Fishing Journal 2015_09-19

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler the Bass have turned on in the Manasquan river.
Its Friday Sept 18th and Chris Johnstone had reached out about fishing early Saturday morning. Early Saturday morning meaning 1:00 AM! For me the Manasquan river is an hour drive each way and was hesitant as previous trips have resulted in very windy conditions. If there is one thing disliked over everything else it is driving to a fishing spot over an hour to turn around and drive an hour back.

After studying weather reports of a SE wind at 5 and the temps were going to remain in the low 60’s it was a no brainer. Sent Johnstone a text at 5 PM I’m in. Only problem was most of the tackle shops were closed but fortunately he managed to find live eels!

Our plan was to meet up 0n the water at 1:30 AM to fish the slack and then outgoing tide. However it was not easy to find sleep for a decent power nap. I remember looking at the clock reading 10:45 and had to be up at 12 am. My alarm chimed in at 12 AM and making a bad decision decided to take another 10 minutes. Well that turned into a half hour. Getting up at 12:30 and running to pack up my cold water ice and a few other necessities. Finally out the door and stopping at a store to get some coffee and a bite to eat then proceeded to realize my truck was low on gas.

After the fuel stop and about 45 minutes had gone by and Chris is texting me that he is catching fish. Im 10 mins away. Arriving at the Glimmer Glass drop in scrambling to get my gear lashed bungeed and leashed. This time around had rigged all of my rods prior to packing up. Great choice as many times getting stuck tying rigs and lures on in the dark attempting to be speedy which doesn’t mix with tying anything in the dark! Prior rigging saved a lot of time and.

Another huge time saver is the Torqeedo Ultralight 403 which allows me to maintain a speed of 3.5 mph. Since the fishing area location was not far from the drop-in the extra usage on the battery would not matter. The tide had started outgoing so that also helped getting out of the drop in area but slowed a little getting up past the railroad bridge. The area of the Manasquan river that we Eel nights for Stripers is a very dangerous area of the river. Between boat traffic and the typical 3-4 knot tide makes this place only for experienced kayak anglers. If you plan to fish these types of areas that are traveled by boats and have bridges I would suggest taking the Coast Guard Boaters Safety Course or at least familiarize yourself with safety and on water navigation. The main safety concern is visibility. On kayaks we sit very low. Having a 360 degree bright light such as the Yak Attack visi pole is a necessity. That along with the Yak Attack Nite Stripe brings up the visibility.

Meeting up with Chris he already landed a nice 31″ Bass. He gave me the 3 eels that he picked up for me. Using a custom heavy moderate action rod and ad Abu Garcia 7000 C3 along with a eel rig that consisted of an inline 3oz egg sinker beads a swivel 40lb floro and a 5/0 Gami Octopus Hook.  To hook a live eel using a rag grab the eel from the back of his head. Its best to keep the eels on ice as it will slow them down making it more manageable. These eels weren’t really that lively so it was easy to hook one through both lips from the bottom jaw through the top. You need to immediately get them into he water as they will squirm and tie themselves into a ball with the leader and everything. This we call an eel ball. Once you have an eel ball you most likely will be retying a new rig. Getting the ell into the water asap the eel will swim and not tie knots.

About 10 seconds after the sinker hit the bottom  a bass hit and hes on! Great fight but turned out to be a small bass at 24″. After removing the hook a head boat moved in. It docks right near the bridge were fishing and of coarse spooked all of the fish. I had one more on after an hour and Chris had 1 also. Ended up catching a few snags also.

I decided to change up bait after we ran out of eels and switched to a storm shad. Kept hearing the mullet jumping by the bridge ice breakers. Threw a few casts there and bammm fish on. A pretty good fight the fish turned out to be a 25″ bluefish. After that fish fishing seemed to die out. Boat traffic was increasing as it was now 5:30 am. We decided quit fishing and not too long after reaching land the fog rolled in thick. It was perfect timing to quit!

As it gets cooler the fishing will heat up even more at this location. I am looking forward to fishing there again in the near future.

Wrap Up of the 5th Annual CBKA Tournament

On the road again on Friday September 11th 2015. The tires are burning the road up three and a half hours to the venue of Kent Island Maryland to participate in another weekend of fishing the Chesapeake Bay for Stripers! Along the way on Rt 50 there were ladder engines hoisting 16 foot American Flags to symbolize this day remembering what happened and their brothers and sisters on this very day.  Being one of the larger salt water kayak fishing tournaments in the Mid Atlantic region the  5th Annual CBKA Tournament had a great turn out once again! With over 100 anglers registered it was sure to be competitive and fun at the same time.  This was personally my second year present. The drive through the countryside of Delaware and Maryland to the foot of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which connects the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the Western Shore is impressive. The sheer beauty of the farm lined country roads how they meet the sky in such a way that its America!

