25 June 2016
Back At It
Wake up Saturday morning and get the daughter off to work. I hollered at the wife (by holler I mean spoke to kindly) to see if she wanted to go out in the kayak. She was excited after seeing the striper last weekend and gave a resounding yes. We finally got out there at around 10:00 am. Yeah, I know, that’s a little late, but hey a feller has to take care of his chores.
We get to Davis and see shad all over the place. I catch a few 4-5 inch ones there before launching, placed them in a bucket. Let me say the bucket don’t work, the minnow bucket don’t work, I really need to figure this out. Anyway, we head out and you can see a lot of gizzard shad on the surface. They were big and the top of them was out of the water. Every couple of minutes they would scatter, there was something after them. I tried to catch a few with my 3’ net, only one I can throw from the kayak, but they were just too fast. I got out on the bank, I know the folks that own this, and gave it a throw. I finally caught some big ones. I put one on and begin to fish.
I’m about 10-12’ deep and the rod bends, I grab rod and set hook, but he got off. I’m using circle hooks as I have heard they won’t swallow them and they hook themselves, hmmmm, maybe I tried to set the hook and that is why I missed.
I went on over and just a bit later, boom, rod bends, I lift, fish on. This fight was not nearly as long as the other, but it was still a pretty good time, I got a pic I will add if you don’t see it right now. So I miss one and this particular striper, swallowed the circle hook. I explained to him that he was not supposed to be able to do that, but they don’t seem to listen. Anyway, I am pumped and wife is really wanting to catch one. We load up the hook and off again, I begin to paddle around slowly. I end up getting two more runs, but they did not take it.
At one point, I look over at wife when she hollers and her rod is bent. She wrestles it out of the rod holder, drag is being taken, and I think, she’s fittin to have a ball. About that time it got off, heart break. I think to myself, treble hooks will be used next week.
We call it a day a short time after this, with one boated and 4 runs, it was a good day. Next week I will be vacating from my “real” job and my hope is to spend a few days on the water, build a couple of rods, and do a few chores. Vacation at home usually doesn’t pan out like my imagination sees it, but we will see. Maybe we can land a beast in the kayak this week. I hope everyone has a fantastic Independence Day, God bless.
18 June 2016 Good Times
Today was my daughter’s birthday, she’s 17, we had a birthday supper last night and hung out part of the day, but she wanted a girls night out so I opted to not join in those festivities. I was pretty whooped and thought real close to not going, but then decided, why not and loaded up the kayak.
Headed to Davis, tried cast net close, nothing. I launched and went to the other side of the lake, you know the fishing is better there, threw cast net and caught a few shad. One was a big gizzard so I put him on a flat line with balloon (this is so I can see if he is passing me up) also, I can bank fish for some bass with a flat line, the down lines tend to not like getting too close to the shore. Anyway, time to do some fishing.
I went to throw my tube to the bank, during this time I got to enjoy a boat coming well within casting distance while heading upstream. I figured they must have wanted to take a gander at what I was using is why they got close. Anyway, on down the bank I caught a largemouth on my watermelon copper crawl tube, it was pretty good size 15″ or better but I didn’t photo due to having trouble getting the hook out. He had been out of the water longer than I like and why risk the phone. Anyway, no skunk happening here.
I got a few more bites and decided it was time to get the shad deeper. I put on a 2 ounce sinker and sent him down around 15′. Now this is good stuff just sitting and drifting and kicking back. It was like being in a recliner on the water. Well all the sudden the rod tip bounced, then again, I clicked on the GoPro and the battle began.
The striper wasn’t as big as I thought it might be, a guess is 10-12, I’m not too good at that. But it was a bit of a ride. My Kayak is a cheaper fishing kayak, not one you can stand on or lean too awful much in, it’s light and will go pretty fast. Seemed like he pulled me 50 yards or better, but it was the perfect size for the first one.
I headed on back after catching this one, that was when most folks were launching, I am odd on my timing. However, mission accomplished with striper in kayak, check out the video, it’s a bit long and I need to changed the placement of the camera, but as I said at the end, it was simply awesome. Have a great day and God bless.
