I’ve been getting out a bit and wanted to keep a record of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen. It’s been a hot summer here in Maryland and it’s had an effect on things. Trips below start in early June.

early June – Unicorn Lake
Fished Unicorn with friends. Caught bluegill and decent pickerel. Strange that out of the three of us fishing not one bass was caught.

Nice midsummer bluegill caught on a popper.

mid June – Clopper Lake
Took new puppy out on the water with me to see how she did on the kayak. She’s a natural fishing buddy! Small bass caught on 3″ senkos. Water clarity is not as good as it was last year and fish don’t seem to be as tight on structure.

Sadie just gets up in the bow skirt of my kayak.

early July Clopper Lake
Evening trip with a friend. One of my better largemouth from Clopper on a 5″ senko.

One of my better largemouth in a while.

early July – Bay Bridge
Launched at Hemmingways @ 4pm. Right after I unloaded everything the restaurant owner or manager came out and asked that I (we) not launch from the beach anymore. He was polite and said at I could fish since I was all unloaded and he said that in the future we could launch from a ramp there in the marina (If you are going to launch there, use pier G at the Marina).

Launching at Hemmingways for an evening on the Bay.

Anyway, fished until @ 730pm. Worked the pilings of the northern span and even worked the sewer pipe. No strikes. On the way back in I caught a bunch of small bluefish breaking right off the shore point. Even pulled some nice perch off the rocks. All fish were caught on flies. First trip testing out new Cabelas HDT 5wt. Absolutely love the rod = it throws a 175grain line perfectly. Just a great perch and schoolie striper rod. Also stopped at Kent Island Kayak – nice to have a new business in the area.

One perch pulled off the rip rap.

early July – Little Seneca Lake
First time fishing Little Seneca Lake at Black Hill Regional Park. Nice, deep, clear lake about 10 miles north west of my house. Morning trip – we fished the middle cove and pulled some good fish out of the flood timber. One fish was @ 3.5lbs and would not come in to the boat. One of the strongest fish this year. Got that one on a drop shot rig. Evening trip was perfect. flat calm water. Barely any rises though and fish seemed sluggish. Fished the back of a cove and caught good numbers of medium crappie on flies.

mid July – Potomac at Pennyfield
First trip to Pennyfield. Great alternative to the time consuming float of Brunswick to Point of Rocks. Wanted something I could do on my own and that was close to home. Late start and only brought fly rids so did not catch much – just a few bluegill and one small smallmouth. First time noticing that water quality is not what it was last year.

Potomac River - plenty of fishable structure.

Trip basically breaks down like this:

1) drive and park at Pennyfield Lock,
2) paddle up the canal (about a mile) until Mile Marker 21,
3) portage boat down to River – only around 20 yards,
4) easy paddle up to a good ledge and then drift down and fish
5) after about a mile look for sign for Pennyfield lock on left. Look for stream entering river.
6) Paddle up creek to aqueduct. Depending on flows, you might have to get out and drag. Once you go under the aqueduct, the parking lot will be directly on your right.

late July – Potomac at Pennyfield
Wanted to get back to Pennyfield to see if water quality was improving. Not really much better, but had spinning rods with me this time – weighted tubes and wacky senkos. Got a late start for this trip. Kind of slow going but caught a very nice smallmouth from mid river structure. Very strong fish. Saw a bald eagle.

late July – Adirondacks trip, Forked lake and Raquette River
Camped and fished at Forked Lake, just north of Raquette Lake. Neat place where I had to paddle out to my campsite. Rained pretty much the while time I was up there. Wanted to stay longer but I had my dog with me and she just couldn’t dry off and warm up. With temps in the 100s down in MD, I did not pack for 50 degree nights. Always neat to fall asleep to loons calling on the lake.

