After quite a long day with close-to-perfect conditions, if not cold, I boated a fish and a half with two other bumps. That's. It.
I threw a wide variety of lures. Two different suspending jerk baits, a jig/craw, a Beetle Spin (of course), three different crank baits, a 1/8th ounce Rat-L-Trap, and a bubble gum soft plastic jerk bait. One bump came on one of the crank baits and the only other bump came on the Beetle Spin. The one fish I boated came on one of the suspending jerk baits. More on that fish in a bit.
The half-of-a-fish NAILED the same suspending jerk bait. So what was it and why do I call it a half-of-a-fish? It came off right at the boat as I was reaching for it. I never got to touch it. It was a Shad! A Shad hit a suspending jerk bait! I know Charlie caught one recently also. The best I can guess was that it was a Gizzard Shad.
That guess was based on the shape and color that was thrashing around at the surface. I wish I could have gotten it into the boat, but that means there might be a chance I could catch another one some time in the future. Partly because of the cool factor and partly because it made some crazy fast runs. It came straight at the boat faster than I could crank the reel! It had some good pulls, too. I definitely want to catch another one of those. Maybe I could get some tips from Rob Choi on how to catch them.
The one I got in the boat was a Largemouth Bass. Strongest fish I have ever caught, too! I thought it was a stick when I hooked it. Just pure drag on the line. I was pumping and cranking. It never acted like a fish until I got it next to the boat. That's when it finally realized it was hooked and started making some good runs. I got it in the boat and snapped this photo:
Some time after noon my buddy Rob and his daughter Emma showed up. Emma had a good hit, but whatever it was cut the line pretty quickly. My guess is that she hooked into a Chain Pickerel and her line was no match for all of those teeth. Other than that there was quite a bit of boat traffic out. Some considerate while others were not. There was only one other kayak angler out at the end of the day. I don't know how he did, but I hope he did well and had better luck than I did.
While the day was frustrating in that the bite was few and far between it was a good way to spend the first day of 2014. I just wish Danielle and Paul could have been with me, but it was too cold for both of them. Maybe soon they will make a trip out there with me.
I threw a wide variety of lures. Two different suspending jerk baits, a jig/craw, a Beetle Spin (of course), three different crank baits, a 1/8th ounce Rat-L-Trap, and a bubble gum soft plastic jerk bait. One bump came on one of the crank baits and the only other bump came on the Beetle Spin. The one fish I boated came on one of the suspending jerk baits. More on that fish in a bit.
The half-of-a-fish NAILED the same suspending jerk bait. So what was it and why do I call it a half-of-a-fish? It came off right at the boat as I was reaching for it. I never got to touch it. It was a Shad! A Shad hit a suspending jerk bait! I know Charlie caught one recently also. The best I can guess was that it was a Gizzard Shad.
That guess was based on the shape and color that was thrashing around at the surface. I wish I could have gotten it into the boat, but that means there might be a chance I could catch another one some time in the future. Partly because of the cool factor and partly because it made some crazy fast runs. It came straight at the boat faster than I could crank the reel! It had some good pulls, too. I definitely want to catch another one of those. Maybe I could get some tips from Rob Choi on how to catch them.
The one I got in the boat was a Largemouth Bass. Strongest fish I have ever caught, too! I thought it was a stick when I hooked it. Just pure drag on the line. I was pumping and cranking. It never acted like a fish until I got it next to the boat. That's when it finally realized it was hooked and started making some good runs. I got it in the boat and snapped this photo:
Some time after noon my buddy Rob and his daughter Emma showed up. Emma had a good hit, but whatever it was cut the line pretty quickly. My guess is that she hooked into a Chain Pickerel and her line was no match for all of those teeth. Other than that there was quite a bit of boat traffic out. Some considerate while others were not. There was only one other kayak angler out at the end of the day. I don't know how he did, but I hope he did well and had better luck than I did.
While the day was frustrating in that the bite was few and far between it was a good way to spend the first day of 2014. I just wish Danielle and Paul could have been with me, but it was too cold for both of them. Maybe soon they will make a trip out there with me.
I never heard of anyone catching a shad on a crank bait until I did it last week and now you have duplicated the feat. Very Cool.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they actually "hit" anything. As far as I know, they are filter feeders. You may have accidentally snagged it, if it was indeed a gizzard shad. I have cast netted them and others with permits use gill nets. They make excellent catfish bait.
ReplyDeleteI think Rob is onto something with the snagging theory Charlie. It didn't seem to be hooked very well thus the reason why it got off of the hook so easily.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input Rob!