Fishing Journal April 26, 2015

The routine is now becoming a normal one for the Saturday or Sunday fishing trip. Although it is routine sometimes something happens that throws everything off. At 4:45 AM I am driving to the drop in point and my windshield keeps fogging up bad. I turned the AC on full blast and its not helping. Visibility was tough and a good thing I keep a full sized towel in my truck. I kept wiping the windshield to be able to see. Finally off the highway 30 min later i decide to pull over and behold its steamy like a sauna in the cab. I had noticed the sweet antifreeze smell a few weeks ago but figured it was residual that spilled on the top of the engine from a thermostat replacement. Well at this point i knew the heater core in the truck was leaking. Determined I drove to the drop in spot with the windows rolled down to let the steam out the window so a good attempt at not breathing it in anymore. Seemed to work.

Arriving at the beach driving past the flags stiff pointing in the south west direction. A 15-20 MPH constant wind coming off the water from the NE which really churns up the bay. It was rough and the bay was filled with white caps. The current wind speed on the weather apps said 4 mph NE.  I decided to wait it out and figure a way to fix my truck so not to break down on the way home. The sunrise was amazing and unfortunately I did not take photos this time. Wish I had the GoPro running! Waiting around for the auto parts store to open at 8 seemed forever.

Once the problem was temporarily fixed back at the beach the wind was less than it was an hour ago. The decision to launch was made. Slid the Big Rig off my trucks rack and loaded up. Finally by 10:30 on the water! Started trolling immediately. I was not marking any fish in the shallow water or even in 8-10 feet. I decided to head south east first of all because now calm and also against the tide to have an easy time getting back.

As I approached the Keansburg fishing pier I noticed they did not rebuild the entire pier after Superstorm Sandy. The damage still remains to 100 yards of the pier over 2 years later. It is amazing since the structure stands 20 feet above the water surface at high tide. That storm surge had to be well over 20 feet to do the damage it did. Keansburg famous for its amusement park on the bay shore. It was the first of its kind built to entertain people from Manhattan back in the early 1900’s . Keansburg and the towns on the bayshore were completely destroyed along the coast due to Superstorm Sandy. Years ago they reclaimed sand from about 1/4 mile off the beach to replenish from the a hurricane in the 1960’s.

Once I located the hole. Upon about 14 feet of water my Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp begun to Display huge boomerang arcs. Big ones. The rod with the gold SP minnow starts to tear drag. I pick up the rod and begin to fight the fish. About 20 seconds into the fight the line goes slack and the fish is gone. Fearing a bluefish bit through my line and took my lure. After reeling back in to my surprise the lure was still in tact but the front treble hook was gone. The teeth marks on the lure lead me to believe this was a huge bluefish.

Resetting my line and heading through the same area. Marking big fish again my other rod starts to peel off drag. Pick up that rod and fish on!! Excited forgetting to turn my GoPro on. It’s a good fight. Couple minutes later seeing its a bluefish reaching for my boga grip which is tethered to the T-Reign Geartrac mounted. The first bluefish of 2015 landed at 28″.  After this fish i decided to venture a little deeper coming across marks that appeared to be more like Stripers.

About 10 minutes later peeling drag again. This time a 24″ striped bass. Managed 2 more bass from 24 – 25 inches prior to calling it a day at 2:30. All on the Daiwa SP minnows. The silver produced the most bass although the gold one with one treble hook produced the largest bass for the day. It was a great day of fishing although it was a short day. Next time the fish may be spawned out and feeding on bunker in the back bay. The problem will be trying to get through all of the bluefish to catch Stripers.

Hoping the weather cooperates as these days have been some of the most perfect days fishing in a long time!

Fishing Journal April 18, 2015

First time I fished from sun rise to sunset. Although there was a short lunch break involved. It was a phenomenal day of fishing. The water was like glass again this morning. This is not at all common for Raritan Bay. Not complaining at all these days are the most beautiful!  It was the day of a new moon. The tides on these days are significantly different. Higher at high tide and lower at low tide. As a kayak anglers we should take more note of this as it can be hard to land on back bay beaches during extremely low tides. A 6′ foot tide difference can mean a long walk back when the foot of water on the flat is gone. Shoving off the beach not a boat in sight. High tide was to be within 2 hours. The first thing i noticed was the water temp at 53 degrees was perfect for active bass.

Started out drifting clam in around 9 feet of water where the Lowrance was marking fish. Not a hit for a good 20 minutes. Figured the fish weren’t feeding on clam at the moment.  Decided to switch to slow trolling a tube and worm. About an half hour later Captain Jim and his cousin Ryan spotted me from the deck of Ryan’s Boston Whaler they were on. At this point was starting to catch Stripers on the Kayak Carl’s Tube n Worm. Short bass but in the 20 – 24 inch range. IT was one after another for a good 45 minutes.

