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Colton's Point, 7/25
I decided to meet up with Kevin (kevinfry) and Rick (OBX_RAT) to fish the Clements Island and Heron Island Bar areas after work. Rick had to bail, but Kevin and I launched a bit after 5pm to fish the rising tide. I was hoping to find some topwater striper action and to christen my new Extreme rod.
I picked up a few 9” perch casting a white, twin tail grub on a spinner arm around the docks near the launch before heading to the island. At the island, small blues and stripers were breaking here and there. I thought a 4” X-Rap would weed out the small fish. I was wrong:
Kevin caught several small stripers and blues. I picked up a 10 or 11” croaker while jigging a Gulp grub under the breakers:
I also caught some small spot on Fishbites and some small perch and a rat red on the grub, which made for 4 species for the evening. Kevin’s blues made 5. There was a lot of boat activity around the island, so we decided to head to Heron Island Bar to see what was there. Kevin picked up a sublegal striper on the way:
I missed several hits on my X-Rap on the way, which I don’t understand.
I can’t even look at that lure without getting hooked. We found some bigger breakers, but couldn’t convince them to bite. Kevin and I set off in different directions, and I picked up a 16” striper on the X-Rap.
I started seeing marks around the bar, so I started jigging a Stingsilver. Almost immediately, I started hooking into 14-16” stripers.
It was a good opportunity to tune into the rod I was using, but I couldn’t find any larger fish. It’s been a while since I’ve hooked into a legal striper, which is obvious by the fact that I thought every fish I hooked was pulling hard enough to be a keeper. 
I need to catch some bigger fish to recalibrate.
Kevin was getting into some fish, too:
He eventually landed a keeper:
He caught dinner-worthy bluefish, too.
The wind started picking up near sunset. The wind was blowing 180* from the direction that was forecasted and at about 10mph faster than predicted.
I wish I could be 100% wrong at my job. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, since Kevin and I were fishing together...
Sunset pic:
I tied on my trust Stillwater Smack-It as we ducked in the lee of the island. I had a few blow-ups, one of which was a striper that was exactly as long as the lure. That was the first time that has happened. Usually, the Smack-It weeds out the smaller fish. The other fish was another 16-incher. The wind started getting worse, so we called it a day a bit before 9.
Since I hadn’t caught a keeper, I tied on a big X-Rap (XR12) to troll back to the launch. On the way back, Rick and his buddies swung by in a boat. He shouted, “Hey, Bill! It’s OBX_RAT!” I didn’t recognize him and heard, “Hey, Bill! Throw an X-Rap!”, which confused me. I thought, “How did that guy know what I was trolling?” 
Shortly thereafter, I picked up another sublegal striper.
We actually had a bit of a surf landing back at the launch, and my cooler and crate got soaked.
The catching was pretty steady all evening long even if there were few keepers. It was my first time fishing that area, and it was cool checking it out. My neighbor had been telling me to go there for years, but I could never figure out where to launch. I definitely want to hit it again during the fall.
Some other pics from the evening:
We fished from early flood to max flood. I forgot to check the water temp, but it felt like bathwater when I stepped in at the launch. All the stripers I caught looked well-fed and happy despite the water temp. Given how ambitious the small stripers were in hitting big lures, maybe the heat was making them hungry? I caught fish with my new rod, too, which was cool, but I had issues with the last section flying off. I would check to make sure the pieces were properly seated every 3-5 casts since I haven’t used it before, but the last piece still kept flying off every now and then. I wasn’t casting especially heavy lures with it, so I don’t know what was going on. Any ideas?
I picked up a few 9” perch casting a white, twin tail grub on a spinner arm around the docks near the launch before heading to the island. At the island, small blues and stripers were breaking here and there. I thought a 4” X-Rap would weed out the small fish. I was wrong:
Kevin caught several small stripers and blues. I picked up a 10 or 11” croaker while jigging a Gulp grub under the breakers:
I also caught some small spot on Fishbites and some small perch and a rat red on the grub, which made for 4 species for the evening. Kevin’s blues made 5. There was a lot of boat activity around the island, so we decided to head to Heron Island Bar to see what was there. Kevin picked up a sublegal striper on the way:
I missed several hits on my X-Rap on the way, which I don’t understand.
I can’t even look at that lure without getting hooked. We found some bigger breakers, but couldn’t convince them to bite. Kevin and I set off in different directions, and I picked up a 16” striper on the X-Rap.I started seeing marks around the bar, so I started jigging a Stingsilver. Almost immediately, I started hooking into 14-16” stripers.
It was a good opportunity to tune into the rod I was using, but I couldn’t find any larger fish. It’s been a while since I’ve hooked into a legal striper, which is obvious by the fact that I thought every fish I hooked was pulling hard enough to be a keeper. I need to catch some bigger fish to recalibrate.Kevin was getting into some fish, too:
He eventually landed a keeper:
He caught dinner-worthy bluefish, too.
The wind started picking up near sunset. The wind was blowing 180* from the direction that was forecasted and at about 10mph faster than predicted.
I wish I could be 100% wrong at my job. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, since Kevin and I were fishing together...Sunset pic:
I tied on my trust Stillwater Smack-It as we ducked in the lee of the island. I had a few blow-ups, one of which was a striper that was exactly as long as the lure. That was the first time that has happened. Usually, the Smack-It weeds out the smaller fish. The other fish was another 16-incher. The wind started getting worse, so we called it a day a bit before 9.
Since I hadn’t caught a keeper, I tied on a big X-Rap (XR12) to troll back to the launch. On the way back, Rick and his buddies swung by in a boat. He shouted, “Hey, Bill! It’s OBX_RAT!” I didn’t recognize him and heard, “Hey, Bill! Throw an X-Rap!”, which confused me.
I thought, “How did that guy know what I was trolling?” Shortly thereafter, I picked up another sublegal striper. We actually had a bit of a surf landing back at the launch, and my cooler and crate got soaked.
The catching was pretty steady all evening long even if there were few keepers. It was my first time fishing that area, and it was cool checking it out. My neighbor had been telling me to go there for years, but I could never figure out where to launch. I definitely want to hit it again during the fall.
Some other pics from the evening:
We fished from early flood to max flood. I forgot to check the water temp, but it felt like bathwater when I stepped in at the launch. All the stripers I caught looked well-fed and happy despite the water temp. Given how ambitious the small stripers were in hitting big lures, maybe the heat was making them hungry? I caught fish with my new rod, too, which was cool, but I had issues with the last section flying off.
I would check to make sure the pieces were properly seated every 3-5 casts since I haven’t used it before, but the last piece still kept flying off every now and then. I wasn’t casting especially heavy lures with it, so I don’t know what was going on. Any ideas?
I called Austin Kayak the next day and ordered a rudder kit. Man what a difference on a windy day in the bay! 
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