Pumpkinseed colors

One morning as I was playing in a pumpkinseed a big pike came out oh the weeds and made a pass at it. Scared the S out of me. The black flies and mosquitos were pretty bad. The DEET barely stopped them, but wearing long sleeves and full pants worked like a charm. Caught some nice pumpkinseed and some decent largemouth on flies in the Raquette River drainage. No smallmouth though.

early August – Potomac River, Brunswick to Point of Rocks
Slow going but 2 decent smb on flies on hellgrammite flies. Loved fishing my 8 weight for these fish – could boom out a big cast and fish a drift longer. Fish still felt lively on the larger rod. Water quality still poor. Record high temps clearly affecting the fishing. Also got some pale bluegill on my 5wt.

early August – Kent Narrows
Fished the Narrows instead of Bay Bridge because of sloppy conditions on the Bay. Opted for more protected waters when I noticed whitecaps on the drive over the bridge. Fished the north cove and the point by the gas station. Big perch on small chartreuse/white clousers and white crazy charlies – forgot how effective that crazy charlies were on chesapeake panfish. Once I switched over, the fishing was non-stop.

Nice whice perch caught from Kent Narrows on an ebbing tide.

mid August – Kent Narrows
Broke a rule of never fishing the Narrows on a weekend. Fishing was ok. Fished the north cove and the breakwater. Caught small stripers, a few nice perch, and a needlefish – a first for me – all on flies. Capriotti subs for dinner on the way home.

late August – Little Seneca Lake
Windy day but water clarity was fantastic. Caught good numbers of the strange bluegill that LSL seems to have. They are shaped more like rock bass with elongated bodies. Got a few smallish largemouth – biggest might’ve been over 1.5lbs. Fish were all caught on flies. They clearly seemed to prefer bugger type flies to clousers. Paddle back was against a strong head wind. Saw a bald eagle.

Cabin in Stowe, Vermont

I can usually approximate within a trip or two how many times I’ve been fishing in a year, but not this year. I was good at keeping a log during the winter and spring, but in the summer as I went out more, I started grouping trips into comprehensive posts. I think the last time I went out was in early September when I was driving through New England with my wife and dog. My first actual fishing trip of 2010 was some time on march for chain pickerel at Unicorn Lake. That makes for about a 7 month fishing year. If I had to guess, I’d say I went between 15 and 20 times. Not bad considering I went around 20 times in 2009.

The theme for this year was quality vs quantity. In the spring and summer, when I had time, I fished Clopper lake very frequently and I got to know it pretty well. I also took two great camping/fishing trips: one to the Susquehanna Flats and another to Forked Lake in the Adirondacks. This past year, I might not have gone out as much as I usually did, but when I had the time, I usually had a fairly productive trip – from either catching or exploring standpoints.

High points:

Plenty of storage room in the bow hatch, rod pod, and tankwell for fishing and camping gear.

OK Prowler Trident 13!
This past year I got a new kayak rigged and ready to fish. I spent the winter rigging it up and the spring and summer getting to know it. It’s definitely nicer having a SOT when I’m fishing on the bay. It just feels safer and I can cover more water with more confidence. It’s also nice having a 2nd boat for when my wife or a friend wants to come along fishing with me. I rigged the boat with two Scotty rod holders behind the seat, anchor trolleys on both sides, and a Hummingbird fish finder. I also installed the rod pod myself and upgraded my pfd.

Average size of bass I caught this year.

Tons of bass fishing this spring and summer
I think living next to Clopper lake has been great and this summer I definitely took advantage of being so close. Having the State Park Passport also prompted me to take quick trips when ever I had a moment before or after work or on the weekends. Picking up the G Loomis ultralight rod this spring really got me into finesse bass fishing. I caught I ton of bass on that rod using small Senkos.

Launching at the beach from Elk Neck State Park for a day of fishing on the Susquehanna Flats.

Awesome Susquehanna Flats trip
This was definitely one of my top trips of the year. I camped by myself at Elk Neck State Park for two nights and caught nice stripers on flies and light tackle from my kayak. I took some good pics and had a great time.

Somewhere in New England with all my favorite things.

New England road trip
I got prepared for the trip with a new truck, a Leer cap and Thule kayak holders. The cap was a must-have for us to take all of our camping and fishing gear, cooler, 2 kayaks, and our dog. We started in the Catskills, headed up to the Adirondacks, then over to Portland, Maine for a few nights with family. From there we went on up to Acadia, and then over to a cabin in Stowe, Vermont.

Some Forked Lake campsites are on islands, nearly all are on the lake shore.

We stayed at Forked Lake in the Adirondacks for two days but only caught a few pumpkin seed on flies – no smallmouth or trout. They were small, brightly colored fish, somehow crisper than similar fish in Maryland, but even more timid. The water there was clear and rocky, but there was a fair amount of wood structure and vegetation. I missed a few hits on a small rapala – I think they were either brookies or small pickerel – something small and feisty. The camp site was beautiful, right on the lake with outhouses back in the woods and steel bear boxes next to the stone fire pits.

