MyFishFinder Forum
MFF US Northeast => Massachusetts => Topic started by: westernmas on Jun 11, 2018, 09:49 AM
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So as I had mentioned, I fished in my first ever fishing tournament this weekend. For whatever reason, I ended up picking a kayak only tournament, in a body of water that I've never fished, and targeted some species that I have never fished for. The weekend started off on Friday, when my new fish finder arrived unexpectedly, but the battery and RAM mount did not. Therefore, I ended up stopping at Cabelas Friday night on the drive down to the Cape to get a battery and mount.
After a couple of hours of sleep, we arrived in Fairhaven Saturday morning around 5am to birds busting to tiny peanut bunker. The schoolies and blues were following but they were keyed in on really small bait so catching them was difficult. I got a decent blue and 2 schoolies during the first hour. Seemed like the fish either moved out deeper or were only hitting tiny bait so we switched to bottom fishing. I ended up landing countless black sea bass and sea robins, some of which were kept for dinner. The biggest sea bass was about 19 inches and prob 4-5lbs. We were off the water around noon so we could get back to setup my fish finder and do some work on my rudder.
Six hours of sleep and we were back in Fairhaven by 4:30 for a 5am start. We took a similar approach to the practice round but the fish weren't in the same place. We tried tube/worm rigs and eels in the morning to no avail. We switched to bottom fishing quickly. I caught a good sea robin right away that went on the stringer. It ended up being 2.22lbs and won the sea robin category. I got one keeper fluke and a few short sea bass before we moved to deeper water. In the deeper water I kept an eel dangling behind me while I jigged. I ended up catching a bluefish on the eel which also ended up being the biggest in the category (3.7lbs). I only caught some short sea bass tourney day. My buddy limited out on fluke and sea bass but none were leader board worthy. I also caught 2 dogfish on the eel, one was close to 4 feet long and put up a heck of a fight. I had never caught one and thought I had a monster striper. However, they are a pain in the butt to deal with in a yak.
The final weigh in was at 3:30 and the blue got me second place overall. It went striper (none caught), fluke, blue, sea bass and then sea robin for prizes. I walked away with a malone kayak cart, a calcutta soft side fish keeper and a bag filled with assorted lures. The grand prize of a tandem Feel Free kayak went to team Hobie (the rich get richer) for an almost 8lb doormat of a fluke.
(https://s15.postimg.cc/w4kmishuf/3_A55_C896-_D7_ED-40_EC-8098-_B9_D7_FA0_CBD7_E.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/w4kmishuf/)
(https://s15.postimg.cc/6lsa5slfr/4_D3199_B1-61_A4-4_E10-92_A3-6352_E4_B68_B4_D.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/6lsa5slfr/)
(https://s15.postimg.cc/4h7x4oh87/88_D1_AC85-4_DC1-4_E64-98_EB-_D317_D35486_D9.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/4h7x4oh87/)
(https://s15.postimg.cc/8qcn6vfcn/FED7_C6_EA-594_C-486_F-8_CAC-_B3_A21_C5303_A0.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/8qcn6vfcn/)
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Nice outcome! Way to be.
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Nice outcome! Way to be.
Thanks. I really like the bottom fishing. Reminded me a lot of jigging ice fishing.
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Thanks. I really like the bottom fishing. Reminded me a lot of jigging ice fishing.
And you sir now have the same addiction that I do. Someone here finally gets it! LOL You could not have phrased that any better.
Congrats on your winnings!
Here is the pick from my trip on saturday, pretty similar.
(https://s15.postimg.cc/fsf679b1j/Resized_20180609_150522.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/fsf679b1j/)
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Thanks. I really like the bottom fishing. Reminded me a lot of jigging ice fishing.
Peddle kayaks make jigging out of the yak so much easier. Being able to peddle into the current to stay in place or control drift speed makes a huge difference.
