Beautiful Morning at Solley's

[scorchy]

I had been out of town for a week so really had the urge to get out on the kayak this weekend and made it a point to get up early (for me) on Sunday. Bassguy's great reports and pics from Solley's convinced me to stay close to home (that and needing to get back for the Eagles game at 1 pm). I launched around 7 am and fished till 11:30, working my way up to the Key Bridge. My paddle out, I got absolutely nothing on the troll, but my first cast against structure brought me <12" rock. I spent an hour so so working the banks for perch and managed a bunch of small ones, another tiny rock, and half-a-dozen mutilated paddle tails (tiny blues?). As I'm trolling around the CSX bridge, I caught a fat 12" perch which unfortunately had sores on most of its body. A few minutes later, I got another of similar size that looked clean. Sorry that the pic is mostly my hand - s/he was a wiggly sort and after losing my phone overboard on one trip already this summer, I didn't need a flopping fish causing any unforeseen consequences.

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Paddling back towards the launch - thinking it was weird that trolling had only brought in perch but no rock - I hooked up with this beauty and finally had an excuse to use my new net for the first time:

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Like I said, still working out how to take better pics (probably starts with turning off the thumbprint lock on my phone, which never works after you've touched a fish) so I realize it's cheating to start off at the 2" mark on the hawg trough.

I spent the next 45 minutes or so trolling the same general area and managed another five rock, all in the 13" - 16" range. Got back to the launch at 11:30 and was home in plenty of time for kickoff.

[dsaavedra]

Nice rockfish! Sounds like a nice easy morning trip.

When I'm using my phone in the kayak I keep it tethered to the inside of my PFD pocket using a silicone wrap around the phone like this: https://www.amazon.com/RAM-MOUNTS-X-...dp/B017STJY4I/ and a coiled leash like this https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Handy...dp/B00HQNPEKU/ to keep it attached to the PFD. This provides quick easy access, just open the pocket and my phone is right there, and it's nice not having to worry about fumbling around and dropping it in the water.

The only time I take the phone off the tether is to put it in a phone holder that I have mounted towards the bow of my kayak so I can use the forward-facing camera on a short timer to take photos of myself holding fish. They turn out better than the typical "selfie" style picture which is always an awkward angle for holding fish.

[UnkleRob2020]

Nice fish. Thank you for the report Scorchy. I have had a lot of fun at Solley's this year and I just realized that I always head upstream from the launch. I have never once headed towards the Key Bridge, despite having had a lot of success at Ft Amistead over the years. I am looking forward to fishing that stretch of water.