pleasure before business

[Southerly]

caught my 1st keeper rock in the outback today. really stoked!

went out this morning and jigged kastmasters where a ledge/point leads out to the river channel. about 7' water with a light outgoing tide and no visible rip.

caught and released 6-8 foot long rock (sorry no pics) on chrome 1/2 oz kastmaster worked off the bottom. broke a hook while rebending it so i switched to 3/4 oz gold kastmaster. i think i hooked up on the 1st cast.

i had to go to work, so i declared victory and peddled the heck out before anyone saw my 'secret spot'.

nice Fall fish or what?

[CB kayak 02]

Nice clean fish!! A fattie too.

[toadfinger]

Nice fat fish. Which river?

Bouncing shiny metallics off the bottom sure stimulates some heavy strikes, doesn't it?

[Shady]

Thats a good looking fish! When I first read through your report I read it as you had caught a 6'-8' long rock, that would have been impressive! lol So what river were you in? I think the small rocks are all over the rivers all through the mid to lower bay and the bigger ones are hopefully starting to filter in too.

[YaknBass]

nice rockfish perfect size for the table!! congrats on the 1st keeper. i have had pretty good luck jigging kastmasters for rock as well.... i will tip the hook with clam snout to give it some flavor have caught a lot of nice size perch the same way. hope you limit out the next time best of luck & ""bent rods and tight lines always""

[Southerly]

let's call it pre-fishing the MnG,...

[alpha550]

Nice fat fish

[Sun]

let's call it pre-fishing the MnG,...

I've been studying maps to prepare, and I hope one of my planned stops is where you were. Heh.

[Southerly]

one thing i want to add : using any spoon, i use a high quality swivel. Sampo swivels have ended all twisted line problems for me.

there must be a lot of ways to do it, but for kastmaster lure for example, i use 2' of 30# Vanish flouro as leader. i got a 350 yd spool of this stuff from kmart for $18. primarily, i use this to reduce breakoffs from scratching concrete, rocks, and catching own hooks, etc. as stated above, summer white perch don't mind the 30# leader and seem happy to get on (but my go-to for WP is white beetlespin).

i tie a Sampo barrel swivel to one end of the leader, and the other end to the spoon's ring. if it didn't come with a ring, i add a split ring to avoid tieing the line against a sharp edge. i wrap the leader around the lure and store it in a little lure box or bag in my tacklebox - ready to tie onto mainline!

[J.A. Veil]

Nice fish. Congratulations on getting your first keeper in your new boat.

Let me know when your workload tapers off.