Scott sent this report of his fishing trip this last weekend.
Ray Luna (601) and I finally got a little fishing in this past Sunday. I have not done any fishing since late November. That is way too long. I met Ray at his truck at 7:00 am. We drove to Long's bait stand at the corner of the Fulton Harbor. We were hoping to get an update on the progress of the pier removal because he is also our pier removal contractor, but it turns out he was out of town for the weekend. So we gave his employee a few dollars and walked out with 3 fresh dead crab, a small bag of fresh dead shrimp and 3 large fresh dead mullet. We were motoring out of the Kontiki channel by 7:35 am to a very cloudy, overcast morning. We headed for Tommy Martin's spot but overshot it in a southerly direction by a 1/2 mile because I have a new GPS and do not have all of my old locations marked. No problem, we pulled up at one of the big drains that pours out of Allyn's Bight. Dropped anchor and started the ritual of building bottom rigs, baiting hooks, casting out and setting them in the rod holder. It kind of creates a porcupine look . . . poles sticking out in every direction. On my first pole I put a 1/4 of a crab. While tieing a rig for the second pole the first pole bent over. Before I could scramble to the bow and grab the rod the line went slack. I reeled up a hook with a small remnant of crab left on it. Either the fish bit and let go or he bit and missed the hook. Either way . . . our spirits were high because we had a strong bite within the first few minutes. For the next 45 minutes we experienced nothing. This led to some discussion that sitting in a drain on an incoming tide was probably not the smartest fishing tactic but we kept doing it anyway. We moved up the shoreline to Paul's Mott and set up the same rig. With the exception of a few bait stealing crabs we only had one hit to speak of. Ray landed the largest stingray I have ever seen on a rod and reel. It was in the range of 2' in diameter. It was a beast. After an hour of a lot of nothing we moved again. This time we passed over long reef and moved further up the shoreline heading for Carlos Bay. As we started crossing over Jay Bird Point I slowed for fear it was going to get real shallow. Better to beach the boat at 10 miles per hour than at 30 miles per hour. As we were putting across the shallow reef I decided to do a quick change in strategy. Given the SE wind we were perfectly set for a drift down the reef. We were in 2.5' of water. I changed my rig to a clear 1/2 oz DOA under a cork and Ray went with a 1/2 oz DOA, clear with red flecks, free lining it. After about five casts I had a nice hit and boated an 18" trout. Things were looking up. After another few casts I boated a 17" trout. Things were looking so good Ray changed his rig to match mine. He promptly caught an undersized trout. Shortly after that we dropped into 3' to 4' of water. We spun back around and made two more drifts with out a bite. After that it was time to go in. This was Sunday and we both had to be back home that evening. All said it was another good fishing trip. Great company, beautiful bay, beautiful wildlife and two nice trout in the box. Not bad for a short morning of fishing.
Ray Luna (601) and I finally got a little fishing in this past Sunday. I have not done any fishing since late November. That is way too long. I met Ray at his truck at 7:00 am. We drove to Long's bait stand at the corner of the Fulton Harbor. We were hoping to get an update on the progress of the pier removal because he is also our pier removal contractor, but it turns out he was out of town for the weekend. So we gave his employee a few dollars and walked out with 3 fresh dead crab, a small bag of fresh dead shrimp and 3 large fresh dead mullet. We were motoring out of the Kontiki channel by 7:35 am to a very cloudy, overcast morning. We headed for Tommy Martin's spot but overshot it in a southerly direction by a 1/2 mile because I have a new GPS and do not have all of my old locations marked. No problem, we pulled up at one of the big drains that pours out of Allyn's Bight. Dropped anchor and started the ritual of building bottom rigs, baiting hooks, casting out and setting them in the rod holder. It kind of creates a porcupine look . . . poles sticking out in every direction. On my first pole I put a 1/4 of a crab. While tieing a rig for the second pole the first pole bent over. Before I could scramble to the bow and grab the rod the line went slack. I reeled up a hook with a small remnant of crab left on it. Either the fish bit and let go or he bit and missed the hook. Either way . . . our spirits were high because we had a strong bite within the first few minutes. For the next 45 minutes we experienced nothing. This led to some discussion that sitting in a drain on an incoming tide was probably not the smartest fishing tactic but we kept doing it anyway. We moved up the shoreline to Paul's Mott and set up the same rig. With the exception of a few bait stealing crabs we only had one hit to speak of. Ray landed the largest stingray I have ever seen on a rod and reel. It was in the range of 2' in diameter. It was a beast. After an hour of a lot of nothing we moved again. This time we passed over long reef and moved further up the shoreline heading for Carlos Bay. As we started crossing over Jay Bird Point I slowed for fear it was going to get real shallow. Better to beach the boat at 10 miles per hour than at 30 miles per hour. As we were putting across the shallow reef I decided to do a quick change in strategy. Given the SE wind we were perfectly set for a drift down the reef. We were in 2.5' of water. I changed my rig to a clear 1/2 oz DOA under a cork and Ray went with a 1/2 oz DOA, clear with red flecks, free lining it. After about five casts I had a nice hit and boated an 18" trout. Things were looking up. After another few casts I boated a 17" trout. Things were looking so good Ray changed his rig to match mine. He promptly caught an undersized trout. Shortly after that we dropped into 3' to 4' of water. We spun back around and made two more drifts with out a bite. After that it was time to go in. This was Sunday and we both had to be back home that evening. All said it was another good fishing trip. Great company, beautiful bay, beautiful wildlife and two nice trout in the box. Not bad for a short morning of fishing.
posted by Kontiki at 10:51 PM
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