Opening Day Kayak Fishing 2016

Finally hit the water on the kayak after weeks healing from an unfortunate back injury. Learning this lesson the hard way always remember when lifting your kayak to lift it correctly. Always lift with your legs not your back. Here is the story of my opening day kayak fishing 2016!

By this time the Striped Bass bite has been on for about 2 and a half weeks. Many resident fish have been caught and migratory fish have started to become prevalent.  The water temps still cold ranging from 44 degrees up to 54 degrees in Raritan Bay have seemed to push the fish into shallower water where the bait seems to be hanging.

Arriving early just before sunrise the air was warmer that typical for this time of year. The day was a test on the new steering setup for the Torqeedo and a good day to catch the first striped bass of my season. Everyone plans to do well fishing on opening day. For me 2016 started off with a few issues. The first was my GoPro with the extended battery tether add on. Would not turn on. After probably 10 minutes of tinkering with it finally noticing the plug on the inside was not completely locked in. The second issue was my newly steering cable setup upon leaving shore the foot brace pedals folded right over there was 6″ of slack on the one side. Dumbfounded back on shore luckily using adjustable cable stops I was able to field adjust the length. Back out on the water again same thing happened on the opposite side. Putting two and two together i figured after running the new tubing and cable the day prior failing to pull the slack tubing out from inside the hull resulted in an extra 6″ on both sides. Finally after adjusting the cables its the sun is way up. The tide was still pretty much slack so trolling around looking for good marks on the fish finder was the plan. Wouldn’t you know an hour into fishing the fully charged SLA battery is DEAD! wow

It was a tough morning fishing so I took some time out and with my camera shot a few photos of the awesome ship graveyard. Over 30 ships lie there for one time scrap metal that ended up where it lay corroding and rotting into the Arthur Kill between New Jersey and Staten Island NY. From what i understand the adjacent scrap metal yard purchased the obsolete ships in hope to disassemble them for the steel and scrap metal. It is said the workers couldn’t keep up with the amounts of ships that came in and eventually was no  longer worth it economically to strip these vessels. Plus the site became a dumping ground for smaller boat owners to rid themselves of their old boats.

The graveyard of ships was much different than I had remembered it previously visiting the location six years prior. Apparently Hurricane Sandy did a job speeding up the decomposition of these scuttled ships with its 80 mph sustained wind and 16 foot storm surge that barreled up the Arthur Kill from Raritan Bay. It is an eerie place but also is fascinating due to how time seems to have stopped here. A great day to have my camera on board! I took a few snap shots of a few of the more intact ships.

Although a pretty dangerous area I would recommend every experienced kayak paddler to check it out! It is an experience that has to be witnessed in person.

The launch is on the New Jersey Side of the Kill located in Seawarren at Captain Carlsen Park to the left of the boat ramp is a beach typically used for kayak drop in. Its a pretty simple drop in and can be done alone.

After snapping a few photos and taking a few videos with my GoPro it was back to fishing. The tide was now going out and the current was strong. There was a dozen or so boats also trolling. I saw a boat pick up a bass on a 12″ soft shad. By this time my battery for the Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp had died and i was fishing blind. I tried to hold in the areas that marked fish earlier.

Giving up on trolling made the decision to fish pilings. Using a 4″ Crystal Minnow casting and retrieving. Finally a strike but the fish missed the bait leaving a large swirl in its wake. The wind was now very strong blowing out of the North which was with the tide making it a really fast drift. After drifting about a mile fishing the pilings i decided to go back to trolling one last pass. Using the Torqeedo became key. The tide was so strong paddling would have not helped at all.

Finally a hit fish on! The line screaming off grabbing the rod from the RAM Mount 2008 Rod Holder. The kayak sleigh ride is on! Fighting the fish for a good 10 minutes and landing a 28.5″ Striper first of the season on the Opening Day first trip out! Very happy to not be skunked and great to have a tight line!

This New Torqeedo Video that illustrates the Ultralight 403 electric kayak outboard motor paired with the optional Torq Trac module & app.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3jDHrnvKcU

For more information visit Torqeedo.com

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!!