I've got the Blues

i took the kayak out to the Norwalk Islands this past saturday, and finally some luck!

my son (9.5 months old) is going through some severe separation anxiety and wakes up multiple times in the middle of the night.  on saturday morning, around 1:30 AM, he woke up again, and after bringing him into the bed with us, i couldn't fall back asleep.  i was too mentally wound up with 'visualizing' catching some large stripers later that day.  about 2 hours later, i finally decided just to get up and slowly start getting ready to head out.  since i had packed most of my gear the night before, all i had to do is get changed, eat something for breakfast, and do my 'other' business.

i left the house around 4:30 AM i arrived at my launch site around 5:00, and was on the water 15 minutes later.  i had timed it perfectly since sunrise was about 5:30, and it was about two hours past high tide.  at first, i was a bit worried since there was so much fog, i couldn't see 50 feet in any direction.  it was eerie and amazingly calm.

by 5:30, i started to hear a few boats around me, which were close enough that i could hear people's conversations clearly.  i was so afraid that they wouldn't see me and i would get run over.  fortunately, i didn't see a single boat, although i kept looking over my shoulder just in case.

around 5:45, i started to see some swirls around me, and i realized i was lucky to be at the right place at the right time.  since i hadn't tied on a fly yet, i took out my spinning rod, and threw a bubble gum colored sluggo.  

wham, bam, thank you ma'am!  first cast, i felt the hit, set the hook, navigated a few head shakes and runs, and landed a blue.  not the largest i've caught, but if you've followed XXA for a bit, you'll know that i'm a firm believer in 'beggars can't be choosers'.  within the next 10 minutes, i landed a couple of more, exactly the same size and weight.

my second blue threw up a tiny baitfish and also a shrimp. until then, it never crossed my mind that blues would also eat shrimp.  (sorry for the bad picture).  the shrimp was about 1" long. 


i decided to change it up a bit and picked up the fly rod.  i tied on a pink Shannon's Streamer, thinking that it resembled the bubble gum sluggo.  i made a dozen casts, but didn't get any takes.  unfortunately, after that, the action and swirls died down.

i paddled around looking for more activity for about 1.5 hours, and then finally made the decision to head back to the first spot.  right when i arrived, the swirls started appearing again.  i landed two more blues on the sluggo.

next, i tied on a rapala skitter pop for some topwater action.  i love reeling in the lure as quickly as possible and watching the blues chase it, miss it, and keep after it until they're hooked.  it's so much fun since they'll chase the lure right up to the kayak.  i had a couple of fish where the bite was close enough to splash me with water. 

all in all, i had a terrific day!  9 blues in total, all around the same size and weight.  i'm hoping to get out again soon, so stay salty!  XXA