Looks like the year isn’t over for me yet. Got a call from Brandon White early Sunday asking me to fish with him at the CBBT on Monday morning. As Chief Angler of Tidalfish.com and Lateral Line, inc., it’s hard to imagine an angler who’s more dialed into what the fish are doing on the Chesapeake Bay than him, so when he says the bite is on, it’s on.

I met him in Easton and we headed down to Cape Charles, VA where he had rented a condo in an upscale, gated community. While the rest of the world was camping in tents or sleeping in run-down motels, we were living it up in a beautiful condo facing the fairway of a golf course.

Monday morning was foggy with no wind and temps in the 50s – a total gift from the fishing gods in December. We motored out slowly and eventually the fog burned off and we were heading south in a 23’ Jones Brothers Light Tackle Edition center console.

The plan was to head south into the ocean since the conditions were so nice, On our way down we jigged a few of the pilings near the 4th Island and Brandon had a 20-something inch fish after a few casts.

Now that the skunk was off we blasted south and motored around the Chesapeake Light Tower looking for fish. Gannets were diving all over the place but they were very scattered, not working one specific area. We stuck with the plan and covered a lot of water over the next 4 hours but eventually headed back into the bridge to work the structure there.

We caught fish to @30” on flies and light tackle until dark. It wasn’t hot and heavy fish on every cast fishing, but it was pretty great. The fish were strong and healthy and fresh from the Atlantic with sea lice on them. I lost a few fish that snapped my 15lb tippet like nothing. Lesson learned from this trip: 30lb straight mono leader to fly line + palomer knot = fish in the boat. Anything else is a chance you don’t need to take.

Throughout the day we ran into members of the Tidalfish community – Jumbo1, Chris Newsome, Walleye Pete, Wild Bill, and Ritchie Gaines. It was great putting faces to names and seeing everyone catch fish.

As it started to get dark we headed towards Virginia Beach to try the light line in the small boat channel. We marked plenty of fish on the finder but they just weren’t feeding yet so we decided to head in after a long day. We had quite a ride ahead of us to get back to the boat ramp.

For light tackle jigging we used ¾ to 1oz TidalFish lures. The butterbean shape of the jig head allowed them to sink much faster than other bucktails and plastics combinations. It looked like everyone was throwing plastics, and in heavily fished areas, I think it helps to throw something a little different sometimes. These lures are also finished with big eyes and a lot of flash in the tail like flies and I think that makes a big difference. All hypothesizing aside, the lures caught fish and they are just great for vertical jigging when you want to get your offering deep quickly.

I can’t believe the ride of that Jones Brothers. Brandon’s old 21’ Parker was a sweet ride but it honestly didn’t compare to the Jones Brothers. Even thought we were in 8’ swells at one point, there was never a point that I felt uncomfortable and while we were motoring between spots it sliced through the chop effortlessly. The best way to describe the ride is that after a full 12 hours on the boat and covering the amount of water that we did, I wasn’t at all sore the next day.

It’s been about a year since I’ve updated this blog. It’s early December, snowing outside, and I’m not sure if I’m going to get to fish before the new year. I’m trying to remember all the times I fished in 2009. My best guess right now is that I went around 20 times. Between 5-10 trips less than I usually take, but this year I became a homeowner and that ate into fishing time.

On the whole I think I had a good year. I broke out of my typical routine by fishing water I had never fished before and revisiting places that I hadn’t fished in years. I fished the Deer Creek shad run and floated the Potomac River for smallmouth for the first time, opening my eyes to two great nearby fisheries that I will definitely revisit in the future.

I also fished the Susquehanna Flats and Kent Narrows in a kayak after only fishing these areas in boats nearly 10 years before.

In making the list below I see that I got skunked (marked with a *) nearly half the time I went out. I think that’s just part of fishing, but it makes me realize that I might need to be more reactive to tactics that aren’t working, and adaptive to current conditions. That being said, I think the slow days made the good days that much sweeter.

Key Learnings from this year:

:: Limitations of my Ultimate 12. Love the boat, its stability, how it’s rigged, the comfort, and open design. Some ugly conditions on the Flats and on the Honga made me realize the tradeoff of the open hull design. Got worried a few times about what I’d do if I took a wave over the side. I’d like to add a T120 or another Sit On Top into the mix next year for open water trips.

