Kayak Trips and Fishing Reports 2012

[DarkSkies]

The strong 20-25mph wind conditions caused me to re-think my strategies for launching and fishing in the next few days.

I went to a place I hadn't been in awhile...and had never kayaked.
Did the Dark Skies Grandstand Circus and Promotional tour....

Re-connected with a lot of the old-timers,,,
And met quite a few new people.
Some of them were hardcore fishermen. Others were about as mentally stable as Charlie Manson....


Found a slight lee from the wind.....launched before dusk on the 2nd trip with the stretch plug experimentation...

This time I covered more ground and trolled a lot of open water....it was tough, to say the least.
I covered about 4 miles total, and lots of varying depths.

The spot I chose to fish is a big fish highway,,,,but it's primarily a bait area,,no kayaks fish there and no one fishes artificials.

My first and only fish came after about an hour of trolling....a small legal-sized bass, released.
Continued to pedal another 2 hours after that until my toes were partially frozen in the 48 degree water.

When I got back to the launch area, I saw that guys had been doing pretty well on bait.

Overall Analysis...
1. I didn't reach my goal of hooking a migratory bigger breeder...
2. but I did catch a fish in a place where they generally don't fish artificials....
3. I think the water being 48 degrees made it difficult to attract the fish to artificials, where I was.
4. They are feeding, but are still sluggish nonetheless.
5. I think in the next month or so this area will be red hot.

Back at it soon, the clock is ticking for the fish migration...