Kayak Wars 2011

slappy wrote:

Many of the new england teams seem to have given up, it is tough to keep up when you basically have one fish (stripers) to catch. At least the flounder are in this year after being absent for a long, long time.

I'm surprised about that - not for nothing, but you guys have been doing better than anyone could have expected concerning the limited fishery up there - we all knew that you guys were hardcore striper fishermen, but never expected the flounder fishing to be so good - everytime I look, the New England guys have been killing the flounder, which aren't worth much less than stripers in terms of points, now you are getting the big stripers too - it is a long season, and if you guys limit out every month on bass, and the blues come in after the flounder, you will place high - the VA guys have started to slow down as the stripers have moved out of Chesapeake.

And you personally have been on fire! Over six weeks, I don't think I have ever seen any individual angler put up so many fish - only exception may have been Rob Aldermann of fishingmilitia last year.

We don't get too many flounder down here. I started fishing as a kid in the late-80s when the flounder were still plentiful, but decreasing in population. I haven't seen them since that time and even tried for an afternoon this year and got skunked - our population is gone.

I see your point about the limited fishery and season though - maybe next year it should be suggested that there should be a 10 striper limit per month until May so the southern teams can't run away with it like they did this year.

Larry, you my friend are an ANIMAL!

It is hard to put on a tourney of this scale and make it fair across all states. Fortunately, the stripers have filled in nicely and the bigger fish are now starting to show in better numbers. May is tough for bigger bass, but easy for smalls. It is easy to put up points when you are the only one with access to certain species, my teammates in VA won't be putting up any bass for a while and I'm hoping that they will start fishing again.

Either way, it is a fun idea for a tourney.

Kayak Wars is still a work in progress and each year the guys there have adjusted with the learning curve. I think that as the fish migrate, so will the points. This year is interesting because we are all fishing pretty hard. This will be a good way to figure out next years rules as it will be the first real test. We're down to Fluke here now. There's still other species around, but not in the numbers that we have in spring and fall.

There are still schoolies and blues by me on the inside, and some big girls on the outside eating bunker (Hollywood got a 26lber last week). Its become more of a night thing. I'm hoping the bass will stick around a few more weeks, so we can hit the 'cap' on the KW points. July is gonna be tough-pretty much just fluke. To make a fair point system that covers the vastly different fisheries is almost impossible. I'm very impressed with the job the organizers have done on this. The New York teams, with their limited species available, flat out kicked ass last year. The Total Inches category strongly favors the VA/NC teams due to the species available, but the saltwater category is up for grabs. Who wants it?

Hey Larry - you've been fishing hard lately - nice catching! Check out KW late tonight . . . . you are going to get a surprise . . . . hehe!

Captiva, having one of you guys post a good day of points right after I post isn't a suprise... its the norm. Damn gentlemanly of you to allow me a few hours to feel a sense of accomplishment this time though, thanks. There was a ton of schoolies in my area the last month, and I have enjoyed the best topwater bite of my life. Looks like its tapering off though, dont know how much longer I can go tit for tat with you. That said, you might want to keep one eye on your rearview mirror.

yaknfool wrote:

Captiva, having one of you guys post a good day of points right after I post isn't a suprise... its the norm. Damn gentlemanly of you to allow me a few hours to feel a sense of accomplishment this time though, thanks. There was a ton of schoolies in my area the last month, and I have enjoyed the best topwater bite of my life. Looks like its tapering off though, dont know how much longer I can go tit for tat with you. That said, you might want to keep one eye on your rearview mirror.

You have had an awesome month . . . . just talking some trash - JCKF is really representing the middle coast along with us and it is good to see all of you guys fishing hard and showing your skills. . . . having fun with this, but the competition is fierce, between the New England guys and Virginia guys too!

Like me, I also see that you have discovered the power of the bluefish for KW - I took that from the Carolina guys playbook last year . . . . finding a repetitive pattern of YEDs can give you a ton of points, but dealing with them in the kayak is tough!

One of the by-products that I enjoy most about KW is seeing how other fisheries produce - I never knew that you had such good striper fishing down there, and am even more surprised about the tog too . . . . can't wait to get down there for the tourney in October and try some Jersey Cape togging.

Captiva, Cape May Rips are one of the best Striper fishing locations on the planet. The fish spawn up in the Delaware and are always migrating up and down our beaches. Spring and fall are pure magic. As far as tog, Cape May IS the number one spot on the planet. I think all of the records have been set here, but I'm not certain. I'll need to check on that.

