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For most people getting out of bed early and launching a kayak in the rain is not part of their comfort zone. But if you are a diehard kayak angler, you set different comfort zone criteria. Mark and I had planned to fish this morning before the wind built during the afternoon. We figured that rain suits are made for rainy days and headed out anyway. We were surprised to see Yak67 (Gary) at the launch. Before I could get on the water, I had a call from Scott Taylor who was a mile or so away and already into fish. We saw several other kayak anglers on the water and all appeared to be catching.
The fish cooperated by biting close to the launch. All of us caught several 18-21" fish right off the bat to get the skunk off. The next photos shows Mark with a healthy fish.
003a.jpg 001a.jpg
We kept trolling back and forth with more fish coming intermittently. I decided to move to another location that had produced fish for me over the past two weeks. Once there, the bite was going strong. Each time I passed by a particular section in my trolling route, one of the four rods went down. Soon I had racked up half a dozen stripers between 20" and 25" with a few other smaller ones. I was feeling pretty good about the decision to get out of bed and fish in the rain.
One of the soft plastic lures had not produced any bites to that point. I reached in my box and added a lure I had never tried before. It was the large version (6") of the 12 Fathom Buzztail. I thought that a dark color might work well on a dark and rainy morning. I guessed correctly. Mark and Scott were moving toward me (Gary had already left by then). Just before I pulled along side of them, the 6'6" medium spinning rod with a dark red glitter Buzztail went down.
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It did not initially pull any harder than the other fish did, but it did not stop pulling. It kept moving back and forth and turned me in three full revolutions. After 10-15 minutes of strong pullage, I lifted the fish on my lap. It was massive -- far bigger than any striper I have caught from the kayak. I tried to measure it, but it hung well beyond my Hawg Trough. Based on the full length of the trough plus another 6" of tail, I estimate it to be 37" (my personal best kayak striper by a large margin).
The following photos were cropped and have the backgrounds fogged in to keep from giving away too much location information. Nevertheless the trolling pattern I describe in my book (paddletails on jigheads or bucktails; fish in shallow to medium depths) produced well for us today.
D fog.jpg G - edited2.jpg Here is a funky digital topo version B topo.jpg
I was definitely in my fishing comfort zone this morning and was pleased to have OGWLF brothers Mark and Scott there to witness the special catch.
The fish cooperated by biting close to the launch. All of us caught several 18-21" fish right off the bat to get the skunk off. The next photos shows Mark with a healthy fish.
003a.jpg 001a.jpg
We kept trolling back and forth with more fish coming intermittently. I decided to move to another location that had produced fish for me over the past two weeks. Once there, the bite was going strong. Each time I passed by a particular section in my trolling route, one of the four rods went down. Soon I had racked up half a dozen stripers between 20" and 25" with a few other smaller ones. I was feeling pretty good about the decision to get out of bed and fish in the rain.
One of the soft plastic lures had not produced any bites to that point. I reached in my box and added a lure I had never tried before. It was the large version (6") of the 12 Fathom Buzztail. I thought that a dark color might work well on a dark and rainy morning. I guessed correctly. Mark and Scott were moving toward me (Gary had already left by then). Just before I pulled along side of them, the 6'6" medium spinning rod with a dark red glitter Buzztail went down.
004.jpg
It did not initially pull any harder than the other fish did, but it did not stop pulling. It kept moving back and forth and turned me in three full revolutions. After 10-15 minutes of strong pullage, I lifted the fish on my lap. It was massive -- far bigger than any striper I have caught from the kayak. I tried to measure it, but it hung well beyond my Hawg Trough. Based on the full length of the trough plus another 6" of tail, I estimate it to be 37" (my personal best kayak striper by a large margin).
The following photos were cropped and have the backgrounds fogged in to keep from giving away too much location information. Nevertheless the trolling pattern I describe in my book (paddletails on jigheads or bucktails; fish in shallow to medium depths) produced well for us today.
D fog.jpg G - edited2.jpg Here is a funky digital topo version B topo.jpg
I was definitely in my fishing comfort zone this morning and was pleased to have OGWLF brothers Mark and Scott there to witness the special catch.
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