I bridled to the side of the yak. This came in handy when I later got snagged when trolling deep. I was able to bring the yak past the snag point and retrieve the lure by anchoring and gradually moving to where the snag was.

I didn't have an official yak light or whistle only a high powered flashlight and headlamps (2), so that's probably why I procrastinated the launch till after dawn.

It was windy for the launch still a S/SE, but mostly S, wind blowing rollers about a 1 1/2 foot high. It's not the height of the waves, it's the duration, and here they were coming quick. It wasn't that bad, though, as the wind died down. It rained on and off all day, which was perfect.

I started out talking to some shore fishermen, who didn't catch anything all night, bad omen for the day's beginning, but I was there to learn first, and catch fish second.

I paddled out to where the boats were, I thought they might know something about that area I didn't. They were fishin clams, and jigging. I didn't see one boat catch or even hook up. Around 8, a new group of boats came as the first ones left, they didn't hook up either.

I couldn't understand what was so significant about where they were fishing.

How was it different from any other area?
It seemed they were fishing mud flats like they do in Raritan Bay. When I later kayaked over to these mud flats, I saw that they were extremely rich in every kind of marine life that bass love to eat, mussels, crabs, worms, small snails, a virtual bass smorgasbord!

How come no fish?
Maybe the water was colder from the SE, and there was a lot of traffic as well.

Bunker!!
The bunker were there, but they were scattered. I brought no bait with me, was going to live or die on the artificials and snagging fresh bunker. I did have a snag hook and some heavy duty conventional setups for nicer bass.

After about 15 minutes, bunker magically began to feed around me. They would surface and sound, surface and sound. Most people would think they went away. Because of the deeper water I figured they were just holding there. It was tough to snag at first, about 15 minutes to get the first. I felt it was too big, but immediately livelined it anyway. Not even a runoff in the early morning.

Then I snagged another one, did the same thing, no results. As I brought them in after 10 minutes sitting out there, I could see they were huge, 12-14". I wasn't able to snag anything smaller.

Ths thing about bunker feeding in open water is you know in your heart there are bound to be some bass and blues under them, it's logical to assume that, at least in the night. This was daylight, so the bass were more wary.

Not one person caught a bass or bluefish there all morning, how could I know there were bass underneath?

Because every half hour or so, the bunker schools would get frenzied and a few would jump out of the water up to 1'. The big bass were plowing through and casually picking them off. It wasn't enough to attract anyone's attention as it was sporadic. You really had to pay attention to the surroundings to notice. Things happened quickly, the bunker would disappear, and intermittently appear again.

This drove my crazy. When I would give up and throw a shad to jig on the bottom, they would appear again.

It's different on a kayak than on the shore. You have better mobility to reach the bunker, but you might need to be more flexible. I went back to my days of largemouth bass fishin from a boat when i remembered about back flipping a cast to reach a spot. I normally cast from my right side. With the bunker popping up in different places, I re-learned all the casting moves, casting behind you, over your opposite shoulder, backwards, whatever it took to reash the sporadically feeding bunker.

As the day wore on, it was still overcast. I knew my chances of getting a fish were slim without snagging and dropping a bunker. I was only able to do this 3 times because the schools were so mobile.

It was a lot of fun recognizing the bunker from a yak. On the land, we look for swirls. On the yak, I was looking for their backs out of the water as they cruised along in the filter feeding mode.

I learned that even though they move around a lot, they like certain spots. I already had some of this knowledge, but being in a yak puts it in a different perspective. I know I'll be able to find them when I go back at night now.

I had a great time on my adventure. No fish, but I did meet some cool people. No other yakkers out there where I was. I did see some baby fluke on the bottom, about 8", as I was paddling in.

People talk about the pollution in that bay. There was a lot of trash along the sides in places, but the water was very clear. I could see almost 5' to the bottom in some shallower places. The scenery and experience were incredible.

I found a new addiction!

I can see the best time to fish is on nights and weekdays.

It's a big bay, but the boat and yak fishers tent to congregate in a few choice areas. I'm not comfortable with crowded conditions on the yak, so I'll have to plan the next trip in the dark.

[storminsteve]

That pic with the ship means you had to be in a deep channel, out very far? In the shipping lanes? Great story and pics Dark! Now I have to get one so maybe I can meet up with you out on the water.

[LennyD]

Nice Report Rich!
Can't wait to go when i get back!

Tight lines!!!

LennyD

[WURK2FISH]

Awesome "Report" Darkskies!!!

Here's mine for this AM:



Sunday AM Report Beautiful morning out...no rain and overcast...High Tide 4:10 AM.....wind 3-5 mph outta E, NE....like a lake Waiting on CopyCat to get there Fish busting here and there on bait.....no takers with a Topwater popper....but the Hot-Pink Gulp and a 3/8 oz lead-head put (6) fish on the line....kept the only Legal at a whopping 28-1/2 in. and threw in an added bonus of a nice perch. Stripers where averaging 16-18 in. with (1) at 20 in. and the keeper.

Fish started hitting just as the tide started moving out.......over within' an hour with the sun coming up.....and alittle bit of wind pick-up....but an occasional small hit here and there.