:: I upgraded some key pieces of equipment this year – better spinning reel on my medium/heavy rod, more comfortable pfd, RAM fly rod holders, better light. I think my cold weather gear needs an upgrade – dry top and breathable waders.

:: I like fishing by myself but each time I fished an area with an angler who knew it really opened my eyes. One morning with Bill Rogers on Deer Creek taught me more about Deer Creek than 5 trips up there. Just bumping into Steve from Tidalfish.com at the Bay Bridges gave me more info on the area than I had gained in 3-4 trips. Might start trying to take a guided trip or two per year.

Key moments this year:

:: Two area fly shops (Winchester Creek Outfitters and the Salisbury Fly Shop) went out of business this year. Although I got some great deals during the going-out-of-business sales, it’s sad to see these businesses go under. I liked spending time (and money) in both shops.

:: Potomac Float from Point of Rocks to Brunswick. Water was gin clear with lots of vegetation and fishy structure. Caught good numbers of smallmouth and bluegill on flies. Can’t wait to fish this stretch of the river with spinning rods and artificials.

:: Susquehanna Flats trip. Camping always makes a trip more memorable. Woke up perfectly dry to the sound of light rain on my tent. No fish caught but set the tone of the year – at least we gave it a shot and didn’t stay at home.

2009 FISHING TRIPS

Late Winter

*Beaver creek – snowstorm, coffee and lunch with David

Unicorn lake and stream – snow, trout with David

*Tuckahoe lake and stream – trout, bass with David

Spring

Upper Chester/Unicorn Lake – bluegill, pickerel, white perch with David and Dad

Deer Creek – shad with Mr. Rogers

*Bay Bridges – stripers

*Susquehanna flats – no stripers, camping with David

Summer

Clopper Lake – bass with David

Honga River, Lower Bridge – croaker and spot, bottom fishing with David

Unicorn Lake – bluegill, right after storm with David

Bohrer Park ponds – bass, bluegill

Potomac River – smallmouth, bluegill with David

Upper Delaware River, New York – cabin at west branch anglers

Fall

Clopper Lake – fall, bass and bluegill with David

*Honga River, Lower Bridge – big waves, fly rods only

Purity Lake, New Hampshire – Pickerel

Honga River, Upper Bridge – actually caught fish

*Honga River, Upper Bridge – strong tides

Kent Narrows – small stripers with David

*Honga River – quick Sunday trip, 60 degree day in late November

*Bay Bridges – david’s kayak, latest I’ve ever been out

A few days ago I went to Unicorn Lake on the Eastern Shore for a late season pickerel trip. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and before I left home the wind was blowing close to 20mph. I had the day off and just wanted to get out of the house to take advantage of some time to myself but I wasn’t too optimistic. The first real cold front of November had swept in a few days before and I imagined that the fishing would be a little off. Because the winds were so strong I opted to leave my kayak at home and to focus on the shorelines of the lake and the spillway stream.

When I got to Unicorn Lake the winds had all but died down and most of the productive southern bank was being fished by a few other anglers. I fished the spillway stream but the water was very low and most of the fishy channels didn’t have any active fish. I worked my way down from the main spillway pool working streamers against rip-rap, undercut banks, and other structure. The best I did was a small crappie from the main spillway pool.

By the time I had fished most of the spillway stream and the northern shoreline by the boat ramp it was near 4pm. The sun was starting to set and I was starting to get a little chilly so I put on a pot of coffee. I keep a small pack loaded and ready in the closet near my front door for spontaneous trips like this. Inside it I have a simple camping stove, pots and pans, a small cutting board and fillet knife, a coffee pot with two mugs, and a kitchen bag with breading, plastic forks and spoons, a few bottles of water, and small vacuum sealed bags of coffee. Although I’m pretty bad at planning a fishing outing, I am very organized with my gear and I love packing for the occasional spontaneous trip like this. It’s easy enough to just have the bag ready and throw it in the truck when I’m loading up.

The coffee was wonderful. It’s admittedly a very Gierach-y thing to do when winter slows everything down but I enjoyed that small pot of black coffee so much that I didn’t mind that the fishing that day had been pretty lousy. With a warm cup of coffee in my hands, it didn’t t seem so foolish to have driven 90 miles to cast to fish that weren’t there. For a few seconds I was very conscious of the present, of where I was – next to a piece of water that I love with virtually no one in sight on a day when the rest of America was stuck in traffic or waiting in line at an airport.

Sipping my coffee next to the stream I could feel that it was the end of the year’s fishing season. Of course the fishing is never truly over here in the Mid-Atlantic, but the steady action of summer and fall was decidedly over and that had a formal feel to it. Three or four months from now, white and yellow perch would be running up the river that the stream beside me fed into: from Unicorn Lake the lower Unicorn Branch runs into the Chester River, which in turn flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The upper Chester can be a wonderful white perch fishery in the springtime but that was still a ways off.

Immediately ahead of me lay a few weeks of pickerel fishing before the lake froze over. I would wait for the warmer, milder winter days and cast brightly colored streamers in the same places I would fish for largemouth bass in the summertime – undercut banks on the stream, lake shorelines, fallen trees, points, and islands. The strikes would be quick and vicious, not completely unlike a bass, but the fight would be more erratic.

For the immediate future, at best we’d have a mild winter and the chain pickerel would be reasonably active through February. At worst the lakes and rivers would freeze over with the first real cold front followed by a good snow and icing. If that happened I would need to start driving much farther south – to Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks for stripers on their wintering grounds or maybe a trip to the Neuse River for spotted sea trout.

I don’t mind traveling to fish but I am impulsive by nature and enjoy the freedom of jumping in my truck and deciding where I’m going without any real planning. I think that’s what I dislike most about wintertime fishing. In the spring, summer, and fall I have a selection of species and places to fish within a 90 minute drive from home. Winter here reduces my choices significantly.

After the other anglers left I worked that bank with streamers – an olive wooly bugger and a small olive and white clouser minnow – still with no takes from any pickerel. The other anglers had caught a few small ones on minnows but for the most part, the action for them was slow too.

Maybe things might’ve been different for me if I had brought my kayak and fished the upper portion of the lake. Maybe if the other anglers hadn’t been there first I would’ve fished water that hadn’t been spooked with flies that that fish had never seen. Maybe the fish were just too deep for me to fish with the floating line on my 3 weight. Maybe my fly choices were off. Maybe I should’ve kept dredging the main spillway pool with nymphs for bluegill and sunfish.

All of these are conditions that might’ve changed things for the better, but I guess that’s just one of those instances of art imitating life. I made a decision on how and where I wanted to fish before I left home, but when I got there I saw that maybe I should’ve made another decision. In life there are instances just like that – property you should’ve held on to, stock you should’ve bought or sold, letters that you should’ve written, women you should’ve married. With those instances, like late winter pickerel fishing, it’s best to just slow down and appreciate the good things you have in front of you. Like a warm cup of coffee next to a stream that you love.

The fish finder I chose to install on my kayak was a Humminbird Matrix 12. It was about $50 more expensive than your average fish finder, but the display was a lot larger and it had the option for a GPS plug-in – a nice feature that I might add in the future.

I’ve seen a number of different ways to mount a fish finder on a Native Ultimate 12 and most involve mounting the base of the fish finder to the left or right gunwale. One thing I liked from my old SOT was having an obvious center location to mount electronics and I wanted to apply that layout to my U12. I liked the symmetry of having the fish finder in the center of the boat, and I wanted to keep the sides clear of add-ons to facilitate getting in and out.

I chose the forward cross bar for my mounting point. I removed the existing bungee cord clip and used the hole as a top-center starting point and drilled 2 others below to mount the small base of a RAM electronics  mount.  I’ve always liked these mounts – mainly because they protect the plastic mount that comes with the fish finder which can be difficult to replace if they break. The RAM electronics mount also allows you to raise, lower, and basically customize the location of the display of the fish finder. The base for the Matrix 12 is a little different than other fish finder bases that I’ve owned. It’s basically a full housing that the fish finder unit snaps and locks down into.

On the inside of the bow I used the screws from the anchor trolley to mount 2 other deck loops. Using these interior deck loops as simple tie off points, I tied the belt from a fanny pack through them and adhered the back of the fanny pack to the floatation foam with Lexel. Inside, I put the battery to the fish finder, a Cabela’s 12 volt rechargeable. It is wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed inside a heavy duty zip-lock bag. It’s easy to get to when I need to recharge it, it’s off the floor and out of the water, and it remains stationary during loading and unloading. Because it is flush against the floatation foam, there is still ample storage room beneath the bow skirt for other items.

I mounted the transducer in the stern near the skeg housing. First I sanded the floor where I planned on mounting the transducer so the Lexel could better adhere to the plastic. Then I cut the top of a plastic cup from McDonald’s to use as a dam and placed it over the sanded area. From there I just covered the floor of my kayak with Lexel, pushed the transducer down into it, and then covered the rest of it with Lexel. Allow a day or so for the Lexel to set. You can see some evidence of other hasty transducer mounts: one from a duct tape dam that simply didn’t take, and another mount that I didn’t give enough time to set.

The open hull design of a Native Ultimate 12 allows an angler more quick storage than a traditional SOT design. Because the seat is raised above a storage tray, you can tuck things underneath the seat itself, to the left and right of where you’re seated, and behind the seat. On a typical outing I’ll have a big fly box in the tray to my right and a small lure binder to my left. Behind me will be my anchor and line, along with a small soft sided cooler tucked under my fish finder up front. Back when I had my SOT, all of those things would be piled in my milk crate and in my tankwell. In my T140, reaching everything was somewhat difficult, but transporting everything was easy. Early on I found that with my U12 the opposite was true – all of my tackle was easy to reach, but organizing and transporting everything without my milk crate was difficult.

Because I have both bow and stern skirts on my boat (along with the housing for the skeg in the stern) having a permanent place for a full-size milk crate for me was problematic. Some other solution was necessary. It’s taken me a few different set-ups, but I think that I’ve finally decided on a solution that works for me. I’m sure that other people have other methods of transporting and organizing gear, but this is what I’ve done so far.

My first solution was based around what I’ll call a half-crate. This was a plastic crate from my dad’s shotgun shell reloading days. I’ve had it forever: through high school and college and all of the crummy apartments between then and now. This crate is about half the height of a standard milk crate so it fits under the stern cross bar on a U12 nearly perfectly. I mounted a rod holder to it with zip ties and glued some soft rubber carpet gripper to the bottom of the crate. The result was a nicely sized drawer that could fit snugly behind the set and beneath the cross bar. The rod holders were in the open area behind the seat while the crate extended underneath the stern skirt. The half crate made transporting stuff from my house to my truck, and then from my truck into my kayak pretty easy. It also obviously gave me some rod storage behind the seat.

The problem with this setup was that there just wasn’t a whole lot of room back behind the seat. For one thing, I was worried that the crate was about 1/8″ too tall to fit beneath the crossbar – it fit underneath it snugly, but the plastic from both pieces had to stretch a little bit. It was also a little too tight to have spinning rods directly behind the seat. They fit back there, but just barely. After I installed the RAM tubes on the rear cross bar, I stopped using the vertical storage for rods, keeping the anchor, pliers, and lip-gripper there instead. It was a pretty good system, but I wasn’t 100% sold on it.

I eventually settled on an even simpler solution, a large mesh duffle bag from REI. It’s a simple mesh bag that you can almost see through, and it only cost $25.00. I could fit everything in it and then simply unload it into the kayak when I was ready to launch. Having everything in one large duffel bag also helped with packing up everything for quick trips. These mesh bags come in three sizes(M, L, XL) and fold into a small pocket for easy storage once you’re on the water. I own the large model and inside it I can fit all of the items below with room top spare.

• Life Jacket
• Soft sided cooler (which also has storage pockets for bug spray, suntan lotion, and obviously lunch and drinks)
• Fish finder unit
• Lights – stern light, head lamp, and velcro mounted LED that goes under a gunwale
• Fly boxes
• Small lure binder – plastics, jig heads, fish bites, terminal tackle
• Anchors (1.5lb and 10lb) w/ 50′ of line
• Stripping basket
• Drawstring mesh bag
• Spare rope
• Large soft sided cooler for catch
• Pliers
• Berkley Lip Gripper
• Waterproof electronics bag for cell phone and digital camera
• VHF radio
• Rod holders – 2 RAM tubes and a Scotty fly rod holder

What I like about this system is that pretty much everything unpacks from the bag to a specific place on the kayak, and that whatever stays in the bag just gets tucked under the bow skirt. In the words of Ric Burnley, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

Another benefit of having everything in a simple large duffle bag is that trips to and from the car are kept to a minimum. This translates to less time loading and unpacking, and more time fishing. Weight is also distributed more evenly. Instead of loading and unloading a heavily weighted and rigged kayak from my truck, I unload a 58 lb boat without anything to weigh it down or come loose. The only piece of gear that stays in the kayak at all times is a dry bag stored snugly under the stern skirt that holds a towel, a change of clothes, a small tarp, and a first aid kit.

This past Saturday I went back to Hoopers Island to fish the upper bridge. I had done really well on the lower bridge a few weeks ago, so I wanted to try the upper one to see what it was like. It’s a smaller bridge, so there were less bridge pilings to fish. There were some very deep holes there though and the current really poured through the narrows between the Honga River and the Chesapeake Bay. The tide was going out when I put in. I certainly marked plenty of fish.

I fished the pilings first and caught one of the big fish of the day on my first cast – a very fat 23” striper. I pulled a few others off the first piling and then moved on to the others. The fishing just wasn’t on, but it was somewhat steady. The action eventually died down so I decided to give the bridge pilings a rest and try the shorelines and drop offs of the channel.

The main difference between the two bridges is that at the upper bridge, the fish just don’t school up as thick as they do at the lower one. You might pull some off a piling or shoreline here and there, but once they’re caught, the water is spooked. It was kind of like largemouth bass fishing. And because there are only 2 or 3 pilings, once you fish them, the bridge is pretty much fished out for a while.

Working the shorelines didn’t pay off like I had hoped. By then it was nearing 1pm and although the skies were overcast, the sun was starting to come out. Of the fish I did catch from shorelines, those had depths of at least 6’, while the unproductive shorelines were mostly 2-3’. So much for shallow water fishing – I guess I should try getting on the water earlier.

I paddled out of the narrows and considered crossing to Barren Island but the wind blowing against an ebbing tide made for some choppy water. I worked the water against the old barge on the north beach and some pilings and riprap on the southern shoreline, but still nada. I did pull a nice fish off of a marker buoy in the open water. I know that it’s fall and that the shallow water fishing is supposed to be great, but it seems like all the places I catch fish are in somewhat deeper water. I’m not complaining.

Another thing I noticed from this trip was that most of the times I could feel the fish hitting the lure before they hooked themselves. They might not all out smash it, but if I let it fall, they would hit it then. Best thing I can figure is that the fish would try to injure the baitfish first, and then move in once they saw that the fish was hurt.

With the action slowing down I decided to head back in to give the bridge another shot. I caught a few more stripers – finally a pretty nice 17” on my fly rod – and decided to pack up for the lower bridge.

It was around 3pm then and the sun was just starting to set when I got there. The wind was also picking up and my fish finder was full of fish. I started catching fish immediately – the same grade of striped bass from 2 weeks ago – fat fish from 17”-23” – with 2 pushing 24”. I caught most on 5” Bass Assassins with a 1/8 oz jig head. The fish really weren’t all that deep and they were not afraid to chase lures well off the pilings. I hooked and missed a few when they hit close to the boat.

The tide was really pouring in at that point and the wind was blowing perpendicular to the current so that made for some hairy conditions on the Bay side of the bridge. The river side of the bridge was more protected, but the real active fish were on the Bay side. At one point I could see the head of a fish as it was chasing bait on the surface. All I had to do was make a cast in front of the pilings and it would be a fish on. They were stacked up there that thick and feeding aggressively.

I only fished a few pilings and could’ve stayed longer fishing more, but I had caught a mess of fish and was ready to go home. I took on a little water when a wave barely crested over the gunwale of my kayak, so I decided to head in after that. I don’t know how many fish I caught. 3 were over 23” and the rest were between 16-20”. I released all of them.

I saw 2 other boats that day: a small center console at the upper bridge (they stopped and told me to head to the other bridge) and another at the lower bridge. It’s tough for the boats to really get in and fish the structure like I can in the kayak. Those that try either anchor far off the pilings, or they try drifting and end up out of position too quickly. Maybe that’s what keeps the boats away. In any event, the fishing is great from a kayak.

My biggest disappointment was that I didn’t get any of the larger fish on flies. I will probably need to anchor and swing flies through productive zones – either above the pilings or immediately below. I have yet to anchor because the current is so strong and the waves have been so crazy. Maybe next time I can set up earlier before the tide really starts running and hopefully the wind won’t be as strong. I also regret not taking more pictures.

There’s a lot of fishy water between Hoopers Island and Silver Spring that I could’ve fished. I know that there is great fishing in Eastern Bay and the Choptank right now, but the fishing down there was worth the extra hour of driving. I hope this lasts for a few more weeks.

This was the best trip of the year so far, and the best on the bay in a long time. Just lots of good fish on light tackle. The fishing was so good that I thought about fishing again on Sunday but just didn’t need to – I was ok with all the fish I had caught and didn’t need any more.

After a long weekend of family obligations, not fishing, and housework I woke up on Monday morning to gray skies, no wind, and temps in the 60s. I promptly called in sick and called my friend David to see if he’d be interested in playing hooky too. It didn’t take much convincing to get him to call out work so after a quick trip to Bass Pro Shop and a bite to eat we were on our way east to the Chesapeake Bay.

The plan was to scope out conditions while crossing the bay bridge. If the water was calm, we’d put in at the beach by Hemmingway’s restaurant and jig the bridge pilings. If it looked too rough, we’d continue on to Eastern Bay and the Narrows where it would be more protected.

Driving over the bridge I saw that the water was flat calm on the western shore with a slight chop on the eastern shore. We decided to give the bay bridge pilings a shot. It’s not often that the conditions on the open water of the bay are so kayak-friendly so we went for it. We were on the water by 1pm.

My fish finder was acting funny at first but it eventually started reading fine. Not sure what’s going on. We marked a lot fish and baitfish but there just wasn’t a whole lot of activity. I saw some birds working south of the sewer pipe but not much else so we just kept heading west, trying the pilings and schools of fish. While we were fishing we got a lot of honks from drivers on the bridge – simple tributes from fellow anglers who had been at work all day.

The paddling was very easy. We made it out as far as the first channel (@ 80 feet deep!) and were almost underneath the main suspension part of the bridge. It was a little intimidating being out that far but I’m glad that we gave it a shot and got back safely. On a nicer day we might’ve tried to get to the eastern shore rock pile. Next summer I’d like to try crossing all the way to Sandy Point.

After a few hours of paddling with no fish to show for it we decided to try fishing the pilings of the northern bridge on our way back in. This proved to be a good decision. I caught 2 nice 15” stripers off the first piling and David ended up catching one right after me – his first striper. He ended up catching another after it – a fat 17”.

On our way back in we started marking fish in @ 10’ of water so we made a few casts. I caught one 12” dink on my fly rod, a nice treat since I hadn’t caught a striper on a fly in a while. It was getting dark by then. Daylight savings had officially caught up with us.

We didn’t exactly slay fish but we didn’t get skunked either. I’d say that this trip was more about the adventure than the fish caught: skipping out on work to fish, being out on the big water like that, and watching a good friend catch his first rockfish. It was a pretty good day, all things considered, and better than a day in the office.

The fishing was a lot like last weekend on the Honga. We were in a prime location and marking fish, we were just waiting for the bite to turn on. As it was getting closer to dusk, the wind picked up and it seemed like the fishing picked up too. Not sure if we were just hitting the right spots or what, but it seemed like the action was turning on elsewhere judging by the birds working off the eastern shore rock pile.

I also noticed that boat position in this kind of fishing is just as important as a good cast on structure. With the fish stacked on the pilings and in eddies just in front and behind, the depth and direction that the lure was swimming seemed to play a big role in drawing a strike. Ideally I would have anchored above the structure and cast down into it, letting the lure swing through, but the current was too swift and the water was too deep. I’ll keep the “above” approach in mind next time.

Launching at the beach at Hemmingway’s was very convenient. There’s plenty of parking there that’s close to the water. There was also a street light at the corner of the parking lot so loading my truck up in the dark was much easier than usual. On top of that, a great oyster dinner at Hemmingway’s was right there after we packed up.

* * * * * *

I feel like I should openly say that I’m not a big water guy. I knew that going into the trip. It was exciting being out there and there was all sorts of structure to fish, but something just didn’t click. For starters, my little kayak just isn’t the best boat for that kind of fishing. I’m not saying that you can’t kayak fish out in open water, just that a 14-16’ SOT would’ve been a safer choice.

I am just more comfortable closer to shore, fishing tidal creeks and rivers. A weird preconception of fishing the big water was that I would catch bigger fish, or at least the possibility for big fish would be greater. That didn’t pan out this time – the fish from the Honga were just bigger and the action was steadier.

Fished the bridges at Hooper’s Island on Sunday. It was just after high tide when I pulled up at 1pm. I ate lunch and took my time unloading the truck. Beautiful afternoon – clear and sunny, temps in the 60s and no wind. There might’ve been 2 other boats out on the water and 1 other angler fishing from shore. Not bad for a Sunday.

Transducer came loose and wasn’t reading accurately. Will have to remount it once I get home. Paddled down to the bridge and saw that the current was really ripping through there. Made a few casts and missed two bites early. Nothing for the next 2 hours. Tried a few different areas of the bridge but might try exploring more next time. After a while I even tried bottom fishing with fishbites but still nada.

I eventually paddled back to a cove near where I landed to gt out of the kayak and stretch. I took some pictures and tried fishing from shore. Sill nothing. Water was extremely clear and current was still ebbing strong after 2 hours. Not really marking fish since the fish finder wasn’t working and didn’t see any surface activity or bait. Decided to stick to fishing the bridge structure until dusk.

That plan really paid off. Around 3:30pm a stiff wind picked up and the fishing just turned on. From then on out I caught stripers from 16″-24″. The action was very steady for about 2 hours. The fish were right on the pilings but would also chase lures to the boat. Had one break me off when he hit right at the boat.

Fishing tight structure like those bridge pilings from a kayak was extremely effective. I could simply get right to the fish without spooking them. At one point, I was holding the boat off the piling with one arm and jigging a bass assassin with my other arm. This was all in front of a few other anglers, a couple shorebound guys and a headboat. Having an audience when I’m catching fish isn’t necessary for me but I have to admit that it wasn’t all bad. Maybe some of those guys will go out and buy a kayak.

I eventually just left feeding fish, totally satisfied and extremely thankful for the day I had. I hadn’t had a day of striper fishing – any kind of fishing really – in a long time. Paddled back and stopped to talk to one of the shore anglers for a little but and he offered to help me load the kayak up. I declined but he was a pretty nice guy and stuck around to tell me about some other spots I should try in my kayak.

A lot of shore guys drink beer and bust their bottles on the rocks of the beach where I launched. It sounds shitty but the result is actually pretty pleasant with sea-glass pretty much everywhere. (Where else would sea glass come from but drunk rednecks by the sea?) After loading up I found a few pieces to bring home and thought about a drawn out timeline of me fishing the Honga like this. After a while, would I eventually fill one of the mason jars with sea glass? Not a bad project.

Rigging a Native Ultimate 12 is a subtle affair. At first I was intimidated with all of the open space, the lack of below deck storage, and the absence of a console or deck. But that’s the point! If I had wanted a SOT, I would’ve bought a SOT. I wanted to keep the design clean, but still have all of the storage and functionality that I was used to from a SOT. So I knew that the best job would be simple, and one that looked like not much was done.

I lived in a studio apartment for a while and one trick to living in a small space is to make each piece of furniture serve multiple purposes. A bed can be seating. A table can be a desk. The same principle holds true in kayak rigging. Because of the minimalist design of the Ultimate, I wanted each add-on to ideally serve more than one purpose. The bow and stern skirts keep water out and also provide storage. The bow skirt also serves as my paddle holder. I tuck a small wooden trout net in the rear skirt netting too sometimes.

Mounting the bow and stern skirts also gives you a good idea of where you should drill to mount things – mainly for the stern rod holders. Up front, I used the existing bungee -cord clip as a starting point to mount a ram electronics mount. My fish finder a Humminbird Matrix 12 is mounted here at a central location – close enough to see but out of the way of my paddle and legs. Beneath the fish finder base I have foam mounted for a quick place to stow jig heads, flies and crankbaits.

I attached two deck loops to the inside screws of the anchor trolley and tied a fanny pack off here. Inside, I put the battery to the fish finder. It is wrapped in bubble wrap and inside a ziplock bag. It’s easy to get to, it’s off the floor, and it remains stationary during loading and unloading. Because it is flush against the floatation foam, there is still ample storage room beneath the bow skirt for other items.

