Rockin' the boat!

[dsiekman]

Headed out this morning to get a little pre-breakfast exercise on the upper Severn. I got two small white perch on a small tony spoon. They were on the bottom and VERY sluggish. I was on my way back in trolling bucktails and a bass assassin and picked up this guy. I got a rough measure in the boat at 24.5" but after getting him to shore (and squeezing his tail) he went a solid 25". My biggest keeper from the yak! He put up a great fight and it took several minutes to get him in. He had me into pilings, into a dock a few times, and almost under a lift. Very clean fish and pretty fat for his length. Polar Rock was on hand again to snap the pic.

[Fishinfool]

Fantastic! Amazing that stripers that big are still that far up the river. Have to pick up a bass assassin or two. They probably looked like a baby eel to him; irresistable. Did you have any weight on the lure, or just natural?

[dsiekman]

3/8 oz jig head tied straight to the 55lb braid. Nothing fancy. I watched a boat work through the same spot just before I got there. He made several passes with no luck. I'm convinced it is the kayak. Maybe I should change my log in to the "Fishin' Ninja".

[Fishinfool]

I was talking about that very topic w/ a friend who has a Parker 25' that we fish off of every few weeks out of Selby Bay. He's not a kayaker and is pushing 70, so it would be difficult for him at this point, but he said the same thing. The kayak is a stealth vessel. No motor, very little sound, no vibration in the water. That's a huge advantage over a power boater of any size. That's a big reason why kayakers, all other things being equal, catch more fish. The limitation of course, is the distance required to get to big water, such as near the channel edges, and dealing with breezier conditions.

[J.A. Veil]

Have to pick up a bass assassin or two. They probably looked like a baby eel to him; irresistable. Did you have any weight on the lure, or just natural?

I agree that long slender soft plastics do attract fish when trolled or retrieved. I fished today with Capt. Walleye Pete near some lower eastern shore islands. We cast lures toward the shoreline and worked them back to the boat. At different times the 5 of us on board cast and retrieved either Storm shads or 3/8-oz jigheads with 6" BKDs. In the past I have used BKDs primarily as vertical jigging lures. But they looked very realistic when cranked laterally through the water at a medium or fast speed with an occasional twitch. I caught more than 20 rockfish up to 22" using the BKDs as I would a jighead and twister tail. Bass Assassins would work the same way.

I had previously observed the intriguing wiggling action of BKDs before when winding in deep jigs, but had never tried throwing them laterally with light jigheads.

[Fishinfool]

Thanks John. Any luck down there on those lower eastern shore islands? Did you go out of Crisfield? Gotta love a guy named Walleye Pete.

[kevinfry]

awesome fish!!

[Rockchaser]

Nice catch!!
It is getting to be Rock season again, I can't wait for the big ones to move in.

[Aesiegel]

Nice fish Doug!
I may hit Jonas tomorrow morning for a couple of hours. Been cleaning out the garage for the last few days and need some R&R.

[Polar Rock]

I'm even more jealous not that i hear she came in at 25"... It was good chating with you and Millenburg at the pier.... Nice way to spend a Thursday morning if you can get away from work.
I really need that size fish for my Tidal Fish SRRKC board.... I'll be hitting it hard tomorrow night and Saturday before the storm hits.

[dsiekman]

I'm even more jealous not that i hear she came in at 25"... It was good chating with you and Millenburg at the pier.... Nice way to spend a Thursday morning if you can get away from work.
I really need that size fish for my Tidal Fish SRRKC board.... I'll be hitting it hard tomorrow night and Saturday before the storm hits.

I'm going to try to get out again this evening if I can get my storm prep work done first - rig the genny, sandbag the garage, dust off the spare sump pump, grab some fuel for the genny and the chain saw, etc.

Tell you what, I'll give you the first pass at the spot so I don't get your game winning fish... I'll even give you a few of my magic assassins. I'm only on my second one for the season. I lost the first one to something with teeth. You know, if I only bought the right lures the first time I'd be into tackle for under $20 this year. Too bad I didn't guess right the first time!

[dsiekman]

I agree that long slender soft plastics do attract fish when trolled or retrieved. I fished today with Capt. Walleye Pete near some lower eastern shore islands. We cast lures toward the shoreline and worked them back to the boat. At different times the 5 of us on board cast and retrieved either Storm shads or 3/8-oz jigheads with 6" BKDs. In the past I have used BKDs primarily as vertical jigging lures. But they looked very realistic when cranked laterally through the water at a medium or fast speed with an occasional twitch. I caught more than 20 rockfish up to 22" using the BKDs as I would a jighead and twister tail. Bass Assassins would work the same way.

I had previously observed the intriguing wiggling action of BKDs before when winding in deep jigs, but had never tried throwing them laterally with light jigheads.

I've got a couple of big Slug-o plastics that I was thinking about trying, too. I think they are in the range of 11" or so. The color isn't great, but I guess it is worth a shot. It has been interesting to watch over the last few weeks how the fish went from hitting small crank baits to big crank baits to both crank baits and soft plastics, and now it seems they only want the soft plastics. Weird. It is also a different class of fish, though. Where did all the little guys go?