Long time listener, first time caller - looking for kayak fishing buddies

[striperian]

Been reading Snaggedline for awhile, grateful for this resource. After years of pining and months of waiting, I finally got my pedal kayak and I'm ready to fish!

I've got plenty of experience in lakes and rivers in my tandem Old Town Heron, but the new Hobie opens up the bay and beyond. I've been reading Rudow's and Battista's books and whatever else I can get my hands on to get informed and reading here daily.

I'm in Alexandria, VA and intend to hit the water as often as possible this summer and fall. I'm looking to hit the Bay Bridge in the next few weeks, and will also be in Ocean City weekends of June 11 and/or 18, weather depending (freshwater in upstate NY is my backup plan for both weekends).

I'm willing to wake before dawn and drive up to 6 hours for good fishing pretty much any weekend. For safety's sake, I'm looking for other kayak folks - and it would be great to make some friends too. I've even got all my shots

Thanks in advance for the PM if you're interested!

[Mark]

striparian,

Welcome to the forum.

Your screen name is outstanding. Very clever.

You might want to tell folks what kind of fishing you want to do in your new pedal kayak.

Even though I live close to it, I've never taken my kayaks to the Bay Bridge. If you're after stripers, plenty can had in shallow tributary waters.

[striperian]

Thanks, Mark! I appreciate your reply - I am most excited about chasing rockfish and want to spend more time on all the nearshore species on the East Coast. Definitely would like to go on a few trips south for flounder, trout and drum.

I also really like going north for lake trout, walleye, pike and landlocked salmon. I don't enjoy most largemouth bass fishing as much for whatever reason...

[UnkleRob2020]

Welcome Striperian,

This forum has been an amazing resource for me. I am still very much at the beginning of the learning curve, but I am happy to fish with you. I have been fortunate enough to meet a few of the people on this forum and they have all been incredibly nice, knowledgeable and willing to help me.

[striperian]

Appreciate it, UnkleRob - so far folks that have reached out have been awesome. Would be great to fish together soon. I'll send a PM.

[admwndsr83]

Just a note, OC Air Show is the weekend of June 18th, so it might be a bit rowdy down there!

[striperian]

Adam - thanks for the tip - that's helpful to know!

[striperian]

Last weekend, given the rains making mud everywhere, I fished Lake Anna in Virginia. Caught 6 stripers and wipers near Dike 3 between 8 and 11AM. After a few smaller ones trolling I found a school and started jigging spoons. Missed a huge hit that snapped my 16# leader, but then landed three over keeper size (you can keep four). I took home two - a 22" wiper and a 23" striper.
F0D3BD8B-F2B7-4920-A94E-35937BB3C1B3.jpg8135B579-4A49-4C27-90D0-703E4366EAA1.jpg

Two weekends ago, I hit the Annapolis bay bridge in the mid-morning and did well off the north pilings in 30-40 FOW, caught 7 or 8, two above 23".
AnnapolisBayBridgeRockfish1.jpg

Looks like I'm going to brave the rowdies and head to the OC this weekend and fish the Rt. 50 bridge and bay. Any tips - or joiners - are welcome.

[Mark]

Ian,

Are wipers a white bass x striper hybrid? They're stocked, correct?

I caught some hybrids in the 1990s in a GA lake. They behaved like stripers. They had broken stripes on their sides and had bodies that were less streamlined than stripers.

You had two nice outings.

[Slobber Bob]

Looks like I'm going to brave the rowdies and head to the OC this weekend and fish the Rt. 50 bridge and bay. Any tips - or joiners - are welcome.

Just keep an eye on your surrounding and expect to be in close proximity to boaters often whether you're in the inlet or further up in the bays. Early mornings aren't too rowdy, but by midday on a summer weekend with good weather it'll get busy. And with the air show going on there will likely be extra boat traffic. You'll save yourself a lot of traffic going early too.


I copied the below information from an old thread for you too that may help with planning your trip.


1) check the coefficient (how fast the current will be moving).
2) slack current averages about +2 - 2.5 hours after the predicted tide.
3) south jetty - you can safely fish the inlet side of it from a kayak on incoming current without much effort; outgoing current will punish you.
4) Martha's landing - easy to fish on outgoing current; incoming is doable on lower coefficients; incoming on high coefficients isn't worth the effort.
5) Rt. 50 bridge - at times can be challenging on both incoming and outgoing depending on coefficient; although there are some eddies and slack spots where you can effectively fish the bridge at the height of the current; the height of the current isn't easy fishing from a kayak at the bridge outside of the eddies; watch out for people fishing from above.
6) North Jetty - I've never messed with it too much; doesn't look that easy from a kayak; plus too many people casting from shore there most of the time.
7) there are other smaller places in the inlet on the fringes that you can fish once you figure out the current and how the water flows.
8) south jetty oceanside - if you see waves crashing into the oceanside of the jetty from inside the inlet then don't bother going out to try to fish the oceanside because it'll be a pain.
9) tip of the south jetty (submerged portion) - this place gets down right gnarly on incoming current, so be careful; you can get very close to the gnarly area and still be very safe, but if you get into the gnarly mix it can be a wild and sketchy ride!
10) the further away from the inlet the more things settle down regarding the current and kayaking around gets a little easier.
11) lots of boat wake in the inlet; some of the wakes from the returning offshore fleet can get sizable so keep an eye out.

