Tweet
Fished Goodhands Creek with Keith (yakmak) today, got there at flood high tide, and boy was it high! A local rec crabber told us he's never seen the tide that high...it had been above the bulkhead, as the parking lot was a little flooded.
Keith got intel that pearl bass assassins with charteuse paddle tail was the ticket for the day, and that seemed to work well. We caught a lot of fish, but most of them were small, under 12 inches. I caught about 6 right around 12, one at 18 1/2 on a pearl fluke with charteuse spike-it tail. After Keith left, I headed back out and was jigging around some structure and again, caught a bunch of small ones, but I hooked into something much bigger that came unbuttoned. I was using a smaller jig head with a 4" gold/glitter paddle tail and I guess I didn't get a good hook set into him. I think Keith's biggest fish was around 16 or so, but it was really skinny...a very odd looking rockfish.
I tried topwater earlier and had several boils on a big storm chugger, but nothing would commit to it. We ran into another kayaker who caught 7 on topwater, several keeper size (he didn't keep them - he made sure to tell me that.)
All in all it was a good day - the small fish kept it interesting and the couple bigger ones will make me come back. Which brings me to the story of the biggest fish of the day. Since the parking lot was full, I blocked Keith's truck in, so when he had to go, I went back to move my truck so he could get out. I made mention of a part of the bank in the creek that looked very "perchy." Keith told me he never had much luck with perch back there, and we both remembered the reports of a lot of SAV. As I was paddling back out, Keith said "Now I don't want to hear how great it was after I left." Famous last words. On my way in, after about 7 hours on the water, I thought I would end the day in the calm creek casting my white perch pounder to see if there were any big perch around. I caught 1 tiny perch, an 8" rock fish, and then...yep, you guessed it. A keeper rockfish on a perch pounder 8 feet from the bank along a lay down. When I felt it was big I assumed it was going to be a catfish, but when it rolled I saw the stripes! It measured at 19 1/2 on the board, released quickly to grow bigger, better, faster, stronger.
After I pulled my kayak out, there were small rockfish literally coming out of the water crashing bait along the dock. I cast my perch pounder out there and caught 4 more little ones just for fun. I offered to show one of the kids coming in on a pleasure boat tour how to catch one and the family looked at me like I had 3 heads.
And as always, I have a Keith quote of the day: When referencing the past success he has had jigging around the rip rap at the breakwater and catching a bunch of little rockfish, he sounded like one of those Saturday morning investment shows on the radio - "Past performance does not always guarantee future results/catching!"
Always a please Keith, let's do it again soon. Mchottie, sorry you didn't make it out, but let's have a date for Rocktober for sure!
Steve
Bel Air, MD
Two more comments as I review the post before I submit. First, I caught my first snapper blue from my kayak today (I just started doing this last year, and if you recall, the bluefish never really made it into the bay.) And it bit my very productive fluke in half! Second, thinking back, I believe this was my first keeper size rockfish on my kayak. I caught sever around 18" last year at the Lowes Wharf M&G, but no keepers.
Keith got intel that pearl bass assassins with charteuse paddle tail was the ticket for the day, and that seemed to work well. We caught a lot of fish, but most of them were small, under 12 inches. I caught about 6 right around 12, one at 18 1/2 on a pearl fluke with charteuse spike-it tail. After Keith left, I headed back out and was jigging around some structure and again, caught a bunch of small ones, but I hooked into something much bigger that came unbuttoned. I was using a smaller jig head with a 4" gold/glitter paddle tail and I guess I didn't get a good hook set into him. I think Keith's biggest fish was around 16 or so, but it was really skinny...a very odd looking rockfish.
I tried topwater earlier and had several boils on a big storm chugger, but nothing would commit to it. We ran into another kayaker who caught 7 on topwater, several keeper size (he didn't keep them - he made sure to tell me that.)
All in all it was a good day - the small fish kept it interesting and the couple bigger ones will make me come back. Which brings me to the story of the biggest fish of the day. Since the parking lot was full, I blocked Keith's truck in, so when he had to go, I went back to move my truck so he could get out. I made mention of a part of the bank in the creek that looked very "perchy." Keith told me he never had much luck with perch back there, and we both remembered the reports of a lot of SAV. As I was paddling back out, Keith said "Now I don't want to hear how great it was after I left." Famous last words. On my way in, after about 7 hours on the water, I thought I would end the day in the calm creek casting my white perch pounder to see if there were any big perch around. I caught 1 tiny perch, an 8" rock fish, and then...yep, you guessed it. A keeper rockfish on a perch pounder 8 feet from the bank along a lay down. When I felt it was big I assumed it was going to be a catfish, but when it rolled I saw the stripes! It measured at 19 1/2 on the board, released quickly to grow bigger, better, faster, stronger.
After I pulled my kayak out, there were small rockfish literally coming out of the water crashing bait along the dock. I cast my perch pounder out there and caught 4 more little ones just for fun. I offered to show one of the kids coming in on a pleasure boat tour how to catch one and the family looked at me like I had 3 heads.
And as always, I have a Keith quote of the day: When referencing the past success he has had jigging around the rip rap at the breakwater and catching a bunch of little rockfish, he sounded like one of those Saturday morning investment shows on the radio - "Past performance does not always guarantee future results/catching!"
Always a please Keith, let's do it again soon. Mchottie, sorry you didn't make it out, but let's have a date for Rocktober for sure!
Steve
Bel Air, MD
Two more comments as I review the post before I submit. First, I caught my first snapper blue from my kayak today (I just started doing this last year, and if you recall, the bluefish never really made it into the bay.) And it bit my very productive fluke in half! Second, thinking back, I believe this was my first keeper size rockfish on my kayak. I caught sever around 18" last year at the Lowes Wharf M&G, but no keepers.
Comment