Jonas Green Perching

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I've been out of commission for the past month.  I hurt my back while picking up my younger son, and have been going to a chiropractor for the past 4 weeks.  The first day after the injury was the worst - I couldn't get out of bed and had to take off work.  The rest of the week, I had to walk hunched over and slowly like a 90 year old man.  One of the biggest worries on my mind after the injury was whether I'd be able to kayak again!  Almost every visit to the chiropractor I asked him when I'd be able to lift a kayak over my head again, and he finally gave the okay last week!  I was eager to get back on the water, especially since the CBKA tournament is only a few weeks away now - I haven't fished any water near the Bay Bridge at all this year, and I also haven't fished in over a month...I wasn't even sure how if I'd be able to paddle around well enough to fish after my injury.  Now that I've got the doctor's permission, I had to make a trip.

 A friend of mine has been fishing from shore and piers a lot this summer, and I offered to take him on one of my kayaks before the summer ended.  Summer's just about over now, so I invited him out to a trip to Jonas Green in Annapolis.  It's not quite as big water as the Bay Bridge, but fishing will probably be pretty similar to what I'll be doing for the CBKA tournament.  I also haven't kayak fished Jonas Green in a really long time.  Kind of like how my Ocean City trip was special, Jonas Green holds a special place in my heart because it is the first saltwater body of water that I've fished in from a kayak.  My first year of kayak fishing, I made several trips to Jonas Green because it was relatively calm, and also close to home.  I think this is my third year now, so I was eager to see how different it might feel....
 

First fish of the day!

 I met up with my friend, Seong, at 7AM  in the Jonas Green parking lot.  The parking lot was especially crowded, I guess because it was a holiday weekend.  I had to park in the upper lot, but that was no problem because I had my kayak cart with me.  I just had to make two trips up and down for both kayaks.  Seong and I hit the water around 7:45 or so, and immediately paddled to some of the piers next to Jonas Green.  We were hoping to get some perch today, but the fish were not really cooperating.  After checking out two sets of piers, I suggested that we cross the river to some rocky shoreline where I had caught some perch before.  Seong was up for the challenge of crossing the river, so we headed over.  The paddle across the river actually felt a lot easier than I remembered.  I remember being exhausted halfway through, and also being afraid of the boat traffic.  Boat traffic was pretty light today, so that wasn't a problem.  I also felt like the paddle across the river was a cinch.  What a big difference 2 years makes!

Seong's first fish in a kayak.

 Once over, Seong and I jigged in front of the rocky shoreline and hooked up with a couple small perch.  The fish were not as active as I had seen them, so that was a little disappointing.  We still avoided a skunk with at least one fish each.  After a little while, my friend wasn't feeling too good, so he had to head in and take a break.  Meanwhile, I decided to explore some areas that I had not fished before while trolling an X-Rap.  I hoped to hook up with some stripers, of which I caught 2 on the X-Rap.  They were both rather small, and I also wanted to practice some jigging with BKDs, so I headed back across the river to try jigging the bridge wrecks in front of the pier, and some hard shell bottoms that I knew about in front of the restaurant by Jonas Green.  Neither place produced any fish, and I was getting hungry, so I headed back to the launch area on the beach, and met up with my friend.  We packed it up and headed home.

He was ambitious!

Must be an older brother...

A croaker on a feather jig??

Well, neither of us got skunked, and my back wasn't in pain at the end of the trip, so I would call it a success!  Though my back didn't hurt, it was very sore by the time I got home and packed everything back up.  I really hope I can strengthen my back enough before the tournament.