This is a guest report from Chris French who's been a member of MFCC since May of 2012. Chris also runs a new fishing website called Angler Toolbox which you can check out by clicking here.
On this trip, I departed early to get a few hours of fishing in before work. The new moon would create stronger tides and other factors coincided like moonrise, sunrise, and bottom of the outgoing tide. Everything was aligned, so I felt confident my "kaboat" would produce a few decent-sized fish.
This year I decided to put in extra time fishing a productive area which is actually off-Cape Cod. More than past seasons, I wanted to observe the patterns here throughout the seasons and figure this area out.
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A New Kind Of "Fishing Machine"
I live on the North Shore of Massachusetts, and there are many spots that can fish well throughout the year. Sometimes conditions align to provide an opportunity, while other times you can just get lucky when a feed gets underway.
During the start of this trip conditions were pitch black and foggy. Not a soul was stirring, or boat moving on the glassy calm surface of the water.
It’s times like this in our busy world that I find to be magical. However, I also give pause about departing onto the water in my relatively new kaboat, which is a small inflatable craft, very subject to weather, wind and waves.
Fortunately the chart plotter which I installed on the quickly got me to a spot where I’ve had recent success, despite the fog and pitch black conditions.
I arrive, anchor and make my first cast. Within three cranks of the reel, there was a strong hit. FISH ON!
After a good fight in strong current I boated a keeper-sized bass. Another came on the fifth cast. It was only 4:30 and I had already caught two keepers. This was sure to be a great morning!
I moved around a bit when the action died off, and decided to remain in a protected area, away from the open ocean where waves were breaking all across the edge of a bar.
I feel it is always best to err on the side of caution when fishing from a kaboat, or any small craft for that matter.
The total catch for the day was ten striped bass, with four of the fish in the 28-30” range and a couple more just shy at 26”.
All of the fish were aggressive and hit hard. Most were in caught in strong current, so that added to the fight.
I also spotted several sturgeon during this trip, as they jumped straight clear of the water. One of the sturgeon actually came close to landing in the kaboat!
Sturgeon are interesting, prehistoric looking fish. They are a protected species, and cannot be targeted by fishermen.
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Information on the area fished
Info. on the techniques used
What do you think? Let me know by commenting below.
The kaboat could be ideal for boulder fields too.
I know of a 50 pounder taken from a boulder field on Cape in just 5 or so feet of water last summer.
That fish was caught in a zodiak, which I’m guessing is pretty similar to the kaboat.
Awesome set up! Looks great for running through structure that big boats wouldn’t dare fish in.
Thanks Ryan. That’s a big benefit…cover more water than a kayak but still have a 4″ draft with motor up, only 12″ down. It’s put me on lots of fish in hard to access areas.