Tenting it at Camp Wright a children’s summer camp/events location is right on the water of the Chesapeake Bay. The ability to launch is on the property or you are allowed to take advantage of other drop in locations also. My arrival was right on time at 4PM for the opening of check in. Receiving a captains bag full of goodies! Deciding to set up camp utilizing the daylight making the trek around 300 yards to the camping area located in a field. There was a large canopy setup and with rain in the forecast i made camp under it.  Mingling with people awaiting the potluck my buddy Leonard arrived. He came to camp and hang out for the weekend. We set up his tent then walked back to the tournament HQ.

Deciding to get a few snapshots of the area. The Camp has a great view over the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge. Prior to eating dinner from the potluck I was able to shoot some killer photos of the sunset over the Chesapeake Bay! They say “Red sky and night sailors delight.” Meaning the weather should be good in the morning. The forecast for Saturday during the tournament was winds 5-10 increasing later int he day and thunderstorms in the mid to late afternoon. Enjoying the massive food anglers brought for the pot luck and meeting fellow yakkers. It was getting late and time to sleep a few hours.

The morning came fast. Taking my time on this overcast morning. Dropping in around 7 am. The Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp reading a ton of bait and larger fish i decide to cast a DOA jig with a DOA 3″ swim bait. First cast a fish hit. Upon retrieval the paddle tail was bit off. Unfortunate that was the only one in my arsenal of tackle deciding to make a second cast with no tail. Reeling in hit and fish on! It was a small striper around 12 inches. Next cast fish on again catching around 10 ranging from 10 to 13 inches. Making the decision to venture out further to find larger fish.

Set on a course to rendezvous at the bridge trolling a Seabile hard Swim Bait the reel starts screaming. I grab the rod and set the hook. It’s a sleigh ride! Landing a 18.75 Striper  knowing I was in the game. I trolled to the bridge and wasn’t marking any fish there. A few casts and the birds were working back where i was previously. Back casting into the birds a few small bass. It was now getting dark. The judges were on a boat taking photos of everyone and warned us that there was an incoming storm. It looked pretty bad coming in and on the radar. Not before long it was pouring. Rain on and off growing darker set a course back to land. Rained for a good hour. Submitted my fish and it looked good. Most people were done for the day. Wind was around 5-10 SE so the island blocked a good amount of wind until off about 400 yards. Time to get back out there fishing. Dropping back in and looking for fish trolling on the 20 foot edge where i picked up my last fish prior to the storm. It seemed the fishing had turned off after the storm but the wind was a completely different story. It was fortunately still blowing from the south east but it was now 15-20. Located in the middle of the bay it was rolling 2-3 feet and these are the days when the Torqeedo Ultralight 403 is needed. It was noticeable as I was the only one fishing that far off the shore but its where the bottom dropped off an edge the fish were hanging on earlier. Continuing to troll around not marking any fish for 2 hours finally making it back closer to shore. A few casts and small stripes were abundant in this area. I was now looking for white perch and bluefish in an attempt to enter the SLAM division. Unfortunately all I could manage was small bass.

As 2:00 PM approached and it was time to call it a day.  Photo submission ended at 3:00 and wanted to get a shower in. After a refreshing shower and a change of clothes walking in for photo submission at 2:57 but they did not need to see my photos. Close but unfortunately not a winning day.

They handed out the awards and did the seemingly never ending raffle. Taking home a nice UV shirt some rigs and jigs from the raffle. See the results of the tournament on the CBKA website. The tournament benefits the Mid Atlantic Make a Wish Foundation which does great things for children. We ate dinner and another storm came through.  Leonard and I decided to stay another night and build a fire. There were a few others staying. We had a great group hanging out at the fire. A warm wind of about 10 mph was blowing all night from the NW. Some of us planned to go fishing the following morning but had a feeling it was to be way too windy.

And we were completely right about that. We had to be all loaded up by 8AM anyway which we were not. I snapped the photo to the left before heading out.

If you have never fished the CBKA tournament you are missing out!! Hope to see you all there next year for the 6th Annual!!

Fishing Journal 2015_08-21

Utilizing a 1:30 PM Friday departure from my day job I set out to arrive down the shore at Chips Folly Campground. Joining Ricky and his lovely wife Becky for a fun filled weekend of camping and Kayak Fishing Great Bay and the Mullica River! Having a few extra things to pack I was able to be on the highway at 2:30 after grabbing a sandwich and coffee at the local convenience store. Hoping to escape the dreaded Friday shore traffic following Waze. A major set back of living in the northern part of New Jersey is the hundreds of thousands of people that head south on the Garden State Parkway to the shore points. The 100 mile ride down wasn’t bad at all with pockets of traffic but not too bad. I ended up being early so decided to stop and pick up some snacks and drinks on the way.

