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1st night launch in my Wavewalk 500/1st fish of the new year 2015
Firstly, I want to wish everyone a safe & happy new year!
The new year began for me with being sick just like everyone else.
On sunday 1/4 the warm air temps got me itching to make my new year resolution a reality( to kayakfish every month of the year) & to self-medicate & use paddle/casting therapy to rid
myself of this nasty cold. I loaded up & left the house @2pm, arriving at the launch on the eastern shore by
5 pm.
After putting on my drysuit,gloves, hat, light, the few lures that worked during my nov & dec launches, drink, & wetcloth, I launched into a small chop caused by a slight southerly breeze. It was high tide & soon it was slacktide. I paddled around working structure to no avail. I even trolled around too but no luck even as I spooked thousands of birds sitting on the water. Still, I had a hunch my luck would turn soon.
My 1st hit was a big one that shook off. I set the hook on my 2nd hit just as the tide started moving out. I reeled in a football that was only 16" long, but it felt much bigger. For the next 3 hours the fishing was slower than in nov/dec but it was on! I ended up catching a couple dz stripers, all 16-22" long, all safely released using the wetcloth to handle them. Swimbaits & bucktails bounced on the bottom did the trick.
I noticed the wind changing direction around 9 pm. From the west a line of dark clouds approached so I
made one long cast then I stuck my rod butt under my leg to hold it in place & I started paddling like a madman to the launch. I took a couple of waves over the bow & the wind tried to blow the paddle out of my hands but I kept paddling until my rod started shaking violently. I had hooked another striper while trolling back. I had fun catching those fish but I lost a few too. I was surprised I didn't catch any wp or yp because I caught a big wp (12.5")just under citation limit (13") back in dec. it didn't start raining until I was driving back home.
The new year began for me with being sick just like everyone else.
On sunday 1/4 the warm air temps got me itching to make my new year resolution a reality( to kayakfish every month of the year) & to self-medicate & use paddle/casting therapy to rid
myself of this nasty cold. I loaded up & left the house @2pm, arriving at the launch on the eastern shore by
5 pm.
After putting on my drysuit,gloves, hat, light, the few lures that worked during my nov & dec launches, drink, & wetcloth, I launched into a small chop caused by a slight southerly breeze. It was high tide & soon it was slacktide. I paddled around working structure to no avail. I even trolled around too but no luck even as I spooked thousands of birds sitting on the water. Still, I had a hunch my luck would turn soon.
My 1st hit was a big one that shook off. I set the hook on my 2nd hit just as the tide started moving out. I reeled in a football that was only 16" long, but it felt much bigger. For the next 3 hours the fishing was slower than in nov/dec but it was on! I ended up catching a couple dz stripers, all 16-22" long, all safely released using the wetcloth to handle them. Swimbaits & bucktails bounced on the bottom did the trick.
I noticed the wind changing direction around 9 pm. From the west a line of dark clouds approached so I
made one long cast then I stuck my rod butt under my leg to hold it in place & I started paddling like a madman to the launch. I took a couple of waves over the bow & the wind tried to blow the paddle out of my hands but I kept paddling until my rod started shaking violently. I had hooked another striper while trolling back. I had fun catching those fish but I lost a few too. I was surprised I didn't catch any wp or yp because I caught a big wp (12.5")just under citation limit (13") back in dec. it didn't start raining until I was driving back home.
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