Sun Morning Rockfish at St. Jerome's Creek

[kevinfry]

Left home about 7am for the short ride to St. Jeromes...took forever since no stores one along the way had coffee made and I had to wait!!! Can't fish until after coffee. Launched at the little public launch on Fresh Pond Neck rd and slowly paddled out to the mouth of the creek. Along the way I checked my gear and found my spinning reel was messed up so it would be trolling only for me (with my old shakespeare live-lineing reel). It was about 8:15 when I pulled up to the jaws.
I hooked up every pass behind the submerged sand spit north of the entrance. 8 passes in a row! All feisty 16 or so inchers, great fighters on my light gear. Once I finally caught a keeper, I decided to venture out on the bay.
That turned out to be aq lot of work for little pay off. It was pretty bouncy with plenty of whitecaps and paddling into that was just a pain. AI caught one short rockfish and lost another crossing a little bar out front of the creek and then asked myself, "Why am I going through this aggravation when there are so many fish back at the mouth?" Once I answered myself, "Because you're an idiot!" I went back to the place where I was catching earlier and ...boom... easy fishing again. Caught another barely legal, and packed up and came home. It was 10:05.
Typing nice and cozy by the fire smelling the fish cook....great day.

[kevinfry]

here they are

[ronaultmtd]

Nice work- I wanted to go to the creek today, but I flew home late yesterday after a week on the road, so I knew that wasn't going to happen-

[kevinfry]

I'm hoping it will stay good into Dec. I'll see you there maybe or at Nice. Do you know if the Bridge on Budds Creek Rd has been opened yet??

[chex]

Wow, awesome! What were you trolling with?

[kevinfry]

I trolled a medium sized x-rap in a bunker pattern...though I doubt the pattern was a big factor. The plugs run just the right depth for that ledge.

[chex]

Nice. What's a bunker pattern? (pardon my ignorance... I googled it but couldn't figure out what it is... Founds lots of results about flies, not trolling).

[ronaultmtd]

It is a kinda olive green pattern on the top of the lure with silver sides-

http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/new_product/RXR-OG-1.jpg

Kevin, I am thinking that I'd like to try PLO by the lighthouse in the shoal waters this next weekend- I bet the big girls are hanging around there when the current starts running- I want to try trolling two rods- one with the XR-12 XRap in Bunker and the other XR-12 XRap with the Mackerel pattern across the shallow bar at the end of Cornfield Harbor

[kevinfry]

Guess it's a sardine....looks like a bunker to me LOL

[chex]

Oh! I thought you were trolling in a specific pattern . Like a figure 8 pattern, bunker pattern... Lol. Thanks! Do you find that different colors and patterns are an important part of lure selection?

[kevinfry]

at this spot I think it is the way it runs and the ability of a kayak to troll right on top of the ledge that makes the difference. Last visit I caught them on trolling spoons (pet, undressed) just as well as the plugs.

[ronaultmtd]

Actually, Kevin, Bill and I used the XRaps our last trip at the creek, too- we caught the fish on other lures, but the XRaps caught 90% of everything-

[CB kayak 02]

Oh! I thought you were trolling in a specific pattern . Like a figure 8 pattern, bunker pattern... Lol. Thanks! Do you find that different colors and patterns are an important part of lure selection?

I would say the biggest factor is how well the lure imitates the type of bait the fish are eating: whether is the way it swims, depth, or color.

Matches all three would be ideal, but it's not always that easy.

[ronaultmtd]

Matt: A few weeks ago Tufnik and I were at PLO and catching speckled trout, stripers and blues- when I lost my XRap Blue Silver XR-10 lure, that was it- still caught Bluefish but no more stripers or speckled trout- so, yeah, lure color does make a big difference. When I was fishing at St. Jerome Creek with Bill, the Blue Silver and Bunker colors were getting the job done equally well- although the blue/silver color caught a few more fish, it was pretty close.

Same story on bucktails- some days the plain white works best, other days the yellow works best. I now use one with a white head dressed with bright chartreuse hair- that thing is deadly-especially if you add a three inch white plastic curly tail.

[chimo]

Sounds like a good day! Hoping to be down there this weekend. That bunker colored x-rap, or deep x-rap has been working pretty well up by Harbor Hospital as well although the chartruse and pink versions have also been getting hit hard. Good Fishin

Chimo