An Adirondacks pumpkinseed.

I hit the largemouth bass jackpot at a small lake in maine. The temps were in the 90s (very high for Maine) high and the lake was clear, shallow, and full of vegetation. Fish were jumping everywhere, even in the afternoon. I also caught a nice pickerel there too.

Dusk at a small lake in Acadia.

I got skunked at a small lake in Acadia and didn’t have any time to fish in Vermont. What did I learn? We spent too much time driving and not enough time camping/fishing. I’m glad we saw as much as we did, but I hope to not be on the road so much next year. I also learned that camping and bringing a cooler full of food and drinks definitely keeps the costs down.

• Gaithersburg, MD to  Forked Lake, NY – 462 miles
• Forked Lake to Portland, Maine – 301 miles miles
• Portland to Acadia – 159 miles
• Acadia to Stowe, VT – 308 miles
• Stowe, VT to Gaithersburg, MD –  579 miles
• total – 1809 miles

Finally explored Kent Narrows
I fished the breakwater, the bridge pilings, and the shorelines to the north and south thoroughly one morning. I can’t count the number of times I’ve driven over the Kent Narrows bridge and wondered how that structure would fish from a kayak. No fish, but I gave it a shot. I think I just started too late. Even though I got skunked, I’m glad I finally did it in a kayak. Dawn and dusk on a week day in the fall would probably be ideal.

Dodged a big bullet on our Potomac float
This summer David and I floated the Potomac and caught smallies with small Senkos on my new Loomis rod. Halfway through the trip the wind picked up and the sky started getting ugly so we paddled the second half of the float without fishing. We made it to the ramp and loaded up the boats but missed getting caught in a big storm by a few minutes. No power when we got home. A few days later more thunderstorms moved through the area and knocked down a bunch of old trees in my neighborhood.

Things to work on in 2011

Pickerel pic
Yet another year went by where I caught a nice pickerel on a fly and didn’t get a picture. Next year I vow to catch one on film!

Perch run
I missed the perch run again this year. All winter long a few years ago I thought of catching bluegill on poppers, last winter it was floating the Potomac again and catching smallmouth from my kayak. This year, I’m really looking forward to catching white perch on the Chester and having perch scampi when i get home.

Virginia
On our way to Harrisonburg to pick up our new Brittany Spaniel puppy, I realized how close I live to the good fishing that Virginia has to offer. I’ll commonly drive over 2 hours on Route 50 to Unicorn Lake or Hooper’s Island, but for some reason, I’ve avoided driving an hour on Route 66. I think there’s some great fishing closer to home that I want to explore this year.

New gear

• time for new waders – breathable this time.
• handheld gps
• new camera
• kayak cart
• assorted dry bags

Native Ultimate 12 rigged for a day on the Susquehanna Flats

I think that once you rig your kayak up it’s easy to leave it the way it is. On my Native Ultimate 12 I initially rigged 2 RAM tubes behind the seat with a Scotty fly rod holder up front on the right side. This setup is good for trips when I bring 2 spinning rods and a fly rod, like in the spring on the Susquehanna Flats or in the fall when fishing the shallow water around Jane’s Island, but it isn’t perfect for every outing.

Some nice things about RAM and Scotty mount accessories are that they’re relatively cheap and by design they’re very easy to swap out. Once the base is mounted to the boat it’s a simple matter of changing the rod holder itself. During a fishing season in Maryland I can fish a variety of waters and configuring the rod holders specifically for the type of fishing I’m doing helps me make the most of each trip. One weekend I might be bass fishing on a slow moving river, the next I might be jigging bridge pilings for stripers.

Fly Fishing
In the summer if I’m floating the Potomac River I usually fly fish for its smallmouth bass. For trips like this I swap out the RAM tubes behind my seat with RAM fly rod holders. I keep the angle of the rods low to the water so I don’t snag them when I’m casting. I’ve also added a RAM GPS mount (with a wedge to make it compatible with the Scotty base that’s installed.) on the right to hold a GPS so I can track my float down the river between put-ins. A small net gets tucked in the netting on the stern skirt.

