Striped bass will take over the world.

[CHOC]

I've been out the last two days on the western shore of the mid bay trolling a rapala xr 10 glass ghost, and my hand made skirted jig and I'm here to tell you: The Bay is FULL of stripers! I caught 16 fish yesterday in about an hour ranging 17-28", and 6 in 25 minutes tonight (I took an unintended swim in 49 degree water that shortened my evening). Right when I started tonight I hit a 25 incher that damn near ripped the Scotty out of the yak. All of the fish these last two days are striking like a Mack truck. Then my jig got caught in the transducer arm which is mounted in the front of the yak. Lesson learned: Never try to balance on the skinny and narrow front of the boat. In the cold water I went. The bite was so good that I crawled back into the yak, and caught a few babies, a 20" and a nice 28" (pictured below).

It got to the point tonight where I knew my hot zone that I was trolling through. My buddy is just getting started kayak fishing and I would turn to him and say, "I'm going to hook up in 5...4...3...2...1" and boom! Fish on.

This is going to be one heck of a season.

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[yakscientist]

Yeah I was surprised by how many John and I caught last weekend. It bodes well for a good season. I hope I beat my pb of 23"… shouldn't be too hard to do.

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[EMSer]

After such a tough bite in recent months, this is welcome news!

I am sure you will be able to get a new PB. I found a few up to 32" today.

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Yeah I was surprised by how many John and I caught last weekend. It bodes well for a good season. I hope I beat my pb of 23"… shouldn't be too hard to do.

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[CHOC]

Yeah I was surprised by how many John and I caught last weekend. It bodes well for a good season. I hope I beat my pb of 23"… shouldn't be too hard to do.

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Go out tomorrow. Drop a kitchen spoon with a bent sewing needle attached and you'll beat your pb.

[AintMisBehavin]

Guess I better get to crimping my hooks!

[supfisher01]

Nice catches to all!!

[mike o]

Good to hear. Send them up north. I fished the flats today in a center console and only got one fish. It was a decent fish.flats rock.jpg

[mike o]

Sorry that pic is upside down. Don't know how that happened

[Steve6902]

What pound test are you using for a leader? I'm torn between 30 or 50 Lbs.

[CHOC]

I use 3 ft of 40 pound leader.

[ronaultmtd]

Same report from the Slower Lower...fished yesterday afternoon until 6 pm...same results- lots of 25 inch fish...no 30 inchers....

[mike o]

For leaders I use 20 lb.

[yakscientist]

For leaders I use 20 lb.

I use 20lb fluoro usually as well, unless I'm targeting finicky fish, but that's not usually what I do in the bay. I bet 20lb is good, so long as you keep checking it, for fish up to 40", so long as you have an effective way of getting them into the boat. Bluefish however, might be another story.

[CHOC]

so long as you have an effective way of getting them into the boat.

This is why I use 40#. There are plenty of times where I need to grab the leader itself to get the fish closer to me when landing. I'm solely fishing from a kayak, so I don't have space to bring a net with me. Also, stripers don't seem to care too much about thick leaders so why not?

[ronaultmtd]

I use 20# Red Label floro for leaders- the reason I use floro is transparency and the toughness to abrasion- a double uni knot and I am good to go- I rarely, if ever, pull a fish in by the leader- great way to lose the fish by pulling the hooks and a terrible way to land a big fish...a boga grip is always within my reach..