[Jman]

Slobber bobs information is spot on for OC. Take a look at the tidal coefficient so you know what to expect and report back how you do!

[striperian]

Just keep an eye on your surrounding and expect to be in close proximity to boaters often whether you're in the inlet or further up in the bays. Early mornings aren't too rowdy, but by midday on a summer weekend with good weather it'll get busy. And with the air show going on there will likely be extra boat traffic. You'll save yourself a lot of traffic going early too.


I copied the below information from an old thread for you too that may help with planning your trip.


1) check the coefficient (how fast the current will be moving).
2) slack current averages about +2 - 2.5 hours after the predicted tide.
3) south jetty - you can safely fish the inlet side of it from a kayak on incoming current without much effort; outgoing current will punish you.
4) Martha's landing - easy to fish on outgoing current; incoming is doable on lower coefficients; incoming on high coefficients isn't worth the effort.
5) Rt. 50 bridge - at times can be challenging on both incoming and outgoing depending on coefficient; although there are some eddies and slack spots where you can effectively fish the bridge at the height of the current; the height of the current isn't easy fishing from a kayak at the bridge outside of the eddies; watch out for people fishing from above.
6) North Jetty - I've never messed with it too much; doesn't look that easy from a kayak; plus too many people casting from shore there most of the time.
7) there are other smaller places in the inlet on the fringes that you can fish once you figure out the current and how the water flows.
8) south jetty oceanside - if you see waves crashing into the oceanside of the jetty from inside the inlet then don't bother going out to try to fish the oceanside because it'll be a pain.
9) tip of the south jetty (submerged portion) - this place gets down right gnarly on incoming current, so be careful; you can get very close to the gnarly area and still be very safe, but if you get into the gnarly mix it can be a wild and sketchy ride!
10) the further away from the inlet the more things settle down regarding the current and kayaking around gets a little easier.
11) lots of boat wake in the inlet; some of the wakes from the returning offshore fleet can get sizable so keep an eye out.

This is great - thanks so much!

[striperian]

Ian,

Are wipers a white bass x striper hybrid? They're stocked, correct?

I caught some hybrids in the 1990s in a GA lake. They behaved like stripers. They had broken stripes on their sides and had bodies that were less streamlined than stripers.

You had two nice outings.

Thanks, Mark! Yep, white bass x striper = wiper - chubbier, broken stripes, good fighters.

[Mark]

Thanks, Mark! Yep, white bass x striper = wiper - chubbier, broken stripes, good fighters.

The ones I caught in GA were fun indeed. They were having a surface feeding frenzy just like we see with stripers here in the Bay.

I once read, I can't remember where -- it may have been in Keith Walters' book, Chesapeake Stripers -- that the MD DNR experimented with white perch x striper crosses many years ago. White perch and white bass are cousins in the fish family with stripers. I don't recall why the experiment ended.

[striperian]

So I tried OC Friday and Saturday morning before the air show throngs - found it pretty tough. All the advice above applied, but what was a "normal" coefficient I thought was pretty challenging. I couldn't really aim for slack tide given the expected boat traffic, but I should have at least on Friday. I was off the water for good by Saturday at 10AM and by noon it looked like 4th of July - hundreds of boats everywhere.

Anyway, Friday was the easier morning. I got some hits on a smaller-profile 1oz jig and paddletail, which got me excited there might some sizable stripers around the south jetty. I was marking big fish near a steep dropoff from 10 to 25 feet but it was hard to stick in place and there were enough powered boats in a cooperative float that I didn't really want to labor for it. Then, something giant hit, was on for five seconds and broke off. I moved off nonetheless to explore further away from the inlet, but by the time I went up the bay a bit, traffic was starting to get thicker and some jet skis were frustrating me so I figured I'd leave more of it for later in the trip.

That one hit made me a bit too interested in the south jetty, and knowing morning was my only shot I went out Saturday near low tide. Should have reread the tips above. At first the current didn't seem so strong, mostly because it was at my back and I am stupid. And sure enough, there were big marks in the same area again, so I stopped thinking about current. I cast the same paddletail, it got hit within the first 2 seconds of its drop and I thought I was in business.

But it was clearly not a striper - as soon as I brought it near the boat it went straight back down under it and bent my rod in half. After a long fight, I got it up close enough to the surface to confirm it was a ray and cut it off. Maybe it was just one ray, I figured. I pedaled hard to get back to the dropoff/hole, and didn't really notice how hard, because I was focused. As soon as I cast, the paddletail got hammered, seemingly near the surface. But again, the fish went straight down and it was definitely another ray. A bigger one. I don't know why I decided I needed to land it - I kinda loved that last 1oz small profile jig and didn't want to give it up.

But it was a mistake, because I got pushed a half mile toward the end of the inlet. I could barely manage .8 MPH on the way back, which was seemingly taking forever so I reached for my anchor to manage a bit of a rest. Realized I didn't have it and had a bit of a panic. Stopping now would have meant losing ground at three times the rate I could gain it. So I had a bit of an unexpected 45 minute cardio session. I wasn't in any distress, and there were plenty of boaters (and a heavy police/coast guard presence) that could have helped me if I needed it but it was dumb overall to just wing it. I was happy to get off the water and get some lunch and look out my balcony as the bay absolutely filled with boats of every size.

I definitely need to study current coefficients, because I must not have been looking at the right data on whatever site said that it was "normal" this weekend. Another good reason to buddy up here too. Need to learn more the easy way.