Bass Fishing
I also tend to do a fair share of largemouth bass fishing during the summers on local lakes and reservoirs. For this type of fishing I tend to stand and cast quite a bit. It took a little getting used to at first, but the Ultimate is a very stable considering that it’s a 12’ boat. To aid stability, I’ve added two lobster buoy outriggers from Kayak Fishing Stuff. These are easy to raise when paddling and deploy when I’m ready to fish. Although I can really tell the difference when I’m standing, the drawback is that I’ve sacrificed two principal rod holders. My solution is to have one rod in the Scotty holder and another just sitting in the cockpit with me. Not ideal but with the calm waters I’m fishing it hasn’t been much of an issue yet. I might add another Scotty flush mount to the left side for next season.

Native Ultimate 12 rigged for jigging the Bay Bridge pilings for stripers.

Saltwater Light Tackle and Bottom fishing
If I’m bottom fishing for croaker in Tangier Sound I’ll use the RAM tubes behind the seat for storing spinning rods along with a Scotty Rodmaster up front for holding the baited rod.

During the fall I tend to do a lot of vertical jigging on bridge pilings for stripers. I fish tight to the pilings, with my bow right up against them, so I don’t want any stored rods poking out front too much. I’ll just adjust the pitch of the front rod holder to be more vertical than horizontal. This is mainly if I want to bring three rods with me (One with a ½ oz lure, another with a ¼, and a 3rd with an 1/8th). If I’m ok with just bringing two rods, I’ll leave the front rod holder out completely.

These are just a few different configurations and I’ve certainly mixed and matched – when fly fishing for largemouth bass on smaller lakes I’ll bring the KFS outriggers and bring the Scotty fly rod holder up front. Ultimately this is the same setup as my original setup, just with the outriggers in the RAM tubes instead of fishing rods.

Base Locations
On an Ultimate there are really just a few key places to attach the rod holder bases – on either side of the crossbar behind the seat, where the cutout spaces in the stern skirt are. And up front you can mount a rod holder base on the left or right sides – just be sure that it isn’t mounted so close that it interferes with your paddle stroke.

Another thing I considered when mounting the bases was transportation. Initially I liked the idea of having Scotty flush mounts throughout, but I really liked the RAM tubes because they were so versatile. The only issue with the RAM balls was that I transport my kayak upside down, and I didn’t want anything scraping the roof of my truck when I was loading it. Obviously I went with a combination of the two – having the flush mounts up front enable me to slide the kayak up without catching on anything. By the time I get to the back where the RAM balls are, the kayak is pretty much loaded up.

This is probably overkill, but I just wanted to stress how easy it is to swap out rod holders and customize a kayak for specific fishing conditions – fly fishing, bass fishing, saltwater light tackle, bottom fishing all have different needs. I know that it’s easy to get into a rut and just head out when you have time, but swapping these rod holders is quick, cheap, and easy.

Western view of the Bay Bridges

Got a late start today (my fishing buddy is not a morning person) and fished the first half of the rising tide at the Bay Bridges. We got to the put-in at Hemmingway’s @ 10am and fished until 2:30pm. While we were unloading two other anglers were just coming in from fishing the morning bite – Mike and Brian from The Maryland Fisherman’s Annual magazine. We chatted about their morning on the water and they gave us a few copies of their magazines. The said that they had picked up a few stripers early but that the fishing had been slow. They did mention that there were large white perch in schools along the pilings.

Working a wall piling

The tide was slack and temps were already in the 90s as we headed out. I wasn’t too optimistic about our prospects: fishing during the hottest part of the day with a slack tide seemed like a losing proposition but it was better than watching golf on tv. Ideally we’d all be able to fish at dawn and dusk with running tides – but this was when we could fish, so this is when we went.

Working the pilings

There wasn’t much current running against the pilings. We paddled out until the water depth was @ 17′ until we started fishing. I caught one nice white perch on a 3″ chartreuse Gulp grub on a 1/8th oz jig head. I marked big schools of perch deep in the water column behind some of the pilings. If I got my lure down to the bottom I could feel them hitting it. This was the first time that I had fished these small, scented offerings. I think these are definitely going to be part of how I target large white perch and croaker with light tackle from now on.

