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With the predicted heat wave, Nathan and I waited until the afternoon to head up, hitting the road from Northern Va at around 3:30. Of course we ran into the bridge being shut for an accident and had to battle a few miles of traffic to make it to the park exit. I have since looked at a map, and if I am not mistaken, the exit before the one for the park could have gotten me there and helped me avoid sitting a half hour. Maybe someone can chime in.
We made it, and it was HOT when we got there. Time for self rescue practice! I dunked my SINK before my buddy and into the Bay I went. It was really easy to flip back over, and I decided to try the cowboy mount for getting back in. I kicked myself up onto the back of the yak, straddlin' it and lookin' all sorts of goofy as one does getting in this way, scooting forward and feeling just how unstable the thing was with me on top and a inch or two of water in the cabin. Here comes a wave.. wait for it..okay, scoot forward, and now set myself in the cabin! I had a second or two to realize my seat had come forward and I was sitting on top of that, unable to get my legs in as the kayak went over and I fell back out on my first attempt.
Okay, lesson learned, stay REALLY low, make sure the seat is outta the way, and go slower! Second time I made it back in with no issue and pumped all the water out. Success. Wow, okay, that was pretty easy, and now I feel a bit better about being out.
I watched my buddy try, and then I tied on a diving crank/bucktail combo on a three way swivel and started trolling it from between 8 feet all the way to 35 feet as I made my first journey out to the bridge, alas, with no hits. The way I aimed it, I hit the first big rock island, near Piling 22 I think. Wow, this thing is massive in person on my yak! I paddled around a bit, watching the structure on the Finder and learning the area. Threw a stingsilver and jigged a few times with no success. At this point, it was starting to get dark and my friend had completely gotten out of view of me, failing to keep up, even after I waited around the bridge for like 15 minutes. I decided I should start towards the marina, in hopes of spotting him since he forgot his phone and his damn FRS radio wasn't working and he had no big anchor light on a pvc pipe like me, just a mag light. Well, I rowed and rowed, and did not see him. It turns out he had made it to the bridge, far south of where I was, and I did not see him, but he saw me paddling off but couldn't raise me to get my attention. Made it back to SPSP and took a breather, grabbed some water, buddy came paddling in a few minutes later saying he couldn't keep up with me since I was paddling non-stop against the current the whole way there. Bleh. Went back out around 8:30 while the sun was barely still up, just straight out almost to the lighthouse and started drifting for croakers with fishbites again. Started picking them up and releasing them all through out the night, except for one who I had to chunk and throw on a lightly weighted 5/0 Circle hook, though that had no takers. We were out until around 2am when I finally got fed up with drifting at over a knot and not being able to slow myself down enough to catch anything more. I plan to fish harder the next times I am out, the last two trips it has seemed almost too overwhelming to fish properly with out knowing a lot of the things I have learned watching my finder paddling over larger areas.
Nice relaxing day, learned a lot about the bottom structure around SPSP and the bridge, Kayaked the Bay at night for several hours, what more can you ask for?
We made it, and it was HOT when we got there. Time for self rescue practice! I dunked my SINK before my buddy and into the Bay I went. It was really easy to flip back over, and I decided to try the cowboy mount for getting back in. I kicked myself up onto the back of the yak, straddlin' it and lookin' all sorts of goofy as one does getting in this way, scooting forward and feeling just how unstable the thing was with me on top and a inch or two of water in the cabin. Here comes a wave.. wait for it..okay, scoot forward, and now set myself in the cabin! I had a second or two to realize my seat had come forward and I was sitting on top of that, unable to get my legs in as the kayak went over and I fell back out on my first attempt.
Okay, lesson learned, stay REALLY low, make sure the seat is outta the way, and go slower! Second time I made it back in with no issue and pumped all the water out. Success. Wow, okay, that was pretty easy, and now I feel a bit better about being out.
I watched my buddy try, and then I tied on a diving crank/bucktail combo on a three way swivel and started trolling it from between 8 feet all the way to 35 feet as I made my first journey out to the bridge, alas, with no hits. The way I aimed it, I hit the first big rock island, near Piling 22 I think. Wow, this thing is massive in person on my yak! I paddled around a bit, watching the structure on the Finder and learning the area. Threw a stingsilver and jigged a few times with no success. At this point, it was starting to get dark and my friend had completely gotten out of view of me, failing to keep up, even after I waited around the bridge for like 15 minutes. I decided I should start towards the marina, in hopes of spotting him since he forgot his phone and his damn FRS radio wasn't working and he had no big anchor light on a pvc pipe like me, just a mag light. Well, I rowed and rowed, and did not see him. It turns out he had made it to the bridge, far south of where I was, and I did not see him, but he saw me paddling off but couldn't raise me to get my attention. Made it back to SPSP and took a breather, grabbed some water, buddy came paddling in a few minutes later saying he couldn't keep up with me since I was paddling non-stop against the current the whole way there. Bleh. Went back out around 8:30 while the sun was barely still up, just straight out almost to the lighthouse and started drifting for croakers with fishbites again. Started picking them up and releasing them all through out the night, except for one who I had to chunk and throw on a lightly weighted 5/0 Circle hook, though that had no takers. We were out until around 2am when I finally got fed up with drifting at over a knot and not being able to slow myself down enough to catch anything more. I plan to fish harder the next times I am out, the last two trips it has seemed almost too overwhelming to fish properly with out knowing a lot of the things I have learned watching my finder paddling over larger areas.
Nice relaxing day, learned a lot about the bottom structure around SPSP and the bridge, Kayaked the Bay at night for several hours, what more can you ask for?
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