Back from the East Coast

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

Just back from a long tough trip to the east coast, fishing in Chesapeake bay in Va and along the Jersey Shore. Bad weather and tough fishing were the theme for the trip. Even so I had a great time fishing with some awesome anglers and I added a couple new species to my kayak catch list.
In Chesapeake bay we fished inside the concrete ships at Kiptopeke Park, which is pretty sketchy. It is a great place to hide from the wind but you had chunks of concrete hanging over your head being held in place by a couple pieces of rusty rebar. But it was inside these ships where I caught my first Tautog. A very tough fighter for there size that were real bait stealers and tough to hook.


We also caught a ton of flounder while in VA and put in a lot of paddling miles looking for, but never finding, the bull reds we came here for.

After VA we headed up to New Jersey to fish the tidal rivers and off the beaches. Again weather was our enemy giving us short windows of good condtions followed by wind rain and fog. We saw miles of bait fish but not much feeding on them. We did get into a great blue fish bite which was fun on light tackle cathing fish in front of multi million dollar mansions.
I did finally get my first ever Striped Bass which was very fun and I got to witness a large whale feeding on the schools of bunker which was one of the coolest things I have seen on the water. We did harvest this one Striper because it was hooked in the gill and was bleeding out as you can see on my kayak. But it made for very good Sashimi once back on shore.



Great to be home for a couple weeks. Next Stop Kona

[maui jim]

weather mo betta in Kona for sho..... No ka Oi

[tunaseeker]

Nice Striper! Looks like fun fishing inside that sunk ship! Look forward to the Kona report!

[blitzburgh]

Great report Jim thanks!

[mtnbykr2]

Nice stripes, bet that did taste good, love fishing striper

[MASSfisher]

Haven't really posted yet but couldn't resist after seeing this.

I'm from Massachusetts originally, and the pic of that striper got me excited. Nice tog as well, they will fight hard and break you off in the rocks non-stop!


Can't wait to target some stripers from the yak when I get back home! (Gotta get a yak first though lol)

[Mr Fishback]

Awesome striper! That first fish looks like a little sheephead.

- Joseph, San Diego

I know all about fishing the East Coast, since I'm
a subscriber to the WFN channel.

But WTF is a tautog??? Is it good to eat'um??

Plus, I know that striper must of kicked your butt.
Nice fish!

[MASSfisher]

Originally Posted by yani

But WTF is a tautog??? Is it good to eat'um??

Tog's are also known as the Poor man's lobster. I've never tried one before but with a name like that I assume that they are good.

They like to eat "hard" stuff....crabs, mussels, clams, even lobster.

[T-Rex]

Jim,

Too bad about the weather. Nice tog and striper -- some good eats there!

[NextBite]

Look's like a killer trip Jim

[JoeBeck]

As always great fishing Jim! That is a damn nice striper!

[yakrider]

Originally Posted by Jim Sammons LJKF

I added a couple new species to my kayak catch list.

you mean you haven't caught all there is to catch? Really?

congrats on the new additions to the list!

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

Originally Posted by yakrider

you mean you haven't caught all there is to catch? Really?

congrats on the new additions to the list!

Not yet but I am working on it and the list is getting pretty long now. I am having a great time adding to the list that is for sure.

[Badtaste2k]

Crazy fishing inside those ships! Looks like bad weather or not it was still good times!

Dan

[FLORIDA BOY!]

Congrats on the striper! They are tasty! I remember the schools of blue fish that would invade the beaches, sounds like fun.