Rockfish

[Mini-X]

Any one have any info on where the Rockfish are right now, what they are biting on? I spent Saturday trolling an umbrella rig with the chartruce colored shads with no hits. Every boat I saw coming in had the same color baits on so I need to know how to fish these. Again, ANY info will help.

Thanks
Sucpicious Kayaker

[chex]

Where did you fish?

I would guess they're kind of scattered by now. Sun caught one at the flats on Saturday, so they're still around there too.

The boats have the advantage that they can cover a lot of open water, with a lot of rods. In our kayaks, we usually max out at 2-3 rods and can obviously cover a lot less water. For this reason, you'll find kayakers usually fishing structure (bridge pilings, underwater features...), steep dropoffs, or areas where narrows make the current move. Since we can't go very far, we have to concentrate on high-probability areas.

[DaveFX35]

I trolled 20+ miles saturday and sunday on the flats and only managed 1 12" saturday and a few missed pull downs. Nothing at all on Sunday with ideal conditions both days. Frustrating to say the least.

[DEkayakstriper]

The lower shore river's were jammed packed with spawning fish this past week.

[J.A. Veil]

Although a lot of the power boat guys are catching large stripers in the mid bay, they are putting in many hours and trolling lots of rods, sometime with double lures on each rod. There is no way most kayakers can cover the same amount of ground as a powerboat, nor can we troll 20 rods off of widely spaced planer boards.

From my own experience, I found a pocket of stripers in the Severn last week. They were holding in an area about the size of a tennis court. By some reading and interpolation of other reports here and on Tidalfish, some educated guessing, and most importantly lots of blind luck, I decided to troll through an area that turned out to hold fish. I did not see them on my FF, but more than a third of the times I trolled through the small area in 10-15 ft depth, I got a bite. Had I not had a bite on the first pass, I would have kept going. After catching fish there for an hour, the bite slowed, so I paddled around for another 3-4 miles looking for more fish without a bite. At the end of the day, I passed back through the same tiny zone where I had caught all my fish earlier in the day in a 100-ft x 50 ft area and picked up my largest striper of the week (26").

I'm sure there were fish at or near some of the other spots where I trolled last week, but at the exact times I paddled through they were either not close enough to sense my lures or were not interested for some reason in the three lures I had out at that time. It is easy to second guess, but if I had fished a different sized lure or different color or type of lure, maybe those fish that I bypassed would have shown more interest.

My previous posts show the lures I was using. In some earlier trips, the best lure was a 5" chartreuse paddletail with a red band near the front. On Sat, that lure performed poorly (catching only one 15" fish). The 6" Storm Shad in a natural color was a good performer as was the 5" paddletail in white and grey.

You can improve your odds of catching by: a) covering lots of different spots; b) using a range of lure types, sizes, and colors until you learn what the fish want that day at that location; c) fishing with other anglers nearby so you can cover more ground and compare experiences.

[Mini-X]

I was fishing the area east of Patuxent Naval Air Station. Where is Severn and the Lower Shore Rivers? Don't mind driving a while to break my dry spell.

[DOGFISH]

Is my reading of the regulations off, or is the rivers and tributaries closed to trolling for stripers? I don't want to see anyone get ticketed, or am I missing out on something.

2013-04-29_1413.jpg


Edit: I just read the other thread on this subject.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...bregmap03.html

I love the little disclaimer at the top of the map.

[RavensDfense]

I can only speak about my experience on the ES shore of MD and VA, but if you ever make it down this way, send me a PM and I'll do my best to help you.

For the most part, in a few weeks, a lot of the larger fish will have moved out of the bay and began working their way up the coast. Once that happens they're pretty much in their summer mode. Fish in the 16-25 inch category are what you should expect for the most part. I've had success around the lower shore islands of MD (Crisfield, Deale Island, etc) either casting or trolling plastic or hard baits (such as a yozuri crystal minnow) around areas that have current and depth that differs in someway from the majority of the surrounding area. Trolling large umbrella rigs with a lot of weight in deep water is not suited well for a kayak IMO. Soaking peeler is another option, but more expensive. Specks puppy drum are also caught the same way.

Other than that, I agree with the others. Cover lots of area, change your lure until you find one that works. Also, use NOAA nautical charts or Google eatrh to find points and areas of depth. That's the one thing about fishing from a kayak....you need to maximize your time on the water. Trolling around blindly for 20 miles gets old fast. Here is the link to NOAA maps. Good luck, man.

http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/

[J.A. Veil]

I was fishing the area east of Patuxent Naval Air Station. Where is Severn and the Lower Shore Rivers? Don't mind driving a while to break my dry spell.

The Severn River runs next to Annapolis. Don't focus as much on the exact locations as on the advice, techniques, and tips you get here. There are rockfish out there in many locations, but there are not everywhere and are rarely clumped up.

[dsiekman]

I have not been out for serious fishing yet this year, but I had a lot of luck last year trolling Rapalas and Bombers. Color changed based on season and water conditions, but they worked from spring through early fall at which point I switched to soft plastics.