[ComeOnFish]

It was a good day for kayak fishing. The wind was mild, comfortable air temp, 47 F water, and mild current expected.
The only one I didn't like was that the slack time was around 4 pm when the incoming changed to the outgoing tide.
I couldn't fish that late.

I expected a trophy tautog (23.5"). Though I ended up with 3 keepers at 20.5, 17, and 16" out of 7 tautog.

Fishing Log:

Thanks
Joe

 

[Papa-T]

Enjoyed as usual Joe. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ExcessiveAngler]

Nice video as usual Joe!
I see you’re using fresh shrimp, any reason you’re not using crab or clam?
Not questioning your methods, but I’ve seen others doing this up here as well, and thought about doing it myself!
I was also curious, if you find that they hit the top or bottom hook more often as well?

EA

 

[ComeOnFish]

Nice video as usual Joe!
I see you’re using fresh shrimp, any reason you’re not using crab or clam?
Not questioning your methods, but I’ve seen others doing this up here as well, and thought about doing it myself!
I was also curious, if you find that they hit the top or bottom hook more often as well?

EA

My reasons for shrimp:
To me, all baits (Clam, sand flee, shrimp, Geen crab, blue crab, fiddler crab) are almost equally good as long as they are very fresh.
So, live fiddler, live, sand flee, live green crab cut , clam-just cracked, live blue crab cut and Fresh shrimp cut are good. In VA, live green crab is illegal.
Frozen sand flee, green crab, blue crab are OK if they were frozen when they were live. But I found that the frozen sand flee, green crab, blue crab from the bait store weren't fresh for bait for me.
I notice this on the water that many anglers aren't using fresh baits. I see pink blue crab and pink shrimp - that aren't fresh.
My rule for Blue crab and shrimp is this: "If I don't want to eat them because they aren't fresh, they aren't baits."

Availabilities of the baits:
I usually, arrive at the launch site 1.5 hours before the Sunrise. This means that no bait stores are open when I passed by. I have to bring my own baits from home.
I found that the live blue crab I froze wasn't good bait as frozen shrimp. And the blue crab isn't available in my home town most of time.
Live Clam is very hard to use on a kayak. So I cracked them a day before the fishing. These clam (not frozen) was good. But, clam is very expensive. And every tiny fish eats clam and clam won't stay on the hook as shrimp does.
The other baits aren't usually available during the winter months.

Shrimp for me:
Fresh, good quality shrimp at my local grocery stores are always available at very low price. They were frozen live in Costa Rica, Belize, and Guatemala (farm raised) in 4 LB box.
These are sold as fresh shrimp on the display rack once thawed. I buy a 4 LB box frozen. Sometimes, I buy shrimp on the rack if shrimp is fresh enough for me to eat.

I catch all species (Tautog, sheepshead, puppy drum, bull red drum, black drum, speck, striper, trigger fish, flounder, croaker, shark) except spade fish.
So, I usually catch something edible or fun when the target species are scarce.
I caught a very few spade fish on shrimp. Salted clam in a container is best for spade fish.

Oh I carry a frozen bottle (1 gal milk carton) in a cooler even in winter to keep my shrimp fresh.

Joe

 

[ComeOnFish]

Nice video as usual Joe!
I see you’re using fresh shrimp, any reason you’re not using crab or clam?
Not questioning your methods, but I’ve seen others doing this up here as well, and thought about doing it myself!
I was also curious, if you find that they hit the top or bottom hook more often as well?

EA

Bait on the bottom or top? - This is one of things I still question.

For sheepshead, no differences because the bait will be placed in a wide range of the water columns (Bridge Pylon fishing). Typically, my bait is placed 10' down first. Then I lower it slowly to the bottom. Then, I bring the bait up slowly. I move to the next pylon when there was no bite felt.

For Tautog, I catch big ones on the bottom hook more than the top hook. However, I don't rest my rig on the bottom. I constantly lift it up by 0.5 - 1' (slow twitching). So, I would say for fish finder rig with single hook, I will place the hook 5" - 8" above the sinker.

Joe

 

[Benji]

My reasons for shrimp:
To me, all baits (Clam, sand flee, shrimp, Geen crab, blue crab, fiddler crab) are almost equally good as long as they are very fresh.
So, live fiddler, live, sand flee, live green crab cut , clam-just cracked, live blue crab cut and Fresh shrimp cut are good. In VA, live green crab is illegal.
Frozen sand flee, green crab, blue crab are OK if they were frozen when they were live. But I found that the frozen sand flee, green crab, blue crab from the bait store weren't fresh for bait for me.
I notice this on the water that many anglers aren't using fresh baits. I see pink blue crab and pink shrimp - that aren't fresh.
My rule for Blue crab and shrimp is this: "If I don't want to eat them because they aren't fresh, they aren't baits."

