Bb 7-15

[Reelaxin10]

I got on the water with moc at Sandy Point a little after 5 this afternoon and it was hot !!! The plan was to live line and then jig if we ran out of spot. Well the spot proved harder to find then normal today with a few caught right away and then a lull in the action. Finally had 11 in the livewell and went out and tried a few different pilings. Finally hooked up with a nice fish and was able to get it in the yak, ended up being 28.5" which is my biggest from my yak. I had a few other bites with one that tangled me with the piling and managed to land another shorter one that I offered to moc. Overall, not hot action but I was happy to get a new yak PB and fish without a ton of boat traffic around the bridge.
IMG_0123.jpgIMG_0125.jpg

[Mbrupb]

Awesome fish. Congrats on the personal best. Last time I tried the BB I was spending some time refining my jigging technique at the pilings closer in to sandy point. I need to make my way out to those 4 way pilings next time. Did you have success catching spot on the pilings? I tried to get some out front of the beach at sandy point and couldnt manage anything but 9-11 inch croakers.

[Shady]

Nice one Shane! Thanks for the report.

[Goody]

Nice catch there.

[chex]

Very nice! That's a big BB fish.

[moc]

Here was my report on my experience out there in the HEAT...


I wanted to try my hand at live lining from a kayak before I try to fish around Poplar Island hopefully this weekend depending on the weather and the winds. I have heard reports that the Bay Bridge was producing some nice fish over the weekend, so I left work early and got to Sandy Point State Park's boat ramps where I met Shane (Reelaxin10). It was hot and humid around 95 degrees. The winds were only 6mph and the skies were sunny. We hit the water around 5:20pm. Our first task was to catch some spot to live line. I had a minnow bucket that I would leave in the water to hold my spots. Shane had a bucket live well. We fished for spots in 8 to 12 feet of water. All that I was catching were perch. Shane was catching spots. I changed my rig to more of a drop shot rig tipped with fish bites with a 1 ounce weight in 12 feet of water. That was my ticket for spots between the pilings. I must have caught 10 spots in a row. While catching spots I caught a 12 inch perch, a few small croakers and many 10 inch perch.

After we had enough spots we headed over to deeper water. We began fishing in 23 to 32 feet of water. Live lining was slow, but shane managed to hook up with two fish, a 19inch and a 28.5 inch fish. I did not have the same lunch since my spots died in the bait bucket. I was shocked that they did since I kept them in the water most of the time for oxygen. Shane did give me two spots towards the end of the day, but the bites where far and few in between. The Police pulled up to us in their boat to check our fishing license.

It was getting close to 9pm, so we began to head back. Shane did not want the 19 inch fish so he gave it to me so I can MusGouf it!

I am glad that I did this shake down trip. I learned that I should have my live line rod setup before getting there with 1/2 ounce to 3/4 ounce egg sinker weight, the drop shot rig with fish bites work great for spots (no bloodworm needed), and get my aerator working on my bucket to keep the spots alive and kicking.

[Reelaxin10]

Thanks guys , glad to get out with you Martin!

Did you have success catching spot on the pilings?

Yea, the spot were harder to come by this time but we caught them around shallower pilings. You want to use really small hooks for the them.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice fish Shane.

[kayak456]

moc, i am assuming you had your spot in one of those yellow plano/frabil buckets? if so 11 spot is way to many for that little bucket. i use a bubble box airator with a 5 gallon bucket for minnows/menhaeden/spot from my pier. you could try a mesh bag for the spot. also instrad of egg weights, try a fishfinder rig with a clip, it allows for much easier changin of weights.

we use okuma avenger baitrunner reels for livlining, once you use a baitrunner spinning reel, youll never go back. we use 15 pound mono .

[Mbrupb]

Agree on the # of spot in the yellow floating frabil. Never had any issues with a half dozen spot that are on the smaller side.

[ronaultmtd]

The live wells are the only way to go to keep bait lively- the difference between a fresh frisky bait and a half dead one is a fish on...

[mytmouse]

Hey Moc take a look at this: http://www.austinkayak.com/products/...19.html/SO0713

I have never used the "live well" option, but I've got the big one(without the aerator) that I use for a cooler. The 19 should be a nice compact size but let you fill it up generously with spot! The issue with the Frabill that I have is that it doesn't let water continuously get refreshed, you gotta keep remembering to dunk it! BOOOOO LOL I have lost a few in there myself due to lack of oxygen. This sized one is small enough that you can grab it and sit it on your lap grab the fish and put it back. They say they float, but I don't know if that's while they are full of water, but if they do, that would be plus! I don't live line a whole lot so it really isn't worth it to me... but this is a pretty sweet setup AND you can use the discount codes for it too!

MYT

[Mbrupb]

The live wells are the only way to go to keep bait lively- the difference between a fresh frisky bait and a half dead one is a fish on...

Interested in hearing opinions on keeping bait (mostly spot) healthy. I have only used the floating yellow bait bucket a few times tethered off to the side of my kayak, and my bait seemed pretty frisky but I am also interested in the Engel Live bait coolers, as I put an auxiliary port in my battery box for an aerator/livewell when I made it. There are multiple things to consider, oxygen level, water quality and stress levels to name a few. With the floating bucket you get natural if not increased oxygen levels due to turbulence, but the baits may be significantly stressed from being dragged through the water. With an bucket/aerator you most likely get increased oxygen levels, low stress levels, but poor water quality over time due to waste/slime. Obviously a true livewell with continuous water flow is optimal but I think I want to shy away from one due to amperage of bilge pumps. I would much rather opt for being able to run my depthfinder and an aerator all day long. Thoughts?

[mytmouse]

I stand corrected, you can't use the codes for it anymore...