Father - Son Day at the Bridge

[eastonkayaker]

My son is home this week, attends UMD, he took a few days off from a project he is working on. Took him to the bay bridge this morning for the first time. Ran into Jack and his father, first time his father has kayak fished at the bridge also. Decided to set my son up with some jigs for the morning, stayed shallow at first, 10 ft of water, found some nice size perch and croaker. Tide was going out, running strong, difficult to hold the kayak in place. We eventually ventured into 17-20 ft of water, set him up with a 1 oz jighead, triangle with green eyes and a 5" pearl white fluke, under west bound span at a double piling. He had several very good hits, he wasn't used to setting the hook and controlling the kayak in between the pilings, but a good experience next time he will be ready for live lining. Left Jack and his father in the same place I think they were getting into some big fish.
Just before heading in decided to catch a spot and try live lining, one spot, one 23" rock, very fat and happy. I have had some good luck recently using a 5/0 hook no wieght, I leave the bail open until maybe 40-50 feet of line goes out then set the drag very light so the spot can pull more line. I then drift. This morning I started under the west span drifted south just letting the spot go where it wanted and the tide take me, I was south of the east span when the rock hit. It is very relaxing to fish this way especially when there are not a lot of boats around, I avoid some of the problem of trying to hold the kayak in one place.
All in all it was a very good day, good company, lots of sun and fresh rockfish for lunch!

[jffoley]

Nice report! Must've been nice out there today. Glad you got into some. And with your son an added bonus. WTG!

[kanvery]

It was great seeing you out there and sounds like you had a great day! I wish we could've had more time to jig for perch and hardhead but we had to get back. I really enjoyed bringing someone new into the sport. We actually didn't catch anything because we spent most of the morning doing self rescue drills and catching spot. Thanks for pointing us towards the fish though! My dad also had a little trouble staying in one spot underneath the pilings. He did have A LOT of really good runs (12 to be precise, the exact amount of spot we had) but he was having trouble juggling the paddle and the rod in the tight space. He had a great time though and next time he'll really be ready for a full day of strictly fishing. I might have to try your method, it could be a bit more relaxing for newbies especially since it's not constant paddling. Did you have any trouble with blues today? I didn't see any!
My dad was throughly surprised at how exhausting a paddling all day can be but he has vowed to get his own boat. So if there are any out there for sale let me know!

[CB kayak 02]

My dad was throughly surprised at how exhausting a paddling all day can be but he has vowed to get his own boat. So if there are any out there for sale let me know!

I might be looking upgrade to a hobie. I have OK Prowler Trident 13, I would sell it with Eagle Cuda 300 fish finder already mounted. Would not include paddle or life jacket. Let me know if you might be interested.

[surfdog]

thanks for the report Bryan, sounds like good times

[summerschool]

What I have found works is I put my right leg over the rod but and the rod is held over the left side of the kayak, I then can paddle and hold in one spot. When the rod goes down it is just enough time for the rock to get the spot in its mouth by the time I get the rod held in my hands from under my leg. Kind of what Kayak Kevin does when he fishes the concrete ships, works great for the pilings.