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I got my two largest yet on Friday in all that rain and wind. It's crazy how you can drive over the water, and it's smooth and pretty, but by the time you drag out the half mile through Terrapin there are 3 to 4 foot seas. I went upstream and investigated some structure I have been meaning to check out. Fish were all over fast depth transitions around 23 feet. I couldn't stay put long enough to get more than one or two touches on bottom with a 1 oz jig head. Went to 1.5 oz and just wasn't getting bit. There were two crab boats out, didn't see any other fishing boats. I worked that area several hours, then getting tired, just drifted and jigged, casting downstream, touching bottom twice before reeling in and casting down wind again. When I wasn't pointing the nose of the kayak into the wind and surf, I was (according to the GPS) moving down at 2.4 to 3 miles per hour. It was brutal trying to hold, and I've been having trouble with the motor. I've spoken to the folks at Torqeedo and I'm mailing the throttle to them as I can't clear a code. They've been very good at getting me parts quickly when I've broken stuff before. I missed having the motor when I found them.
I think that the trick that finally put the two in the boat was seeing them on the depth finder, pitching 5 feet upwind of the kayak, free spooling the jig down to them (same one in the video I posted how to make last week), then popping them off the bottom. I caught the first one, knowing that it was well over the 28 inch mark, and knowing that I was keeping it as I saw the blood in the water as I was fighting it. The hook went in that spot at the bottom of the mouth where all the gill arches come together. I hate hooking a fish I mean to release in that spot because it's so vascular and they rarely survive it. Happy that I had one to take home and feeling that my own reserve battery was going to be tested getting back to the beach launch, I started heading in. But I saw more big solid marks on the depth finder. Drop it down, free spool, watch the line stop (hard to do when you're riding a mechanical bull while someone shoots a fire hose at you), pop it up and bam, another one on. Both fights we really fun, but cost me about 15 minutes of lost ground to paddle back up. That's with them trying to pull up wind to where they were hooked.
I wish I had filmed some of it (currently working on footage from a previous day), but my cameras are taking a beating. Actually I am down to one, and it's acting a little funky, probably due to some salt water splashiness. Nothing against the GoPro set ups, but I prefer a regular unit for better audio and other functions. Might have to look into exactly what Kayak Kevin does with those big white waterproof cases. Anyhow, here's the photo I took once ashore:
IMG_2364.jpg
I found that I had taken on some water, not like the last time I was out, but a significant amount. I had the big crack in the hull repaired by Blue Mountain Outfitters in Marysville, Pennsylvania. They do good work, but I think that with 6 or 7 hours of waves washing over all parts of the kayak (including all the places I have transducer wires, rod holders, YakAttack Mighty Mounts, etc.) that dribbles amounted to gallons over time. I worked it over again with Marine Goop this evening. I also shoved a mess of pool noodles into the hull for fail proof floatation. I real the other post about the SINK sinking, and am learning that the bay is different than the whitewater rivers I am used to. Just as tough, but in different ways. I might also consider one of those, "Hey EMS/USCG, come find me now I'm in trouble!" personal beacons.
So I removed the water from the hull, put the kayak on the cart, broke the cart strap, fixed the strap by joining both ends with a pair of stinger hooks and started the half mile hike. All went well there until I heard the loudest sound I've ever heard. Well, maybe standing on Gravelly Point under big airplanes taking off from National Airport is louder, but in the middle of a forest on Kent Island, it was deafening. "If a tree falls in the woods....." Yep, it makes a sound, a big one. It crossed my path about 100 feet out in front of me. I back tracked, found another way, but it was like Mother Nature who had thrown everything else at me all day saying, "Hey! I'm not done with you!" Here's the pic of the tree that uprooted during the Kent Island Flash Flood Warning. I guess the roots lost their hold with all that rain.
IMG_2383.jpg
I slept hard Friday night.
I think that the trick that finally put the two in the boat was seeing them on the depth finder, pitching 5 feet upwind of the kayak, free spooling the jig down to them (same one in the video I posted how to make last week), then popping them off the bottom. I caught the first one, knowing that it was well over the 28 inch mark, and knowing that I was keeping it as I saw the blood in the water as I was fighting it. The hook went in that spot at the bottom of the mouth where all the gill arches come together. I hate hooking a fish I mean to release in that spot because it's so vascular and they rarely survive it. Happy that I had one to take home and feeling that my own reserve battery was going to be tested getting back to the beach launch, I started heading in. But I saw more big solid marks on the depth finder. Drop it down, free spool, watch the line stop (hard to do when you're riding a mechanical bull while someone shoots a fire hose at you), pop it up and bam, another one on. Both fights we really fun, but cost me about 15 minutes of lost ground to paddle back up. That's with them trying to pull up wind to where they were hooked.
I wish I had filmed some of it (currently working on footage from a previous day), but my cameras are taking a beating. Actually I am down to one, and it's acting a little funky, probably due to some salt water splashiness. Nothing against the GoPro set ups, but I prefer a regular unit for better audio and other functions. Might have to look into exactly what Kayak Kevin does with those big white waterproof cases. Anyhow, here's the photo I took once ashore:
IMG_2364.jpg
I found that I had taken on some water, not like the last time I was out, but a significant amount. I had the big crack in the hull repaired by Blue Mountain Outfitters in Marysville, Pennsylvania. They do good work, but I think that with 6 or 7 hours of waves washing over all parts of the kayak (including all the places I have transducer wires, rod holders, YakAttack Mighty Mounts, etc.) that dribbles amounted to gallons over time. I worked it over again with Marine Goop this evening. I also shoved a mess of pool noodles into the hull for fail proof floatation. I real the other post about the SINK sinking, and am learning that the bay is different than the whitewater rivers I am used to. Just as tough, but in different ways. I might also consider one of those, "Hey EMS/USCG, come find me now I'm in trouble!" personal beacons.
So I removed the water from the hull, put the kayak on the cart, broke the cart strap, fixed the strap by joining both ends with a pair of stinger hooks and started the half mile hike. All went well there until I heard the loudest sound I've ever heard. Well, maybe standing on Gravelly Point under big airplanes taking off from National Airport is louder, but in the middle of a forest on Kent Island, it was deafening. "If a tree falls in the woods....." Yep, it makes a sound, a big one. It crossed my path about 100 feet out in front of me. I back tracked, found another way, but it was like Mother Nature who had thrown everything else at me all day saying, "Hey! I'm not done with you!" Here's the pic of the tree that uprooted during the Kent Island Flash Flood Warning. I guess the roots lost their hold with all that rain.
IMG_2383.jpg
I slept hard Friday night.
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