Bb 9/5/2011

[missedshed]

Fished this morning from about 8 to 12:30 with my brother and cousin. Looked nice and calm from the marina, but on the way out it got a bit rough. Well made it out but wasn't too bad but than about an hour later the wind kicked up and boy did it get rough. That was the roughest I have been out, waves and swells on the east bound bridge were a good 1-3 feet at times. The photos don't come close to showing it at all. It was a hard getting a good drift but my cousin did hook up with two, one was about 16 inches and the other one was 32.5 inches. I also managed to woard off the skunk with one about 15 inches. My brother once again, won a skunk. He seems to do good in Wilmington for stripers as I get the skunk there, but here I passed it too him. lol At least now I know my kayak can handle swells and waves that high. After 5 hours being off the water I still feel like i'm floating over the waves. Also meet tufnik out there, nice meeting you, hopefully the fall run starts kicking in. For some reason things have slowed a bit at the bridge.

[kayak456]

wilmongton de or nc

[missedshed]

Delaware

[kayak456]

my grandma lives in wilmington nc thats were i fish in nc

[Shady]

Good work, that's a nice fish! It's been along time since I've broke the 30 inch mark. Hopefully this fall... When I was out saturday and the tide turned against the wind it was probably 1-3 footers with help from boat waves too. Definately makes fishing difficult...

[MetroMan]

Nice work. It's definitely a certain feeling of anxiousness when fishing in waves bigger thant you've ever fished before. Its a good feeling getting a better appreciation of your limits too. Nice work on the fish!

[ronaultmtd]

Nice work. It's definitely a certain feeling of anxiousness when fishing in waves bigger thant you've ever fished before. Its a good feeling getting a better appreciation of your limits too. Nice work on the fish!

"a better appreciation of your limits..." when you leave harbor in calm conditions and then the weather gets you that is one thing- to leave the dock when it is already rough is altogether different- finding out you have EXCEEDED your limits is something no one wants to discover...the SOT fishing kayaks we have can generally take more than we can. I have noticed that generally rough water has better fishing than calm waters- it just works that way- the best tuna day I ever had offshore beat the snot out of us-

[MetroMan]

True, but you'll never have a clue of how much you can tolerate if you only go out when it's calm.

[ronaultmtd]

Metro- 10-20 SW winds in the Bay will give you a decent amount of chop and are pretty typical summer days- I agree that fishing only on calm "Blue Bird" days will cut your fishing back to a minimal part timer- not what I am advocating- I just have had some hair raising days on the water- one in particular was a vicious summer thunderstorm while I was fishing for tuna in the Southeast Lumps in my 24 foot Stamas- the winds measured by NWS at Sandbridge, Virginia, exceeded 80 miles per hour- and it was a freak storm on a day the weather forecast was to be nice-no rain no stroms were expected. I drove my boat through very tall waves 50 feet apart- In case some don't know... a 12 foot wave is 24 feet from the bottom of the trough to its crest- when I finally got back to Rudee Inlet, I had to time the waves breaking in the mouth of the inlet -and get in between the breakers- you get cautious after a few of those- Far be it from me to dampen the spirits of anyone who wants to go fishing in marginal weather- fish bite in that weather better than a calm day- I have done it and worse-

[missedshed]

I have been in the kayak in the ocean going over breaking waves, I just didn't know how it would handle out in the bay. I have been out bf and experienced it rough. I wouldn't just jump into the roughest conditions for a first time, more or less tested the limits with baby steps. It actually isn't as bad away from the bridge. Those pilings really chop up the water around it. If you went from calm water and jumped into the rough water it definitely would scare you esp when you see the water bouncing around the pilings. I think the kayak actually hsndled better than the 12 foot aluminum boat I saw out there.

[CB kayak 02]

A suited Kayak will handle better than an 18 ft boat in any small craft advisory type of day

[tufnik]

Good meeting you too, missedshed. Too bad we didn't get to take home any keepers. But your cousin, congrats to him!

I've been on rougher waters (with small craft advisory), up to 4' chops/swells last November. Looking back, I think maybe that wasn't too smart to fish in those conditions, but it sure was exciting. This past weekend wasn't too bad, but I must say, it sure made me feel "floaty" when I was back on land.

Ron, the Outback did well. It didn't quite slice the waves, but it felt pretty stable. Much more so than my Trident in the same conditions. If you angle it right (about 45 deg), the Outback can plow the waves well. Ride was much drier than the Trident.

[ronaultmtd]

When you consider the Eskimos hunt seals, walrus and whales in the Arctic Ocean from small skin kayaks, the design is a proven big water craft- aluminum jon boats are not the boat I would want to be aboard in the Bay- comfort wise and experience wise- I personally want more experience in kayaks before getting caught out in really rough waters- gotta remember this is my first full season doing this- I have had plenty of experience with bad storms in boats- and you can become religious pretty fast in those-