Friday Afternoon - Patuxent 1st Keeper!- Still Learning

[WOOD YAK]

So I've been fishing off motor boats in the Chesapeake for years. Generally trolling for Spring and Fall Trophy Rockfish, occasionally chumming and bottom fishing during the summer. In July I started kayak fishing for the first time. From my short time on the water with the yak (5 or 6 times) I've already noticed I enjoy thinking more about where to target fish and trying different methods. No speeding off in a motor boat for the next spot if you didn't catch something in the first 20 minutes. I think it could make me a better fisherman. On Friday the winds were kicking up and I tried to fish the mouth of St. Leonards Creek. It was a bit choppy and I wasn't marking fish or catching by trolling 2 lines, a lure and jig w/ paddle tail. I decided to head North to stay out of the wind and do something that is totally foreign to my past fishing experience. I trolled close to shore/Rip rap. I have read about many forum members using this technique. To my surprise I landed my first keeper Rock trolling 5' off rip rap in 8' of water with a shallow diving Rapala. Is this a "one off" or do decent Rockfish patrol in the shallows? Can you help adjust my thinking from petrol to human powered YAK fishing!

[EMSer]

Nice job bud! Congrats on your first keeper. I know you have been working hard at it. I wouldn't consider this a one-off by any means. Your tactics are very viable and worth repeating. I am sure you will be happy with the results.

[Yak67]

This is not a "One-Off" by any stretch. This is the beauty of kayak fishing I have discovered also. The Yak is quiet, can access areas the glitter boats can't, and explore and find close in areas to patrol and fish. Enjoy the kayak fishing, it will hook you

Yak-67
2015 Hobie PA-14

[Big Mike]

Rockfish go where bait is, and in many cases the bait is tight against structure. I was over on the Indian River Inlet this weekend hoping that we could get a boat out for flounder. Needless to say we were stuck at the dock. This spot had a small creek that emptied by the dock and perhaps 4' of water at the deepest. During the outgoing tide I caught dozens of rocks and even some flounder and blues sitting in a couple of feet of water as they waited for the sushi conveyer belt to wash dinner out to them. I am no longer surprised at finding nice stripers in very shallow water when conditions are right.

[Mark]

Fishing tight to structure for stripers and white perch is my preferred tidal fishing style. It's a carryover from my freshwater bass fishing days.

Often when my buddies are trolling for stripers I'll be launching casts to a shoreline.

I do believe you'll catch more stripers trolling in open water or near structure than casting, but good fish can indeed be found by targeting pilings, bulkheads or riprap with your casts. Or you can pull your lures near those objects on a trolling path as you have discovered.

Often in my Snaggedline posts I'll say that a particular fish was caught in x feet of water within y feet of structure. I'll drop a lure or fly tight to anything that breaks current or provides a hiding space for bait fish. I enjoy hitting my spot with a cast almost as much as catching a fish.

Many times stripers or perch will strike as soon as I start my retrieve which proves to me they were hanging tight to an object in the water. The two species frequently share habitat in the shallows near structure, by the way. It's not unusual to catch stripers on perch lures and vice versa when working shallow water. The good news is that a perch that hangs onto a striper lure is usually a pretty good sized perch -- the kind you can hold by the lip with your thumb and forefinger. The bad news is that a striper may straighten the hook on your perch lure as one did to me on my last outing.

As the water cools the fall is an especially good time of year to try the shallows for stripers. They're fattening up for the winter in the same areas where their white perch cousins are lurking.

Keep fishing those areas, Wood Yak. You've learned something that will put lots of nice stripers into your yak.

[Fishinfool]

I agree with all the responses. Patiently trolling parallel to and near shoreline structure near dawn and dusk, and also when the current is moving is the best way to fish in a kayak.

The added bonus is that you can observe all sorts of animals and birds on or near land. In fact, if you look for certain shoreline species of birds such as great blue, and green heron you know the is life just below the surface and likely larger fish too.

I've also seen deer, fox, river otter, beaver, etc close -in ,especially early in the am. Beautiful!

[mike o]

The best 2 days of fishing I 've ever had was 2 years ago in my friends 18' center console. We were fishing riprap in 3' of water in the upper bay. It was lunch time, mid August on a sunny day. We were getting hit on every cast. Nice rockfish with some red fish mixed in. The fish were mostly between 20" and 30". We went back the next day and got them again. Those fish shouldn't have been there at that time of year and that time of day but I guess they didn't know that. Unfortunately haven't seen another red fish since that day. Fished that same area 3 weeks ago all mourning and only got a couple perch a snapper blue and some really small stripers. We went out to deeper water and picked up a couple small fish. The tide stopped running and we stopped getting bites. We went back to the rip rap we already fished and I told my buddy we weren't going to get anything. We pulled up and got 2 doubles in a row. We caught 5 fish and lost 2 more, 4 of the fish were between 18" and 20" and 1 was 24" . You never know.

[eyedaddy]

Congratulations, you adapted to what you had to work with and it worked out well. I have found that working structure, you do or at least I do much better than open water. I got 6 last evening doing that, sad part is they were all small but it was fun and I found a new stop to fish. Always remember had worked for you before then adapt it to your new spot.


eyedaddy

[WOOD YAK]

Thanks to all my fellow snaggedliners for your thoughtful responses. Was able to go out fishing with Big Mike, Yak67, and Tony on Tuesday. Had a great time and even caught first Speckled Trout.