Taken for a Ride

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

Finally made it backout on the water yesterday. I have probably only fished off my kayak three times and never caught anything sizable.
Went out of Newport and stuck around the south jetty, which I have been fishing off of and always had mackerel and batrays come out to play.
It didn't dissappoint this day either. I got a few mackeral right away and sent out my pole for the batrays. Hooked up with one about 1/2 hour later and went on my first ride. About a half hour later and two hundred yards from the jetty I got it to the surface. Easy 40+" batray.


Next I caught a foot long lizard fish which I promptly put on my long pole and thru out. I nice 3-4 foot leopard came to play.


I ran into a school of mackerel and was pulling in multiple fish on the sabiki. I got one small one and thru him out next for another 3 to 4 foot leopard shark.


Didn't bring any of them into the kayak. I decided not so after the mackerel I was catching were making their way into the pant leg of my swim trunks as they were flopping around on my seat.

All in all a good day. There were quite a few others outside of Newport too. Didn't see any birds diving but there were alot of small fry and mackerel. The biggest mackerel was 14". A lot bigger than I'm use to. Should turn out to be a great weekend.

I want to say thanks again to the guy who helped me get my kayak out of the water. I didn't exactly have my land legs yet and kept sliding on the sand and falling backwards.

Thanks to all out there who have contributed to this forum. I have learned a lot from it and finally put it to good use.

Cheer.

[octico]

Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_9C1

All in all a good day. There were quite a few others outside of Newport too. Didn't see any birds diving but there were alot of small fry and mackerel. The biggest mackerel was 14". A lot bigger than I'm use to. Should turn out to be a great weekend.

I want to say thanks again to the guy who helped me get my kayak out of the water. I didn't exactly have my land legs yet and kept sliding on the sand and falling backwards.

Thanks to all out there who have contributed to this forum. I have learned a lot from it and finally put it to good use.

Cheer.

Small fry = Halibut bait !

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Nice! Lots of fun!

Not trying to thread jack, but Joe and I were in the same area and hooked back to back rays in that same size. They're everywhere over there. We hooked up on sardines.

Here's Joe
https://instagram.com/p/3X5JGIy_u1/

Here's me
https://instagram.com/p/3X0subPdmU/

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

I put out the live bait in hopes of a halibut. When I felt some head shakes I knew it wasn't a batray. Was a little disappointed it was a Leo but it was a good fight anyway

There are a lot of big batray around the mouth of the bay. I've gotten almost spoiled twice before the line broke. I couldn't even turn them with 40 lb test on my reel. I'm upgrading to 80 lb braid for next time.

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Haha, that's what Joe and I were trying for. He checked his bait and was dead, but he threw it back down. Then I told him I'd give him a fresh bait, and as soon and he stayed reeling up, the thing took off. We both suspected bat ray immediately. Then later, I had a lively sardine on, but went to check it after an hour of nada, and same thing, it got heavy and took off. Then I hooked another at the mouth of the jetty coming in. No halibut that day, but got some sleigh rides, that's for sure. Gonna use a mack next time, hopefully they're too lively for rays