Goodhands Creek 10/26--Either the fishing is so-so, or the Fisherman is so-so!

[Gary G]

I took the morning off work today and launched my Hobie Revo at Goodhands creek around 7:45 AM looking forward to some Fall surface action. It's a difficult time of year, a man has to make some very difficult decisions like, "Should I take the kayak out for Strippers, or should I take the muzzleloader our for a deer? Should I take the jonboat out, or should I grab my crossbow for some Rut action? It's an unmerciful position to be in!

I was surprised to find the creek water colder than the Kent Narrows water (57 vs. 59), but after thinking about it I guess that just like coves warm up quicker in the Spring due to shallow water, they cool off faster in the Fall.

I'm a surface fishing junkie, so I fished the shoreline structure from the ramp to the Narrows with my Chartreuse Smackit Jr and stickbug, but had very little luck. I did manage to catch two 15" Rockfish and one proceeded to get even with me by hooking my thumb with one of the exposed treble hooks--that's gratitude for you!! It was a good reminder of my intention to switch over to single hooks. But more than likely, I will go through the same exercise again before the action comes!

After an hour I gave up on the surface game and went to trolling 3" paddletails. Picked up five more 15-16" Rock and then an 18.5", biggest of the day. All caught on white color.

I was surprised by the lack of birds working.

It was my first time wearing waders while kayak fishing. I wore boot foot breathable waders with breathable longjohns under them and a wool shirt and fleece top. I was surprised at how much more effort it took to peddle the kayak--my breathing was noticeably up only 100 yards out from the ramp, but got used to it after awhile.

I'm undecided on how to proceed with the cold water issues. I'm not comfortable going out in cold water with just waders and belt strap. I recently tried on a dry suit (Stohlquist EZ), but it seems like it would be hard to stay comfortable in it. Seems like I would overheat in it if wearing breathable clothing underneath (dressing for the water temp, not the air temp). I'd probably want to open a zipper to vent out some heat, which defeats the whole purpose of having it on. I might just hand up the kayak and switch to my jonboat with 20 hp engine until water temps come back up to 60. Not sure yet.

Regards to all, and be safe out there.

Gary G
Hobie Revo 13

[Mark]

Gary,

Nice report.

Seems like the big ones are doing a good job avoiding us these days.

Pedaling or paddling, we do indeed burn a lot calories and generate some heat. I like to compensate for my caloric loss with a post outing trip to the Chinese buffet.

[Crotalus]

Last week, prior to the cold snap, we had a couple of great days of action out of Goodhands. Topwater and all. Lots of bait and lots of stripers. I got back out there Monday (post-cold snap) and it was very quite. I caught 11 fish from 12-16" in 2.5 hrs. Didn't see much of any baitfish either. My guess (being my first fall fishing the bay) is that the cold weather, which dropped the water temps ~10 F, sent the bait and larger fish to areas that have easier access to deeper water. With that in mind, I launched from a different ramp on Kent Island this morning. The wind and waves kept me from really exploring the area that I wanted to, but I did find a sheltered area with numerous gulls flying over (but not really feeding) and managed to pick up ~20 fish from dinks up to a pair of 19.5" fish. I did finally manage one keeper before heading in but didn't find the larger size class like what was in Goodhands last week. I also read somewhere recently that with the dropping water temps, the topwater action is really tailing off as well.