Fished the Susquehanna this morning north of the flats. Launched out of Lapidum ramp around 5:45am once the rain stopped. As soon as I get on the water, it starts to pour and it did not let up for at least an hour. I wasn't going to let this morning go to waste so I tossed my lines out and trolling I went. One rod had an xrap sxr-12 blue sardine, and the other had a lucky craft 100sp suspending jerkbait in blue crack. I have to say the lucky craft has officially out performed the trusty blue sardine or any xrap in general.
The water temp was 74.5 degrees and the forecast was cloudy with a chance of meatballs. On my first pass across the river I landed a 6 inch white perch which was impressive since my lure was 4.75" long. Soon after, I caught one dink and then hooked into a nice smallmouth bass. My first on a kayak and largest ever. It registered 18" but her nose was not touching the bump board, so I would have to give her a 17. I decided to make a few pass between the twin rocks and spencer island where most of the boats trolled. Two hours passed and no action and I lost my blue sardine xrap which just crushed me on the inside.
I gave up and drifted down river to play with the perch and catfish. I was bottom bouncing some night crawlers, but the action was slow also. Very small perch and channel cat. Back in the groove I headed to the twin rocks to try my luck again. Finally....my rod bent, a nice fight with a 24"er on the other end. Got her in the kayak and started to reel in my other line since some boats were headed in my direction. As soon as I reeled the slack, BAM...a rock hit while I was retrieving the lure. Here I sit with two keepers in my lap in less than 2 minutes. Hours of anticipation for minutes of excitement, reminded me of prom night!
Anyway, everyone was catching between 6-12 rockfish and had no problems finding their keepers. Most were live-lining with perch and a few were trolling tube and worm.
Set some new goals for myself this summer:
1. Catch a rockfish in a different location than the Susquehanna
2. Try to live line for the first time, it seems to produce
3. Read up on tube and worm and add it to my arsenal
Take care!
The water temp was 74.5 degrees and the forecast was cloudy with a chance of meatballs. On my first pass across the river I landed a 6 inch white perch which was impressive since my lure was 4.75" long. Soon after, I caught one dink and then hooked into a nice smallmouth bass. My first on a kayak and largest ever. It registered 18" but her nose was not touching the bump board, so I would have to give her a 17. I decided to make a few pass between the twin rocks and spencer island where most of the boats trolled. Two hours passed and no action and I lost my blue sardine xrap which just crushed me on the inside.
I gave up and drifted down river to play with the perch and catfish. I was bottom bouncing some night crawlers, but the action was slow also. Very small perch and channel cat. Back in the groove I headed to the twin rocks to try my luck again. Finally....my rod bent, a nice fight with a 24"er on the other end. Got her in the kayak and started to reel in my other line since some boats were headed in my direction. As soon as I reeled the slack, BAM...a rock hit while I was retrieving the lure. Here I sit with two keepers in my lap in less than 2 minutes. Hours of anticipation for minutes of excitement, reminded me of prom night!
Anyway, everyone was catching between 6-12 rockfish and had no problems finding their keepers. Most were live-lining with perch and a few were trolling tube and worm.
Set some new goals for myself this summer:
1. Catch a rockfish in a different location than the Susquehanna
2. Try to live line for the first time, it seems to produce
3. Read up on tube and worm and add it to my arsenal
Take care!
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