I had some issues with my yak that are resolved now. I can make solo trips and won't need to partner up as much. Look out fellas, SJ gonna catch 'em up. Time to get a bit more trash talking going her. LOL!

Tautog record looks to have come out of Ocean City, NJ which is 20 or so miles north of Cape May. I don't know where they were fishing though. Plenty of 13 to 18lb fish caught in the spring here though with stories of 20+ pound fish caught each year.

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captiva and yakn, you guys are really pouring it on.

Captiva, your team has really taken off and I saw you passed us.

My team mates are a bit busy, one has a new baby, the others are working on a leveraged buyout of the entire kayak fishing industry using only S&H green stamps and a stop & shop card. They basically told me "good luck, we'll start posting some later this summer."

I will get out there though to make sure that you guys don't get too far ahead--competition will make you fish harder!

slappy wrote:

captiva and yakn, you guys are really pouring it on.

Captiva, your team has really taken off and I saw you passed us.

My team mates are a bit busy, one has a new baby, the others are working on a leveraged buyout of the entire kayak fishing industry using only S&H green stamps and a stop & shop card. They basically told me "good luck, we'll start posting some later this summer."

I will get out there though to make sure that you guys don't get too far ahead--competition will make you fish harder!

Thanks! I have a feeling that we won't be in second for too long . . . . I'm expecting that you may have a bunch of big fish to post AGAIN really soon - you have been carrying that team since April and have put up some amazing days . . . . I was talking to Chris at JBAY and we were saying how bad the fishing was - which pretty much everyone said - and then I get home and see that you put a beating on the fish there all weekend! That was awesome - it looked like you may have caught more than anyone I spoke with combined!

In a way, you can run away in the individual standings since your team won't be doing much this summer, and your team will still be tough - plus, looks like you guys are getting a new body of Chesapeake fish now moving up from CT and RI. . . . . the neckpunchers have been catching some big fish lately - a 47" last week and a 48" this week.

It has been a great competition and I really enjoy seeing what others are doing in different areas. The problem the VA guys have now is that it is too warm for stripers there for the most part (they will still undoubtedly pick away at some at HRBT), and their puppy drum bite has gone the way of our weakfish . . . . there was a big drum and speckled trout kill in the winter of '09 and their red drum population still hasn't recovered - where drum were their bread and butter for the summer months in the past, now they must pick away at sheepshead and small fluke . . . .

I'm switching gears now to target fluke more than anything else, this is the best part of the season for the doormats and the biggest I have had this year is only 23". The bass will slow here as the weather warms, but I have a few summer patterns. Maybe the weakfish will show in August, but that isn't looking good.

Captiva, you couldn't be more right about the blues being a PIA in the boat. Thrashing fish foul hooked my leg several times last week. Nothing is more fun than being tethered to an insane, hyperactive fish by a treble hook! I was bitten several times in the pants, a couple times up near the important stuff. Fortunately I was cold, so everything was out of harms way! I went out this morning and caught only blues. Halfway through the month and on the cap. No points. I think its time to think outside the box-or at least change lures.

those neckpunchers will be moving on up too, when all the species move into their area, i expect they will move up quickly, there are some extremely talented anglers on that team.

And yes, I will be posting some fish soon, fishing has been improving lately with some very good quality.

yaknfool wrote:

Captiva, you couldn't be more right about the blues being a PIA in the boat. Thrashing fish foul hooked my leg several times last week. Nothing is more fun than being tethered to an insane, hyperactive fish by a treble hook! I was bitten several times in the pants, a couple times up near the important stuff. Fortunately I was cold, so everything was out of harms way! I went out this morning and caught only blues. Halfway through the month and on the cap. No points. I think its time to think outside the box-or at least change lures.

I'm always really afraid of getting hooked with those things, so I have sort of a technique now, although it slows me down - I put the cocktail-sized ones between the end of the yak and my drive - they usually flop so much that they unhook themselves - and if they are schooling, I'll fish with 007s and nothing with trebles - plugs are just a receipe for disaster with those things, but there are times that you must use them. As for the bigger ones, I'll just net them - those are some ornery, angry fish and the net seems to relax them a bit. . . . . but the process slows me down.

Although easy to catch when schooled up, they aren't easy to land and flat-out dangerous to take a picture of. For these reasons, I was disappointed that they decreased the point value this year because the VA guys b*tched about blues so much last year.

slappy wrote:

those neckpunchers will be moving on up too, when all the species move into their area, i expect they will move up quickly, there are some extremely talented anglers on that team.

And yes, I will be posting some fish soon, fishing has been improving lately with some very good quality.