Great fun....and glad to have gottin' my first keeper of the year!!!


__________________

[cowherder]

Wow great reports guys! The pics really make me wish I was there.

[RocksandReds]

Awesome "Report" Darkskies!!!

Here's mine for this AM:



Sunday AM Report Beautiful morning out...no rain and overcast...High Tide 4:10 AM.....wind 3-5 mph outta E, NE....like a lake Waiting on CopyCat to get there Fish busting here and there on bait.....no takers with a Topwater popper....but the Hot-Pink Gulp and a 3/8 oz lead-head put (6) fish on the line....kept the only Legal at a whopping 28-1/2 in. and threw in an added bonus of a nice perch. Stripers where averaging 16-18 in. with (1) at 20 in. and the keeper.

Fish started hitting just as the tide started moving out.......over within' an hour with the sun coming up.....and alittle bit of wind pick-up....but an occasional small hit here and there.

Great fun....and glad to have gottin' my first keeper of the year!!!


__________________

Looks like a great day out there Mike!! Thanks for the report.

Congats!!

[WURK2FISH]

Thanks Cowherder....and R&R's!!!

When ya getting out there Yakin' R&R???

[RocksandReds]

Thanks Cowherder....and R&R's!!!

When ya getting out there Yakin' R&R???

Plnning on doing some in June as soon as the surf run slows a little I'm still hopeing for another big black drum..

[RocksandReds]

W2F where did you get your kayak light from? I like that set up!!

[strikezone31]

wurk2fish - congrat's on your first season keeper. Your kayak setup is awesome.

[surfwalker]

Dark, w2f- Thanks for the reports/pics. They are looked forward to by me, having never tried this type of fishing. Please keep them coming. Looks like fun.

[WURK2FISH]

W2F where did you get your kayak light from? I like that set up!!

Kayak fishing Stuff

[WURK2FISH]

wurk2fish - congrat's on your first season keeper. Your kayak setup is awesome.

Thanks StrikeZone!!! Looking forward to this weekend

[WURK2FISH]

Dark, w2f- Thanks for the reports/pics. They are looked forward to by me, having never tried this type of fishing. Please keep them coming. Looks like fun.

Your welcome....hopefully another good report from this coming weekend!!!

[crosseyedbass]

The detail you guys described these trips makes me feel as if I was on the kayak myself.

[DarkSkies]

I'm gonna try this format for this kayak section to make it easier to review as part of my logbook. You other guys can throw it down however ya want, this is something I thought would make it easier for me, that's all.


************************************************** ***************************
Date Fished:
Time fished:
Tide Stage:
Weather:
Surf Conditions:
General Location:
Fishing Method:
Type of lure/fly:
Water Temp:
fish caught/size:
Report:











************************************************** ************************

Date Fished: 5/4/09
Time fished: 12-6am
Tide Stage: Outgoing and incoming
Weather: Rainy, Windy
Surf Conditions: 1- 1 1/2 feet swells, low duration
Fishing by: Kayak
General Location: Jamaica Bay
Fishing Method: Live bunker, clams, and topwater poppers
Type of lure/fly: poppers and Ace Bait bunker profile swimmer
Water Temp: maybe mid 50's
fish caught: 5 bluefish
size: 2-8#
Report:





Jamaica bay last night 12-6am. , I was the only idiot out there in the rain and the wind in that area. I anchored in a piece of open water, but was worried the waves and wind would capsize the kayak.

Stayed at an area of structure for 1 1/2 hours, fishing bunker and clams, nothing, then back to channels where I got 5 bluefish on bunker chunks.

The most pods of bunker were in a harbor. They were there all night with fish on them. However, I feel the fish that were harassing them were bluefish. Last week I saw bunker jump a foot or 2 out of the water when there were no bluefish around, so I'm assuming bigger bass last week.

Last night, the profilles of the predators running through the schools seemed smaller, so that's why I'm assuming only bluefish. You can never tell if there is at least one big bass underneath them though.

I paddled out to some structure, and there were no bunker there at first. They came after an hour, around 330am, before high tide, but they were scattered. The wind and waves made it tough to snag them, so I went back into the harbor. The bunker were concentrated in the main channel.

However, snagging and dropping there did nothing except get the bunker chopped up by bluefish. So I chunked with one rod, and fished plugs with another. Nothing on the plugs, 5 bluefish on the chunk.

[Tommy]

Hi Rich, nice write up. Nice kayak , and like your set up. Hopefully one of these days I ll get one.So I can learn from the best.Keep up the good work.

[DarkSkies]

Tommy, appreciate the kind words, but I'm just a goog with a white bucket and a paddle. The only thing I'm "best" at is screwing up! And I do actually catch a nice fish, once in a while.

If I know you, after looking at these pics for a week, you'll decide it's time for a kayak, and will have one by the end of May. Waiting for you to tell me ya couldn't take it anymore and went out and got one.

[WURK2FISH]

Great "Report" Rich.......you're a Brave Man out there in that mess!!! Keep the "Reports" comin'