SD Bay - Shelter Island Launch - 7/29/13

[Hobie-Pedaller]

Monday - July 29, 2013

i launched into SD Bay from Shelter Island beach around 11:30 am, and landed back at the beach around 8:00 pm.
8.5 hrs on the water.

clear skies & sunny all day. atmosphere temps low 70's.
5 mph wind early, up to 10-15 mph thru mid & late afternoon.
(my sonar puck is located inside hull, so it does not give accurate water temps.)

the bite was steady & consistent from launch time until later afternoon, then slowed appreciably all remainder of day.
for the first 5 hours of this outing, the bite was never WFO, but it was steady fish continuously.

the incoming tidal flow after i launched, produced good fishing, as usual.
high tide around 3:30 pm, so "tidal flow" almost non-existent from approx 3 to 4 pm.
which usually results in a slow bite around these times.

but amazingly, the bite stayed good through this minimal tidal flow, and the fish continued to bite well, from my 11:30 am launch, all the way until around 4:30 or 5:00 pm.

by this time, there was now a fairly good tidal flow out of bay, as high tide was changing to low tide. and the outgoing tide continued to flow well, until past sunset.

usually for me in the Bays... a good tidal flow, and approaching sunset... ALWAYS means FISH ON !!

but also amazingly on this day, the bite really slowed the ENTIRE late afternoon and thru the evening sunset, as the tidal flow increased.

i have never seen Bay fish bite so well during almost no tidal flow, and then almost totally shut down, as tidal flow was increasing.

the best fish of the day included:
a 17" Spotted Bay Bass, a 16" Spotted Bay Bass, and an 18" Halibut.


My Total Fish Summary:

(65) Total Fish..... i managed to catch 6 different species on this day.

(40) Spotted Bay Bass (~8" - 17")
(1) Barred Sand Bass (~ 9")
(1) Halibut (~18")
(2) Barracuda (both ~16")
(2) Greenback Mackeral (both ~10")
(19) Lizard Fish (~8" - 14")

as far as the Spotted Bass went....
one fish at 17", one at 16", and six to eight more around 14" to 15".

[ALL fish released.]


My Baits:

Frenzy Minnow crankbait (black & gold color) was trolled, every time i pedaled to change locations.
and produced two small Barracudas, and two small Greenbacks.

all other fish were caught on 3/8 oz or 1/2 oz jig-heads, used with drift and bounce-bottom approach.

jigs were loaded with either 5" curly tail grubs (chartreuse, black, white, motor oil) or 3" Gulp shrimp (New Penny, Nuclear Chicken).

the motor oil colored grub, was slightly the most productive bait on this day.
while the Gulp shrimp, in both colors, produced almost as well.
and the other color grubs, all produced decently as well.

approx the first 5 hours of this outing, the fish were basically biting ALL baits.
approx the last 3 hours of this outing, the fish were NOT biting ANY baits much at all.


Pictures:

here's the 17" Spottie, which bit on the motor oil grub:




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and here's America's Finest City:
(with pic taken from one of the attractions, that contributes to this city being so fine.)




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here's the 16" Spottie, which came on the white grub:
(he was an inch shorter than longest Bass pictured above, but a LOT fatter.)




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as i drifted further into the Bay, with the incoming tide for first half of the outing, it took me very close to downtown SD. before turning around, and drifting back out of the Bay, with the outgoing tide:




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and here is one of the juvenile Barry's, which i caught on the Frenzy crankbait.
this fish was caught right around sunset, as i pedaled back to SI beach for landing:




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tight lines to all !!!
.