You read my mind on that one - a 50 bass limit will be childs play for them if the fishing around them stays anything like it was in Stonington last weekend, plus, their best time seems to be the fall - albies galore worth 50 points each. . . . . hope that they don't target tog because they reputably have a great fishery for that too.

sorry guys,,its been quiet on my end due to family matters ,, but my mother in law has been very sick and just passed away yesterday,, so once i get through the next few days i will get back to kayak wars . i need something to get my mind set right again after all this crap is over...

LUNCHBOX wrote:

sorry guys,,its been quiet on my end due to family matters ,, but my mother in law has been very sick and just passed away yesterday,, so once i get through the next few days i will get back to kayak wars . i need something to get my mind set right again after all this crap is over...

Sorry for your loss, Charlie. She will be in our prayers. Hope you get some down time soon.

Lunchbox--sorry to hear about your loss. Sometimes time on the water can be cathartic.

Captiva, you guys are rocking! You are certainly going to overwhelm us with species. My large fish have disappeared, the bad weather here created some brutal fishing conditions last night! With the rips and NE wind, boston harbor can be a horror show, bounceback from the walls in the harbor creates washing machine conditions. The mass of bass may be heading north again, I'm hearing reports of blues around now, but they don't get too thick around here, especially at night.

Thanks, Slappy. . . . we have our eyes on first place and are pushing hard to overtake the "super team." The fluking was outrageous last weekend, and we thought that we had a limit, but a couple of guys miscalculated what they caught, so it is back to the drawing board for us, but we should be at 47 fluke after everyone finishes posting - good team effort last weekend - we never even came close to the limit last year.

Fluking is peaking right now, about three weeks late, and the north shore has been producing both nice fish and tons of smaller ones (on Saturday, I caught at least 50 fluke from 14" - 17", the other guys nailed them at the club BBQ yesterday). I think it will last for at least another week or two until they start moving off to deeper water in the heat.

We can reset the bass next weekend, and the bass fishing is still pretty good here, but it will become a slow pick for the most part and the peak is behind us about two weeks ago . . . . the fish will get smaller and smaller as the fall approaches, and I will be regulated to little guys in the fall in the western sound.

I'm going out one night this week to finish off the blues - live about 15 minutes away from a nice set of flats on the south shore where the blues move in like clockwork during a flood tide. . . . . that usually lasts until the end of August when the days get too short for me to fish after work.

I did here rumors that the gator blues were around Cape Cod and moving north, so it will be a matter of time before the YEDs are all over by you too.

And scup? We can get our limit every month until October . . . . live 20 minutes away from an inshore reef where the scup stack up . . . . . caught 20 in 45 minutes last week - glad I get something for them instead of taking worms while tube trolling there.

Lots of competition this year, and I like this forum as it is friendly and good sportsmanship . . . . we are always waiting to see what you are going to post next - you have had an awesome season so far and you have shown us that the MA fishery isn't just migratory fish - now that is some real fishing that you have done this year.

All well said guys! Fluke fishing is still good down this way and the bluefish are hiding somewhere with the weakies?

I was out of commission for a week with a warranty issue on my Torque that's been fixed. I'm heading up to northern NJ to get in on some of the big bass action in the bunker schools. We'll be there Wed-Fri morning. I'm hoping for a few bass worthy of bonus points!!!

I'll be ordering my Revo too now that I sold my Outback to a buddy of mine. I'm predicting a bit of a catch up coming from JCKF pretty soon!

This is a great year and Kayak Wars has been pulling a lot of people together!

Pat, you guys really tore it up the last couple weeks. A few of us went winter floundering on sunday, but it was a very, very slow bite.

It will be tough to keep up with you guys posting so many species. I'm betting that the VA team slips to 4th by the end of July. July should be decent for the northern teams, the yakdawgs teams are going to move up fast, especially the neckpunchers, those guys will probably put up 50 bonus bass and blues.

I'm going to get a little extra fishing time in July, June was tough with a couple weekends at the in laws and not many fishing days. But I will have a fishing weekend and my Cape May vacation is coming up. Cape May has been weird for me the last couple years. Two years ago it was on fire for flounder and bass, last year it was kind of slow for flounder and most of the bass I caught were under the bridges at night. But it will be a chance to get a few summer flounder and blues, both exotic species for me.

Slappy, I forgot you were coming down. Lunchbox and I live here in Wildwood/Cape May. C'mon down, we'll try to put you on some fish.

Finally got my new yak so I'm hoping to be on the water a lot more very soon.

CONGRATS CJ ON THE NEW YAK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!