10 June 2016
Finally Getting Out There
Today is my son’s birthday, he just turned 19, let me say that I don’t think I could be any prouder of this young man. He is finding his path and not being influenced negatively. By the grace of God, he is growing into being a fantastic young man.
So I head to work, then go to find out if I have surgery, great news, no surgery just therapy, and anyone that knows me realizes I’ve needed therapy for a while. Anyhow, I rush home and he has the kayaks outside waiting. We load up and head to Davis Marina.
After we drop off the kayaks and I am making the walk to the lake, my son throws the cast net, when I get down there he has caught quite a few shad, the good size, and the bass in the upper right picture. It is starting off well. We began by trolling our shad behind the kayaks to a bank then flipping the shad. The competition must have been too great and we didn’t get a bite.
My son switched to a swim bait and I put on a root beer pig and jig. A few cast into it, I felt a bump and set the hook and the fight was on (sorry to end in a preposition). At this moment I thought, should’ve brought the gopro, but nonetheless, we began battling. He jumped a few times, pulled the kayak around a bit and I finally got him up. I’m not sure if the picture does it justice, it was a really nice one, I don’t guess weight but I think the lake dropped an inch or so when I pulled it out.
I tried to get a pic but had to hand it to my son to hold, I must be like a T-Rex or it was just that big (I’ll go with the latter). Anyway, I gave the birthday young man my pig and jig and switched his rod to a tube. We didn’t get another bite.
It was hot so he took a swim, we messed around, and I just sat out there and thought. This has been a really good day, time out with my son, the water was very peaceful, the kayak was relaxing, and we caught a fish. I need to get after a striper, but that time will come soon enough, we put up the yaks and went out and ate with the family. Good times and I hope your weekend was as good as mine. God bless and tightlines.
05 June 2016
Wrap Up
The next day on the surf we were able to land one, I think it was a croaker. Funny thing, the young lady had been holding her rod a while, I told her she may wanna check her bait, when she did, well, the little fish was on it. She was excited, first one from the surf. But that about sums up that day other than a few more bites.
Our last day there was a great day weather wise, however, I was not much use for the fishing. Not to whine but 2 previous days battling migraine and Friday a fever, I didn’t get out of the house much at all. The girls however did do a little fishing and one of them landed a skate. This one was caught by leaving the rod alone and it basically catching itself.
Funny thing after we got home, a pic was put of a good size black drum caught right down from where we were, hmmmmmm, timing. We made it back and it is time to get to doing some work. I’ll find out at the end of next week if I will need surgery on the right shoulder, that will really hamper my fishing.
I have gotten caught up on rod building and it is getting about time to maybe advertise. I think I’ll wait until I find out about the surgery and let the folks I’ve sold rod to give me a response on how they like it. I’ve gotten 2 of the 6 to respond and they both said they love it, but I just want to get more feedback. Anyway, back to freshwater and work, we had a great vacation and I hope y’all have had a great weekend, God bless.
01 June 2016
The Skunk has finally been put down. We left Carova and drove to the bridge where we came on the island. The drive is about 1.5 hours or a little more. We get to the “little bridge” stopped at a tackle shop to get some smaller hooks, walked on the bridge and it began.
My daughter caught three of the sheepshead (I’m pretty sure that’s what it is) and I caught one crab. Then the biting just stopped. Now we were not well equipped for this fishing as all I had brought with us was the surf rods (really should’ve brought the freshwater stuff). After the bites went away, we went to the next bridge up.
They had a pier/dock/ wooden walkway that went out a decent piece, it was a great set-up. We found a bench and threw out a line, a few lines. Now my daughter has a friend with her that has never caught a fish, so we were trying our best to get her on one.
The bites started immediately and I spent a large portion of time baiting hooks. Finally, our young friend hooks one, she brings it in and it was a small striper. I wish I would have had to gopro running as you have not seen too many folks that excited about catching a fish. She tossed it back in as you can’t keep any striper from the sound.
She ended up catching about 2-3 more smaller fish, I caught a toad fish, and then my daughter started trying to catch a good size crab. We didn’t get back in until well after dark. The back window on the truck got stuck in the down position, this should be great for the ride back home. So Thursday will be spent trying to fix that and we may give the surf another go with the smaller hooks. Now that the girls are pros, we should do much better.
Have a great day and God bless.