I only had two rods with me – a 6 1/2 foot medium action spinning rod that I used for the perch and a 6 1/2 foot medium heavy spinning rod that I used for stripers. I alternated between 1/2oz and 3/4oz jig heads and BAs on the heavier rod.

Another shot of the Bridge.

The water quality was great – probably the best I’d ever seen it in mid summer – with 2-3′ of visibility. There was very little wind and the chop wasn’t too bad at all. I think if we had had a little cloud cover the fish might’ve been a little more active.

We worked our way out to the first channel where the water was 100′ deep. I lost a nice fish from underneath one of the 4-piling platforms but ended up getting one decent schoolie on a 5″ BA on the way back in. I had wanted to get as far as the Eastern Shore rock pile but we decided to head in for lunch. The tide (and bite) was picking up at that point but my friend and I were too beat to care by then. Next time I’m going to time my trip with the tide better.

This was my first trip to the Bay Bridge with my Trident 13 and AT Fishstix paddle - very happy with how they work together.

I had a few new pieces of equipment with me on this trip: an Adventure Technology Fishstix paddle and a Simms Solarflex shirt. The paddle is incredibly light and really cut through the water effortlessly. Once you got moving with it, the boat seemingly paddled itself. The shirt is a tighter, long sleeved Under Armor type shirt that has a UPF30 rating that was a great layer underneath my pfd. It’s quick drying and very breathable, and I never felt like I was overheating at all. Best of all – I wasn’t at all burned when I got home.

There were a number of boats anchored up in the shade of the bridge, casting at the pilings too, and I noticed the looks that they were giving my friend and I. A few years ago they probably said something about how crazy we were to be out that far, but nobody said anything this weekend. If anything they looked a little jealous that we were so independently mobile, that we could get so close to the structure so quietly, and that we were getting some exercise. Kayak fishing is slowly gaining hold among Chesapeake Bay anglers.

A nice Eastern Shore largemouth bass

I fished Unicorn Lake this morning with my dad. Even though it felt like Spring was just getting started here, the water looked like it does in mid-Summer: there was already a good amount of algae on the lake surface and the wind had pushed patches and clumps of it down the lake to the the spillway end. Temps today were in the 70s with steady clouds until 1pm and a stiff breeze all day. I fished from my Native U12 and dad fished from shore.

Today was one of thise days where every bluegill I caught was huge. This was one of the nicer ones.

I brought 2 rods with me: my Orvis Superfine 3 weight for bluegill and my new G Loomis ultralight for some finesse bass fishing. I wanted to keep trying the 3″ Senkos on another heavily pressured piece of water to see how they performed.

I’ve been doing a lot of bass fishing this month from my Ultimate 12 and I’m still very impressed with the boat. It’s just perfect for bass fishing: quiet, stable, and maneuverable. In bass fishing from a kayak,  you can set up and drift past  a spot quickly, so it’s nice to be able to have rods just sitting in front of you for quick casts.

I paddled over from the boat ramp to fish the edges and potholes of a field of elephant ear plants. The water on this part of the lake isn’t very deep but the plant stems and leaves provide great cover for the bass. By summer the water will be too warm for the bass but right now it’s worth a shot. This stand of vegetation lies between two small islands on the lake so the water was nicely protected from the wind.

An Eastern Shore largemouth bass fooled by a 3" Senko

Once I paddled over there I could see that there were bluegill beds on the sandy bottom. Most of the beds were empty with nothing but rocks and freshwater mussel shells in the bottom but a few of the beds had fish cirlcing around on patrol. It looked like a was a week or two late for bluegill mania. Every once and a male would charge something threatening the nest leaving a crescent shaped wake at the surface. The water was vey clear on this part of the lake – so clear that I could see the bright turquoise lines on a pumpkinseed’s head.

I pulled this fish right off the shoreline. I think that the fish are very wary of anglers walkng along the shore - so coming by water caught him by surprise.

Although I found the bluegill they were’t very willing to hit poppers over their beds. Early in the morning I missed a nice largemouth on a popper. By the end of the day, I ended up getting  a few nice bass on Senkos – one was 2.5lbs and the next had to be over 3lbs.

I ended up catching a number of huge bluegill from beds around the bigger island. In one area, branches from hemlock trees have grown straight out over the water and there were lots of beds underneath them. As soon as something fell from the branches and hit the water the bluegill and pumpkinseed would hit it immediately. I caught these fish on flies and Senkos. I even caught some yellow perch today – a first in all the years I’ve fished Unicorn.