Be sure to clean the area where your peddle arms enter the housing real well. Ive heard nightmares of those bearings seizing over the winter due to not being stainless.. Had a buddys drive fail due to that while out on the water. You DO NOT want to have to paddle that Slayer against the tide..
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So as I had mentioned, I fished in my first ever fishing tournament this weekend. For whatever reason, I ended up picking a kayak only tournament, in a body of water that I've never fished, and targeted some species that I have never fished for. The weekend started off on Friday, when my new fish finder arrived unexpectedly, but the battery and RAM mount did not. Therefore, I ended up stopping at Cabelas Friday night on the drive down to the Cape to get a battery and mount.
After a couple of hours of sleep, we arrived in Fairhaven Saturday morning around 5am to birds busting to tiny peanut bunker. The schoolies and blues were following but they were keyed in on really small bait so catching them was difficult. I got a decent blue and 2 schoolies during the first hour. Seemed like the fish either moved out deeper or were only hitting tiny bait so we switched to bottom fishing. I ended up landing countless black sea bass and sea robins, some of which were kept for dinner. The biggest sea bass was about 19 inches and prob 4-5lbs. We were off the water around noon so we could get back to setup my fish finder and do some work on my rudder.
Six hours of sleep and we were back in Fairhaven by 4:30 for a 5am start. We took a similar approach to the practice round but the fish weren't in the same place. We tried tube/worm rigs and eels in the morning to no avail. We switched to bottom fishing quickly. I caught a good sea robin right away that went on the stringer. It ended up being 2.22lbs and won the sea robin category. I got one keeper fluke and a few short sea bass before we moved to deeper water. In the deeper water I kept an eel dangling behind me while I jigged. I ended up catching a bluefish on the eel which also ended up being the biggest in the category (3.7lbs). I only caught some short sea bass tourney day. My buddy limited out on fluke and sea bass but none were leader board worthy. I also caught 2 dogfish on the eel, one was close to 4 feet long and put up a heck of a fight. I had never caught one and thought I had a monster striper. However, they are a pain in the butt to deal with in a yak.
The final weigh in was at 3:30 and the blue got me second place overall. It went striper (none caught), fluke, blue, sea bass and then sea robin for prizes. I walked away with a malone kayak cart, a calcutta soft side fish keeper and a bag filled with assorted lures. The grand prize of a tandem Feel Free kayak went to team Hobie (the rich get richer) for an almost 8lb doormat of a fluke.
(https://s15.postimg.cc/w4kmishuf/3_A55_C896-_D7_ED-40_EC-8098-_B9_D7_FA0_CBD7_E.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/w4kmishuf/)
(https://s15.postimg.cc/6lsa5slfr/4_D3199_B1-61_A4-4_E10-92_A3-6352_E4_B68_B4_D.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/6lsa5slfr/)
(https://s15.postimg.cc/4h7x4oh87/88_D1_AC85-4_DC1-4_E64-98_EB-_D317_D35486_D9.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/4h7x4oh87/)
(https://s15.postimg.cc/8qcn6vfcn/FED7_C6_EA-594_C-486_F-8_CAC-_B3_A21_C5303_A0.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/8qcn6vfcn/)
Congrats that sounds like fun! I will be out that way in a couple of weeks but have no previous experience yet with my Hobie Mirage so I'll probably stay out of the sea water this year.
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congrats on a successful tournament, in spite of the road blocks that were thrown your way!
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TaxID, as long as the wind is less than 10mph you should be fine in your Hobie in Buzzards Bay. It was about 10-15 mph on Sunday and I was never nervous. The only thing to watch out for is where there are rips due to a tide change and quick change in depth. They typically fish well but create some weird waves.
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Peddle kayaks make jigging out of the yak so much easier. Being able to peddle into the current to stay in place or control drift speed makes a huge difference.
