i'm feeling salty.

[Darth-Baiter]

my friend and i fish for bass togther..  collectively we both said, "think we should try the ocean?"

 

i think we shall!!  we are considering dipping a toe into salt water.  a gentle wade in, to dip our toe into the pacific.  kayaking a lake is sometimes intimidating.  the ocean?  well, we are staying in a bay.  no big blue open waters just yet.

 

word on the street the Halibut are hungry.  figure some protective grease on all the electronic fittings and a good hose down with the garden hose afterwards, what can go wrong? i have one single spinning reel (3000) that is salt-water ready.  i think my med-heavy spinning rod will be my only option.  i am not gonna buy anthing ocean specific just yet. 

 

any salt water kayakers here?  i dont even know how to rig a bait for a halibut...but i assume i have a few days to ask around.  20lb braid, 15 leader is what i am going to use so i dont have to respool anthing.  hehe...

[TnRiver46]

I take my canoe to the ocean and rented kayaks there, I stay close to the beach or up in a marsh. I usually get a combo at Publix for $15-20 and throw the reel away before I go home. I have taken plenty of my own reels and I don’t think I ever ruined one but definitely had to take them apart and wash everything a time or 3 . 
 

[Spankey]

Not out of a kayak but spent some hours this weekend on the Lower Chesapeake Bay. Mixed bag of Speck Trout, White Perch, Flounder and Croakers. Could not find any Rockfish. 
 

I don’t spend a lot of time per year in salt water but generally do well when fishing it. 
 

Be safe. 

[the reel ess]

I've fished some inlets and creeks from my kayak. So far, I've caught a few flounder and a toadfish. I've never gotten out in the "ocean". I see people doing it from the Garden City Beach though. If you put in in an inlet or creek, check the tide and go while it's rising. You don't want to have to walk back in the mud. Ask me how I know.

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

You don't want to have to walk back in the mud. Ask me how I know.

That reminds me of another funny picture I have of my buddy. There were a bunch of fiddler crabs at our campsite in the marsh and he tried to walk out there and cast net them 

 

[bulldog1935]

here's the offshore kayak guys on the TX coast

https://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=58

 

Here's the king of the TX coast - when Glenn drives down the beach, there's already an armada waiting to follow him to his launch and offshore structure. 

 

We fish inshore fall to spring - between the barrier islands along the TX coast, there's 15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep. 

@TnRiver46  no, this is a speckled trout

 

Here's a post I made this morning on TKF to a guy who's new to the area, been out 4 times, and been shut out 4 times.

Quote

Thanks for the report and photos.  

start here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8H0c6pOm2g

Then think about structure where you can apply it.  Water moving between channels and flats, flats and sloughs, focuses bait around the passes.  
Wind currents push bait against structure, and shorelines can be good to fish on a rising tide.  Fishing the deeper side of passes is most always productive on a falling tide.  

Here was a classic falling-storm-tide trip.  We found bait so thick the first morning they were thumping our hulls and rudders.  
https://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2310194

I always plan kayak trips to get to structure before max tide current.  Also plan so that first long paddle is upwind.  May or may not get exciting at the structure.  Then the wind pretty much carries you home, and blind drift fish with a sock.  Back up when you find fish.  
It's using your paddling for a purpose, and maximizing your fishing time.

You'd also be hard-pressed to find a better lure to learn how to fish than Tobin's TSL Grasswalker
see all the teeth marks in this one after a day on the flat.  

It's neutral density, and very easy to keep in the zone - right at the top of the grass.  
Weighs 1/4 oz, so it casts like a bullet.  

 

Here are 1/4 oz, 1/8 oz, and 1/15 oz jigheads

You can fish the 1/4 oz jighead in slots deep enough you can't see the bottom, but if you try fishing it over visible grass, you're in race to keep it from grassing every cast.  
You can fish the 1/8 oz on ML tackle, the 1/15 oz requires finesse tackle.  
Here's a good report using wind, structure change and lure weight.  
This day was a falling tide, with fish moving out of the skinny into the deeper slot.
https://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2311339

(my day and post follows Josh's on the thread)

 

Along the TX coast between the barrier islands, there are 15,000 sq mi less than 2' deep.  
Adult speckled trout travel 20 mi/day to chase bait.  The bigger females travel alone, the adult males in schools.  
The small trout you catch are nursery trout and live where you caught them.  
Over that expanse, a random trip without focus of structure, tide and wind has very poor odds of finding fish.

 

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, bulldog1935 said:

here's the offshore guys on the TX coast

https://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=58

 

Here's the king of the TX coast - when Glenn drives down the beach, there's already an armada waiting to follow him to his launch and offshore structure. 

 

We fish inshore fall to spring - between the barrier islands along the TX coast, there's 15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep. 

@TnRiver46

no, this is a speckled trout

Sheesh! We’ve only ever got 2 keeper, but man they were good. Some years we can’t catch a single one, the ocean is weird! 

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

That reminds me of another funny picture I have of my buddy. There were a bunch of fiddler crabs at our campsite in the marsh and he tried to walk out there and cast net them 

 

I had one like that on my phone, but I must have deleted it. The soles of my feet were cut up from oyster shells in the mud.

[Bankc]

I've never tried a kayak, but I've fished from piers and the shore, plus I've done some deep-sea fishing on charter boats.

 

I have to say, I've mostly been disappointed with my catch.  I'll go out there thinking I'm going to catch a marlin or hammerhead or something cool, but I always wind up catching sea bass, drums, and catfish.  Basically saltwater version of what I've got at home.  Still, it's something different.  I always rent or buy some cheap rigs there.  I don't live near the ocean, so it's not usually worth having to travel with my normal gear, nor spend vacation time cleaning out the salt and gunk from my freshwater gear.

[bulldog1935]

I think you guys were wading in the wrong place. 

 

[Darth-Baiter]

i've been marlin fishing maybe 5x.  zero marlin.  hahha..

Just now, bulldog1935 said:

I think you guys were wading in the wrong place. 

 

what exactly is going on here!!!  looks like my kinda fishing!!!

[WRB]

Right now there is a salmon run ongoing in the SF Bay.

The SF bay isn’t anywhere near calm water, it’s windy, rough with ship, fast sail boats and ferry traffic.

San Pablo bay has sanctuary areas that is safer for kayaks.

Regarding halibut they will eat medium size swimbaits on a jig head bounced along the bottom. Big Hammer is a good salt water brand to look into.

Big Hammer 4” in Sardine, mackerel  or Anchovy colors all work in salt water.

Big Hammer makes a good swimbait jig for  swimmers, 1/2 to 3/4 oz, white.

Salmon, Stripe Bass, Halibut are all possibilities in the bay.

Tom

[bulldog1935]

We were drifting an 18-kt wind on a 1-1/2' flat.  Rather than lift my drift sock and let the wind blow me away, I staked the boat and went after the fish.