LI Sound Nomad fishing

[DarkSkies]

Aggressive porgies

[DarkSkies]

*









28" bass hittin the T&W in the middle of the night




37" yak bass on a full moon, mid-teen fish

[Monty]

Hey Dark, great to see you were rewarded with a nice bass. Your reports are great, pics great to. Thanks for posting all this. Since I still can't get out and fish, reports and pics are all much more entertaining/enjoyable.

[jonthepain]

dang, the yak looks kinda topheavy

been using circle hooks for, i dunno, 20 years? can't beat em.

[jonthepain]

ps black sneaks, white socks. that's the look i'm talkin bout.

[seamonkey]

ps black sneaks, white socks. that's the look i'm talkin bout.

What he said, a little nerdy, dude! Unless you like the nerdy look.

[hookset]

Nice report, keep up the good work!

[nitestrikes]

Safety first, ds, that says it all. I enjoy the reports and the stories around them. Please be careful out there.

[DarkSkies]

ps black sneaks, white socks. that's the look i'm talkin bout.

I was wondering when someone would give me grief about that, dude, and you didn't disappoint.

Yeah I look like a dork-wad wearing em.
Here's the reason why, now that ya put me on the spot...
In some areas of the LI Sound, it's not sand, more so a beach of boulders, rocks of all sizes, and the tiniest most irritating rocks you will find anywhere (all beautiful though, and close to gem-stone quality)

The thing is, I'm out there for hours at a time, sometimes all night. Beaching and launching the yak at different places to take advantage of the moving tides for each area. You tend to get a lot of grit and minute stones in your wading shoes, at least I do. When I was pedalling a lot, the next day I would have blisters on the tops of many of my toes. Push that into another round of pedalling the next day, and things get a little bloody.

Of course, I keep fishing, bloody toes ain't that bad unless you're dangling them in the water for shark bait....

But I did want to try to avoid that long-term, and thick white socks were my solution.
They work pretty well, and no more bloody toes!

Thanks for noticing, as usual feel free to make fun of the King of the Googans.

[DarkSkies]

8-22 quick trip

Took a quick trip of only 6 1/2 hours last night.
The wundeground predictions I looked at for the Sound showed a window for that time of W 5-10. That's do-able, and at times pushes the bait where you want it to be, so I hit the road.

Small problem, called John at Big Jack's, City Island to let him know I was coming in for some worms, there is a sandworm shortage up there. Totally out, none till Tues.

I needed to be out there, just needed to.
I was crabbier than Finchaser, and at LEAST as crabby as that COB Surfstix!

Went in my garden, dug about 6 dozen snake worms, the ones that fall apart, that's the best I could do.

Had spent hours researching a new launch spot, very rocky structure and bass throughout most of the season at night....but I discovered the launch point was shut down last year after complaints about fisherman garbage.

The only other "legitimate" launch point/put-in would be about 3 miles away, too far to pedal in uncertain weather and in an area I would be yakking for the first time.





So, I went to another area I knew.

At first, things were perfect. Rain storms had just ended, and a slight W was in the air, forecast to hold through the night at 5-10, sweet.

By the time I was ready to launch, it was building, first 10, then steady 15. I decided with the direction it was heading in, I could cancel my original plan and fish further into the area, inside a harbor that would give me a lee.

Smooth sailing to the harbor, after first compulsively circling some big rocks about 300' offshore in hopes some bass were home. No dice, as the building heave made it extremely difficult to present, too much up and down on the T&W.

Again, I changed plans.
(This is what I mean about having a plan B, C and D)

Started trolling a rigged eel for awhile, nada.
I pulled out a Northbar bottle darter, a perfect presentation for rough water, and started trolling it. It just wasn't right for that water at that time (halfway into the flood) and the rocks that were there.

I picked out a smaller swimmer, lighter.
Soon after I got into some medium sized bluefish as I rounded a point and came into a juicy boulder field that extended about 250' offshore.

The water was getting rougher there with the building winds, and I didn't feel comfortable. I knew moving inside the harbor would be safer, so I did it.

I paddled lots of shoreline, about 2 miles, on the flood tide into the harbor.

They write in surfcasting books that 90% of the water doesn't hold fish.

That rings true in your experience every time you get into a yak and try to find fish at night. If you find fish in one area, chances are that will be the golden area for that night, unless you can find concentrations of bait somewhere else.

Last night, with the wind and the waves, the bait was hiding, tucked away, and I failed at finding any appreciable amounts of it.

