Finally decided to do something I've been thinking about for many years, fishing along the ledges from the boat. I tried in a half-hearted manner with a popper with no joy on multiple occasions.
Recently the fish have been distancing themselves from poppers, with the 7" Albino Fin-S being the hot artificial in my hood. This morning's light breeze that would push me off the shore line I was eyeing, along with report from some rock rats that the ledges were hot, made me decide it was today to test this technique. While taking walks with the Admiral, I had located a ledge formation that always beckoned to me and with the morning offshore zephyr that became my target for today's experiment.
I basically backed the boat into a glacial gully and tossed the Fin-S up the gully along with a wave. As the wave receded, I kept gentle tension on the lure, but held on tight as the lure slid off the ledge into the open water. Didn't take long for my Fin-S to get slammed. Being the consummate scientist, whenever multiple consecutive casts with a Fin-S were greeted by bass, I'd toss a popper out to see if that was any good. Bottom line, not even a sniff.
Ended the morning with 11 fish to 25", all but one being 21" or greater. This was not relaxing "Bottle Bass Fishing", especially when the odd set of swells would come in pushing the boat closer to the ledges than safety dictates.
The view from the cockpit:
Recently the fish have been distancing themselves from poppers, with the 7" Albino Fin-S being the hot artificial in my hood. This morning's light breeze that would push me off the shore line I was eyeing, along with report from some rock rats that the ledges were hot, made me decide it was today to test this technique. While taking walks with the Admiral, I had located a ledge formation that always beckoned to me and with the morning offshore zephyr that became my target for today's experiment.
I basically backed the boat into a glacial gully and tossed the Fin-S up the gully along with a wave. As the wave receded, I kept gentle tension on the lure, but held on tight as the lure slid off the ledge into the open water. Didn't take long for my Fin-S to get slammed. Being the consummate scientist, whenever multiple consecutive casts with a Fin-S were greeted by bass, I'd toss a popper out to see if that was any good. Bottom line, not even a sniff.
Ended the morning with 11 fish to 25", all but one being 21" or greater. This was not relaxing "Bottle Bass Fishing", especially when the odd set of swells would come in pushing the boat closer to the ledges than safety dictates.
The view from the cockpit:
