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Like the title says.. the weather couldn't have been any better. Got on the water by 6 the weather was a nice cool low 70's with a cool not humid breeze. By 10 AM I would say it spiked to low to mid 80's, but still not humid and if you found some shade somewhere it was really cool with the breeze.
I never really saw great TOG bites in the the middle of summer so although tempted never made the paddle out to the wall.
AM I started in the Canal to drift for flounder. With the tide coming in I thought it would produce good bites. The only thing that resulted from the 2 hours I spent there were 8 gulp minnows with missing tails, dozen or more Minnows heads without bodies and a few friendly waves from head bout fisherman heading out on their morning trip. I decided to pack it in change locations before it got too hot. I did see about 6 hobie outbacks in the canal. Not they were from this forum, but they were hooting and hollering about something. I didn't see a fish raised into any of the kayaks so wasn't sure if they had caught or not. I stuck to my plan and moved out.
I moved to CHSP offloaded and got on the water before the out tide kicked in. I usually had better luck on the out tide so thought for sure I would get some bites. For the next hour and a half... same story. Another few gulp minnows missing tails and minnow heads being left behind. I stuck it out and kept on poking around the pilings. FISH ON!! The gulp produced the first hit. TOADFISH. Next and rest on live minnows. FISH ON!!! Black Sea Bass. FISH ON!!! Croaker (5 - 7 inch). FISH... no a crab. At this point.... I looked over my shoulder and questioned whether I should go to the wall and give it a try for tog and flounder. I ran a quick drift parallel to the pilings.... turned a corner and got stuck.. jiggled it free set it back down looked down to reach for my sunflower seeds then looked up.. I was stuck again.... jiggled it free...considered winding up to turn a corner where there was a guaranteed snag but set it down again to pour some seeds in my mouth... stuck again....picked up to jiggle.... I felt the nudge I had been looking for. Made a quick 5 sec count (probably 3 cause I was excited). Hook set fish on. The skunk jumped off my yak. Barely legal, but a keeper none the less. The next 2 hours... same story. Ended up with a total of 3 bites and 3 keepers. 16", 16", 16.5". By 2:30 I was hot hungry and out of minnows so I decided to call it a day.
All in all, although hot tired and thirsty... it was a beautiful day on the water. After nearly 4 months of not being on yak (Except one quick trip that was more of a paddle than fishing with POLICE interruptions on the water. A story for later) due to work it was awesome to get out again an remind myself why I love it so much.
*side note* There were a lot of dolphins everywhere. Not sure if they were mating or what but most of them were in pairs and a few of them were splashing around in 5-6' of water about 30 yds off the beach. It was a pretty interesting scene to watch.*
-SAFETY NOTE: Beware of HOT SAND!!! haha. I never dragged my kayak to my car so fast after beaching my kayak. Haha. Barefoot is ill-advised.
13939395_10153751545001700_3729933161237580900_n.jpg
I never really saw great TOG bites in the the middle of summer so although tempted never made the paddle out to the wall.
AM I started in the Canal to drift for flounder. With the tide coming in I thought it would produce good bites. The only thing that resulted from the 2 hours I spent there were 8 gulp minnows with missing tails, dozen or more Minnows heads without bodies and a few friendly waves from head bout fisherman heading out on their morning trip. I decided to pack it in change locations before it got too hot. I did see about 6 hobie outbacks in the canal. Not they were from this forum, but they were hooting and hollering about something. I didn't see a fish raised into any of the kayaks so wasn't sure if they had caught or not. I stuck to my plan and moved out.
I moved to CHSP offloaded and got on the water before the out tide kicked in. I usually had better luck on the out tide so thought for sure I would get some bites. For the next hour and a half... same story. Another few gulp minnows missing tails and minnow heads being left behind. I stuck it out and kept on poking around the pilings. FISH ON!! The gulp produced the first hit. TOADFISH. Next and rest on live minnows. FISH ON!!! Black Sea Bass. FISH ON!!! Croaker (5 - 7 inch). FISH... no a crab. At this point.... I looked over my shoulder and questioned whether I should go to the wall and give it a try for tog and flounder. I ran a quick drift parallel to the pilings.... turned a corner and got stuck.. jiggled it free set it back down looked down to reach for my sunflower seeds then looked up.. I was stuck again.... jiggled it free...considered winding up to turn a corner where there was a guaranteed snag but set it down again to pour some seeds in my mouth... stuck again....picked up to jiggle.... I felt the nudge I had been looking for. Made a quick 5 sec count (probably 3 cause I was excited). Hook set fish on. The skunk jumped off my yak. Barely legal, but a keeper none the less. The next 2 hours... same story. Ended up with a total of 3 bites and 3 keepers. 16", 16", 16.5". By 2:30 I was hot hungry and out of minnows so I decided to call it a day.
All in all, although hot tired and thirsty... it was a beautiful day on the water. After nearly 4 months of not being on yak (Except one quick trip that was more of a paddle than fishing with POLICE interruptions on the water. A story for later) due to work it was awesome to get out again an remind myself why I love it so much.
*side note* There were a lot of dolphins everywhere. Not sure if they were mating or what but most of them were in pairs and a few of them were splashing around in 5-6' of water about 30 yds off the beach. It was a pretty interesting scene to watch.*
-SAFETY NOTE: Beware of HOT SAND!!! haha. I never dragged my kayak to my car so fast after beaching my kayak. Haha. Barefoot is ill-advised.
13939395_10153751545001700_3729933161237580900_n.jpg
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