Often , the bluegill would hit so hard that I couldn't initiall tell if it was a bass or a bluegill.

I’m starting to really like finesse fishing and think that the smaller, slower presentations really help on water where bass have seen a lot of larger offerings. Part of me feels like I might not be getting the attention of larger fish, but I’m still catching good fish, as well as larger panfish on the same lure. This kind of fishing really defines my aesthetic: I like catching big little fish and being surprised by the good ones that come in too. I also think that the smaller lures make a lighter splash in the water and spook less fish – a nice trait in shallow water. I might start dropshotting these smaller Senkos and look forward to trying these on the Potomac for smallmouth.

All in all a great day. Dad caught a lot of fish too and I’m glad that we made the trip again this year. I don’t think that we went last year. Overall the fishing was great and the fish were cooperative. There were lots of pockets and points in the elephant ear field, bluegill beds, and algae clumps all over the water so I had to be very accurate with my casting. I think the trick was to use the kayak to get closer to the target to make a slightly shorter cast.

A nice Clopper Lake largemouth bass caught on a 3" Senko

I’ve been fishing Clopper Lake a lot lately. Seneca Creek State Park is just 5 minutes away from my house so it’s turning into one of my quick-fix spots. The weather here in Maryland has been up and down this spring. One week the temps will be in the 80s with the bass and bluegill on beds. The next will be cooler with wind, overcast skies and temps in the 50s. One nice leftover from the blizzard this winter is the new batch of trees and branches that have fallen into the water. There’s a lot of new structure and the fish seem to be enjoying it.

One of the points on the lake where a beaver has thinned out the trees.

Even with these ups and downs the fish have been pretty cooperative. I’ve had really good luck fishing 3″ Senkos on an ultralight rod. Not exactly typical bass tackle but I feel like Clopper gets a good deal of fishing pressure so I decided to try some finesse fishing. It’s been working so I haven’t switched back to my medium power rod with bigger plastics.

Fish have been tight to structure so far this spring.

Most of the bass have been on the smaller side, but they’ve been real consistent. On a typical trip I might hook 5-6 bass and land at least 4 of them. Some will be bucks, but 1 or 2 of them will be decent. I’ve missed 2 very nice fish over the last 2 weeks. My largest fish have been pushing 2.5lbs. Evenings have been fishing better than mornings.

Coves off of the main lake have been holding lots of fish on structure in shallower water (3-7 feet).  Bass are definitely visible in the shallows with some big fish on beds. Some of these fish look like they’re over 6lbs. Clopper is surprisingly deep in the middle channel – around 26 feet. I bet that there are some good fish in here. I think I’m going to practice dropshotting here once the hydrilla fills out.

Was hoping to get some nice crappie from around the beaver dam but they’d just follow without hitting anything. Might have to try something else like marabou jigs, smaller rapalas, or flies for these fish.

I made this rod leash from an old cell phone car charger. I just trimmed off both ends, then I crimped one end to make a loop and attached a stainless steel clamp to the other. I use the brass hooks from my seat to secure it to the boat - always nice to use existing deck mounting.

Here’s how I made a set of rod leashes or scupper plugs from everyday items. Some materials you may have sitting around, others might be at a local store. Kayak fishing equipment is obviously very specialized and in today’s economy, it’s best to keep purchases to a minimum. The cost of an average rod leash or scupper plug set is @ $10 so it’s kind of pointless to order them specifically when you factor shipping costs.  Save your money for a dry suit or a new paddle.

Practice golfballs are cheap and fit a number of scupper sizes. Wal-Mart carries these. These will act as the plugs.

I used an electrical current tester to poke a hole through the foam ball. A framing nail works just as well.

Tie an overhand loop into a short piece of paracord. This will act as the handle for the plug.

Pull the looped paracord theough the foam ball until the knot is flush against it. I used a piece of wire coat hanger with a section folded back against itself to secure the cord.

Finished product. These fit my old Tarpon 140 as well as my OK Trident 13.