Trolled the small swimmer for a long time. covered lots of new ground. It was a lot calmer in the harbor so I went back to the T&W.

I didn't have confidence in my worms, (garden worms wash out real quick in salt water) so I was using 2 or 3 at a time to compensate for that.









After a long period of no activity, I started catching fish again at 4:30 am, some big porgies. I was finally in a good area, I thought, because they were aggressive.

I tried to leave the harbor 2x, but had to return because of the swells and wind. Decided to make the best of it and play with the porgies. Hoped the wind would minimize at dawn. Managed 5 legal size to 13".

Lots of lost worms to smaller fish, either small porgies or snappers. I thought about targeting snappers for bait but with the building swells outside the harbor I decided to keep it simple.



The water was clean despite the previous rainfall, no weeds on top, cool in the very low 70's, perfect night bass water. 2 things that probably weighed against me were the swells and wind, which affected my presentation and scattered the bait.

At dawn, I felt like I had failed in my mission, not a single bass, even a frikkin schoolie!

Made my way back once it got light out.

It took 45 minutes of hard pedalling through the swells, which were now steady and showed no signs of letting up. At least with it being light out I was able to manage them better.




Lessons learned:
-When you are on the road travelling to fish, Wunderground is one of the best resources you can use. It's not perfect, and you need to have alternate plans in case your Plan A doesn't work out.

-A swell of 2' or more makes it difficult to present to the fish from a yak if they're suspended, unless you're fishing bucktails or bait on the bottom.

[strikezone31]

Be careful out there,dark. the CG rescued 2 from Crab Meadow Sun afternoon.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...om-crab-meadow

[DarkSkies]

Thanks for the thoughts and warnings, guys. As I'm all by myself at night, I don't push it past my comfort level. Things can turn around in an instant on the N Shore. I read that Crab Meadow story. Those people probably had no idea how strong that current can be. It looks like a simple shoreline, yet people find it hard to fathom that millions of gallons coming in and out could affect a beach 40 miles from the mouth of the Sound.

I have a friend who lives up there, crazy skishing dude, but still always stresses safety and preparation.

He rescued a Dad from the current 2 weeks ago. My friend was out in a skiff fishing. The Dad went in to get some flip flops that inadvertently got taken by the tide. He ended up 20' from shore and was getting dragged away fast in a panic. My friend got to him in time and brought him back.

As I know, things can turn around in a split second. It's that serious, with that current.
Your life and everything you ever worked for can turn around as quick as it takes someone to snap their fingers.

Thanks all.







*****
Here are some pics I haven't yet posted from the 8-22 trip.
You can't see the roughness of the water because the yak was bobbing up and down in 2-3' swells, so I got out of that water into a protected harbor. The harbor looks nice and calm, giving no indication of what lay just outside.




Like I said, it can turn around in an instant. I will keep repeating that phrase until people get sick of hearing it...and then repeat it some more...

[DarkSkies]

Don't park where it says:
"If you park here and are not using our lot, you are subject to tow"





The last trip, it was early and I was making my way back along the GWB track.
My eyes started fluttering, the AC and radio wasn't cutting it, knew I had to get 1 hour sleep before I crashed the car...


I pulled into a McD's lot, saw the sign, and figured I would sleep for an hr, grab a McMuffin, and be on my way.

After I woke up, and I was leaving, I saw this Gypsy tow truck hook up and take this car with PA plates. I shot the action and curiosity compelled me to roll up to the driver and ask how long the car was in the lot before he was allowed to tow it?


Him:

"5 minutes, thass all they have to be there for me to tow them if they aint goin into McDees...Yo, cuz, I was goin to tow u too, jus gettin ready to, today was your lucky day!"



Nappers, beware...

[jigfreak]

Dont mess with the gypsy ghetto guys. They will rob you blind, I think a tow in one of those situations will clip you a minimum of $250 large.

[jonthepain]

hangin's too good fer em

[williehookem]

I hate those hit and run tow drivers. $250 is cheap the way they run things sometimes. A friend from out of state came here, got his car towed, and had to pay $310 to get it back. And the guy in charge only wanted cash or money order, no credit cards!
Nice reports dark skies keep em coming.

[Monty]

Great thread Dark!!!
Fished the Sound for the first time today.
Poking around and found this thread.
Here is a pic of my skunking trip this AM.

[seamonkey]

I have to say you do take some awesome sunrise shots thanks for sharing.

[albiealert]

Great pics and stories. I was bored at work today and read through them. Thanks for sharing guys, and tight lines.