Just another long story and some fun....

[rob-kayak]

Wind predictions... and weather were to be great... so I asked off from work for the afternoon.

I woke up early to go to work and almost every bone in my body ached...
I don't know if I had dreams of being in a pro football game... but it was
though I had slept in running front loader washing machine.
Two ibuprofens... and off to work for the early morning...
Coming back home
I still felt like poop and tired... and tired ( and having driven already 100 miles for the day).
I thought about not going fishing but, some extra strong coffee and another ibuprofen...
And if I sit at home I'll kick myself for not getting on the water even if all it
was a short trip and some perch fishing.

My previous two trips had been thwarted by strong winds such that I hunkered down
in protected areas and Perched.
The last one resulted in going to Cabin Creek.. I hadn't been there in a couple years
but I really love that area.
Had a really fun chat with some fellows before sunrise at the bulk head... we all commented
how beautiful this place is.
Caught a bunch of perch, croakers, a very small rockfish... and a very small flounder.
I left Cabin Creek.... beeping my horn and waved goodbye to fellows I had met earlier...
fishing and lounging on the bulkhead and enjoying that beautiful Saturday.

Last Friday.. I finally got on the water at 1:30pm... on to open water and great conditions.
It was three miles to my favorite hunting grounds... and after the first mile I was finally feeling
good for the first time that day.

I hadn't been here since late August... and the place was exploding with fish... I did catch one
keeper at 6am that day... but let it go as it looked so good I figured I would catch others and bigger.
After... 60 or so fish that day... no other keepers...

So on Friday... it was weird... virtually no fish showing on the sonar as I made my way to the hunting grounds.
There were dozens and dozens of schools I call "glass minnows" or maybe they are bay anchovies.

But no big fish on the sonar... it was weird... I tossed larger soft plastics under the minnows... got some light tugs...
I switch over to my perch spinning rigs... nothing...

I got to the hunting grounds... the soft plastics nothing so I put two of my 5inch crankbaits on the front rods
and immediately got a hit. Funny thing is the soft plastics were the only thing working this year since the Spring.

Off in the distance... I saw tiny specks diving at the water... Yea !!! some birds... so I paddled to them.. and got
into a school of rockfish and chased them for 45 minutes and caught 10 or so fish the biggest being 19inches.
Well... conditions didn't seem so weird any more... sort of like it is supposed to be this time of year.
Except... no large baitfish... schools... just those glass minnows.
I caught one small Bluefish... and he was spitting glass minnows left and right as I was getting the hook out.

Interesting enough.. maybe a lack of sizeable baitfish was the lack of rays in the water.
Although on the other hand is a very strange creature I have witnessed a few times in this area...
It snorts... and this time I saw it poke it's nose briefly out of the water... don't know what it is...
Maybe I was imagining it... maybe the ibuprohens after effects.

I had planned to stay late and fish into the night... had plenty of sandwiches, sodas, water, and coffee.

It would be 3.5 miles to get back to launch... and decided that for lack of sizeable baitfish...
and maybe I was on the wrong side of the bay today...
I had got to the school with the birds...
had my "action" and had fun ! I left which would put me at the launch at Sunset, an hour or so of paddling.

I troll four rods... two up front which I use for crankbaits or small paddle tails... two heavier rods in the back
for larger baits and weights to go deeper.
I stowed away the two rear heavier rods... and just trolled the front crankbaits... soft plastics not had really produced today.

I really only was thinking about a pleasant long paddle back on a beautiful day with the Sunset...
but you don't catch fish if you don't have any rods in the water.

Well... if you have been patient so far in this story.....
Two and half miles to go... in about 30 feet of water... nothing showing on the sonar I got a big hit...
Thought for sure it was a ray... pulled the kayak around like a sled... (mind you my kayak is 10 foot).
My thought was maybe the ray would shake my favorite crankbait loose... or get it close enough
to save a hundred feet of line before I cut it loose.
My first sight of the fish all I saw was brown a foot or two under the water... yup a ray...
diving and ripping out line a number of times around the kayak I finally saw it was a fish... a rockfish !