A nice striper caught on the Susquehanna flats

I spent 3 days at Elk Neck State Park, camping at the campground and fishing off the beach there. Fishing out of Elk Neck gets you away from the zoo at Tydings and other Havre de Grace launches. It also puts you within easy distance of Turkey Point, Carpenter Point, and most of the Eastern Flats. The only drawback of fishing out of that beach is that the rangers can’t open the gate until 7am. I think it’d be nice to eventually organize a kayak fishing event there, like the guys do up on Jamaica Bay, where we could camp within that section of the park and launch as early as we want.

All packed up and ready to go.

It had been a busy spring at work and at home so I decided to take a few days off to myself to fish. There were good reports about the Susquehanna Flats so I decided to stay there for 2 nights.  I camped at Elk Neck last year so maybe this is turning into a yearly ritual.

Nice to have time to relax in camp and slowly tie good knots for an upcoming trip.

Thursday was very windy so I took my time getting up to North East. Once I got into town I stopped by Herb’s Tackle Shop to get a local report. I ended up buying a map and some 7″ Bass Assassins. It was even windier once I got to the park so I  just set up camp and relaxed. With some serious fishing in front of me, it was nice to be able to pack lunch, organize tackle, and  calmly retie leaders and knots before I got out on the water. After having some fish break off during my CBBT trip, I’m now a believer in the Brandon White method – 30lb fluorocarbon leaders and palomer knots.

Ready to launch from the beach at Elk Neck State Park.

Friday morning was calm and the wind had completely laid down. With an ebbing tide and no wind I found that I could cover a lot more water than I anticipated. I paddled from the beach right above Rocky Point, out past the channel that runs along Elk Neck and into the shallow water, and then north to Carpenter Point working into the flats themselves.

These stripers would not quit fighting until you lipped them.

The action that morning was relatively steady. Nothing huge but a great grade of fish – fat schoolies in mid 20s. With 30″ fish visibly jumping around me the feeling that the next fish could be a big one was palatable. I started out fishing light tackle but switched to a fly rod once I started catching fish regularly. I headed in around lunch time to take a break and save my energy for the evening bite.

One of the nicer fish of the trip caught on a Blanco fly.

I was back on the water by 4:30. It was still calm and the tide was about the same – slack and low. Because the water was so low you could really see the weed beds of the upper flats.

Low tide reveals the expanse of weed beds on the upper Susquehanna Flats.

I decided to use the low draft and stealth of my kayak to my advantage by paddling deeper into the weed beds than any of the other boats could go. As the sun started setting fish started jumping everywhere. It was one of the most memorable things I’ve ever seen on the Chesapeake: 30″ stripers finning and rolling all around me in the weed beds. I was fishing a weightless Bass Assassin (that was about all I could fish in that mess.) but the fish didn’t want anything to do with it. I just sat back and watched for a while before heading back in.

Looking west across the flats.

Saturday morning was a little breezier, there were more boats on the water, and a rising tide didn’t do much to jumpstart the fishing. Ended up getting skunked on Saturday morning but paddled my butt of against the wind and current. I’m not sure if I’m going to make it up there again before this year’s trophy season is over, so another year’s gone by where I haven’t landed the monster that got away 11 years ago.

One thing I can say for this trip is that I’m getting more confident with being able to cover more water. I think the Trident and better paddling technique have a lot to do with this. The Chesapeake Bay just got a lot smaller.

Other uses for the rod pod: a nice map holder, vhf radio clip, and an impromptu rod leash.

Maiden voyage of the OK PT13 did not disappoint.

Fished Unicorn Lake from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm with David. Temps were in the 50s but there was a stiff breeze early in the morning so it was pretty chilly on the water. I was wearing fleece underneath my waders along with a dry top and could still feel the chill. The water on the lake was high but clear. Aquatic vegetation was just starting to show and there were buds on the trees, but no leaves yet. Overall feeling that we were a week early before things would really kick into gear.

I caught one nice pickerel that was @ 14″. It was a thicker fish that hit hard and just took off once it was hooked – very strong fighter. I caught it on a red marabou streamer – the same fly that’s accounted for a number of pickerel on that lake. I tried spinning tackle – smaller rubber worms and a crank bait but didn’t get any pre-spawn bass or any more pickerel. Might’ve had one more pickerel follow the fly to the boat and I spooked something in shallow water. Also tried brush piles and laydowns for some crappie but they weren’t on them yet. Like I said, it just felt like we were a week or two early.

