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Had a nice outing on Crab Alley Bay on Sunday. Got on the water around 8:10, air temp 72, overcast, wind 1-3 from the south. Great conditions.
I saw birds working the duck blinds while I was gearing up, and by the time I got on the water they were gone. Only saw them working one more time, around the channel marker, but it didn't last long. I figured it was worth a shot at topwater, so I used one of John's Poppa Mullet - that was not what they were looking for - had one big blowup that missed, then a bunch of short strikes, then topwater shut down for a while. I trolled around little Island and the duck blinds and caught several on Zman paddle tails in Opening Night 4" and Smokey Shad 5". I jigged and trolled with 6" BKDs in chartreuse and didn't get a bump. Later in the day (around noon) I went back to topwater and had a HUGE blowup that missed, then caught one, and had a LDR on another.
I pretty much stayed around Little Island, but I also worked the bulkhead and some sod banks on Johnson Island for a little while and got nothing. At the end of the day, spent about an hour at the jetty heading back to the launch and worked a big popper. Again, several misses, and caught 4 more before calling it a day. Two of those 4 were about 6 or 7 inches - one was almost the same size as the popper I was using! I thought I got a picture, but it didn't turn out.
Totals for the day:
1 jigging, 12"
4 trolling, ranging from 10" to 16" and 1 7" white perch on a rattle trap
2 topwater. 14" and 15" (not counting the 2 dinks)
And one observation...we all talk about how stealthy kayaks are, and why we have an advantage. While I was headed back to Little Island after trolling the channel edges, I saw a small center console spend 10 minutes or so working the rip rap between the two duck blinds. The water gets pretty thin in there, and this was just after slack low tide. They didn't catch anything and left. Shortly after they left, I caught 1 and had some short strikes. As I was drifting over the rip rap watching the water below, I drifted over a rockfish that was probably around 16" or so. It didn't spook until I was literally less than a foot away!
Now the pictures:
This was the first one I caught trolling, and ended up being the biggest fish of the day at 16"
Biggest Fish of the Day.jpg
This one I caught trolling, and took a picture because of the pattern. There didn't appear to be an injury - has anyone seen anything like this before?
Strange Pattern Side 1.jpg
The other side was perfectly normal
Strange Pattern Side 2.jpg
Two more random fish pics. This is only my 3rd trip fishing in the bay, so I have been practicing all of the moving parts, including landing fish, having tools (pliers) in the right place for a quick release, and taking pics.
Small 2.jpg
Small 1.jpg
I saw birds working the duck blinds while I was gearing up, and by the time I got on the water they were gone. Only saw them working one more time, around the channel marker, but it didn't last long. I figured it was worth a shot at topwater, so I used one of John's Poppa Mullet - that was not what they were looking for - had one big blowup that missed, then a bunch of short strikes, then topwater shut down for a while. I trolled around little Island and the duck blinds and caught several on Zman paddle tails in Opening Night 4" and Smokey Shad 5". I jigged and trolled with 6" BKDs in chartreuse and didn't get a bump. Later in the day (around noon) I went back to topwater and had a HUGE blowup that missed, then caught one, and had a LDR on another.
I pretty much stayed around Little Island, but I also worked the bulkhead and some sod banks on Johnson Island for a little while and got nothing. At the end of the day, spent about an hour at the jetty heading back to the launch and worked a big popper. Again, several misses, and caught 4 more before calling it a day. Two of those 4 were about 6 or 7 inches - one was almost the same size as the popper I was using! I thought I got a picture, but it didn't turn out.
Totals for the day:
1 jigging, 12"
4 trolling, ranging from 10" to 16" and 1 7" white perch on a rattle trap
2 topwater. 14" and 15" (not counting the 2 dinks)
And one observation...we all talk about how stealthy kayaks are, and why we have an advantage. While I was headed back to Little Island after trolling the channel edges, I saw a small center console spend 10 minutes or so working the rip rap between the two duck blinds. The water gets pretty thin in there, and this was just after slack low tide. They didn't catch anything and left. Shortly after they left, I caught 1 and had some short strikes. As I was drifting over the rip rap watching the water below, I drifted over a rockfish that was probably around 16" or so. It didn't spook until I was literally less than a foot away!
Now the pictures:
This was the first one I caught trolling, and ended up being the biggest fish of the day at 16"
Biggest Fish of the Day.jpg
This one I caught trolling, and took a picture because of the pattern. There didn't appear to be an injury - has anyone seen anything like this before?
Strange Pattern Side 1.jpg
The other side was perfectly normal
Strange Pattern Side 2.jpg
Two more random fish pics. This is only my 3rd trip fishing in the bay, so I have been practicing all of the moving parts, including landing fish, having tools (pliers) in the right place for a quick release, and taking pics.
Small 2.jpg
Small 1.jpg
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