different this year???

[RIBill]

what are you doing, or plan to do differently this year?

in my case:

- having fun with a portable fishfinder... just don't want it to become a necessity;

- still struggling with the best way to store stuff so that its accessible but secure... R'man had a good idea with some marine grade velcro;

- I'm wearing a nail-clipper on a lanyard in order to break the habit of using my teeth on mono and flourocarbon... believe it or not I've done real damage to the eye-teeth on the right side!!;

- I've added a rodholder upfront (again following R'man's lead) and can react more quickly without straining to watch a rod-tip behind me. I've been putting the flyrod in the holder and tucking the spinrod butt beneath my leg;

- speaking of the spinrod (sacrilege, I know)... I'm currently addicted to a 3" broken-back Rebel... it outfishes larger plugs by a wide margin in initial tests;

so far, I'm trolling more and casting less... I expect that to change shortly however as I turn my attention to the arriving blues and larger bass... but, I still intend to do lots of trolling.

?????

[ruge13]

1. I tend to bully fish even on really light tackle....so this year I am going to slow down the fight a little and enjoy it...so I lose a couple fish..big deal. I know what they look like.

2. Concentrate more on targetting fish and reading water....not just casting everywhere....lower the number of casts in a given outing and target structure and water types. Concentrate on technique rather than just catching fish. In an effort to make fishing more rewarding.

3. Different species....I want to target specific fish...not just bass all the time. Try some deeper water....

4. Sharks...I want to head out for Blues and browns this summer....yes..by kayak.

[Wes]

Get some stuff off the deck in front of me and someplace behind me where I can still get at it.

More night fishing. On deeper structure. Without getting the wileys.

Explore RI and CT Eastern shore more.

and I want to go with Ruge and watch him catch sharks.

[ruge13]

I will give a shot this summer some time and if I see anything other than dogfish.... everybodys coming....that is if you don't read about some stupid kayaker in the paper who got attacked by sharks......

[SamRiley]

New species:
Bonito
Weakfish
Bluefin

New destinations:
Billingsgate
South Monomoy
Lackeys

[Bob Parsons]

I've seen brown sharks caught just a few miles off Waquoit. Bait down deep.

Sam- Lackeys is a piece of cake if you launch from Woods Hole. Just the intial crossing of the cut might be interesting if the timing is wrong. Once across go right to where the boats moored and cut between the islands. Stay to the left to follow the channel to Lackeys. At the right tide I made it under the little bridge with the lund.

[rockfisherman]

What to do differently this year?

Got a new yak (Pungo) this spring, and have been doing some customizing.

Fish Finder. I resisted this one because I thought it was "too much" for the yak. But there's no better way to quickly learn a pond or structure. All the structure doesn't show on the charts. A reef I fish is marked by two * *. Yeah, right.

Bow mount anchor rigged to a clam (jam) cleat. I used to just tie off on the side with the old yak.

Scotty fly rod holder on the gunnel in FRONT of me. I'm loving it so far. No more holding the rod under my leg.

Paddle leash. Yeah, I never used one before. I know, I know. I still carry my Praddle (little plastic paddle) but I wouldn't want to go far with that. It is great for minor positional changes, but not for locomotion.

"Little John" portable urinal. No more looking for landing places and interrupting my fishing. Besides, the salt ponds I fish are mostly surrounded by private property and homeowners take a dim view of, well, you know. Also serves as a bailer in a pinch.

Am going to venture farther afield this year. I have a tendency to fish in my backyard.

Am going to fish BIG flies on DEEP sinking lines on deep structure in the quest for a big (40 inch plus) fly rod bass.

[bluewatr]

Rockfisherman,

I tried to adapt a rod holder in front of me but could not find a good location for it. In order to keep the rod out of my paddle stroke I would have to mount it tooooo far forward. Doing this puts the rod out of reach. I'm confined to the between the legs method or in the scotty holder that is mounted Port side and behind me.

Has anyone considered the implications of dumping their yak in shallow water with flyrod in holder. I fear that anything under 7 ft deep would break my rod. And an eskimo roll would be extremely difficult if not impossible.

-mike

[notime]

Changes:
- Rig a rod holder or two
- Place a mat on the floor to cut down on noise
- I like the urinal idea
- Rig an anchor setup
- basically get organized with my gear
- fish the ocean more during the fall run
- fish Napatree and Monomy for the first time
- spend more time in Ninegret Pond

[ruge13]

bluewatr,
not only is the eskio rollout of the question but also the resistance of the rod under water when rolling or just swamping by accident might be really bad. I have thought about this but I don;t want to try it because I have a feeling it will break the rod weather it hits bottom or not. I have an old junk fly rod at home...one of these days when it gets a little warmer I am going to try to roll with it in a holder and see what happens. I think just the water resistance will make it snap or I will not be able to roll....

[SamRiley]

Buy a Redington. Sweet rods and an unconditional lifetime guarantee :)

[rockfisherman]

Sam,

I just noticed you are short a stripe. Most stripers have 7. One I caught the day before yesterday had 8. But 7 is the lucky number.

--Paul

[RJ]

Notime - What you said plus I'm going to try to fit a fishing box (Calif. Style) behind my Pungo angler seat. I'm thinking a plastic file box will do the trick.

Roe D, Your focusing to tightly! Surely you must understand that Sam Reily's Stri-ped bass is an Irish stri-ped bass and the six stripes of this sub species commemorate two lovely green shamrocks. In fact, some of my Irish cousins feel the six stripes signify the Irish Stri-ped bass is the original species and all the others (7 striped and 8-striped) are newer evolutions of this Great Irish Fish, Be-gorra!

RJ