Erik had been nudging me to get out on the water with his detailed catch reports. He actually drew maps of where he caught fish, and met me on the water to tell me where they were sitting earlier for his epic tag and release session. I braced for a hit as I threw out the sub-surface lure with stronger hooks. Something jumped on that pulled a little and had a lot of resistance in the water but came off on the papa. Big roi or foul hooked papio? I metered fish near the papa drop off, a few feet off the bottom but couldn’t get them to come up to identify themselves. My guide, Erik, had to leave for work so I was left to find my own fish.
The kayak with reduced transducer drag glided easily in the sheet glass conditions so I ventured further out than I had ever fished in that area. My lure got hung up deep in a hole at the papa edge and the main line broke off. Dang roi hit the lure on the surface and pulled it down deep. That was an expensive loss. I put on another modified lure and trolled a little off the papa edges but nothing hit so I daringly trolled on the top of the papa in a few feet of water. Finally, I landed a 10.5 inch (FL) omilu that was hooked in the mouth and lightly foul hooked with the front belly hook. The fight felt a lot like the first fish, so I suspect that was a foul hooked papio also that got off. The omilu was tagged and released back to his two waiting buddies.
The current pushed me to the edge of the papa and the fish finder marked 3 larger fish suspended a few feet off the bottom that looked like a bunch of whites resting in the deep shade. Sure enough one came up and took the sub-surface lure deep in its throat. A larger white came up with it, eyeing me warily. I had to use my long nose pliers to remove the rear single inline hook. Note that the front treble hook didn’t foul the fish like the stock trebles had been doing. I’m sure it would have survived after being released since the rear single hook did much less damage than a treble would have, but I kept the fish since I had already tagged a fish. It went 14.25 inches (FL).
The wind had blown me far off the spot I had caught the whitey so I had to try and recognize where I had gotten the strike. I used the fish finder to locate larger fish hunkered down in groups near the bottom and sure enough, on my next cast, a 15 inch (FL) white got caught on the front treble hook. The free swinging rear single hook didn’t snag the fish at all. Maybe that white was the fish that was eyeing me earlier. The fish was tagged and set free.
Today’s whites were fat and strong for their size. They seemed to be eating well and the stronger replacement hooks didn’t stretch at all. The reduced drag of the transducer mount let me expand my range and locate fish with the fish finder. It was great to verify that the equipment modifications were actual improvements.
Sounds like a wonderful day fishing all around Scott! Don’t worry about the lost lure, you’ll eventually get it back the next time that Roi hit you. Lol!
Good idea switching to single hooks, especially since you practice a lot of C&R. Nice whiteys. I hope to find a few of these guys within my reach once the bait starts to show up inshore again.
Hopefully these guys stay around! Looking to be a great start to the season. Your kayak upgrade looked great while you paddled around. Noticeably less drag. Once I get the GPS/Fishfinder combo for my aluminum boat I’m going to pick your brain about making the flip down type of mount for it.
Thanks for helping me finally succeed in catching these whiteys! The fish finder is key for me to find the fish when they’re not in their usual spots. Yes, let’s rig the tin boat to find fish and save the spots we stumble upon.