Arriving at Chips Folly Campground stopped at the camp office to check in and as soon as that was completed Ricky and Becky pulled in. Perfect timing! Soon after we went out for dinner. Ricky and I had pizza which was really good. I haven’t had pizza on over a year. Becky had sausage and peppers which looked amazing! After we finished eating we went back to camp hung out for a little while and went to bed early in preparation for an early day of fishing. Although the wind forecast was not looking to be in our favor we were to go fishing anyway even if we were to cut the day short.

Saturday Morning:

The arrival at the beach around 6:00 am the sun was rising. I brought my new Canon Dslr with me and took a few snaps in the morning at the beach. A breezy but beautiful day had begun! Ricky and i started fishing top water lures first. We found some action with bait schools scattering and jumping. The Stripers were present!

Rod & Reel Setups:

The rod and reel setups i was using for the day consisted of a Spinning Setup and a casting setup. The spinning gear was a 7′ St. Croix Mojo Inshore Medium Power with Fast action Spinning Rod paired with a Shimano Spheros 3000 reel spooled with 20# power pro spectra in green. The casting setup was a custom 7′ Bull Bay Tactical 20# Medium Heavy Power with Moderate Action Casting Rod with Fuji K guides and an Abu Garcia Revo Inshore low Profile Casting reel spooled with 20# Cortland C16 Spectra Braid in lt blue color.

Tackle:

The Spinning rod was set up for top water with spooks poppers and plugs. The casting rod was set up with a Chartreuse DOA C.A.L. – Jig Head – SHORT – 1/8 oz. & 3″ C.A.L. Shad Tail with a pearl body and Chartreuse tail.

Fishing in 3-5 feet of water casting towards the bait fish had a few hits on the spook and popper. Changed over to the soft plastic couple casts and bam fish on!

A nice 24″ Striper! Got my pose in and released him back into his natural habitat. Not exhausted at all swimming away with a flick of the tail. As the day went on the wind stayed 5-10 sith some gusts of around 15. Overall not a bad day. We called it quits around 1:oo PM with only the one bass caught and  a few missed.

Back at camp Becky had made a banging German Potato Salad and some salmon burgers for us! We devoured that then it was time for a power nap. I got about an hour and a half which was real nice. Ricky slept till 5PM. While he was sleeping I took it upon myself to assemble a fire before it got dark.

Ricky and I took a walk with our cameras in hand to photo the sunset! There is a point that juts out into the river which is the perfect spot for shooting photos of a sunset. Becky cooked dinner while we were out walking the dog and snapping photos.

Dinner was excellent Becky made up chicken and veggie kabobs and rice. We enjoyed the fire and when it died down it was time for bed and an early rising at 4:30 AM to find the Bass again. These times now enjoying entire weekends away from home I feel the true feeling of freedom. There’s nothing else really like it.

Sunday Morning:

4:30 AM comes quick.  Up and out stopping at Wawa for a quick bite to eat. We were able to drop in before sunrise. This we believed would yield a better Bass bite. The winds for the day were 5-10 N-NW which was to be lighter than Saturday.

Meeting Al ‘Yakman’ Stillman and his son Jake at the drop in. All setup with his tandem Hobie AI on the beach and ready. We dropped in and immediately started searching for bass pressuring bait fish. Fishing began pretty slow. The fish we found were finicky. By this point in time Al gave up and went sailing. I was feeling exhausted but eventually Ricky hooked up! He had a nice striper. About an hour later Ricky Hooked up again with a smaller Bass but still was a good day.

After a little break and a PB sandwich Croakers were on my mind! I went to deeper water to find some. I had a few hits but it was slow. Ricky came over and guided us towards even deeper water. Using a Fish Finder rig with a high low hook 1/0 Gamakatsu bait holder hooks and red beads a rig I had whipped up in Delaware baited with small cut pieces of beach clam i managed to find a Croaker! A rather nice one!  They were hard to find but managing a small Porgie around 9″ a bit later.

By this time the wind had shifted to a NE 10-15 out of our direction to the drop in. Managing to tow Ricky in most of the way while being soaked by the water thrown off his kayaks bow. The Torqeedo was a paddling for hours saver on this one!

It was a great weekend of fishing even though fishing wasn’t the best. Being out on the water with friends and good company is the real reward. I’m hoping for a few more weekends like this until the weather turns cold.