Administrator
Kayak report 4-6-12
Short form....
2nd trip of the year, 25# bass.....
Still had a few hours of darkness....made a drastic move and got on the road to a different area.
Launched the yak and managed 2 bass in the same size class. Dropped one, but the one I landed was 41" and about 25#.
My nicest fish of the Spring so far.
OGB
Very nice
Pay attention to what history has taught us or be prepared to relive it again
Senior Member
Very Nice, it only gona get better
Administrator
Thanks guys, pics and detailed report....4-6-12 AM
The surf bite never came together for me last night.
My plan B was a kayak launch. I have had my sights set on a certain big fish spot for 2 weeks now, and the conditions didn't permit a night paddle out there.
Last night was the same old story, winds prevented me from launching and working this one spot. I raced in my mind thinking of a reasonable alternative that would yield some quality fish....
This is why sometimes you have to be prepared with plan C, D, and E....
I launched in the pre-dawn light. It was pretty cold out there and the water was no more than 50 degrees, maybe less.
Paddled out to where I wanted to set up.
Along the way I trolled a stretch plug on one rod, shad on another.
Withiin 5 minutes I get banged hard on that first rod...so hard that I convince myself I'm snagged on the bottom.
I get my other rod (with a shad) out of the way. The snag seems to come undone, when I realize it's a fish, moving toward me.....
The sun was now coming up. A boat's engine nearby caught my attention at that second....I lost concentration, and dropped the fish....
The rod that fish hit is a Conventional bridge rod with a Penn 965,,,big enough to handle a 50#...a hit from a 15# bass won't even put a bend in it....knowing I had lost a quality fish, I was pretty angry with myself....
Worked a lot of different things for the next 2 hours, T&W, other diiving plugs, all varieties and sizes of shads, tailored to the depth of water I was in....
Finally decided to really focus on the Stretches, trolling 2 of them at once...
This ain't that easy from a yak if the bottom has different depths....IMO a challenge to do effectively...especially at night without a fish finder....
On the way back to the launch I get banged again on the bridge stick with the Penn 965....
This time I know it's a good fish...takes a minute or so before I can see her shape....
And boy, she was a beauty......If I was a male striped bass I would have shot all over myself....
That fat belly, broad tail....and clean stripes got me all a-tingling....
Got her in, few quick pics, and then the release back to make some babies....
Senior Member
Beautiful fish. Look at the belly on her. Great job dark!
Administrator
I want to document that the head on this fish in post 15 is the smallest of the bigger fish I have caught since Dec 2011.
There's a reason for this documentation here.
Over the Winter I've been catching fish of similar lengths, with different size heads and tails.
At first I was theorizing that these were Hudson fish mixed in with the Chesapeake fish.
I've had similar conversations with friends and some members here,,,,,and I thank you for your input...
There are lots of folks who might dispute this....
But after seeing a few hundred fish in a compressed time period, I feel differently.
Lately I've been getting some feedback from some old-timers that there are some additional spawning biomasses, different than the Chesapeake or Hudson strains. (and different from the fish in the Northern rivers of the LI Sound.)
As time permits, I'll be developing an article on my findings and posting the results in a different thread.
Some may think it's ridiculous or delusional. That's OK, I have thick skin for the folks who want to disagree with me....
At this point I think there's enough anecdotal data, to at least explore the possibilities.
Stay tuned, people....
Senior Member
fantastic catching Dark!
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