03-24-2018, 10:41 PM
I decided I needed to get out in the kayak for the first time this year to do a "gear check" and try out some new fishing stuff that I picked up this winter.
I launched from AF boat harbor shortly after 7 am. Water temperature was 47 degrees and it only warmed up to 48 by 11 am when I got back to shore. The wind was a little sketchy for kayaking. It was about 12 mph when I launched and blew pretty consistently the whole time I was out. Fortunately, it was blowing from the SE so I figured it was okay to err on the side of being pushed back to shore rather than being pushed out into the open.
I briefly tried fishing for white bass with 1/16 oz jigs with chartreuse curly worms tipped with nightcrawlers, but I had my other rod out with a circle hook that had shrimp on it. When a cat took the shrimp and ate it for breakfast I decided to switch to shrimp on both rods. I remembered that TubeDude said he didn't have any luck the other day until he got out to the 5-6' range so I followed suit and headed away from shore for deeper water. When I got into that range, I anchored against the waves and kept both lines out with the circle hooks and shrimp. I landed two cats and lost a third one at the boat. One weighed a few ounces shy of 4 lbs. The other one was just a bit smaller.
Anyways, it was nice to not get skunked, and I did get to try out some gear. The big hit was the YakGear anchor trolley that I tried for the first time. That thing is genius, especially on a windy day like today. I'm not sure how I've gotten by without one. The big fail IMO is the Scotty gear adapter and bait board. I guess the bait board itself is okay, but that gear adapter doesn't have enough range of adjustment to get the bait board flat. I had to choose between either 20 degrees off on one side or 30 degrees off on the other. Frustrating.
But hey, it was nice to get out, paddle around, enjoy the outdoors and catch some cats. Beautiful day even if it was a bit windy and cloudy.
Attaching a couple pics although I have no idea how you guys on tubes and yaks hold your fish in one hand and then take a picture with the other, especially with the whole boat bouncing back and forth. I had to wait until shore before camera/phone and fish finally got to meet each other. So I got one pic of a fish in the basket next to my size 12 boot, and then released him to play again another day.
-Greg
[signature]
I launched from AF boat harbor shortly after 7 am. Water temperature was 47 degrees and it only warmed up to 48 by 11 am when I got back to shore. The wind was a little sketchy for kayaking. It was about 12 mph when I launched and blew pretty consistently the whole time I was out. Fortunately, it was blowing from the SE so I figured it was okay to err on the side of being pushed back to shore rather than being pushed out into the open.
I briefly tried fishing for white bass with 1/16 oz jigs with chartreuse curly worms tipped with nightcrawlers, but I had my other rod out with a circle hook that had shrimp on it. When a cat took the shrimp and ate it for breakfast I decided to switch to shrimp on both rods. I remembered that TubeDude said he didn't have any luck the other day until he got out to the 5-6' range so I followed suit and headed away from shore for deeper water. When I got into that range, I anchored against the waves and kept both lines out with the circle hooks and shrimp. I landed two cats and lost a third one at the boat. One weighed a few ounces shy of 4 lbs. The other one was just a bit smaller.
Anyways, it was nice to not get skunked, and I did get to try out some gear. The big hit was the YakGear anchor trolley that I tried for the first time. That thing is genius, especially on a windy day like today. I'm not sure how I've gotten by without one. The big fail IMO is the Scotty gear adapter and bait board. I guess the bait board itself is okay, but that gear adapter doesn't have enough range of adjustment to get the bait board flat. I had to choose between either 20 degrees off on one side or 30 degrees off on the other. Frustrating.
But hey, it was nice to get out, paddle around, enjoy the outdoors and catch some cats. Beautiful day even if it was a bit windy and cloudy.
Attaching a couple pics although I have no idea how you guys on tubes and yaks hold your fish in one hand and then take a picture with the other, especially with the whole boat bouncing back and forth. I had to wait until shore before camera/phone and fish finally got to meet each other. So I got one pic of a fish in the basket next to my size 12 boot, and then released him to play again another day.
-Greg
[signature]
