I have made a few trips out so far (I am new to the saltwater thing and kayak fishing) but this is the first report I decided to do. My wife is teaching a class in Alvin so every Tuesday and Thursday I drop her at school and sneak out from 530p-830p for a little fun Yesterday I decided to paddle out farther than normal and work my way back.
I hit a pond I saw on the map that is just south of the bridge. With the outgoing tide I knew there would be water leaving the culvert. Decent south wind made me work to get there. 1.5 mile paddle in about 28 min (yes I was tracking time and distance on my watch just to see)
When I rolled up I noticed some fish chasing bait and a TON of seagulls just to my east. I decided to check the current area first. FIsh moving and feeding but I couldn't get them to take anything. I threw a gold 1/2oz spoon and a mantis shrimp on a jig. Nada.
I headed down to the gulls to see what they were doing. As I got there, more of them flew up off the pond levee. While odd to me, I don't know what I don't know so I started casting away. Needless to say they were not at all happy about me being there. I left that area with the assumption they were nesting or something else. No less than 500 birds in the air above me I would guess.
I ventured back down to the current area and beached the yak. There was a ton of fish activity feeding but the bite was slow. This is where I am still learning but will figure it out I ended up with 1 dink speck on the spoon, 2 catfish of some form on shrimp under a cork (you can catch those things any time you need to feel a pull) and 1 keeper speck. I did get to play with a blue crab who was hanging out waiting for a meal
I left the pond and went to a reef that served me well near dark last week. I managed to get 2 fish on but they came unpinned (found out that I bent the tip of my hook on some shells and I think that prevented a good hookup. The fish were blowing up everywhere there but I have yet to get a topwater bite there.
It was about 815 when I decided to head in the last .5 miles before dark. I mounted the Garmin Stalker 4 today and saw some interesting contour changes I wanted to check out. On the way to one of them I saw several fish blow up near the reed line so I stopped to play again. Like before, I could not get them to take anything. Had a couple of "machine gun" bites (similar to a bluegill) that I assumed were croaker or some other smaller fish.
All in all it was another fun outing that I learned from and will keep building on. While I am new to the salt, I fished at a high level for many years chasing those little green freshwater fish and am slowly learning how to apply that knowledge to the salt. I have learned a lot from this forum so far and will become more of a contributor as I get out! Thanks for everything!
PS I will figure out how to upload pics soon. For now they are on my fb page from last night https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.brown.397
7-6-17 Chocolate Bayou
Re: 7-6-17 Chocolate Bayou
Nice descriptions of your trip. Keep em coming.
I'm not sure of the "pond" you're referring to, but I do know some of the cut-off meanders both north and south of the bridge can produce specks and flounder at times. I haven't venture very far south, but there's a lot of good fishing around there.
You're using those 3 hour times pretty effectively - nice going.
I'm not sure of the "pond" you're referring to, but I do know some of the cut-off meanders both north and south of the bridge can produce specks and flounder at times. I haven't venture very far south, but there's a lot of good fishing around there.
You're using those 3 hour times pretty effectively - nice going.
Re: 7-6-17 Chocolate Bayou
Sounds like a typical Chocolate Bayou/Bay fishing trip for me. Nice first report
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Re: 7-6-17 Chocolate Bayou
Nice report Jeremy. Sounds like you are gaining on things so just stay after it and the fishing will get better.
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Re: 7-6-17 Chocolate Bayou
Great report! Thanks for sharing!
Re: 7-6-17 Chocolate Bayou
You'll get them. Next time try fishing the edges of the ICW where it goes from 10+ feet to 2-3'. There's reefs all over and you can usually pick a few off from time to time.