Ultimate Kayak Fishing: Block Island Sea Bass - Ultimate Kayak Fishing

Block Island Sea Bass,
What a day on the water with Don O., we left at 6:30 this morning for a run over to Block Island to fish for Black Sea Bass. The ride over was a little snotty with wind out of the North East. We where 3 boats going over for a day of fishing. Don and I went right to Don's secret spot and shut the engine down in the middle of the area to see what direction the drift would go with the wind and the tide as opposing forces.

I added 6oz of lead and let the rig down and when the line went slack I took up the slack and - fish on. First keeper of the day 10 seconds after we shut the engine down. Every time the weight hit the bottom I had one and two fish on. And when I looked over to Don he was cranking up also. First drift done and we had some fish in the boat.

With the wind turning it was hard to set up the same drift every time so second drift we missed and ended up to far south in scup land. The drifts where running between 1.5 to 2.8 knots and at middle of the tide, we where fishing with 10oz of lead. The better of the area(s) where rocky and hard on the rigs. I lost every heavy sinker I had in the tackle box for 6 to 10oz A couple of times I got stuck and I was trying to get the jig free when the fish hit and knocked the sinkers free.

Last two drifts of the day is what "fairy tales" are made from with wind from the east and incoming tide we drifted a new slot and both of us hooked up as soon as the lines where out. At the end of the tow very short runs we landed 16 fish with 11 keepers.

Needless to say we limited out and filled the freezers with some nice fillets.

Thanks for a nice day on the water partner, I loved every minute of it.

And I'll never give away the secret about the raisin cookies... never, never never. As a matter of fact, it's between you and me

Saturday at "The Block" was such an enjoyable day of fishing that I decided to do it again on Sunday. Nils was feeling under the weather all last week so he passed on the 2nd consecutive day of fishing to continue his recovery and be 100% for work on Monday

A work buddy that I hadn't seen in a few years and a friend from the Marina joined me for the trip. We departed at first light to find moderate seas but not an uncomfortable hour plus ride to the "honey hole". Upon arrival I shut down the motor to determine the speed and direction of the drift and discovered that I forgot the bait in the freezer at the marina. Fortunately, Tom (my buddy from the marina) had a quart of clams and 2 large squid that we used sparingly and discovered that it isn't necessary to use large chunks of bait to catch Black Sea Bass. We managed to catch our limit (75 fish) and run out of bait at 2:00 for the hour trip back home. We finished cleaning the fish and boat by 5:30 then went out for supper.

I got home at 8:00 jumped into a hot shower and was in bed by 8:30. It's taken me 2 days to recover from 3 days of fishing proving once again that I'm not the kid that I was just a few short years ago.

Black Sea Bass has become my favorite eating fish. It's flesh is a light color, when cooked it flakes like cod or fluke. I don't use a lot of spices as I don't want to cover it's delicate and sweet flavor. I affectionately call it "candy"