I mounted an anchor trolley on both sides of the boat. There is a 6” doubled section of bungee shock cord on the bow and stern ends. I am planning on replacing the black nylon cord with the reflective kind – sticking with the theme of double duty accessories – the cord for an anchor trolley also serves as a night safety feature.

To organize my anchor line I use a plastic line keeper that I found in a kite store. This has been the best anchor line solution that I’ve seen yet. Plus the guy sold it to me for $1 and you can’t beat that.

Moving back, I mounted a Scotty flush mount on the right gunwale so I could swap out a fly rod holder or a spinning rod older, depending on what kind of fishing I’m doing. Underneath the left gunwale, I put some industrial Velcro to mount a small fluorescent light I got in a hardware store for night fishing. Safety lights are one thing, but ambient lights for tying knots or picking flies are nice too. On either side of the seat is a standard cleat.

I have to say the initially, the one thing I missed from my Tarpon 140 was the tankwell for a milk crate. A milk crate is really just a big junk-drawer full of loose odds and ends and I found that without it, I was making way too many trips to and from the car. I found a crate about half as tall as a standard milk crate – I think it might’ve been from my dad’s shotgun shell reloading days – that fits underneath the rear crossbar perfectly. I mounted the standard rod holders to it and glued some rug gripper to the bottom so it grips the floor of the boat. I can pull it out like a drawer if I need to get something while I’m on the water, but mostly I just needed it as a catch all for loose stuff.

I mounted 2 RAM tubes as rod holders behind my seat. After breaking a nice fly rod jammed in a fixed vertical mount I opted for easily adjustable rod holders like the RAM tubes. These also serve the dual purpose of acting as outrigger mounts. Now all I have to do is make the outriggers themselves out of some pvc and lobster buoys.

The fish finder transducer is mounted in the stern underneath the stern skirt. I have a dry bag filled with safety items that I leave back there that serves as a rough cover to the lexel perm mount.

I might’ve gone a little overboard with my “dual uses” mentality of rigging my Ultimate, but if anything it really made me think before I bought, drilled, or added something I might not really need. After the initial kayak purchase, it’s very easy to get lost in rigging possibilities; this approach at least helped my prioritize what was needed and what was just wanted.

Having been sick the previous week and weekend – my first truly free weekend since the wedding and my retirement from rugby – I was itching to get out despite hurricane Kyle being right off the coast. I scrambled to get my kayak ready for a serious trip – mainly installing the fish finder and planning my day on the water based off of some info from Capt Matt Tawes. High tide wasn’t until around noon so I didn’t have to rush to get down there, nice since I was up pretty late working on the kayak.

The rain was off and on Friday night and Saturday morning as I drove down, but by the time I got into Somerset County it was a steady downpour. I took my time at the park trying to wait out the rain: I checked in at the ranger’s station and bought a map, I unloaded my truck and loaded my kayak with gear, but the rain was still pouring and there was nothing left to do but just go.

(I really need ot buy a bilge pump! There had to be close to 3 or 4 gallons of water in the boat just from the time I was loading the boat up. Not sure if this extra weight effected the tracking but I did notice the stern of the boat pulling to the right a few times. **It must’ve been the extra weight, I haven’t noticed that problem since then.)

The rain was off and on for the rest of the day. Once I got on the water I paddled south towards town and missed a few fish right away casting along the shoreline. Once I got down and across from the hospital I worked some shorelines where I saw some baitfish working. No takes. If I could do it over again I would’ve cast smaller baitfish patterns on an intermediate line instead of the bigger clouser on my sinking line. I eventually tried anchoring above a current rip and swinging a fly through but didn’t connect with anything there either.

After lunch I decided to start working my way back but wanted to check on things by the hospital bridge. Long story short: low bridge, broken fly rod, no fish.

Working the shorelines back up to the park I finally connecting with a nice striper @ 16″. I worked this ditch for a while – missed a few but landed one more. I tried to establish a pattern in this little piece of water but nothing else was biting. I feel like this was just one of those spots that held fish and that I need to discover others like it.

Not a whole lot of fish but steady action at the end of the trip. I set out to catch fish from a kayak in a new place on flies and light tackle – a tall order by any angling standards and definitely the hard way to fish the Chesapeake – but I did it. A very fulfilling day on the water.