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We got on the water around 7:45AM and made a bee line to last years bait spot. I Rigged up with an experimental bait rig that consisted of three tiny orange #8 salmon Egg hooks and small nibbles of Fish Bites. I wanted to mimic a small Sabiki rig and see if it would tease up the smaller perch and spots. We Caught all the 9" and 10" perch we could want but there was a problem getting small bait sized perch. The small spot are still hiding and we only managed one chubby 8" spot. After 30 mins of bailing perch that were too large for Live lining but to small for dinner we finally had 7 perch around 6" to 8" and the one spot. The size of the bait would cause issues for us later in the day.
This was also my first real test of the gogo gadget live well. It worked perfectly all day. I had it running for 4 1/2 hrs and it was purring like a kitten. The whole setup is very quiet and i forgot it was on during the day. The last bait of the day was still green and pissed and got a good spine in me to let me know (Dangers of live lining perch). I lost no stability with the volume of water in there which is a major plus. The lid system worked great and was easy to get to. It fits with my crate but it does cause some issues opening and closing it. The gamma seal catches on the crate lid and i have to play rough with the crate lid to open and close. Not a major issue but its not perfect. It extra weight of the full live well does slow me down a bit but i can cope with that. Much better than pulling that damn bait bucket around. I’m going to continue to run the live well on my next trip to see how many hours i can get out of a single charge.
The fishing was slow to say the least. I had one take that immediately spit the fish and Luis had 4 good takes and runs that netted the same result. I’m pretty sure it was due to the large bait and relatively small hooks we were using (6/0). We hooked them in the back and they would spit it out. We nose hooked them and they would spit them out. Not matter what we tried it ended in the same result. I stuck with it for a couple of hours and upon snagged and popping my line i decided to change things up and jig.
I started using a 4" Gulp Pogy in a herring color for Sh@ts and giggles instead of the proven Chartreuse Jerk bait combo. I like trying new things so i gave it a shot. On the second pylon I swung the jig past the eddy behind the pylon and i felt a tap and set the hook. Felt a couple shakes and then some good weight. I got excited and started planning my Rockfish dinner and then it happened. The shake and weight turned to a dead pull. A hard dead pull that lasted for the next 15 mins. I finally got my Chesapeake sleigh ride thanks to a wing hooked ray and Luis got to sit back and laugh at me. After having my fill with the beast i Snapped it off and made the long 1/4 mile Up current paddle back to the bridge.
We kept seeing fish break the whole time we were live lining so i decided to put a small metal on and see if i could find out what they were. Unfortunately whatever they were shiny metal things were not on their menu. I switched to a silver rattle trap and tossed it around the pylons for the rest of the day. I got several hits and finally got the skunk off with a little 10" rockfish.
During this time Luis hooked nice rockfish on a perch. It came up to the boat and He got a good look at it. He estimated it at 30"+ . It was all in vain though as it spit the perch back into his face. I saw this and heard him cuss from 100 Yards Away. He got payback 5 mins later with a 24" fish that swallowed the bait. No chance on this one spitting it back out but it came with a price. The fish had a sore on one side but due to the fact it was gut hooked and would not survive release it went home with us.
We called it quits around 2:00 and headed back in. The weather and water condition was great. The bait supply was not but it was a great trip. I got the chance to meet and talk with 3 members of this board for the first time and saw two other members. Its nice to put a face to a screen name. It was nice to meet you StupidJet, YakFish and Pinch. In fact i don’t think there was a Kayak out on the water today that does not subscribe here. StupidJet's master plan for world kayak domination is well on its way.
Video Recap.
7/2/2011 - Bay Bridge Recap
This was also my first real test of the gogo gadget live well. It worked perfectly all day. I had it running for 4 1/2 hrs and it was purring like a kitten. The whole setup is very quiet and i forgot it was on during the day. The last bait of the day was still green and pissed and got a good spine in me to let me know (Dangers of live lining perch). I lost no stability with the volume of water in there which is a major plus. The lid system worked great and was easy to get to. It fits with my crate but it does cause some issues opening and closing it. The gamma seal catches on the crate lid and i have to play rough with the crate lid to open and close. Not a major issue but its not perfect. It extra weight of the full live well does slow me down a bit but i can cope with that. Much better than pulling that damn bait bucket around. I’m going to continue to run the live well on my next trip to see how many hours i can get out of a single charge.
The fishing was slow to say the least. I had one take that immediately spit the fish and Luis had 4 good takes and runs that netted the same result. I’m pretty sure it was due to the large bait and relatively small hooks we were using (6/0). We hooked them in the back and they would spit it out. We nose hooked them and they would spit them out. Not matter what we tried it ended in the same result. I stuck with it for a couple of hours and upon snagged and popping my line i decided to change things up and jig.
I started using a 4" Gulp Pogy in a herring color for Sh@ts and giggles instead of the proven Chartreuse Jerk bait combo. I like trying new things so i gave it a shot. On the second pylon I swung the jig past the eddy behind the pylon and i felt a tap and set the hook. Felt a couple shakes and then some good weight. I got excited and started planning my Rockfish dinner and then it happened. The shake and weight turned to a dead pull. A hard dead pull that lasted for the next 15 mins. I finally got my Chesapeake sleigh ride thanks to a wing hooked ray and Luis got to sit back and laugh at me. After having my fill with the beast i Snapped it off and made the long 1/4 mile Up current paddle back to the bridge.
We kept seeing fish break the whole time we were live lining so i decided to put a small metal on and see if i could find out what they were. Unfortunately whatever they were shiny metal things were not on their menu. I switched to a silver rattle trap and tossed it around the pylons for the rest of the day. I got several hits and finally got the skunk off with a little 10" rockfish.
During this time Luis hooked nice rockfish on a perch. It came up to the boat and He got a good look at it. He estimated it at 30"+ . It was all in vain though as it spit the perch back into his face. I saw this and heard him cuss from 100 Yards Away. He got payback 5 mins later with a 24" fish that swallowed the bait. No chance on this one spitting it back out but it came with a price. The fish had a sore on one side but due to the fact it was gut hooked and would not survive release it went home with us.
We called it quits around 2:00 and headed back in. The weather and water condition was great. The bait supply was not but it was a great trip. I got the chance to meet and talk with 3 members of this board for the first time and saw two other members. Its nice to put a face to a screen name. It was nice to meet you StupidJet, YakFish and Pinch. In fact i don’t think there was a Kayak out on the water today that does not subscribe here. StupidJet's master plan for world kayak domination is well on its way.
Video Recap.
7/2/2011 - Bay Bridge Recap
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