After much patience and letting it run and tire itself out I got it to the kayak and on the boat.
I couldn't use my net... it's to small... and I had bumped another fish off with the net earlier in the year.
The crankbait was still just barely in the fish's mouth... not hooked in the lip.

31.5 inches
11.5 pounds..
4.5 pounds of filet.
1.5 pounds of soup and fish cake meat.

My personal best and one super great day with surprises.

[EMSer]

I hate it when the net os too small... Congrats on your PB!! She's a beaut!

[Mark]

Nice story and I was MAD about your magazine when I was a kid.

[J.A. Veil]

Great job. I agree with you about keeping lines in the water even when just moving to a new spot. You never know what you can find.

[kevinfry]

Handsome fish, handsome fella

[Jengles]

Good story. I enjoyed reading it as it has helped to pass a little time one a boring Monday morning sitting in my cube. I can almost imagine my self out there on the water living the glory. Nice fish too. My PB is still 26" maybe I can break 30" this fall.

[ShaunGT]

Awesome fish and good eating! Were you using deep diving crankbaits or shallow?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[manlystanley]

Ha! Loved the picture with the fish identity protected as well! 31.5 inches??!!! Wow! If I caught him I'd show my picture......... In fact, give me an idea... I'll photoshop my picture on top of yours and show my friends?????? :-)


Best Regards,
Stan

[deleonjo]

Hey Rob,

Nice meeting you on Friday and great report. That fish you caught was a beaut!!!

Re: ...very strange creature... I saw the same thing out there around the "hunting grounds". Several times now. Thought it was a giant beaver at first but it was too big and too far from shore. I am now thinking that it may be a brown seal? I've heard of harbor seals in the Chesapeake but never this far north. What do you think?

Anyway, here are a few pics of my keepers from the day. Not as nice as the whopper you caught, but, went home feeling happy. All catch/photo/release for me.

John

IMG_3202[1].jpg
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[rob-kayak]

@ ShaunGT
the crankbaits go to about 9 feet or so... suspending.
They seem to bump bottom when I am in 5 to 7 feet of water depending on my speed.

@manlystanly
Go for it !
I took the picture the next morning in my backyard... it was the 8th shot getting myself in the frame and I was using my good camera on a tripod...
the bugs were really biting my ears, and I don't look very happy in the orginal picture.
The SSoFF is a through back to how many of us mask out the scenery in our pictures to hide the location.
Since I took the pic in my back yard, I was having fun with that scenario.
I should have had Deleonjo take a picture of me and the kayak at the launch...
I was quite giddy with the catch.... and would have a big toothless smile for all you guys.

@deleonjo
Ahhh... there you are :-) I searched the user base here but couldn't nail down your handle.
If you've had that truck for a couple of years I think I saw it Beverly Triton a couple of years...
and we may have seen each other there just briefly in passing.
And a few weeks ago.... and saw you in the water that day with my binoculars as I was having lunch on the other side.

On that seal (mammal) thought... you know that might be correct. That hadn't occured to me. I had seen it a couple of times one day breach the surface fairly close to me, but didn't get a clear look as I heard it and quickly turned around. My first thought maybe a dolphin except the back of it was so different with no dorsal fin. I had thought maybe a Manatee... although seal seems more likely. Both days I heard it snort.
Maybe it was saying to me... in disgust... "hey man... what you be doing fishing in my turf."

@ all the other guys..
thanks it was fun.
I have often thought whether I would like to catch a lot of smaller fish... or one big one.
Caught lots of rockfish this year... but that was the first time to bring home rockfish dinner since the Spring.
Lots of Perch dinners, and in the freezer for the winter. And I like that too.
While not able to get out as much as I used too... it's been great with my first Speckled Trout, first catfish near Goodhands, lots of perch, and a larger rockfish.

It's getting to be the best time of year... and good luck to all to bring home dinner.