07-30-2008, 07:27 PM
Launched the kayak solo on saturday out of the old Lake Mead Marina cove.
When I showed up at 4am, there was a good 20mph+ wind, lightning behind every mountain in view, a decent 2 foot swell and white-caps. You don't see it like that too often at 4am... Anyhoo, I decided that I had made it all the way out to the water, I wasn't gonna let a little foul weather stop me.
I started paddling at about 4:20, and it was still pitch black out there. I expected some blue light by about 4:30 or 4:45, but none showed. The clouds all around me kept it dark until about 5:30! I started off towards the Islands off the PWC beach, but as i was leaving the marina cove, I ran aground on the big hump on the right. Last time I was out there (about 2 weeks ago) the hump was still about 3 feet below the surface. Because it was so dark, it took me a minute to find my way off it. Kinda creepy when you cant see anything. Anyway, I got off the hump and paddled out. Trolled a couple of noisy crankbaits out to towards the Islands. I paddled into the wind and current for an hour, and still hadn't made it to the islands yet (or gotten a bite), so I gave up my fight against the wind and turned back towards the marina cove. The ride back was insane! I with the wind and current in my favor, I rode back in about 15 minutes. There was a sick storm brewing, but I wasn't ready to leave. I hit the shore to strech my legs right at the outside point of the cove. A school of small stripers surfaced right at the shoreline where i was standing, and they actually pushed about 2 dozen shad on to the beach and stranded them. I grabed a few for bait, and threw the rest back in the water. They were pretty small on average. Decided to throw a spinnerbait around for a few, and got hit by something big enough to break the wire on my bait. Pretty dissapointing, as this was to be the only hook up of the day. Threw around the shad on a carolina, and tossed a plastic jerkbait around for a while. Got hit on the jerkbait, but all short strikers. The shad got no love.
All in all, it was quite of an adventure (and a workout). Fished from 4:30 til 7-ish, before I was pushed off the water by the looming storm.
Finished the day eating breakfast and sipping coffee in the rain on the docks over at the new lake mead marina.
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Tuesday brought a whole new opportunity.
Brought my kayaking buddy, and we launched out of Callville. Started out at about 4:15, and we got the appropriate blue light by 4:25. Once bast the tires, I trolled a crankbait out to the red rock wall on the left. No hits there. Once against the walls, we started hunting for largemouth. They just were not cooperating this day. We threw topwaters, jointed rapalas, jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and so on and so forth. I spent most of my time drop-shotting with an oxblood Roboworm. That wasn;t even doing the trick. We worked out way over to the big rock Island by the mouth of callville, where I caight a 1 lb bass with the dropshot. I also pulled up a very healthy 10in bluegill on the dropshot (I still dont know how he got it in his mouth). After the bass were so reluctant to bite, we decided to try for some stripers. There was no surface activity at all. We trolled zig-zag patterns from the mouth of Callville all the way to the tires, pulling swimbaits, cranks, and spinnerbaits, and only managed two small fish, both right around a healthy pound. Beautiful day on the water. Done fishing by 10am. Good companionship and beer make for a great day fishing. (couldn't find the camera tuesday, so no pics).
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When I showed up at 4am, there was a good 20mph+ wind, lightning behind every mountain in view, a decent 2 foot swell and white-caps. You don't see it like that too often at 4am... Anyhoo, I decided that I had made it all the way out to the water, I wasn't gonna let a little foul weather stop me.
I started paddling at about 4:20, and it was still pitch black out there. I expected some blue light by about 4:30 or 4:45, but none showed. The clouds all around me kept it dark until about 5:30! I started off towards the Islands off the PWC beach, but as i was leaving the marina cove, I ran aground on the big hump on the right. Last time I was out there (about 2 weeks ago) the hump was still about 3 feet below the surface. Because it was so dark, it took me a minute to find my way off it. Kinda creepy when you cant see anything. Anyway, I got off the hump and paddled out. Trolled a couple of noisy crankbaits out to towards the Islands. I paddled into the wind and current for an hour, and still hadn't made it to the islands yet (or gotten a bite), so I gave up my fight against the wind and turned back towards the marina cove. The ride back was insane! I with the wind and current in my favor, I rode back in about 15 minutes. There was a sick storm brewing, but I wasn't ready to leave. I hit the shore to strech my legs right at the outside point of the cove. A school of small stripers surfaced right at the shoreline where i was standing, and they actually pushed about 2 dozen shad on to the beach and stranded them. I grabed a few for bait, and threw the rest back in the water. They were pretty small on average. Decided to throw a spinnerbait around for a few, and got hit by something big enough to break the wire on my bait. Pretty dissapointing, as this was to be the only hook up of the day. Threw around the shad on a carolina, and tossed a plastic jerkbait around for a while. Got hit on the jerkbait, but all short strikers. The shad got no love.
All in all, it was quite of an adventure (and a workout). Fished from 4:30 til 7-ish, before I was pushed off the water by the looming storm.
Finished the day eating breakfast and sipping coffee in the rain on the docks over at the new lake mead marina.
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[inline shad.bmp]
Tuesday brought a whole new opportunity.
Brought my kayaking buddy, and we launched out of Callville. Started out at about 4:15, and we got the appropriate blue light by 4:25. Once bast the tires, I trolled a crankbait out to the red rock wall on the left. No hits there. Once against the walls, we started hunting for largemouth. They just were not cooperating this day. We threw topwaters, jointed rapalas, jigs, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and so on and so forth. I spent most of my time drop-shotting with an oxblood Roboworm. That wasn;t even doing the trick. We worked out way over to the big rock Island by the mouth of callville, where I caight a 1 lb bass with the dropshot. I also pulled up a very healthy 10in bluegill on the dropshot (I still dont know how he got it in his mouth). After the bass were so reluctant to bite, we decided to try for some stripers. There was no surface activity at all. We trolled zig-zag patterns from the mouth of Callville all the way to the tires, pulling swimbaits, cranks, and spinnerbaits, and only managed two small fish, both right around a healthy pound. Beautiful day on the water. Done fishing by 10am. Good companionship and beer make for a great day fishing. (couldn't find the camera tuesday, so no pics).
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