PLO (Aug 29) - Gulp Shrimp Alive – What else?

[Friday]

At PLO on Aug 29, 2009

I learned that the high and low tides would occur at 9:00AM and 3:00PM approximately today. I planed to explore the north side of Lake Conoy for possible keeper puppy drums for 2 hours. After that, I come back and fish for spots to use as live baits for an hour, and go out to the river for a flounder. If the storm moves in at 1:00-2:00PM as forecasted, after the storm, I will fish the remaining area of the lake for possible puppy drums.

I brought 4 rods today. Two additional rods were very light for casting light lures. One was stiff and fast action rod with 10 lb super-braided line and 10 lb Fluro carbon leader, and the other was medium action rod with 10 lb mono line.
I launched from the small sandy area next to the Jon boat and kayak rental at 10:05AM. Since there were none near the launch site, I started fish from the launch area. I started with a 1/8 oz jig head with 3” Gulp Shrimp Alive. Casting with a light rod and 10 lb super braid line was perfect for a 1/8 oz jig head with a Gulp Shrimp. Casting was effortless and accurate. Immediately, I picked up two small puppy drums before I reached the middle of lake.

The first puppy drum on Gulp Shrimp - Sometimes my watch showed the date and time:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/Puppy2.JPG

After releasing the second small puppy drum, I started working on the west side shore of the north side of the lake. I caught 2 small bluefish on Gulp Shrimp. But some small blue fish bit off the few Gulp Shrimps. I kept going to the north slowly covering the water thoroughly. I set the shallow water warning on the fish finder. The fish finder was beeping constantly throughout the exploration. The depth of water 50-70 feet away from the shore was about 2-3 feet

I caught a tiny flounder on Gulp shrimp, and foul-hooked a spot and an unknown fish. I kept the spot for bait later.

Foul-hooked spot on Gulp Shrimp:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/SpotOnGulpShrimp.JPG

Foul-Hooked unknown fish on Gulp Shrimp:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/Unknown5.JPG

For an hour I managed to explore a small area. It was indeed a very slow process. I reversed the course and fished the same area one more time. When I came back I did not catch any fish but a few bites.
I took a little brake. During the brake, I put back new light rods and brought out the typical rods for the bay. I fished for spots with Fish-Bites. For an hour, I caught two small spots, and two 11 inch croakers and an ugly fish.

The ugly fish on Fish-Bites – I forgot the name of it:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/Agu1.JPG

The Potomac River was calm. I headed for the south, straight toward the end of swimming beach (the beginning of long riprap). I was drifting from 16’ of water toward the shore for flounder. I put one live spot on a 3/0 circle hook by using a 3-way swivel and a 2oz sinker. I also jigged a 1oz buck-tail with Gulp Shrimp. I caught small flounder by jigging on Gulp Shrimp during the first run. I caught one more undersized flounder on Gulp Shrimp on the 2nd run.

Soon birds came to me and so did bluefish. I caught two bluefish on Gulp Shrimp. But it cost me 4 Gulp Shrimps and two live spots. I switched lure and tried catch possible stripers. I chased the birds, casted a spoon, and trolled a small Clark Spoon by using a #2 Sea-Striker Planer for 1.5 hours for possible Spanish Mackerels. I caught two bluefish on a casting spoon. Even though I thought I saw some stripers at 20 inches jumping, I did not have luck today.

Tired and disappointed, I gave up catching stripers. I came back to the same flounder spot for one keeper flounder. Birds and bluefish came and gone while I was drifting. After loosing two more Gulp Shrimp by bluefish, I did not want use Gulp Shrimp any more. So I filleted the last spot (that was foul-hooked in the morning). I followed Sam’s tip. I made 4 strips. I jigged the 1 oz buck-tail with a spot strip. I caught another under sized flounder.

Flounder caught on a strip of a spot:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/Fluke15inch.JPG

I also caught a bluefish on the buck-tail with a spot strip. I kept the bluefish to use it as strips on the buck-tail.

There was a guy on a Jon boat drifting the same area for flounder. He came and started from the exactly the same spot I started drift. He was using three rods with live minnows. I saw him catching at least 5 undersized flounders. Well, I though there might be no keepers today. I have not had any bites on strips of bluefish for a while. But I had flounder bites on the strips of the spot. I thought strips of spots could be one of the best for jigging for flounders.

I had been fishing for a long time, and it was time to go home. The tide and wind directions changed, and I could still jig for flounders while drifting toward the launch site. I was nicely drifted toward the inlet. I jigged and jigged with Gulp Shrimp. I had a few flounder bites but I could not set the hook. Right in front of the south jetty of the inlet, about the 70 yard from the inlet in 14’ of the water, I caught a 17” flounder. It was a keeper. It was about 6:15 - 6:45PM.

Finally a keeper Flounder on Gulp Shrimp:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/Fluke17inch.JPG

When I was unloading the kayak at the launch site to go back home, I saw some surface actions on the east side shore from the launch site. I went out again with a light rod. I cast and jigged few times with a 1/8 oz jig head with a Gulp Shrimp. Then a 15” striper swallowed a Gulp Shrimp. I cut the line and called it quit. It was getting dark and mosquitoes attacked me in full force.

Striper swallowed the Gulp Shrimp and the Jig:
http://comeonfish.com/ChesapeakeBayPLO20090829/Striper.JPG

I probably cast and jigged 250 (perhaps exaggerated) times today. Now I know why light rods are important for tournament Bass Anglers. My fingers and right shoulder were sore today. I probably dropped my weight by 3-4 lb today.

[Capt C-Hawk]

I look forward to Monday just so I can read your weekend reports, thanks for another good one.

