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As some of you know, the Susky Flats is my favorite spot to fish. It's pretty close to me and there are many species during the course of the year that you can target. I've had my kayak for 3-4 years now but this is the first year for me to try the Flats in the fall. I want to learn if there are any rockfish hanging around below the river and what size range.
I've fished the past 3 weekends in a row to try and get a good set of data points. The weather has been beautiful, although this past weekend required a little more cooler weather gear. The wind always seemed to be whipping up, causing the Outback to take in a little water through the hatch.
What I've found is that there are plenty of sub legal rockfish on the Flats. I did manage a pair of keepers on 2 of the 3 trips. The first trip at the end of September yielded a single keeper. I easily caught 20-40 fish each trip. The second trip yielded probably around 5 keeper sized fish....most seemed to be 12-17"
My style for catching rockfish is almost always trolling this is true for spring or fall. I invested in a nice down imaging FF which has had a nice impact. I view the whole kayak set up as my fishing rod. I believe that keeping the lure in the water longer and at its designed depth will catch you more fish. I've trolled over 40 miles in my last 3 trips which can be difficult at times on the flats because of the shallow depths at times as well as the weed beds and floating debris. Over all this distance I've learned for certain that if you don't pay attention to the direction of water flow, you will not catch fish. You MUST be going with the current or across it. I think of the approximate 100 fish I've caught over the last 3 trips, 2-3 may have come against the current. Certainly, if I'm trolling I'll spend equal time against the current as with it to make another pass, so it's clear that the odds are WAY better.
I hate boaters on the Flats...just had to throw it out there. There are a PIA in every season I've been up there. I had found a productive section that I kept trolling around and another boat decided to make a few passes after seeing me catch a few...nothing like a loud motor scaring fish in shallow water. He then stopped to jig my spot (not like I own the bay, but c'mon, the Flats are huge and there's only a handful of us out there) He asked if there were any good fish, I lied and said they were all tiny, but then my rod went off and a keeper rock made a liar out of me
I caught 3 more right in front of him in about 2 minutes, to his goose egg. He left empty handed and I got my peace and quiet back again.
Back to the report. The water temp at the end of Sept was low 70's, Oct 6th was upper 60's and Oct 13th was lower 60's. For whatever reason I have found that the time with most activity was when the sun was nice and bright, like noon through 2PM. After that I don't know because I left them biting to get home. In fact, I was late a few times for things because the action had heated up so much. This was true of each of the 3 weekends. It also helps when the current is moving well in a well defined direction.
As always, focus on the weedbeds, any kind of structure and changes in depth. In any of these areas you should find fish. Over the years I've worked to find productive areas and they seem to be consistent through spring and fall. I keep trying to find new spots. The Flats are huge and the kayak can only cover so much ground. I have covered much of it, but the eastern side I do not know much about. It's further for me to travel so I just don't bother although it sounds like fish are over there too.
The wife is starting to get mad at me for fishing every weekend so I may lose some data points from here on out, also the weather may not permit at times. I am really anxious to find out if the bigger fish ever get back up there in later November/December. I think that some of the migratory stripers may take the delaware canal which may put them in the Flats, but I have never seen a report to substantiate this....so I have to research myself to find out. Of course, not catching fish proves nothing, only catching one proves they can be there.
I'll keep you guys posted on things that I learn.
I've fished the past 3 weekends in a row to try and get a good set of data points. The weather has been beautiful, although this past weekend required a little more cooler weather gear. The wind always seemed to be whipping up, causing the Outback to take in a little water through the hatch.
What I've found is that there are plenty of sub legal rockfish on the Flats. I did manage a pair of keepers on 2 of the 3 trips. The first trip at the end of September yielded a single keeper. I easily caught 20-40 fish each trip. The second trip yielded probably around 5 keeper sized fish....most seemed to be 12-17"
My style for catching rockfish is almost always trolling this is true for spring or fall. I invested in a nice down imaging FF which has had a nice impact. I view the whole kayak set up as my fishing rod. I believe that keeping the lure in the water longer and at its designed depth will catch you more fish. I've trolled over 40 miles in my last 3 trips which can be difficult at times on the flats because of the shallow depths at times as well as the weed beds and floating debris. Over all this distance I've learned for certain that if you don't pay attention to the direction of water flow, you will not catch fish. You MUST be going with the current or across it. I think of the approximate 100 fish I've caught over the last 3 trips, 2-3 may have come against the current. Certainly, if I'm trolling I'll spend equal time against the current as with it to make another pass, so it's clear that the odds are WAY better.
I hate boaters on the Flats...just had to throw it out there. There are a PIA in every season I've been up there. I had found a productive section that I kept trolling around and another boat decided to make a few passes after seeing me catch a few...nothing like a loud motor scaring fish in shallow water. He then stopped to jig my spot (not like I own the bay, but c'mon, the Flats are huge and there's only a handful of us out there) He asked if there were any good fish, I lied and said they were all tiny, but then my rod went off and a keeper rock made a liar out of me
I caught 3 more right in front of him in about 2 minutes, to his goose egg. He left empty handed and I got my peace and quiet back again.Back to the report. The water temp at the end of Sept was low 70's, Oct 6th was upper 60's and Oct 13th was lower 60's. For whatever reason I have found that the time with most activity was when the sun was nice and bright, like noon through 2PM. After that I don't know because I left them biting to get home. In fact, I was late a few times for things because the action had heated up so much. This was true of each of the 3 weekends. It also helps when the current is moving well in a well defined direction.
As always, focus on the weedbeds, any kind of structure and changes in depth. In any of these areas you should find fish. Over the years I've worked to find productive areas and they seem to be consistent through spring and fall. I keep trying to find new spots. The Flats are huge and the kayak can only cover so much ground. I have covered much of it, but the eastern side I do not know much about. It's further for me to travel so I just don't bother although it sounds like fish are over there too.
The wife is starting to get mad at me for fishing every weekend so I may lose some data points from here on out, also the weather may not permit at times. I am really anxious to find out if the bigger fish ever get back up there in later November/December. I think that some of the migratory stripers may take the delaware canal which may put them in the Flats, but I have never seen a report to substantiate this....so I have to research myself to find out. Of course, not catching fish proves nothing, only catching one proves they can be there.
I'll keep you guys posted on things that I learn.
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