Toggin Rt. 50 Bridge OC 3/25

[MDFishin]

Started my day off by trying to call KayakJoe, some lady was very tired and confused when I was asking for "KayakJoe"....wrong number. Sorry Ma'am lol. Planned on launching at Stinky Beach (SW of Bridge) upon seeing conditions I decided to launch under the bridge on the east side.

Looking West across OC Inlet @ Stinky Beach (those are waves breaking on the sandbars):



After fighting off the intial shock and awe factor of the current, and conditions I began orienting myself with the structure. I quickly figured out that the structure is your friend...and I wasnt afraid to grab, poke, or smash into anything.

Some of the stuff I fished:







After about an hour and a half I had to pee, I had rubber bibs on and it was choppy so I went to shore. I met KayakJoe there, and he joined me for the remainder of the day. Let me note bait of the day: I used frozen shrimp, Gulp! Shrimp, Gulp! Peeler Crab, and both the Gulp! tipped with shrimp. All with no bites or fish caught.





After a few hours of no hits around the bridge we headed south closer towards the inlet! We went to the Coast Guard Station breakwater, and the ride there with the current was pretty crazy!! My long yak took some getting used to in swift water, but it really made the paddle back against the 5 MPH+ current alot easier.

Outside of USCG breakwater:

[RavensDfense]

You guys are hardcore! The pics didnt show up for me, but I've put over at Stinky Beach before. It got crazy pretty quick. Severe current. Wish you guys would have had some pullage, but at least you got to experience some in those crazy conditions.

[MDFishin]

You guys are hardcore! The pics didnt show up for me, but I've put over at Stinky Beach before. It got crazy pretty quick. Severe current. Wish you guys would have had some pullage, but at least you got to experience some in those crazy conditions.

Joe had experience here, but it really did help me build my confidence especially in my new boat. I launched and fished Stinky and around hoopers in the summer, and never touched water like this because the wind was low then....pretty fun


-Are the pics working now??

[CB kayak 02]

Sorry no luck man... did you try near the rocks by the De Lazy Lizard? and the 4th st bulkhead?

Looks like it was an erie day out there.

[chex]

You guys are hardcore!

+1. Looks like fun. Too bad no fish.

[jet]

Love the pics, thanks

[Southerly]

last summer i was paddling a sit on top and my gut feeling was to stay away from any of those places. especially with summer boat traffic. so i fished over at hoopers but look forward to going where i like with the outback this year.

nice pics and report

not sure about the deep portions of channel, but what do you think about setting anchor upstream of the bridge and lowering back under the bridge to work pilings?

i guess the advantage would be less boat handling, more careful presentation, less snags, IF it's working. and also never having to deal with the bridge fishers' downstream lines. as i'm set up now, i can cleat the trolley line and hoist anchor at the bow w/o it coming alongside, let it dangle at the bow while i change spots, lower,...

[MDFishin]

Some things I noticed while out there and some replies to you all:

Matt, I really wanted to try the bulkhead mainly but those rocks where staring me in the face calling my name the whole time. The NW wind and outgoing tide took anything north of the bridge outta the game plan, atleast on this trip. You would really benefit from a drift sock ANYWHERE in the inlet area no matter what species.

Southerly, You COULD anchor north/south of bridge and drop back under using current. I would probably only do this for 30 min or so when the current is slow (the current shifts very quickly here UNLIKE Bay Bridge). Current does not change at the same time as the tide. Once you see the full current ripping past the pilings you'll understand. There as only 3-5 bridge fisherman while I was there and they saw me (16ft ORANGE tarpon lol) and several times I had rigs splash within feet of me. I couldnt imagine summer time with all the idiot tourists. You would need a helmet and several knives to cut lines. I figure once you slice a few they will quite throwing em your way. Even if your under the bridge your still in the line of fire for lures/rigs. When I fish from the bridge I cast my bucktails/gotcha as far under as possible.


Sorry to rant

[Southerly]

i dropped anchor under the bridge in heavy current and it was kind of spooky. especially when a big boat's wake from the inlet rolled thru. i definitely had the feeling anything could happen. even pulling a snag changed the whole dynamics of the anchorage. i wasn't in the mood for it and after one set, i pulled up and went on downcurrent to fish west channel.

at that time, i didn't even have the option of peddling to stay in place. now, i also have the rudder. that would let me fish left or fish right while on anchor. but i can definitely imagine a couple ways for things to go bad under that bridge.

[Shady]

Wow that area definately looks Toggy! I hope to check some of that out in a few weeks.

[MTDluvsFishin]

Nice. I love Stinky Beach. My mother-in-law caught some really nice specks there over the early fall. They fish there quite a bit. I've seen some nice stripers caught right at the jetty point of Stinky Beach. Current does move quite swiftly there.

Over the summer I plan to bring my yak down for the summer once my kids school is out to do a bunch of back bay fishing for flounder.

If you guys see my jeep just hollar. It'll be camped out at AI for a pretty good bit of the spring and all summer

Minh

[jffoley]

If you guys see my jeep just hollar. It'll be camped out at AI for a pretty good bit of the spring and all summer

Minh

Awesome beach rig! Nice...

[kayakjoe]

I want to promise you we'll get some next time but you know how that goes.... Might be going down to garhatha for some flounder this weekend if anybody is interested