Went back to the scene of Friday’s fishing. Lots of boats and kayaks around this time. Wind was very light, northeast, tide slowly falling, almost nonexistent. Water moderately high and mostly clear, but not too clear green. Decided to head away from the general crowd and explore a shallower sandy bar, but no sign of fish there, so I moved to a shell and mud area that bounced around from 1.5-3’ of water. Here sign was obvious. Needle fish going airborne, other bait scattering. Got a solid thump on a DSL Chicken of the C tail, fish on, 18” trout, but I was too slow with the net, fish off.
Kept tossing to the sign and caught a sand trout, another 14” speck or two, and a 19” red. Tried the borski slider, but that only netted me a croaker. Sign disappeared so I moved off to a different stretch of shell and mud. Falling tide started to pick up some pace. Wind veered east and increased some. Went to a reliable November spot and that got me a few specks from 14-16”. I basically have to cast at a room sized target, let the paddle tail fall, wait for the thump, set the hook. Fish can be stacked in this spot, but not so much yesterday, probably got picked mostly clean by one of the boats I saw there.
I decided to probe the area more closely. Reefs intersect, water pours over and around them, predators lie in wait. The presentation is to work with the current, ideally, anyway, but not always. I made a long cast downwind, down current with the 1/8 ounce jig head/paddle tail and got a solid thump as the lure hit the water. Fish on, good trout, head thrashing, tail walking type. In fact, most every trout I hooked head thrashed in the most vigorous way yesterday. Anyway, this trout put up a good battle and got just up about to the kayak and shook the hook. The fish hung suspended right below the surface just out of net reach for three seconds, laughing at me. Looked to be 22” and a chunk.
No more trout did I find after that and I fished my way back to the launch. Caught a redfish under sign in a streak of muddy water. I was trying to determine if it was 20” and therefore legal to retain when it wiggled free and back into the brine. That settled that.
Wind veered more ENE and freshened. I was in my truck at 15:30 heading home. Launched at 11:00 or so. Coulda, shoulda, woulda have come home with 4 trout and possibly the red, but ended with the 2 trout. Shrimp bits were in their stomachs. A measurement stick is on my Christmas wish list.
Sunday, Fun day
- Ron Mc
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Re: Sunday, Fun day
noticed at the tail end of our Arroyo trip that the shrimp were just beginning to move in down there - probably happening sooner farther up the coast.
- OldTownYakBoi
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Re: Sunday, Fun day
I saw no shrimp on my last trip to the marsh, mainly fin fishRon Mc wrote:noticed at the tail end of our Arroyo trip that the shrimp were just beginning to move in down there - probably happening sooner farther up the coast.
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- OldTownYakBoi
- Posts: 389
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Re: Sunday, Fun day
Sounds like the chicken of the sea or chicken on a chain color is really working rn. I had a good outing with the same colorkarstopo wrote:Went back to the scene of Friday’s fishing. Lots of boats and kayaks around this time. Wind was very light, northeast, tide slowly falling, almost nonexistent. Water moderately high and mostly clear, but not too clear green. Decided to head away from the general crowd and explore a shallower sandy bar, but no sign of fish there, so I moved to a shell and mud area that bounced around from 1.5-3’ of water. Here sign was obvious. Needle fish going airborne, other bait scattering. Got a solid thump on a DSL Chicken of the C tail, fish on, 18” trout, but I was too slow with the net, fish off.
Kept tossing to the sign and caught a sand trout, another 14” speck or two, and a 19” red. Tried the borski slider, but that only netted me a croaker. Sign disappeared so I moved off to a different stretch of shell and mud. Falling tide started to pick up some pace. Wind veered east and increased some. Went to a reliable November spot and that got me a few specks from 14-16”. I basically have to cast at a room sized target, let the paddle tail fall, wait for the thump, set the hook. Fish can be stacked in this spot, but not so much yesterday, probably got picked mostly clean by one of the boats I saw there.
I decided to probe the area more closely. Reefs intersect, water pours over and around them, predators lie in wait. The presentation is to work with the current, ideally, anyway, but not always. I made a long cast downwind, down current with the 1/8 ounce jig head/paddle tail and got a solid thump as the lure hit the water. Fish on, good trout, head thrashing, tail walking type. In fact, most every trout I hooked head thrashed in the most vigorous way yesterday. Anyway, this trout put up a good battle and got just up about to the kayak and shook the hook. The fish hung suspended right below the surface just out of net reach for three seconds, laughing at me. Looked to be 22” and a chunk.
No more trout did I find after that and I fished my way back to the launch. Caught a redfish under sign in a streak of muddy water. I was trying to determine if it was 20” and therefore legal to retain when it wiggled free and back into the brine. That settled that.
Wind veered more ENE and freshened. I was in my truck at 15:30 heading home. Launched at 11:00 or so. Coulda, shoulda, woulda have come home with 4 trout and possibly the red, but ended with the 2 trout. Shrimp bits were in their stomachs. A measurement stick is on my Christmas wish list.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk