Kayak Trips and Fishing Reports 2013

[ledhead36]

Awesome reports guys and gal's.

[ledhead36]

Just got back from a trip to Salem Ma. Attended the Striper Shoot Out for the fifth year. What an absolutely beautiful area to fish. And a great Fun tourney! All about fishing and having fun.... Laid back group, and some wonderful folks up there. Fished Friday thru Sunday. It was so nice to take a break from bottom fishing. Friday was excellent with all shorts, but the fish are on steroids up there. Great fighting fish. Sat, a little slower and Sunday we found some bigger fish. If you ever get the chance and enjoy camping and launching a couple hundred yards from your campsite, give Winter Island in Salem a try. GREAT TRIP!

Very nice report made me want to drive up to MA. About how much do the campgrounds charge for nightly sites?

[Shorelady]

$32.00 per night. Nice big sites. Not sure about RV's prices. Clean shower facilities also! General store also.

[Shorelady]

It's good to hear some Jersey folks came up to enjoy our beautiful beaches, shorelady. Salem Sound offers great fishing this time of year, from the Danvers River and Beverly Harbor all the way south to Ft Sewell. The water temps are great and the harbors and coves are full of bait. As you noticed the fish are aggressive. Glad you had a good time in our beautiful state.

We had a really good group from Jersey and NY. Already thinking about next year. Wonderful structure. Can't say enough about Winter Island... My brother lives in Salem and kayak fishes... when he can.. So it always a great trip.

[BassBuddah]

Nice report and account of your trip shorelady,Thanks for sharing, enjoyed it.

[DarkSkies]

^^ Very nice report, Shorelady. Thanks for sharing with our members. Glad ya had a good time.

[DarkSkies]

Eli was out Tue PM and got into some bass and big blues. Report and pics courtesy of Eli....





"Fished for a few hours last night, and the fishing was very good. Livelined some spot for a mixed bag of Weakfish, Stripers to 34" and managed to land my personal best Bluefish around 38". Fat tank, figured mid to high teens?



Lots of fun.



Incoming tide was best, and spots just off the bottom."

[seamonkey]

Man that is a GIANT!!!!!
Congrats awesome!!

[hookset]

Great catch. According to the chart I just found it is around 19lbs or bigger.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...-Fishing-Links

[buckethead]

I remember last fall right before Sandy we had bluefish like that right in the surf. Mid to high teens mixed in with the bass. Good times. Nice report thanks for sharing.

[storminsteve]

That is a pig of a bluefish. Gorilla size, every bit of 19lbs. Great catch!

[J Barbosa]

Those Hobie Outbacks are very wide and make big fish seem Normal sized.

That is a monster sized blue.

[DarkSkies]

^^Many people have no concept how different it is catching big blues from a yak. They are ferocious enough from the surf or boat.......much more intense when you are up close and personal on the water like that. That bluefish had to be close to 20 lbs. IMO 20 lbs is the trophy mark for bluefish...even a 15-17lb blue is a monster, above that they are not that common unless you are on a party boat chumming for them.

Congrats to Eli for pushing the envelope.










********
Here's his latest report from the NY Bight yesterday. Pics and report courtesy of Eli.












"Ridiculous bass fishing today. I will take being the only boat in sight and pegging 40" + fish any day over the madness out east.



Landed 7, ran out of spots (and time) broke a few off and had a sprinkling of big bluefish. Biggest ran 42" (probably around 30 pounds very fat and released) and had to take home one around 40" that just wouldn't swim off.



If that is the best day I have all fall, I can't expect more."

[robmedina]

nice!!

[finchaser]

http://www.woofish.com/BLUEFISH.html

a 20 pound bluefish is close to 37" my club record 21# was 38 1/2 inches

[porgy75]

Stripers to 44" this guy is phenomenal! Great catching looks like using live spot is the way to go for the big ones.

[DarkSkies]

^^Spot and eels are the surest way to getting a bass in some of the deeper or faster water. porgy. In South Jersey that is the only way some of the fishermen there will fish the Rips in the Fall. Woe to the S Jersey fisherman who doesn't have a spot pen at his dock.



************
Eli's latest....courtesy of Eli....


Went Bass fishing this morning, and fishing was good towards slack tide. Bass gobbled up live spots as usual. Biggest fish ran at 36"-37" and wasn't able to swim away. A few others between 26"-30"





Nice morning for sure.

[J Barbosa]

Went kayaking with my brother and friend yesterday looking for something actally capable of pulling drag.

When we launched at a southern location in the RB the water was dead flat . Launching in the surf was not a possibility with the forecast of 15-25mph winds predicted.

We started by splitting up and trolling around for a while with no hits. Lots of smaller bait around including spearing, peanuts and mullet. I also saw some scattered bunker around. We ended up just shy of the coast guard station at the hook about 5-6 miles from where we launched before we decided to turn around.

After a while we switched over to some bottom fishing. Spots and croakers were coming up with spots greatly outnumbering the croakers for once.

I ended up getting a nice weakfish and buddy caught one as well.

Wind was kicking up and we started to make our way back against a 15-20mph wind and a full moon tide. The waves were pretty bad..took a few dozen over the bow and go totally soaked. I had 4-6" of water in my hull that I'm not sure if it was from taking water over the bow or a leak. I've suspected I may have a small leak since two trips ago but I never got this much water.


Attachment 17597

[Monty]

Real nice weakfish JB

[storminsteve]

Nice going on the weakfish JB! Question when you were getting the croakers and spot were you using clams or worms and what worked better?