[ictalurus]

Thanks for another excellent report. That ugly fish is an oyster toadfish, and the other unknown fish is a southern kingfish (or possibly a northern kingfish). When the kingfish get bigger, they're supposed to be good to eat. They're also good bait for cobia down at the CBBT. Nice job on the flounder, too. I was thinking that Saturday turned out pretty nice for fishing.

For the puppy drum, are you casting out and bouncing the shrimp along the bottom or are you reeling to keep it up in the water column? I'm not sure what I was doing wrong last week, but I didn't have any hits at all. Maybe I was fishing too close to shore.

The mosquitoes in the evening are intense. I started bring bug repellent just for when I load up my kayak after fishing.

[Friday]

Bill,
As you know, I used to be very bad in catching fish by jigging or using soft lures. My recent little success on jigging (or soft lure fishing) since past 5-6 trips was due to my changes on jigging or retrieving the lure techniques. This change worked well on the most of fish available.

Regarding Puppy Drum and other species,

I used to use heavy jig heads or heavy buck-tail for all fish. I lifted the rod fast and let the lure drop like a big rock. My lures sat on the bottom for a long time before I lift the lure fast again. Obviously, I do not have finesse fresh water fishing techniques.

Here are my changes and my way of fishing. But perhaps all other fishermen were doing the followings already:

1. I took ML’s (Damzelfish) advice. That is fish hit when the lure descends usually. Therefore, I maintain (kind of) the tension on the line. And this results in quick hook settings. Also I can even feel minor taps while lowering the rod tip. I gave a little time then set the hook when a fish taps.
2. The other one from ML was that she controlled the speed of lure descend. She lowered the rod a lot slower than I used to do. I noticed when she explained to me weeks ago. So I am using the lighter jig heads for slower descend. So the lure on the lighter jig head does not descend too fast especially I cast the lure far out (about 80-90feet)
3. At this point I don’t let the lure hit the bottom at all. When someday when I get better, I may let the lure hit the bottom momentary, but not right now until I can feel where (the water column) the lures are correctly.
4. I lift up rod tip slower than before, and lower the rod tip slowly while reeling in slowly. I want my lure go up and down slowly.
5. I add 1 - 3 short twitches while bring up the rod occasionally. When I fish for puppy drum, I twitch the rod tip by less than 6-8 inches. Hopefully the lure twitches only by an inch. I am mimicking some of the professional bass anglers in the cold water.
6. For Puppy, I use the lightest jig head. I got the 1/8 oz jig head with a long shank hook in the fresh water section at the Dicks for shallow water. I don’t know the exact purpose of the jig head but I think they are for long worms. I would buy a 1/16 oz jig head if it came with a long shank hook.
7. I used 2-3 oz buck-tail last year for flounders, this year I use 1oz buck-tail at the same place for slow lure descend. I really down-sized the buck-tails and jig heads.
8. I noticed that when I even I jig, I cast far out than other anglers. Especially when I jig for flounder, there is a big difference. It looked other anglers dropped the buck-tails and jigged perpendicular to the bottom while drifting. I cast the buck-tail as far as I can then reel the buck-tail in while lifting and lowering the rod tip slowly in big motion. When I cast for puppy, I tried to keep my self far away from the possible target area, because I read on the web that redfish on the shallow water get spooked very easily.
9. Technically, I may not jig for flounders all the time. I jig only when the lures are close to the kayak because I cast as far as I can.

Hopefully, someone can correct my methods and teach me new techniques.

Joe

[ictalurus]

Hmmm... sounds like I have to vary my retrieve some. I also might reeling too fast. I'll have to experiment more next time I go.

[surfnsam]

nice report as always Joe! put the new revo in at romancoke sunday and got it adjusted. took my hand held gps out to check my speed on the first trip; 2.5-3 mph just cruising and 5.3 mph when sprinting against the wind. after 5 hours my legs are sore! have to build up those muscles some more, not bad for 52

[Friday]

Sam,
52 is still very young. I will be 56 in November. I think I am young, but teenagers and young women treat me like an old man.

Pedaling and Paddling on a Hobie can be a total work out. I have chronicle tennis elbow problem, but since I bought a Hobie, the tennis elbow is almost gone. The reason I still have the tennis elbow is that the pedaling makes me cast a lot more than before.

BTW,
Using a strip of fish (especially spot) on a buck-tail for jigging was an excellent idea. It was very effective last Saturday. I like strips of spot a lot because the spot meat was firmer than bluefish meat. The strips of a spot last longer than that of bluefish, and the stripes of spot on the buck-tail definitely attracted flounders. I could see the bite marks of flounders when I could not set the hook. But strips of bluefish did not attract flounders.

Towing trolling bucket is still a pain on a Hobie when chasing birds. Instead of trying to live-line a spot to catch flounders on the second line, I am going us a strip of spot. If I can make the strip of spot suspended 1-2 feet above the bottom while drifting, I think I can improve catching ratio a lot. If this works well, I will not tow a trolling bucket to keep spots alive.

Joe

[surfnsam]

heading to Delaware this weekend, going to try cape henlopen on saturday and Roosevelt inlet area on sunday, if you guys are interested. the best flounder bait is the white belly of any fish i like shark belly really tuff. flounder are sight killers they like bright sun and flashy presentations. after years of hunting them i find that on the flood tide they move on to the flats and when the tide goes out they lie on the edge of drop offs. my best rig is a 1.5 oz egg sinker on main line then a bead then a snapswivel to 15" fluorocarbon leader with a spinner blade and a 4/0 khale hook top the hook with a minnow and a piece of squid or fish belly, this is a killer rig.