Bay Bridge 6-5-13

[Jeff Little]

I hit this area for the first time today, launching from Hemingways. I was asked very nicely NOT to launch where I did again. I think it was the grounds keeper, and I can respect not wanting his landscaping to be trampled, not that we did. He pointed us in the direction of an area over by "Building 4" which I found, but can't figure out how to make that bulkhead and docks area work as a launch. Oh well. Guess I'll figure it out when I need to.

I ended up with 6 striper today, ranging from about 15 up to 26.75 inches. The big one was a lot of fun to catch. It came to the kayak side quickly, too quickly and dove hard. My drag was set tighter than it should have been and for a moment, I anticipated either a snapped rod, a flipped kayak or both. Neither happened, but I will have to edit some of my words out of the footage I shot. I'll put up a video of the days events and lessons learned within the next week and post it on this thread. Short version: 1 oz jig head, 7 inch chartreuse soft plastic, find the rip, lift drop lift drop crunch.

[Mbrupb]

Awesome. Looking forward to the footage.

[tufnik]

Nice catches. It's been a while since I caught a striper there. But maybe one day I'll start up again.

Hemmingway's has been off limits for launching for maybe 2-3 years now. Since that time, we had permission to launch off G-dock at the adjacent Marina. Unfortunately, we recently have been prohibited from launching from G-dock. The guys launch from SPSP, Matapeake Park, Triton Park and maybe other places now. If you do a search on this Forum, you can follow a lot of posts on the subject.

[archeryrob]

No go to lures or anything? When's the video coming out with the details?

[jet]

well done jeff, look forward to the vid! i wonder which building is 4 bc many of us were told to GTFO last time, ha. i bet it's the one near g-dock

[Berto]

Nice Fish!

[ronaultmtd]

Yeah Jeff, nice day on the water, nice fish this late out of a kayak-tough that Hemmingway's won't let us launch there, but they own the property...wished the area just north of the bridge from Hemmingway's had a beach launch area with some parking...that would be perfect-

[Jeff Little]

Here's the video of the day. The book really helped my learning curve. I heard he's coming out with another one soon.

[Mmacro]

You could write your own, illustrated book of hot-spot Bay fishing techniques... I really like your drawings illustrating the way you fished a certain structure.

[Jeff Little]

I wrote one on kayak fishing for river smallmouth in 2007. It's out of print now. I didn't do much in the way of illustrations. That was something I started doing this winter to show some key ideas on smallmouth positioning and movement in a river on the winter to spring transition. It kind of took off from there. It's a good wrap up to my videos. All of what's in my book and a whole lot more is in my DVD series on smallmouth. They are available at confidencebaits.net. Kimbro's book is available here: http://www.chesapeakelighttackle.com/

[MetroMan]

What an amazingly informative video. Thanks for that!!

[ronaultmtd]

Thanks, Jeff- enjoyed your video- it is always great to have a fishing partner with you when you work to figure out what is going to trigger the bite based on weather, water conditions, tides, and other boat traffic- look forward to seeing you on the water- tight lines-

[Mmacro]

Ever thought of going to ebooks? Cut out the publishers and cost of printing and go digital? You can even embed the videos on the pages.

As to smallmouth fishing... I do a lot of that up on the Hudson River near Lake George, NY. My great grandfather purchased a small piece of property up there and eventually bid on and moved the village's railroad station to the property after they closed.

There used to be a variety of fish on the river back in the day (rainbow trout, pike, etc...). Now it's just giant creek chubs (fun fishing on ultralight and spinners/castmasters) and smallmouth. Last year the trick was small rubber crayfish on a plain hook (no weight) and drift it behind the canoe as you float downriver. There are ell grass beds, large eddies, rock ledges along the shore and buried tree trunks that if you know to target hold large fish.

Now that I have a kayak I'm looking forward to trying Lake George proper.

[Shady]

WOW! Excellent video! Do you have your motor control unmounted?

[moc]

That was a very professional looking video! I can't wait to see more. Very educational. I am into sharing informative information so everyone can become better anglers. That is why I call this site Snaggedline University. Well done.