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Yesterday we made our first trip of the year.
Not only was it the first trip of the year, but it was the maiden voyage for myself and foursteps24 on our new kayaks. I didn't realize how comfortable I had become with my Synergy. I was suprisingly uncomfortable for a good half hour on the Torque. The different layout combined with me wearing all of my gear made for an uncomfortable paddle at first. I got some things readjusted and was ok after a while though.
We launched from Jean Roberts Park just after 11am, and set out to fish the waters on the other side of the river near Owens Marina. The water was moving pretty slow upon our arrival at our fishing location. Between the three of us, we jigged an assortment of soft plastics. The pickings were slow. We saw numerous boaters in our vicinity catching though. Shortly later, mytmouse picked off a couple of small yellow perch. Still, things were wayy too slow based on what we've seen and heard. Some boaters we chatted with said it was slow for them as well, and had been much better in the morning.
After a while, it started to become clearly obvious to me that we were doing something wrong. I switched baits from a 2" chartreuse powerbait curly tail grub to a green Mr. Twister with a yellow tail. This worked to get me two yellows. I was happy to get the skunk off the new boat, but I still really wasn't satisfied. I KNOW the fish were there, but I know I still wasn't doing something right.
Around 11:45, YakFish (Allen) peddled over and joined us. It's always great to meet a fellow yakker and forum member. He worked the area with us and picked off a few here and there...including a catfish.
Foursteps worked closer to the docks and picked up a nice sized yellow, in the 13" range. He also hooked into a small mouth bass.
Mytmouse ended the day with a couple of small yellows, but also caught a nice sized large mouth bass.
Around 3pm, mytmouse, foursteps and I called it a day. I was frustrated after getting snagged multiple times on the bottom, resulting in lost gear each time. I simply did not plan on that happening. I had one snag/breakoff in 70' of water that lost me a lot of line (spool wasn't full to begin with, so this was a big deal for me.) We said our farewell to YakFish and paddled back to the ramp. YakFish figured this whole "fishing" thing out after we left. He had a successful outing...I'll let him elaborate on what he found to work for him.
As we loaded up at the launch, another yakker peddled in in his Hobie. He had a successful trip as well. His well was full of nice sized yellows. He was out further down river. We saw a congregation of boats as we made our return trips and figured that was another hot spot.
I am quite certain that MY problem was my tackle. My plan all along was to use some homemade dropper loop rigs that I tied last season with flouro. Well of course when I went looking for it before this trip, the rigs were nowhere to be found! So I went with the basic old metal arm bottom rigs which I planned on getting away from this season
I think this hindered things down below. I also used a heavier sinker that I probably needed. I was using a 2oz. In the deep water, the under current seemed to be moving well, so I was using the heavy weight in efforts to have my rig go straight down below my yak. In the more shallow areas, I didn't need that much I suppose.
All in all it was a great trip because:
-We weren't at work
-We were kayaking & fishing
-The ramp wasn't iced over
-Mytmouse was able to get a break from the babies and smell the great outdoors, instead of a dirty diaper
-We met another Member here
-We stayed safe
-Foursteps and I got accustomed to our new yaks
-We caught SOMETHING
I plan on getting back out there really soon. I hated the feeling of "giving up" when I KNEW the fish were there, but I got so frustrated. Better luck will be had next time.
Not only was it the first trip of the year, but it was the maiden voyage for myself and foursteps24 on our new kayaks. I didn't realize how comfortable I had become with my Synergy. I was suprisingly uncomfortable for a good half hour on the Torque. The different layout combined with me wearing all of my gear made for an uncomfortable paddle at first. I got some things readjusted and was ok after a while though.
We launched from Jean Roberts Park just after 11am, and set out to fish the waters on the other side of the river near Owens Marina. The water was moving pretty slow upon our arrival at our fishing location. Between the three of us, we jigged an assortment of soft plastics. The pickings were slow. We saw numerous boaters in our vicinity catching though. Shortly later, mytmouse picked off a couple of small yellow perch. Still, things were wayy too slow based on what we've seen and heard. Some boaters we chatted with said it was slow for them as well, and had been much better in the morning.
After a while, it started to become clearly obvious to me that we were doing something wrong. I switched baits from a 2" chartreuse powerbait curly tail grub to a green Mr. Twister with a yellow tail. This worked to get me two yellows. I was happy to get the skunk off the new boat, but I still really wasn't satisfied. I KNOW the fish were there, but I know I still wasn't doing something right.
Around 11:45, YakFish (Allen) peddled over and joined us. It's always great to meet a fellow yakker and forum member. He worked the area with us and picked off a few here and there...including a catfish.
Foursteps worked closer to the docks and picked up a nice sized yellow, in the 13" range. He also hooked into a small mouth bass.
Mytmouse ended the day with a couple of small yellows, but also caught a nice sized large mouth bass.
Around 3pm, mytmouse, foursteps and I called it a day. I was frustrated after getting snagged multiple times on the bottom, resulting in lost gear each time. I simply did not plan on that happening. I had one snag/breakoff in 70' of water that lost me a lot of line (spool wasn't full to begin with, so this was a big deal for me.) We said our farewell to YakFish and paddled back to the ramp. YakFish figured this whole "fishing" thing out after we left. He had a successful outing...I'll let him elaborate on what he found to work for him.
As we loaded up at the launch, another yakker peddled in in his Hobie. He had a successful trip as well. His well was full of nice sized yellows. He was out further down river. We saw a congregation of boats as we made our return trips and figured that was another hot spot.
I am quite certain that MY problem was my tackle. My plan all along was to use some homemade dropper loop rigs that I tied last season with flouro. Well of course when I went looking for it before this trip, the rigs were nowhere to be found! So I went with the basic old metal arm bottom rigs which I planned on getting away from this season
I think this hindered things down below. I also used a heavier sinker that I probably needed. I was using a 2oz. In the deep water, the under current seemed to be moving well, so I was using the heavy weight in efforts to have my rig go straight down below my yak. In the more shallow areas, I didn't need that much I suppose. All in all it was a great trip because:
-We weren't at work
-We were kayaking & fishing
-The ramp wasn't iced over
-Mytmouse was able to get a break from the babies and smell the great outdoors, instead of a dirty diaper
-We met another Member here
-We stayed safe
-Foursteps and I got accustomed to our new yaks
-We caught SOMETHING
I plan on getting back out there really soon. I hated the feeling of "giving up" when I KNEW the fish were there, but I got so frustrated. Better luck will be had next time.
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