Fishing Journal for 2014_08-30

Rolled out of bed to an unseasonable chill. Fifty four degrees Fahrenheit actually. For a moment I thought it was October and was getting up to go striper fishing. Typically if it falls below 65 degrees time of year that is cool. So 54 is border line chilly. The cool temps didn’t stop me though. Ready for some Big Rig Fluke Fishing was out the door 10 min to 5 am and off to the bait and tackle shop.  The familiar early morning peaceful drive. Arriving and picking out a box of squid and a pack of spearing the man working the counter gave me good tip that big Croakers were being boated by the ammo pier.  I have been in search of the these excellent tasting fish for the past few weeks and with this report I decided to Change our venue to 3 miles south.

The full length of beaches in the area of Belford and Port Monmouth were undergoing beach replenishment as apart of the plans to protect the bay towns from another storm such as Superstorm Sandy.  The project started in late June so at this point I wasn’t sure there was any beach access. The hint of huge Croakers made me chance it.  I called Sean the Redneck and let him know of the change of plans asking if he was cool with it. Upon arrival at the bayshore waterfront park it looked closed. Took a drive south to the other lot. It was open!!

Prior to unloading I took out the cannon camera to get some awesome sunrise photos. On any given day I tend to skip the photography just to get out fishing but this day was special. It was one of the clearest views I had seen since the early spring and the water was like glass. So I snapped a few pictures and it was now time to go fishing.

 

beach collage1It was Big Rig day no matter what after I decided to leave the Cuda at home. Rigged up and headed for the beach. Thank goodness for the mullet miller cart as the beach after the replenishment was easily now a 125 yard walk. They did build a gravel Stone path that was about half the distance of the beach which actually was a big help. Down to the shore line and paddling out to the second line of buoys then finally fishing.

It wasn’t long first fish on. Short Fluke. Couple more hits and I decided to move to deeper waters. Out to 18 foot depth. Dropped down catching more fluke from 12″ up to 15″. The fish are regulated by the state and must be 18″ min to  keep. Loving flounder for dinner catching lots of small fish can be quite frustrating but is still a lot of fun.

on water collageI stuck with the same rig all day which was a white 1.5oz Spro bucktail with a dropper loop and a white teaser tipped with green 4″ gulp swimming mullets and added a spearing and strip of squid per hook. Another rod was ready for Croaker fishing with 1/0 Gammi Bait Holder hooks for clam. I did fish the rod for about 20 mins catching a 15″ fluke on it. I also landed a 27″ dogfish on the buck tail. That was the fun fight of the day.

 

 

 

At times it was slow fishing I was able to play with some new toys such as my new RAM Mounts Tele-Mount. It attaches to any broom handle or telescoping pole. In this case I was using a boat hook that extends to 7 and a half feet in length. Its really cool to have new camera angles with the GoPro! Also had my new stereo system in full effect! Purchased an ECORox waterproof bluetooth speaker to pair with my new Samsung Galaxy S5. I can now listen to pandora or tunes downloaded to the phone to conserve on data usage. Will be doing reviews in the future on both of these items!

Photo by Matt Trucks

 

 

 

 

 

So around 12:30 it begun to get cloudy and a 10-15 kt wind rolled in. It churned up the bay with 1-2 foot waves which was the end to the picture perfect day.  Just before the clouds rolled in I was able to snap a really nice photo of the NYC skyline with my little Olympus Stylus Tough camera. It came out excellent.

As the buzz on the internet in the kayak fishing world builds from anticipation of Jackson Kayaks new Fishing Platform most questions can be answered by watching the following videos and reading the following articles. Will you be the first one to own one?? The following are links that pertain to the Kraken from write ups about its design process to the reveal of the Kraken at the Outdoor Retailer Expo! Detailed walk through’s and Rigging ideas.

The Kraken is now available to order from your local dealer. See http://jacksonkayak.com/dealers/ to find a dealer near you!

Articles:

http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2013/11/19/a-kraken-the-continuum/ http://www.rapidmedia.com/kayak-fishing/categories/1998-the-kraken-jim-sammons-new-jackson-kayak-design.html http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2014/07/17/release-the-kraken-the-kraken-release/ http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2014/08/02/the-birth-of-the-kraken/ http://www.kayakfishmag.com/news/kraken/

Jim Sammons own Kraken Rigging:

 https://www.facebook.com/jim.sammons1

Videos:

Yak Angler

Rapid Media

Jackson Kayak Kraken

http://jacksonkayak.com/jk-kayaks/kayak-fishing/kraken/

battery collage (Large)

If your in the market for a spare Torqeedo battery you may want to consider purchasing the Travel 1003 S/L battery. The battery is a little larger but packs 200 more watt hours. This means more distance for you. Designed for the 3HP 1003 Travel electric outboard motor the battery is also compatible with the Ultralight 403 system.

As the 1003 S/L battery is still very light at 9.9 lbs it only weighs 3.5 lbs more than the Ultralight 403 battery. It does not require any additional adapters or cables as all of the existing Ultralight 403 throttle, cables, and charging devices are compatible with it.

Similar to the Torqeedo Ultralight 403 the  Travel 1003 battery has the integrated GPS for your remote throttle readouts and will be compatible with the Torq Trac app for smartphones.

 

The chart below shows the comparison between the included 403 battery and the spare 1003 battery.

Compare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the real question. How much more does the larger battery cost? The Travel 1003 MSRP is $699.00. The Ultralight 403 MSRP is $599.00. For the $100 difference the performance is worth it.

batteries

 

One feature the Travel battery does not have is the auto shut off when inverted. This should not be a problem if you are clipped into the magnetic key. If you fall out of your kayak or flip the motor will shut off anyway.

Although the housing and size is a little larger the battery still fits inside the Jackson Big Rig’s rear hatch.

 

 

This past weekend I tested my new Travel battery. The first thing that became apparent to me was that the length of time the display read 100% charge compared to with the Ultralight battery. Granted the battery is brand new.  I was able to fish over 5.5 hours basically full throttling all day between drifts. At the end of the day i had well over 47% of battery left. Typically on the 403 battery i would have had around 20% left.

I will attempt to compare more of the usage between the two  in a future post.

Please visit http://www.torqeedo.com/us/technology for more information.