Weaving in between the anchored boats of a growing fleet. Wen i left the beach there was Right after slack tide the fishing turned on. It was one after another. I had now landed a total of 9 bass trolling. The fish now had seemed to disappear.Trolled for another 2 good hours only to find a few more fish.

Captain Jim and Ryan had gone over to another spot to see if they could find any fish. They were gone for about 30 min when again started to mark fish.

My reels locked in free spool clicker on. Trolling the Carls Tube N Worm on one rod and a Daiwa SP minnow on the other. This time drag starts to run out on the stick bait. I go to grab the rod an nothing.  Minutes later the tube n worm goes off. Drag screaming out. I set the hook. The fight is on! This fish is big prob 20 lb+ class. About 5 minutes into the fight the fish runs under the stern om my kayak and before I knew it the hook pulled. Lost a nice one.

Still trolling Capt Jim and Ryan are back casting storm shads. Casting and reeling. I had some storms but darker color and couldn’t find a bite on them. They hooked me up with one and it was on after that. Landed small fish but was till fun. In all had 20 fish plus or minus up to 27 1/2″. Lost count.

It was going on 2:00 PM and the new moon tide was falling fast. I decided to call it for that time and get some lunch.

Paddling back in the water became thin on the long beach. Now mostly mud the flat had become land and my truck had become far. Thanks to the Mullet Miller cart for saving me on this one. Still out of breath after wheeling across the mud and the sand in the lot.

Went to lunch at McDonughs Pub in Keyport NJ. Have to give them a plug since the food is always good there! While there met a few fellow kayak anglers! Nick told me they were catching keeper size fish off of Cliffwood Beach. Decided to go there and give it a shot. After contacting Justin Vail that there was fish in the area. The time seemed to fly by. I set off shore and trolled around a bit. No hits Justin joined me and we were blown south. The wind was blowing 10 – 15 easy. As the time went on still no fish but the wind started to let up as the sun begun to set. The next thing I hear is Justin yelling fish on!!  Its great seeing a guy catch his first striped bass on a kayak! I’m glad he was able to manage that since he came down and gave it a shot.

Now heading in its 7:00 PM. Im so worn out from a great fishing day we actually land on the beach a block down and I don’t even realize it until hitting the sand path back to the road.  Only excuse i have is i had never dropped in at Cliffwood before and I was not keeping track of my GPS.

YakAttack Camera Mounts:

Panfish Camera Pole With Extension:

The Panfish as the first camera mounting option offered by Yak Attack is a great camera mounting solution!  With the adjustable Ram Mount ball head and 28″ pole that also swivels the camera mount is ideal for behind back shots , hero selfish shots, and underwater footage. The RAM Ball head allows the camera to be easily maneuvered to any angle on the fly. It has 3 mounting options which are the RAM Mount, The Mighty Mount/Gear Track T-bolt, and Scotty Mount. Along with other Yak Attack and RAM Mount pieces you can extend or modify camera angles. The pole with the foam measuring around 2 1/2″ in diameter will fit snug in most rod holders. The Yak Attack Dog Bone can be added to the head portion to extend the mounting distance.

The Panfish camera pole alone retails from $60.00 – $65.00 depending on the choice of mounting.

Panfish Portrait:

The Panfish Portrait like its much bigger brother is the same concept besides being a fraction the size in height. The mount is best for low angle shots and hero shots with a lightweight and compact action camera. The RAM mount  allows articulation and clamping in many different positions. Personally this mount is used in the front of the kayak. If you have a remote control for your action camera a GearTrac or a mighty mount can be added to the bow and the camera mounted here for extreme photos of you and your catch!

The Panfish Portrait Retails for $50.00 GearTrac ready without mounting base

Dog Bone:

Dog Bone is a Yak Attack Engineered RAM Mount extension pole between for use between RAM links. With two ram balls on each end it kind of resembles a dog bone! The arm is available with 1″, 1.5″ RAM ball also a 1″ to 1.5″ RAM ball conversion. It has a foam grip and floats. The extensions area available in 4″ & 12″ 2 lengths.

The DogBone with RAM links retails for $52.00

The Dog Bone Extension retails for $26.00

Boomstick:

The latest innovation by YakAttack the boom stick is a camera boom with an overall length of 44 inches in length. Included with the boomstick is a RAM ball GoPro attachment for converting your GoPro mounting system to a the RAM style ball mount. The Boom stick can both be mounted or used handheld. Mounting system is RAM post mount. The RAM post mount can mount to a RAM post mount base or mounting base VIA the YakAttack gear track system. You may also  purchase an additional post mount articulating connection to give the Boomstick more positioning and angling capabilities. The Boomstick comes standard on the New 2015 Jackson Kayak Coosa HD!!

The Boomstick retails for $65.00 

The Articulating RAM post & mounting kit retails for $30.00