Goodhands in the rain and fog

[J.A. Veil]

John Rentch, Scott Taylor, and I launched about 6:40 am today from Goodhands Creek. As of last evening, the wind was supposed to stay low until mid-morning. Something changed overnight, and it was blowing steadily. Fortunately it was coming from the north allowing us some shelter by the land mass. I have not fished there since last fall, and have never fished there in early summer before. My goal was to see if the shallow water trolling pattern with paddletails I used in late summer and fall with success would produce today. The short answer is "No". I trolled my usual route staying in 3-4 ft water depth. The water level was high, and the skies were overcast with intermittent rain. Theoretically, this should have been good conditions for fishing. But sadly, I had no bites in the shallow water zones.

I also include in my trolling pattern some passes by structures (walls, docks, bridge pilings, breakwaters, etc). To get between the shallow shoreline spots and the structures, I need to cross over intermediate zones. Today the shallow areas produced nothing for me. While in the intermediate zones, I saw plenty of marks on the sonar, including some that clearly were arch-shaped. I was unable to convince any of those fish to bite, but the other guys got some fish in those areas. My five fish today came while trolling near structure. None were large -- one was about 18" and the others much smaller -- but it was better than a skunk. The tidal current, and therefore the point in the tidal cycle, is important for fishing the structures I do. I caught fish in the same small area on 4 of 5 passes, then the bite stopped.

Each of us caught a few fish, but it was not a great weather day to be on the water. We saw small bursts of fog being blown across the water and had intermittent wind-driven rain showers in our face. As retired or semi-retired guys, John and I have lots of chances to go fishing. We elected to not get soaked, and called it quits by 9:00 am. Scott stayed out a bit longer. I am looking forward to hearing his report.

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[J. Rentch]

Well, what an introduction to Goodhands! Arrived at the landing around 6:15, intermittent rain, higher winds than expected, blowing mist off the water, and that was in the sheltered cove. After launching, the three of us headed out to,the main body hugging the shoreline. Mark, I saw Hogs Island, but it looked too rough to go there, so,I just followed John and Scott. My FF was acting up, so found a sandy spot to beach the yak and check it out. Turned out it was a faulty connection. While there I noticed four male horseshoe crabs trying to latch onto a large female to mate. Kind of funny there form a chain with the female in the lead.
Caught up with the others and John reported that he had some striper hits along the seawall trolling. Set my trolling rods with 3/8" jigs with 4" dark paddle tails. By this time the water was ebbing fast down the bay, also the wind had picked up a little more and it there was intermittent rain in your face. Made several passes around the breakwater, got several hits, landed 3 small schoolys. Once while peddling up to the top of the breakwater I ran into an area full of whirl pools. Kind of hairy going through them, lost control,of steerage for a minute. That ws no fun.
After 2+ hours of this I had enough, I headed back to the launch. Instead of hugging the shoreline, decided to cut straight across, that was a mistake, wind, waves, and ebb tide really made it fun.
Next time I come here, the weather has to cooperate a little more. It looks like a great place to fish, just not today!

[rob-kayak]

Thanks for the report... sounds like you guys had two days of diverse fishing.
It definitely is a nice place to visit...

You'll get one of these nice mornings in the future...

[J.A. Veil]

Thanks for the report... sounds like you guys had two days of diverse fishing.
It definitely is a nice place to visit...

You'll get one of these nice mornings in the future...

Rob -

That's a great photo. We had plenty of good-weather days last summer and fall out of Goodhands Creek. If the fish had been biting today, I would not have noticed the wind and drizzle. But when the fish do not cooperate, we begin paying more attention to other distractions.

[Mark]

Guys,

Sorry I could not join in on the "fun" this morning.

Rob-Kayak's photo is how I like to think of Goodhands, serene and inviting for kayakers and a wonderful place to fish. I'm sure it will produce worthy catches in the near future as it has done in the past.

Thanks for the report. Better times on the water await us. Where to next?

[Yak Fish]

That's what you have to do, try patterns to see if they work. They work seasonally for sure, but when the next pattern change occurs it can be really hard to get them during the transition. The fish right now seem to be hanging in the 20' range, suspended....like they seem to do every year at this time. I think you'll be challenged to hit suspended fish with paddle tails because 20' is hard to hit without enough weight and it's hard to know what depth they are running. A deep diving plug is how I tend to attack this problem. The other way is using a jet diver to the depth you want. I've done very well with paddle tails off jet divers. So look for some structure/current in that 15-25' range and you'll locate fish. I've gotten good reports from the area you fished in the deeper zone. Great report guys, thanks.

[On the fly]

we have definitely had some good days fishing at good hands and I am sure they will be coming soon, hopefully without the CNR's.

[scott taylor]

good fun paddle this morning out of Goodhands. Landing a couple of striped bass was a bonus. I also hooked 2 or 3 that I failed to land when putting the rod back into the holder to clear a line. I met one other kayak angler who had launched out of the Narrows and was not looking forward to his paddle home, upwind, up current, and into the drizzle.... I will however take a cool-drizzly morning after Memorial Day anytime. We will be roasting soon enough! To my surprise, I was blanked on the paddle into the creek, casting a spinner along the edges. Either the perch have not shown up or they were hunkered down on account of the cold front?
Scott

[Excalibur]

I was looking at Google maps trying to find the launch you guys use for Goodhands but didn't see it. When you fish there, where do you launch? From this post, it doesn't sound like you are putting in at the narrows.

[On the fly]

http://www.parksnrec.org/directions-...blic-landings/

This is the information on Queen Anne launches. It is listed as "h" on the launch site map, Goodhand Creek.

[Excalibur]

Thanks!

[Excalibur]

That's funny. Now that I look at it again at finest zoom, I thought that the parking lot was the roof of a very big house..

[daolai]

Nice report fellas good to hear you guys are catching. I am hoping to join up and fish with you guys soon.