Today in the rain, we hooked our first ever kayaker..!!!

On board, regular, Dick Bowman, for light tackle stripers and blues. Dick has been fishing with me for many years and today we hooked into a BIG, BIG Blue…!!! Here’s the story:

A friend of mine, Rick, who is one of the hardcore anglers on the bay, does all his fishing from a kayak. We see each other on the bay a lot and exhange intel. Today, Rick was dab smack in the middle of a massive fall blitz of stripers and blues. Fish, bait and birds exploding all around his yak and he was constantly hooked up.

My client, Dick Bowman, hooks into a nice blue and brings it to the boat. I was testing out a new lure at the back of the boat and got a wicked hook-up at the same time. I put my rod in the rod holder and grab the net to land Dick’s fish. Then I say, “Dick – grab that rod – that drag is screaming!” Dick picks up the rod and starts fighting the fish that had just about spooled the entire reel! Dick says, “Capt – BIG, BIG BLUE!!!” He turns the fish and begans to work it back to  the boat. It is crazy heavy! Suddenly, we hear Rick yelling, “STOP! STOP! Don’t Reel – You Got My Kayak!!!”

That big blue had no place to run so where do you think he went? Straight for Rick’s kayak 70 yards away and then it wrapped around the yak’s anchor line! When Dick started to fight the fish, he was spinning Rick around in his yak!!! hahahahahahahaha…. I don’t mean to laugh, but it was the craziest thing you ever saw. And the comments back and forth – priceless!!! LOL… My sides still hurt from laughing so hard!

Well, Rick got our line unwrapped from his anchor line and then realized, “HEY- You got a nice fish on! I handlined it to get it unwrapped and it felt good!” Dick continued the fight and we got that fish to the net and into the boat. A very BIG, BIG, BLUE indeed…! I laughed the rest of the charter and I am still laughing typing this. That has never happened before and it was the funniest thing to see! A BIG thanks to Rick for being such a good sport about it and for helping us to land our fish!

Well, later in the am, I spotted a small flock of birds across the bay. Dick and I made the run and we pulled into a fine striper blitz with corker bass to 38″ inches in three feet of water! Talk about a blast on light tackle gear…! We landed several more fish, throwing back a 38″ incher and called it a great morning on the bay.

“Every Day Is Different, And No Two Tides Are The Same…” – Capt. Dave

BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com