Be sure to clean the area where your peddle arms enter the housing real well. Ive heard nightmares of those bearings seizing over the winter due to not being stainless.. Had a buddys drive fail due to that while out on the water. You DO NOT want to have to paddle that Slayer against the tide..
Yes everything was cleaned off very well once I got home. I'll prob hit them all again tonight since I was doing it at about 8:30 at night after a long day.
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congrats on a successful tournament, in spite of the road blocks that were thrown your way!
Thanks. The road blocks make it that much more rewarding.
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Nice job Pat.
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TaxID, as long as the wind is less than 10mph you should be fine in your Hobie in Buzzards Bay. It was about 10-15 mph on Sunday and I was never nervous. The only thing to watch out for is where there are rips due to a tide change and quick change in depth. They typically fish well but create some weird waves.
Sounds good, but out here on Lake Michigan or Huron the weather can change in an instant. How far do you go out?
I was out about 5 miles once with an 15 horse motor in a 15 foot boat and the motor stared misfiring. I turned around and made it, but it did make me nervous!
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I was only out 1-2 miles which depending on the tides can still take a decent amount of time to pedal/paddle back. That was the nice part of this tourney. They picked a good launching spot so getting out to fishy waters wasn't too difficult. However, carrying the kayak out to the water was BRUTAL. Sure glad I won a cart!
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Biggest issue i ran into (other than boats) in my hobie was a following sea when landing. Other than that it was an awesome craft.
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And you sir now have the same addiction that I do. Someone here finally gets it! LOL You could not have phrased that any better.
Congrats on your winnings!
Here is the pick from my trip on saturday, pretty similar.
(https://s15.postimg.cc/fsf679b1j/Resized_20180609_150522.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/fsf679b1j/)
It is addicting thats for sure.
Taxid I think you have the right idea. Get used to the hobie first before venturing into the salt.
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Biggest issue i ran into (other than boats) in my hobie was a following sea when landing. Other than that it was an awesome craft.
Will,
What do you mean by "Biggest issues I ran into (other than the boats) was my hobie was a following sea when landing?"
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I almost got hit by a boat in a yak fishing for stripers at night. Despite having lights some people are oblivious. Ironically it was my first time in a hobie.
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Congratulations Pat. Well done.
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I almost got hit by a boat in a yak fishing for stripers at night. Despite having lights some people are oblivious. Ironically it was my first time in a hobie.
Yes, I think with navigation people don't pay attention like they should. I had one boat speeding right toward me but luckily he changed course.
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Congratulations Pat. Well done.
Thanks Manny!
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Will,
What do you mean by "Biggest issues I ran into (other than the boats) was my hobie was a following sea when landing?"
When you come in to land your yak at the launch and the seas (wave, wind, current etc) are going in the same direction, the arse end of peddle yaks like to kick out and turn you broadside. Which results in you getting swamped or rolled by the oncoming waves.
In this video at the 10 sec mark is a good example.
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Will I agree. When the waves are at your back you need to be extra mindful of your rudder. Luckily the new rudder I put on my native I can adjust the tension so I wasn't getting spun around by waves.
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Will I agree. When the waves are at your back you need to be extra mindful of your rudder. Luckily the new rudder I put on my native I can adjust the tension so I wasn't getting spun around by waves.
I think it has to do with the design. Even with the rudder up it likes to do this. Just gotta paddle in and time your entry with the waves.
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Will I agree. When the waves are at your back you need to be extra mindful of your rudder. Luckily the new rudder I put on my native I can adjust the tension so I wasn't getting spun around by waves.
Thanks for the info!
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Yes, I think with navigation people don't pay attention like they should. I had one boat speeding right toward me but luckily he changed course.
Especially at night where the light from the unit makes seeing things in the darkness very difficult.
As far as yak landing in surf. Id also pay attention to where you land if its a sand beach. If you see current running perpendicular to shore you may be in a rip current. You dont want to get out of the yak in that...Ive stood in a few and man even knee deep they try to suck you into the ocean.