Availabilities of the baits:
I usually, arrive at the launch site 1.5 hours before the Sunrise. This means that no bait stores are open when I passed by. I have to bring my own baits from home.
I found that the live blue crab I froze wasn't good bait as frozen shrimp. And the blue crab isn't available in my home town most of time.
Live Clam is very hard to use on a kayak. So I cracked them a day before the fishing. These clam (not frozen) was good. But, clam is very expensive. And every tiny fish eats clam and clam won't stay on the hook as shrimp does.
The other baits aren't usually available during the winter months.

Shrimp for me:
Fresh, good quality shrimp at my local grocery stores are always available at very low price. They were frozen live in Costa Rica, Belize, and Guatemala (farm raised) in 4 LB box.
These are sold as fresh shrimp on the display rack once thawed. I buy a 4 LB box frozen. Sometimes, I buy shrimp on the rack if shrimp is fresh enough for me to eat.

I catch all species (Tautog, sheepshead, puppy drum, bull red drum, black drum, speck, striper, trigger fish, flounder, croaker, shark) except spade fish.
So, I usually catch something edible or fun when the target species are scarce.
I caught a very few spade fish on shrimp. Salted clam in a container is best for spade fish.

Oh I carry a frozen bottle (1 gal milk carton) in a cooler even in winter to keep my shrimp fresh.

Joe

Haven't tried ordering from here yet, but recently learned about this.

Delivered live to your door. Fiddler Crabs; live; dozen - Live Brine Shrimp

 

[dboyd]

Bait on the bottom or top? - This is one of things I still question.

For sheepshead, no differences because the bait will be placed in a wide range of the water columns (Bridge Pylon fishing). Typically, my bait is placed 10' down first. Then I lower it slowly to the bottom. Then, I bring the bait up slowly. I move to the next pylon when there was no bite felt.

For Tautog, I catch big ones on the bottom hook more than the top hook. However, I don't rest my rig on the bottom. I constantly lift it up by 0.5 - 1' (slow twitching). So, I would say for fish finder rig with single hook, I will place the hook 5" - 8" above the sinker.

Joe

 

[dboyd]

Joe ,
thanks for all the information you provided but I have a specific question can you tell me which store do you buy your 4 pound frozen boxes of shrimp from and if you use a particular brand?
Thanks,
David

 

[ComeOnFish]

Joe ,
thanks for all the information you provided but I have a specific question can you tell me which store do you buy your 4 pound frozen boxes of shrimp from and if you use a particular brand?
Thanks,
David

I don't know where you live. These stores may not be available for you. Around any major large cities, there are large Asian grocery stores. Look for the ones own by Korean Americans. They sell both typical groceries + more. The names are like, G Mart, Grand Mart, H Mart, and Lotte. If you live in VA beach, VA, there is a Grand Mart in VA Beach.
This is all I know.

Joe

 

[dboyd]

Thanks Joe
Grand Mart is what I was looking for

 

[ComeOnFish]

For anglers who are new to CBBT:

NOAA Buoy 44064 (for CBBT) - in the spring, wait unit the water temp is 50 F and above for 3 days. Avoid the days when the water temp dropped , even by 1 F until the water temp reaches to 52F,

Fish for tautog at CBBT when the water temp is 52 F and above in the spring.

NOAA Buoy 44099 (for Rudee)
This buoy shows the ocean water temp not the creek water temp in Rudee. But, it is the only one available and is very useful. So use this for Rudee fishing in spring and Fall/December.

in the Rudee creek,

Puppy Drum:
Puppies biteswhen the water temp is 45F-46F very rarely. No reason to fish.

During warming trend, the creek water temp can be higher than the ocean water temp by 1-3 F. This depends on clouds and incoming and outgoing tide.
Depending on the air temp and clouds, the ocean water can be warmer than the creek water, and vice versa.
So, in March, pick a sunny day because the creek water can be warmer (heating up in the shallow areas.

Puppy bite improves when the water temp is steady around 50F and above. I like 53 F minimum for the new anglers/visitors.

Speck:
Possible specks bite when the water temp is steady 50F for 10 days. But I still don't recommend fishing in 50F water to visitors until the creek water temp reaches to 55 F (Buoy water will be 52-53 F that time, end of March and April).

Speck don't bite when the water temp drops, even 1-2 F when the water temp is below 56 F.

March	Water Temp (Buoy 44064) Tautog fishing	Water Temp (Buoy 44099) Puppy and Speck fishing
6	50F - ok	50 F - Puppy OK, possible speck
7	50F - ok	50 F - Puppy OK, possible speck
8	49 F - tough	49 F - tough
9	49 F - tough	49 F - tough
10	49 F - OK	49 F - tough	Fished. 2 specks caught, no puppy
11	49 F - OK	48 F - tough
12	48 F - OK	47 F - tough
13	48 F - OK	47 F - tough
14	48 F - OK	46 F - very tough
15	47 F - tough	46 F - very tough
16	47 F - tough	46 F - very tough
17	46 F - tough	46 F - very tough
18	47 F - tough	46 F - very tough
18

Re-did the table

Joe