Monday, July 10, 2006

Kayak Fishing for Striped Bass

Saturday morning and the marathon fishing/diving/filming session continued.

It seemed like I no sooner shut my eyes when the alarm clock went off at 2:30 AM – time to gear up for a day of kayak fishing on Jamestown. At 3:30 AM I entered the den of the lioness and made my first attempt at waking up my wife…Donna is not exactly a morning person, and that’s putting it mildly. A couple of more attempts and she was up and ready to help my lug gear and load kayaks. The reason I’ve been able to be happily married for going on 30 years is that my wife understands my passion and obsession for fish and fishing and she has been the best partner I could ever hope for. Now that I’ve introduced her to kayak fishing, she’s gaining an appreciation for how beautiful the world is at daybreak. And what a glorious day it was! Two days in a row with wind under 10 knots, you might think it was summer.

Donna with a schoolie striper taken on a cut down, stubby Slug-Go.

We met up with Gerry Sparks and his friend Mitch at Fort Wetherill on Cananicut Island. I had promised Gerry some big stripers if we fished live eels off my super secret spot. We paddled out to that area only to find five boats soaking bunker heads while drifting the turn of the tide. We tried to maneuver amongst the boats while keeping out of their way, but it was clear that there were already too many boats in too small an area…how I love fishing on weekends. I paid respect to my dad, as this was the place I scattered his ashes nearly 20 years ago and we moved on.

Mitch landing a small schoolie.
It was time for plan B and we headed for the rocky shoreline where we would be able to fish without any boat traffic. We snuck in tight to the breaking waves and worked and assortment of small surface poppers and slug-gos. The fish were cooperative and I was able to get some good video above and below water. This footage will be the first installment in many other sorties destined to create the ultimate kayak fishing DVD.
Mitch with a more substantial striper.
It was time for plan B and we headed for the rocky shoreline where we would be able to fish without any boat traffic. We snuck in tight to the breaking waves and worked and assortment of small surface poppers and slug-gos. The fish were cooperative and I was able to get some good video above and below water. This footage will be the first installment in many other sorties destined to create the ultimate kayak fishing DVD.

A schoolie with its dorsal fin fully extended is a striper that isn't interested in sticking around for another photo opportunity.

1 comment:

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