Fishing with the Kids - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

roby · 09-06-2012, 07:56 PM

Below is a freshwater and saltwater kayakfishing report with my two boys....

Sierras Trip:

http://youtu.be/mw4NXw6XPZU

Halibut Trip:

http://youtu.be/bkT6MGkXv08

1) I spent a week in Mammoth at the end of August. The bite was slow at the beginning of the trip, since we spent most of our time at Lake George and Lake Mamie. The Mammoth Lakes typically treat us right, but this season the bite just wasn't there. The water level was low and the crowds were definitely up (the air temp was up as well). I've never seen so many people swimming in the lakes just to cool off. The bite got better when we went to Rock Creek Lake and Convict Lake. We got near limits on most days and the trolling was consistent if not "red hot" at times. I was trolling between 3-5 colors. Trolling with leadcore was new to me, so I was happy just to nab a few the first go-around at Rock Creek. As I got the hang of leadcore trolling, the catching became more consistent with hits every 15-20 minutes. It seemed like most fish were suspended in 30-40 feet of water. Anything gold seemed like a good bet.

My brother's and sister's families came up at the end of the week. They were there for only one whole day, so I spent a little time scouting out an area where we could nail some trout, and do it quick. There were about 8 little kids between the ages of 4-7 and I had the fun responsibility of getting all of them on fish. I decided Convict would be our best chance at getting the kids some trout. By 8am that morning it was slow going with 3-4 trout on the stringer, but things really picked up by 10:30 and all the kids were able to pull on a fish or two from the shore. We got the kids some trout on the yak as well while trolling. I would shuttle the kids two at a time and spend about 40 minutes making a loop around the lake; we usually hung a couple in that time. We ended up with 26 trout by 1pm and a whole lotta smiles....

We had trout every night but one night while I was up in the Sierras.

2) Last Monday, my oldest (6yrs old) and I went to look for some halibut. He caught his first legal halibut (10lb) on a big juicy sardine. My son almost lost the fish a couple of times due to some kelp and wind blowing us around. He was so tired by the end of the fight, he said when we catch another hali I would have to reel it in.

I'm the luckiest dad - my son thinks I can catch a 10lb halibut anytime I want to.....

09-06-2012, 07:56 PM	#1
roby CEO of Team Roby Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 905	Fishing with the Kids Below is a freshwater and saltwater kayakfishing report with my two boys.... Sierras Trip: http://youtu.be/mw4NXw6XPZU Halibut Trip: http://youtu.be/bkT6MGkXv08 1) I spent a week in Mammoth at the end of August. The bite was slow at the beginning of the trip, since we spent most of our time at Lake George and Lake Mamie. The Mammoth Lakes typically treat us right, but this season the bite just wasn't there. The water level was low and the crowds were definitely up (the air temp was up as well). I've never seen so many people swimming in the lakes just to cool off. The bite got better when we went to Rock Creek Lake and Convict Lake. We got near limits on most days and the trolling was consistent if not "red hot" at times. I was trolling between 3-5 colors. Trolling with leadcore was new to me, so I was happy just to nab a few the first go-around at Rock Creek. As I got the hang of leadcore trolling, the catching became more consistent with hits every 15-20 minutes. It seemed like most fish were suspended in 30-40 feet of water. Anything gold seemed like a good bet. My brother's and sister's families came up at the end of the week. They were there for only one whole day, so I spent a little time scouting out an area where we could nail some trout, and do it quick. There were about 8 little kids between the ages of 4-7 and I had the fun responsibility of getting all of them on fish. I decided Convict would be our best chance at getting the kids some trout. By 8am that morning it was slow going with 3-4 trout on the stringer, but things really picked up by 10:30 and all the kids were able to pull on a fish or two from the shore. We got the kids some trout on the yak as well while trolling. I would shuttle the kids two at a time and spend about 40 minutes making a loop around the lake; we usually hung a couple in that time. We ended up with 26 trout by 1pm and a whole lotta smiles.... We had trout every night but one night while I was up in the Sierras. 2) Last Monday, my oldest (6yrs old) and I went to look for some halibut. He caught his first legal halibut (10lb) on a big juicy sardine. My son almost lost the fish a couple of times due to some kelp and wind blowing us around. He was so tired by the end of the fight, he said when we catch another hali I would have to reel it in. I'm the luckiest dad - my son thinks I can catch a 10lb halibut anytime I want to.....