Kayak Fishing Report

[joev]

Hit the Susquhana River Flats in Maryland with DougieV this weekend .Doug got 10 fish 32 - 39 inches(Botched Dougs big fish pic) .I got 9 fish 30-40 inches.Paddled about 40 miles in 3 days of hard fishing.Bite wasnt to good only saw and heard of a few fish caught besides ours.Fished in great weather Friday .Pouring rain Sat morning /day .Sat evening I saw the most fish taken .Sunday morning was slow with Doug getting the only fish of the day at 36 inches.Well we learned alot about the place this weekend next year maybe we will get a real big girl.Heres a pic of my biggest
JoeV

[joev]

Here is a pic of DougieV with a nice bass

[FishHawk]

Way to go nice fish. Hope some of them make it up here .
FishHawk

[ZenFisher]

Nice fish guys! Can't wait for the biggun's to head up this way. It might turn out to be a good spring after all. :cool:
rob

[SamRiley]

Great fish guys :)
T&W? Can you tell us more about the area? What are the flats like? How did you troll them? No super secret stuff just a general idea for we desk jockeys up north the visualize.

[RIBill]

WOW! fat fish! road warriors!

[ruge13]

Joe, thanks again for ruining my day. I am useless now. Actually you didn't ruin my day, you ruined the day of anyone that thought they would get any work out of me. Good thng all was not lost with that slow bite, at least you had a dead calm day. I wish days I have slow bites looked like that. You get a chance to break out the 12 weight??

[joev]

Shaun
It wasnt always that pretty out there.Friday was sweet .Sat it rained all morning .We did have some pretty windy/wavey times thru out the day .Not to mention the wakes that come out of no where.Sunday it was blowing 15-20 with a healthy 1 1/2 foot chop.That was really mucked up by 100 boats out there.I did not break out the fly rod at all out there.It was hard enough to get them on the T&W.Still waiting for my first bass on the fly.It will come soon .Sorry for ruining your day :p

Sam
No super secret stuff here.We just worked real hard to find them.We worked different depth ranges ,trolled for about 20 hours,found some general patterns and kept working them.All the fish were caught on the troll.We watched hundreds of boats casting their arms off for a zero.So I thought we did quite well.One local from a board down there was quite amazed at us catching those fish when no one else was so I was very happy with that.We really learned alot about the bottom there.The grass beds and different bottoms.The area is anywhere from 30 to 1 foot deep.The closer to the middle of the bay the shallower it is.But there are holes dips and channels thru them that you cant find with out a depth finder.With out it I would be lost .I cant tell you what a tool it is to have.At one point I lost my "TV" it was like fishing with a blindfold.Luckily it was the negative wire that came loose and I was back up watching TV in no time.It was a ggod trip and would recomend it for anyone who wants a shot at a truly large fish.Hopefully next year I can break 40 there.

JoeV

[james difede]

I am a relative newcomer to yak fishing and have not heard of "trolling" from a kayak. Could you help me understand how this is accomplished? Any details like length of line, lures, whethe fly line can be used, etc...would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Jim

[ruge13]

Here are some of the recent trolling threads...

trolling1 (http://reel-time.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30720&highlight=trolling)

trolling 2 (http://reel-time.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29846&highlight=trolling)

trolling 3 (http://reel-time.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29798&highlight=trolling)

[james difede]

Thanks for your help Shuan! Can't wait to get out there and try it!

Jim

[RIBill]

yes, trolling is deadly. sometimes, I have to force myself to stop trolling, and to do some casting just to be sure that I still know how!

ditto what Joe said about the fishfinder. my wife busts my chops now that I am fishfinder-dependent and couldn't catch fish without one... scary insight! truth is: you'll still catch fish by reading the water and fishing structure etc, but its damned nice to have an extra set of "eyes" scanning the bottom and telling you the depth and where fish are concentrated. occasionally, you are surprised by the readings, but often, the readings confirm what you already knew.

[jrw]

looks like you wear waders in your kayak. how's that work out.? to get out and wade at all, or just to keep you dry? some might say it "could" be dangerous, though I see you have life preservers. thoughts, advice, for kayak virgins? thanks.:)

[SamRiley]

Originally posted by jrw
looks like you wear waders in your kayak. how's that work out.? to get out and wade at all, or just to keep you dry? some might say it "could" be dangerous, though I see you have life preservers.

We talked about the waders in yaks issue this past winter (http://reel-time.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29460)

[joev]

JRW
It works both ways.You stay dry and can get out and wade dry.As long as your waders are tightend up around your chest you should be ok.I use a 8 inch wide back support belt.So the water cant fill my waders right away.Its even better if you use a good dry top and cinch it down tight to your waders.This is the next best thing to a dry suit.You will still get water in but at a very very slow rate wich will give ya the time you need to get out of the water or back into your yak.


JoeV

[NilsC]

You stay dry and can get out and wade dry.As long as your waders are tightend up around your chest you should be ok

Great idea, you saved me some money. I'll use my stocking foot waders with my backbelt this spring. What kind of shoes / boots do you use?

Nils

[joev]

Nils I just use the felt sole bottom boots .I was going to pick up a pair of ultra lights from Cabelas but they are out of stock now.Most weigh about 3 pds per pair.

JoeV

[bluewatr]

NilsC,

I use Chota's with felt bottoms (one zipper on the side no laces). I bought them to go along with my wet suit but made sure I got them large enough to fit over my stocking foot waders (added versatility).....

They are great with the waders I must add.... Very comfortable! Great for flats fishing too............. If you plan on walking and fishing long distances of beach..... Chota's are ideal and you really cant beat the price. You can get Chota's at most kayak shops.... Collinsville Canoe and Kayak has them in stock right now (~$40).

Just a suggestion....

[Wes]

I always wear a paddling top over waders. If it's too warm I wear something else.