Went out in the yak in the harbor and went like either 4 for 5, or 5 for 6. Honestly don’t remember and the sad part is that I had the go pro out there but ended up accidentally taking pics instead of recording video for all but two fish. I don’t know how to post video and won’t post it until I have learned how to edit bc it looks like sac without editing ESPECIALLY without a mount. I also don’t know how to remove a slide from the film to post it and don’t have the time at the moment to figure this out! All fish were caught on fresh cut mullet. Two were slot (I kept one for dinner which I have have a moral dilemma with). Hooked two tagged reds but lost one trying to get it inside the yak. Besides the two upper slot reds, the rest were over and looked well fed. Finished off the rest of my 2/0 circles bc I gut hooked either 3 or four of the fish. Yes I went out and bought some 3/0 to eliminate gut hooking after gut-hooking 5 of my last 7 fish. I enjoy catching any fish but my least favorite is when i have 2 lines out one cut or live bait and the other artificial and when I go to reel in the live/cut bait to re-cast or move I find there’s a gut hooked red at the end of it. Not to sound like a fishing snob but setting the hook is the most exciting part of red fishing for me and the success rate of a hooked red on a flat (structure is a different story obviously) is extremely high once hooked, hence my dismay for reeling in gut hooked fish off the bottom. Yes, I know I could play around with lighter tackle for a greater challenge but 10-15# braided can fish such a variety of conditions and I don’t have the funds, space, or patience to buy/set up 5 different rigs for the same day of fishing when I can go from the jetties to the flats with the same two rigs and hit up every inshore species and then some (with the exception of tarpon but I’ve yet to have that problem). So there’s my rant and here’s some pics! O and on saturday went to north ICW and got skunked but thats a whole nother story…Glad to hear the trout are b
i would switch either to non-offsets or fish one j hook and stop leaving the lazy rod out.
thanks for the report- reds i’ve seen lately have been fat too (except for a lower slot fish that looked like it narrowly escaped a run-in with flipper). nowhere near the numbers of parasites on them that i saw in the dead cold of last winter.
Dear Wino…A moral dilemma? There are reasons for not eating fish that you catch, but morality shouldn’t even be in the equation. Maybe your comment was intended as “tounge in cheek”. I certainly hope so because otherwise it suggests that certain founding members of the Christian faith were blatantly immoral. “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day…teach a man to fish…” Given that the moral imperative of that quote is guiding man to be productive in his own right, for his own benefit…but eating the fish he caught through his own effort was central to the argument.
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
Non offset circles are key like barbawang mentioned. No need to go to a larger size cause a 10/0 isn’t big enough to keep a hungry red from swalling the hook.
Who’s Ready for a Sleigh Ride? www.KayakFishSC.com
Good job on the fish! Try keeping a little tighter line when you let it sit, you should see the line twitching as the fish hits!
BTW, on a side note, people can read all kinds of things into what another person writes. To each their own, I guess!
Annoy a Liberal, Work Hard and Be Happy!
same thing happened with me with the gopro, my friend had a nice red and i was taking a pretty long video under water and everything and then i noticed it was on camera mode… that sucked haha. But with the editing, if you have imovie it is suppperrrr easy to use.
It was a tongue in cheek comment, and I sincerely apologize for it being taken any other way. I have my own beliefs and respect everyone else’s but have zero interest in discussing them especially on a fishing blog! Anyways I’ll try the non-offsets because I do catch the majority of my fish on the live/cut bait rig even though I’d rather fish artificial, but the success rate is not comparable! I have gotten better at keeping tight lines on a kayak however when the winds are blowing at 15+ knots (like last thursday) it is extremely difficult, and as far as fishing a single J-hook, I could do that but then I’d be back to fishing one line which I can keep tight and hook perfect with a circle, but get bored and love experimentation and trying different methods. I understand, and appreciate, all advice and constructive criticism especially in the name of releasing healthier fish.
oh yeah, as for the GoPro; there are lots of good editing software. I use AVS4YOU cause I’m a PC instead of a MAC.
Who’s Ready for a Sleigh Ride? www.KayakFishSC.com