Tuesday slower lower boring report

[ronaultmtd]

yak 67 and I hit the water this early cold, blustery morning launching before 7am...For some reason Gary headed south- I headed north...Gary's voice came over the radio announcing a 10 inch "flounda"...not exciting, I continue to my chosen spot and begin fan casting...fish on! School striper Breaks the ice for me...and it was chilly enough that ice would take a while to melt...water temp was 67.9 at launch...continued to bail schoolies for a while, before moving a few hundred yards...and into the Motherlode of huge 12 inch white Perch...only problem was I was not "meat fishing" and Gary didn't want any, so I decided to troll to warm up...flipped back a couple of soft plastic paddletails on 1/4 oz deathgrip jigheads...Gone a hundred yards or so when my 2500 Sustain screamed off line on a fairly snug drag...could not pull the rod out of the holder so I angled the kayak toward the running fish to gain control of the rod and get it out of the holder...after a very nice fight, big fat football 2 foot striper is lipped and released...over the next three hours this scene is repeated over and over...I call my good luck over the radio to Gary, who is barely within radio range south of me...four species day...lost a really nice (possible legal keeper) redfish trying to use a lip gripper- it rolled and the hook popped out...gripper...damn thing would not open its mouth...many big fat 18 footballs...four fish over 20...everything released...Gary calls saying the cold winds have gotten to him and he is at the launch calling it...I decide it was time to join him...just another boring Slower Lower day cranking in fish...

[Mark]

May everyone who paddles or pedals experience such boring outings.

[Slackdaddy]

Ron,
What speed are you trolling that 1/4oz jig? and what depth?

[ronaultmtd]

I usually try to keep it just above 2.0 and for the stripers I like the 4-7 FOW area around structure...when I find fish schooled up, I stop trolling and just cast to them...today the fish were widely scattered over a huge flat so trolling was essential to success...4 speckled trout to 22 inches, four redfish to 16 1/2 inches and a dozen or so stripers to 19 inches...

[Slackdaddy]

I find at Brooms Island, trolling in less than 6 FOW gets me loaded with grass. are you running a weedless jig head?
I was trolling at 1.6 - 1.8 MPH, anything more it looked like I was floating the 1/4oz jig.

[Slackdaddy]

And when you say "Structure",, bottom structure? or shore structure?

[ronaultmtd]

Structure is always at the waterline and below- It depends upon the topography and the bottom...if mud or grass it is a lot different from sandy bottom...at Piney Point fishing the grassbeds is next to impossible with a jighead...at Point Lookout there is no grass so jigheads work great...also I use 10# braid on my light spinning outfits and the very thin line has very little resistance to drag allowing 1/8 and 1/4 oz jigheads to get several feet beneath the water at 2.-2.4 mph trolling speeds...and the amount of line you play out has a lot to do with how deep the jig descends...your jig may have a spinner attached and that really affects the depth. Jigspinners require much slower retrieving as the spinner places a lot of resistance to the lure moving through the water- slow like 1.2- 1.5 speed...I rarely use a spinner on the jig unless I am perch fishing...you have to experiment with your setups to determine what works for you in the area you are fishing...with lots of grass, you have to find unobstructed channels through the grassbeds or simply fish another location...

[Slackdaddy]

Ron,
I am somewhat new to Tidal kayak fishing, but not kayak fishing, so hope you do not mind 1000 questions.

At point lookout, what type of structure are you fishing? As a fresh water guy, I think of structure as trees, stumps, rocks, etc.
I am not seeing "structure" at brooms island on the sonar (Hook 5) The water gradually goes from 1-2' at the shore to 4-6' about 100 yards out, then drops to 10-12' for the next 100 yards,, but not a sharp "canyon wall" drop.
There is a fair amount of grass in the 1-5" depth.

The only structure would be the 20-30 buoys that apparently are hooked to some sort of oyster farming "frames",, but not looking like they are holding a ton of fish, but there are some.
Cant really troll through there for fear of snagging on the buoy ropes.

Last question,, Is outgoing tide the golden ticket?

[ronaultmtd]

There are no "Golden Tickets"..wished there was...moving water is key...especially around pilings, bridges, seawalls, points, sunken obstruction are what is loosely called structure...the "Featureless" sandy flats at creek mouths hold predators waiting for bay anchovies and mud minnows to be brought out by the tidal flow Of outgoing tide...sharp drop offs, holes, edges of channels are "structure"...as are grass beds offshore or sodbanks...you may find your close fishing grounds are pretty barren places to fish. At Point Lookout there are several areas Of diverse structure- inside Lake Conoy points and channels can hold big white perch and puppy drum...flounder in the channel of the inlet ...specks and reds around the rock jetties...then there are the rock jetties at the swimming areas along the beach headed to the point...then the old piling and deck debris near the lighthouse and then the point sandbar...90% of the fish are found in 10% of the water. This morning I drove 55 miles to fish with Doug, Big Mike and John Veil...we had great time, And caught a bunch of "memory maker" fish...sometime you have to load up and travel far away from home to make it happen..

[Slackdaddy]

Ron,
Thanks for all the tips,
I think what I would call a "clue" is that now 4 times out at Brooms Island and there was not a single other boat/craft fishing it.

I believe you are correct that it may be time to try other waters.