First Severn Keeper of '14

[dsiekman]

Got my first keeper on the new PA yesterday morning fishing the upper Severn. He was a healthy, clean 20"er. I also got into some WP up to about 8-9" before the wind and boat traffic convinced me it was time to go.

He hit a white/yellow Scatter Rap.

I caught him within the first few minutes of fishing so I turned my front hatch into a makeshift live well/holding cell. Worked fairly well.

I noticed the wind makes steering a real challenge, especially in the high seating position. At times it was like the rudder wasn't doing a thing. image.jpg

[mango]

Nice fish

[Pinch]

If you filled your front hatch with water "livewell/ holding cell" that would make the PA real nose heavy and lift that little rudder they have put of the water a bit. Nice catch!

[Cowpokey]

If you filled your front hatch with water "livewell/ holding cell" that would make the PA real nose heavy and lift that little rudder they have put of the water a bit. Nice catch!

^^^This^^^

I ran into the same problem with my daughter on the front and the standard rudder on my Outback. Hobie makes a larger rudder for the PA, not sure how much larger, but it would surely help. The sailing rudder fixed the lack of steering with the extra weight on the bow of mine.

[dsiekman]

^^^This^^^

I ran into the same problem with my daughter on the front and the standard rudder on my Outback. Hobie makes a larger rudder for the PA, not sure how much larger, but it would surely help. The sailing rudder fixed the lack of steering with the extra weight on the bow of mine.

Very good point. I'm going to have to look into the larger rudder because I like the idea of filling the hatch with ice or water.

[dsiekman]

I'll add that it was still a strange bite; almost defensive or territorial. I'm not sure he was really trying to eat it. I say this for two reasons. The fish I've caught so far this year have all hit "noisy" lures. Everything else has gone untouched. They have also all hit the front set of hooks. In the past I'd say the rear set is hit 95% of the time. While this fish was well hooked, the schoolies I got into a couple weeks ago were not. They were sort of foul hooked, again as if they were taking a swipe at it or just checking it out and got too close.

[dsiekman]

I was finally able to get video edited and uploaded. It isn't great, but I am still learning the best techniques. The lesson for today...the Chesty mount is not great for trolling.

http://youtu.be/m32B0cYSX3Y