I went out this morning to hunt for large mouth bass with frogs. I had three rods on my kayak rigged with different frogs. This was my third time fishing this frogy spot. Each time that I fished this spot, I learned something and noted it in my fishing journal. Everything came together today.

The first bass engulfed a 3.5″ Stanley Jigs Ribbit frog with an Owner 4/0 Beast Swimbait hook.

The second bass exploded on a Strike King KVD sexy frog with a 4/0 Lake Fork trailer hook. This bass was twice new size if the first!

Froging requires the right gear, rigging, retrieves, and spots. On previous froging trips, I caught knowledge. On this trip, caught fish and refined my frog rigging. I still have more to learn. I need to go froging again!

Today I had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend and go fly fishing for striped bass from the surf. We fished the same body of water that we fly fished a few years back; but on the other side of the “pond”. This was my first time at this spot. My goal for this trip was to field test color patterns and hooks. It was a cool and overcast day with a constant wind. The local crab and clam populations proved to be a good omen.

After reading the water, I decided to fish a point. I worked the point with several flies. The first fish eat an olive-over-white Lefty Deceiver. The feeling of setting the hook by pulling the line is one the things that I love about fly fishing!

The wind picked up and started to reduce my cast by 50%. I moved to a bowl and waded between some boats that were tied to moorings. I used the boats to shelter me from the wind while I worked my line to propel my flies. The second fish eat a yellow-over-white Lefty Deceiver.

The wind got stronger and started to move the boats. Without protection, my trip was cut short. But! I now have confidence in yellow-over-white and olive-over-white Lefty Deceivers! Overall, the hooks worked well. But, the hook that performed best was the Owner Aki hook. The hook is available from 1/0 to 8/0. For striped bass flies, I like the 4/0 size.

There is a river that I like to fish with lots of structure. Other anglers also like to fish the same river. Navigating my kayak around the power boats is challenging. But! I discovered an Ox Bow with a narrow and shallow entry with submerged rocks. This spot gets low boat traffic and low fishing pressure.

The entire Ox Bow overflows with vegetation during the summer months: lilly pads, weeds, and green “slop” on the water’s surface. I rig my rods specifically for this spot: I tie a leader to my main line (braid) via Crazy Albero Knot and then tired directly to my bait. No swivel. No clip. This reduces weed hitch hikers!

On my last trip to this spot, I fished a frog pattern for two hours. Several explosive strikes. But, no hooks ups. :-(.

While removing my leg-less from frog my leader, I heard the sound of a fish jumping out of the water behind me. I dropped my frog rod and picked up my rod with a wacky rigged Garry Yamamoto senko and made a precise cast to the concentric circles left by the fish.
Once the senko hit the water, I lowered my rod tip to allow the senko to flutter towards the bottom without resistance….fish on!

The fish only weighed 1 lb 2 oz. But, it pulled like a heavy weight! OMG. This fish had shoulders!!! 🙂

The next time I return to this spot, 3 out of my 4 kayak rods will have a frog on them. My forth rod will have a wacky rigged Gary Yamamoto senko! 😉

During the June new moon, the Fish360 Team traveled to Cuttyhunk island to hunt striped bass. We took the Cuttyhunk Water Taxi and stayed at Pete’s Place. This was our first team trip, but it shall not be our last.

From dock to door, the commute took two hours. We unloaded our gear and setup base camp at Horseplay. Based on the tide and wind, we started scouting spots. The locals thought we were crazy!! We are not crazy, we are systematic!!!

James Jewkes landed a fish at 12:00 PM in the afternoon on a white Super Strike little neck popper. This was the first fish of the trip and his first trip to Cuttyhunk.

Bringing a kayak to Cuttyhunk is logically challenging. But, the real challenge is the unpredicable conditions. The first time I kayak fished Cuttyhunk, I had to negotiate 5 foot waves and fog. On this trip, the plan was to kayak fish and skish a protected area. On the first night, we geared up and started our trek. While going up a steep hill, one of my DIY kayak carts broke! We used the other cart to make it to the water’s edge and paddle across the harbor. The winds and waves at Churches Beach were un-characteristically strong. We could not paddle or swim out safely. Dead men do not catch fish. We parked the kayak and fins and caught some fish from shore.

On the second day, we fished the incoming tide at the South West point. There were 6 – 10 foot waves coming from two different directions. We had wetsuits and studded boots, which proved to be required equipment. When our plugs landed on a wave, we had to crank our ZeeBaas and Van Staal reels at lighting speed to pick up the slack line. The crashing waves eventually knocked me off my rock. After the third time being thrown off my rock and landing between adjust boulders, I had a difficult time holding my position. I eventually learned why.

On the second night we found a school of fish. We casted everything in our plug bags: wood, plastics, metals, teasers, and customs. We worked the entire water column. We fan-casted the entire area. After two hours and 1,000+ casts, the tide started to turn. We got schooled!

We fished nearly every commonly known spot and some un-commonly known spots under the most challenging conditions: 6 – 10 foot waves, 15 – 20 mph winds, and weedy water. We field tested new gear and plugs. We left with more plugs than we brought (thanks to the plugs we found on the tidal zone rocks). We caught fish. But, most importantly, we learned something about our selves, each other, and surfcasting.