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Despite the crazy winds we've had and my hectic work schedule I found 3 days to get out in the kayak with low winds and generally good weather. After having some success with tog at CHSP in October I got burnt out after a few frustrating and fish less trips and decided to change it up. I had veterans day off and decided to try for creek stripers which is something I've attempted in the past but had no luck with.
11/11
I wasn't expecting much from this trip honestly, but I thought I'd enjoy a beautiful fall day in the yak at the least. Since I took up fishing 3 years ago stripers are the fish I've invested the most time into with the least success. Before this trip my PB was an 18" I caught accidentally while tog fishing, to give you some idea of my success as a striper fisherman. I launched from a new spot around 9:30am and picked up my first fish before 10 trolling a 4" paddletail. It was only a 12" rat but it let me know there were fish around. I cast around and picked up a few more fish including a 23" (WOW my new PB ha) which I thought might be the highlight of the day. I paddled on and found a drop off on the fish finder and after getting one small fish jigging the paddletail I anchored up and started casting. After a few casts with no hits I thought about moving on when I feel a thump and set the hook hard. I could immediately tell this was a better fish, it turned the kayak and took a few strong runs pulling some drag. I got it in and measured and it was a fat 29". I fully intended to release it but it made that decision for me when it flopped off the bump board before I could get a picture. Not getting a picture of my first keeper size fish definitely bummed me out but I kept fishing and got another 31" (which I did get pictures of before releasing) and a lot of 20"-26" schoolies jigging the paddletail while drifting. I ended the day with 15 fish with a decent average size including 2 keepers. Definitely my best day of fishing of the year and a good confidence boost for my striper skills.
IMG_20191111_134341224_HDR - Copy.jpg IMG_20191111_134455080 - Copy.jpg IMG_20191111_134517532 - Copy.jpg
11/15
Water and air temps had dropped and the bite seemed to suffer from it. The fish didn't seem interested in hitting the trolled paddletail, but I was able to get 8 fish 18"-26" jigging it in deep water. There were a ton of white perch around too, some guys on a boat near me were fishing bloodworms and doubling up every cast. I was mostly interested in stripers but I still caught a few perch for dinner on a whim since I didn't plan on keeping bass. Not as good as my first day but still much better than my average striper attempt and a lot of fun.
11/19
Water was high, cold & filthy and fishing was a struggle. I fished hard all day and just caught 2 schoolies to show for it. I was marking fish but they all seemed suspended and not actively feeding. Hopefully the poor fishing was due to the water conditions and not a sign the main body of fish have moved on. I just got a bib + dry top in october so I'd like to keep fishing as long as they're around.
11/11
I wasn't expecting much from this trip honestly, but I thought I'd enjoy a beautiful fall day in the yak at the least. Since I took up fishing 3 years ago stripers are the fish I've invested the most time into with the least success. Before this trip my PB was an 18" I caught accidentally while tog fishing, to give you some idea of my success as a striper fisherman. I launched from a new spot around 9:30am and picked up my first fish before 10 trolling a 4" paddletail. It was only a 12" rat but it let me know there were fish around. I cast around and picked up a few more fish including a 23" (WOW my new PB ha) which I thought might be the highlight of the day. I paddled on and found a drop off on the fish finder and after getting one small fish jigging the paddletail I anchored up and started casting. After a few casts with no hits I thought about moving on when I feel a thump and set the hook hard. I could immediately tell this was a better fish, it turned the kayak and took a few strong runs pulling some drag. I got it in and measured and it was a fat 29". I fully intended to release it but it made that decision for me when it flopped off the bump board before I could get a picture. Not getting a picture of my first keeper size fish definitely bummed me out but I kept fishing and got another 31" (which I did get pictures of before releasing) and a lot of 20"-26" schoolies jigging the paddletail while drifting. I ended the day with 15 fish with a decent average size including 2 keepers. Definitely my best day of fishing of the year and a good confidence boost for my striper skills.
IMG_20191111_134341224_HDR - Copy.jpg IMG_20191111_134455080 - Copy.jpg IMG_20191111_134517532 - Copy.jpg
11/15
Water and air temps had dropped and the bite seemed to suffer from it. The fish didn't seem interested in hitting the trolled paddletail, but I was able to get 8 fish 18"-26" jigging it in deep water. There were a ton of white perch around too, some guys on a boat near me were fishing bloodworms and doubling up every cast. I was mostly interested in stripers but I still caught a few perch for dinner on a whim since I didn't plan on keeping bass. Not as good as my first day but still much better than my average striper attempt and a lot of fun.
11/19
Water was high, cold & filthy and fishing was a struggle. I fished hard all day and just caught 2 schoolies to show for it. I was marking fish but they all seemed suspended and not actively feeding. Hopefully the poor fishing was due to the water conditions and not a sign the main body of fish have moved on. I just got a bib + dry top in october so I'd like to keep fishing as long as they're around.
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