This was my first time taking my Prowler Trident 13 out. Couldn’t be happier with how the boat paddled. Very stable – comparable to the Ultimate 12 – and very fast. Not sure if it’s the hull design, being higher off the water so my paddle length matches my paddle stroke better, or a combination of the two, but I felt like I could cover a lot more water than before. In not so many words: the boat just felt fast.

Also very happy with the organization and layout of the boat. I definitely like storing spinning rods in the Scotty extenders – the low profile makes casting a fly rod much easier. Just having a rod sitting in the cockpit was also pretty easy. Didn’t have that precarious, balancing feeling I had on the Tarpon. The stock seat is actually pretty comfortable. I might upgrade in the future, but not a huge priority right now. The bow deckline makes a nice impromptu paddle clip and the storage area right behind the seat is good for the Cabelas TUB (tackle utility binder) – good for quick access but out of the way.

It’s going to be a good spring.

Tough to get it all in one shot but anchor trolleys run from stern to carrying handle, and then from carrying handle to bow on both sides.

The anchor trolley on my Trident 13 goes from bow to stern on both sides of the kayak. It’s kind of a blend between Cory Routh’s original install and Lt.FireDog’s (from the kayakfishingstuff.com forum) no-drill anchor trolley. I used the existing deck line mounts to act as line guides and then added 4 deck loops on each side of the kayak to secure the bow and stern pulleys to the hull. In total I have 4 shuttles – two in front of the side carrying handles and two behind.

Some people just install one trolley on one side of the kayak. I like having the ability to anchor from either end – or either side of the boat – so I installed anchor trolleys on both sides. Shifting winds and tides, and varying fishing locations can call for different anchoring scenarios, so I wanted something versatile. So far I’m happy with the install and like that I only had to mount four deck loops for the entire system. It’s clean, neat, and was easy to install using materials I had leftover from other projects.

Materials used:

• @ 40′ of reflective deck line (4 pieces)
• 8 stainless steel pulleys
• @ 40″ of bungee shock cord (4 pieces of equal length)
• 4 carabiners or heavy-duty plastic clips
• 4 deck loops
• 12 well nuts and stainless steel bolts
• 2 zig zag cleats

This is one of the the stern pulleys. It's secured to the hull with a deck loop and a bungee cord.

1) My setup uses a total of 8 stainless steel pulleys. Tie a pulley into a piece of bungee cord with an overhand loop. I use the knot as the stopping point to keep them lashed to the hull with a deck loop (bow and stern) or the existing deck line mounting (midship). I wanted to keep the end lash point close to the end of the boat so the bungee loop itself doesn’t need to be a real big – maybe 3-4″ from the knot to the end of the loop.

2) Measure and mark eye holes of the deck loop on the hull – I did this on either side of the bow and stern. Check and make sure the marks still match up with the deck loop eyes befre you drill. Drill out holes. Place well nuts. Seal the hole with Marine Goop. Place the pulley and shock cord through the deck loop eye and mount the deck loop with stainless steel bolts. Do this on both sides of the bow and stern.

This is one of the mid-ship pulleys secured to the hull with existing deck line mounts and a bungee cord loop.

3) Tie the mid-ship pulleys into the existing deck line mounts immediately in front of and behind the side carrying handles.

4) Once all of the pulleys of the anchor trolley are mounted, thread a piece  of 5mm cord (I used the reflective kind) through the deck line mounts and into pulleys. Work the end back to the pulley – one side of the shuttle loop should be able to run unobstructed from front to back without running through any of the line guides.

Notice how the line runs through the deck line guides on one side but not on the other. This keeps line organized and allows the clip-loop connection to move freely to the terminal end of the shuttle loop.

5) Tie in the anchor line clip or carabiner on one end of the cord. Measure enough line to keep it taught against the hull and on the other end of the line tie an overhand loop. Secure the loop into the clip. The bungee shock cord should flex a little and allow for a taught shuttle cord loop. Once the clip-to-loop connection is made it should smoothly run from mid ship to the bow or stern without much pressure.

Here the anchor line clip and loop lie flush against the hull of the boat.

6) Burn off all frayed ends of bungee shock cord and knots in the line.

7) Mount zig zag cleats on either side behind the seat

One of the zig zag cleats installed behind the seat.