Saturday morning Mariner Point 8/3

[mweber02]

Redemption for forgetting my paddle last night (and again on my first trip this morning!)
I got out late after having to drive back home for my paddle, but there was a lot of topwater going on up until about 930.

5 decent bass in a couple of hours, between 2-3.5lbs. Definitely hooked on kayak fishing now. Best day of fishing in about 5 years.
It felt good to be out-fishing all the guys in rigged out bass boats.


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[rob-kayak]

Well it was long over due.... I'm sure you are saying to yourself.
I feel that... been there.

Cheers and I'm stoked on your success !!!!

[sparky1423]

Great job on the bass...it's great to put a frown on the glitter boys faces while they're paying off their second mortgages!

[mweber02]

Glitter boys... that's awesome.

I jokingly told one of them as I was paddling back that he can keep his motor, I just wish I could stand up to stretch.

[CAGE RATTLER]

Been wanting to fish that area for awhile and after seeing your report, me and my GF gave it a try sunday.
Didnt get out till about 2 PM but fished till almost dark and we both got the big skunk!!

I blamed it on the heavy boat traffic in the area and we also had a very strong north wind that seemed to blow out all the water.
The water level seemed very low. not sure what area you fished but we tried to head over to the quarrys but when we turned the corner to go up to the opening, the strong wind was in our face so we gave up that idea and tried the marsh area straight out from the train bridge opening. Water was only about a foot deep with very heavy vegetation.

dont really have much in the box thats weedless to try in the heavy vegetation but pulled out a shaky head jig and rigged up some plastics for swim baits. not even a nibble. later went up the other opening that leads to a marina. had much deeper water there and less vegetation so tried some rattle traps and a diving crank bait but still nothing. as it got closer to dark i tried some top water with a popper and my GF tried using a top water frog. Wind had died down and the water level seemed back to normal by the time we left but still caught nothing.

Still had a nice day checking out a new area and a nice lunch and a few glasses of wine on a little beach landing we found but a little pullage would have made for a nicer day.

[Darryl330]

Nice Job!

I have had a lot of fun fishing out of there. I haven't put in there lately though.
I keep trying to get my first yak rockfish up at the conowingo.

When I'm out of Mariner Point, it seems like I catch bigger bass out past the RR bridge in the coves on the left, but catch more, smaller ones up the gunpowder and little gunpowder.

How about you?

[mweber02]

I launched from the park and paddled out, casting a few times along the right shoreline as I went out with no luck. I turned right at the point and finally got 3 within 10 minutes as I got about 1/2 way around the little "cove" in the reeds (small circle in the pic). After I made it around that next point that is where I saw all of the topwater, all across the grass flat there (larger circle). When I was out Saturday morning I would guess most of the grass there was about 6" from the surface, leaving just enough room to burn the 1/2oz spinner through. I spent a lot of time out at least a good 100 yards from shore (1- because that is where all of the fish and birds were feeding, and 2 - there were already 3 guys in bass boats hitting the edge of the reeds). I made my way into the first canal that caught my eye and that is where I caught the largest of the 5. When I look at the map it looks nothing like what I thought from the kayak, so I am not sure exactly where to circle for that one.

I have heard of the quarry area once before but have no idea where that is.

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[gliebig]

The entrance to the quarry is about 2 o'clock on your big circle. Follow that channel alllll the way back (runs parallel to the Mariner channel) and you wind up in the quarry.

[sparky1423]

If you head straight out from the boat ramp and follow the creek with the houses and docks on the right and the tree line on the left...you dead end into a piece of land that you can unload and carry the kayak across and dump back into the water. It will put you minutes outside the quarry. Yakkinfish18 and myself did this last winter desperately searching for crappie fix. It shaves a lot of time and a few miles, but I don't think I would do it again. Even with two people, it was a bear getting the yaks in and out of the water and through the 20 yards of woods. It is an option though.

[gliebig]

We did that on our way out of the quarry. It does save some time, but is also a workout.

[dhayward]

I went there yesterday around 7. Put in at Mariner point paddled to the left and right where the reeds start is another crossing to the gunpowder. The spot you are talking about Jeremy is barbed wired now. Fished till dark and got skunked.......

[CAGE RATTLER]

The small circle on your map is where i started to fish also but I guess I was throwing the wrong things.
I had a couple spinner baits like you were using but didnt pull them out cause didnt think I could get the through the vegetation.
I've never done much bass fishing so alot of the lures and techniques are new to me.
Getting a lil bored of Rockfish, perch and croakers (mainly out on the boat) so doing a lil fresh water fishing in the kayak is a nice change of pace.

If you look at the top left corner of your map, you can see the water opening up just out of your screenshot just to the left of the houses. That is the quarry.

[mweber02]

I had a couple spinner baits like you were using but didnt pull them out cause didnt think I could get the through the vegetation.
I've never done much bass fishing so alot of the lures and techniques are new to me.

A co-worked introduced me to the Booyah spinnerbaits about 6 years ago and one particular lure has been my go-to ever since. The 1/2 oz chartruse and white with 1 gold and 1 silver willow leaf blades. There are so many variables with spinnerbaits that seem to make as drastic a difference as switching from a small inline spinner to a topwater. I have found that larger bass hit the 1/2oz far more often than a 1/4oz, and you still get a decent amount of <2lb bass on the 1/2oz to keep you busy.

As far as how to fish a spinnerbait for bass... As long as you keep it moving you can fish it effectively. You can do a somewhat slow "drag" at/near the bottom, a full out aggressive retrieval at the surface, or anything in between. You can add twitches as you reel, but I generally just bring it in steady. Depending on the type of vegetation a spinnerbait can be a very practical option. As long as it isnt all a slop of algae and you keep it out of the dense weeds they can be retrieved relatively clean. I was keeping keeping the lure in the top 6" or so of water with success on Saturday. That was about all the space I had between the surface and the dense weeds.

I am relatively inexperienced with tidal fishing and just got my feet wet with kayak fishing, but I've learned a lot about bass fishing in the past few years (way more than I imagined there would be growing up. I have found I have a lot to teach my father, who I had thought taught me a lot). Let me know if you want to meet up for a trip out one day. I definitely want to get more time in the kayak before archery season starts up.