Kayak trips & fishing reports 2010

[DarkSkies]

Hookedonbass, the pedal yak is one of the best investments I ever made. I did my time with a paddle, and will still use it when I take the cheap tandem out for Pebbles and I to fish together.

However, there is nothing in the industry today like the efficiency one gains in a pedal yak. I have been moving against current and wind with ease, and the strong tide no longer intimidates my choice of fishing location. It's an amazing feeling.

I got a sweet deal on my kayak. A lot of the issues buying a Hobie are financial. You can get deals if you're patient and diligent in searching. The Hobies retain a lot of their value, so it's harder to find them during the peak season.

Moving past all that, the freedom to go where you want, not be constrained by current, and the ability to move quickly if a big boat comes your way and you need that speed, IMO nothing comes close to a Hobie.

As I said, I'll still use the budget yak for doubles, and when anyone wants to come along. I'm completely sold on the pedal system and it's efficiency.

Freedom and peace of mind, that's the best way I can sum it up.

[DarkSkies]

Pebbles and I fished the 1st half of the incoming in the tandem kayak yesterday. We were targeting porgies, bass and bluefish. Great day, but despite a smorgasbord of bait I brought along we got skunked. Even the area that produced for me so well a few nights before was totally dead. Go figure.

I really wanted to put her into fish. We started at the bottom of the flood, fished about halfway into incoming. I knew the lower water might be an issue, to we took our time getting OTW. We hung out on land and ate a great picnic lunch made by Pebbles. Awesome, I'm a lucky guy to have such a great girl.

We watched a few others out there where we ate, not doing much, even with the fluke. There was also a building S wind, 10mph steady, gusts to 15 or so. We needed to find a lee from the wind to fish at.







We launched, and soon after I realized the steady wind and incoming tide was pushing up some swells to 2 ft. For that reason I didn't want to take her out to deeper water and risk dumping. We stayed relatively close to shore and some structure. At one point I found a nice channel but the swells were too intense, so we anchored on the lee side of some rocks. Not much there except a missed fish for each of us.




We did have a cool surpise as I maneuvered the yak into a safe area near the rocks, and some small bluefish became momentarily trapped by the yak chasing tiny (1/2" baitfish).


The place I like to get my sandworms was all out. I planned ahead and brought some fresh dug garden worms, salted peanut bunker, clams, and we also got some fresh clams.

I filled a chum bag with 5lbs of crushed mussels we found, dead crabs I crushed up, and clam pieces. I tried to think of everything to get her into fish. I know guys do well on porgies with clams, but to me the key ingredient that seemed missing was those sandworms, they can be magic at times. I've see guys pull bass out of the surf on sandworms when nothing else gets touched, they're a great bait.

We couldn't therefore troll the T&W, so I substituted a rigged eel and large rattletrap, no dice. We also fished clams, peanut bunker, and the garden worms, even though they wash out quick, you need to change up every cast.

On the way back, we made a few stops at spots I know held porgies at all stages of the tide a few nights ago. Not even a tap.

This kind of dismayed me. I don't care if I catch, but if I bring someone out I kill myself to put them into fish. It didn't work this time.




What may have happened:
1. S wind made the water colder, maybe low to mid 70's. That really shouldn't affect a porgy bite, IMO.

2. Porgies moved into deeper water. I stayed away from the channels and deeper water because of the swell. I read some Sunday reports trying to figure it out. It seems not many people slammed the porgies in our area yesterday, most of them were caught in other areas or deeper water. There was another tackle shop report that said porgies turn on and off according to whim. Well, yesterday was definitely an "off" day.

3. I hardly ever fish clams, not really a clam lover.
King Neptune may have been offended by my lack of reverence for the clam and decided to punish me.

Dear King Neptune, I don't care if ya punish me, but for Pete's sake please don't punish Pebbles next time. She had her Finchaser rod all ready to do battle, and handled co-paddling of the choppy waters well. Please reward her with a fish or 2 next time, and I'll try real hard to show clams the respect they deserve.

In all, it was a good day on the water, another safe kayak expedition, with no fish.

[Pebbles]

We had a great time even though no fish were caught. He brought me out into the middle, and then we paddled back to take cover from the wind. The swells were 2' but not was not my issue. I had trouble with some of the boaters who saw we were right there and they did not even bother to slow down.

We came across two men and two boys asking us if we knew where a certain island was. Somehow they got off-course. I hope they made it back ok.

This got me thinking, don't boaters know how to use a compass?

[jigfreak]

^Pebbles were you in a no-wake zone? If so they should be slowing down. If not, they can go as fast as they want. I know it sux but that's the way it is.
Liked the report, especially the King Neptune prayer. Keep em coming.

[DarkSkies]

I took Pebbles out on the tandem kayak for a pre-storm fishing and scouting trip. We stayed close to the harbor trying to beat the weather, but it was getting ugly. We found porgies pretty quickly. Only had 5 minutes before a fierce squall came ashore, and we had to high-tail it back to the launch. At least she caught a porgy with sandworms on her Finchaser rod.





It seems every time I take the poor girl out we run into rough water. She's a trooper, don't know any other women that would trust me with their lives like that.




So far we've erred on the side of caution. Today we found some rocks that were a lee from the wind only a 1/2 mile paddle from the launch, so we drifted past them and she nailed the porgy. I really would have liked to stick around, because the fish were there. Last time we paddled all over for only a few missed hits.







This time we had fresh sandworms, the water was a little colder, and I was pumped for some good fishin. Better safe than sorry, we'll gettum next time.




Speaking of porgies, Rip-plugger has been spinning tales of guys catching 24" porgies in the Mid-Sound. Great fishin, but kinda hard to paddle out 2 1/2 miles out to the grounds in a kayak unless it's like a lake with light wind. No shame in catchin summer porgies, though, especially when they're getting them up to 24".

[Pebbles]

Yes I went out in the bad weather again. By the time we got there the dark clouds were rolling in. I ended up with one fish, and a lot of learning about who I am and the courage I can achieve.

[DarkSkies]

After the morning NE swell, I packed it up and went to some water where I thought there would be a lee from the wind. It was a little sheltered, but not much. Wind was steady 20-25mph all day, with few breaks in between. At least the swells were slighlly smaller than the ones I ran into in the morning.



I fished most of the ebb. The area I picked was different than one I usually fish, and I spent some time learning the structure. I started with the T&W. Nothing doing, so I switched to a porgy rig with sandworms. Managed a few porgies.

Later on, I found out a kayak guy I know was there a few hours before me and got into double digit T&W bass catches. The best I could do was one fish that became unbuttoned on the T&W, after trolling for a while.

I hate the learning curve when you're first learning something and you're not good at it yet. Yesterday felt like an epic fail for me. What that does for me is to inspire resolve to discover my mistakes, learn from them, and do better next time.

Or....maybe I'll never be able to escape my googanism.

[DarkSkies]

Yes I went out in the bad weather again. By the time we got there the dark clouds were rolling in. I ended up with one fish, and a lot of learning about who I am and the courage I can achieve.

No one has more courage than you do, sweetheart. Who else would have the courage to put up with me all these years?
Ya done good out there, I'm proud of ya!