Irondequoit Bay advice needed

[reddog_2711]

I'm wondering if anyone can pass on any advice for me since things have changed for me, and I'm now clueless. haha

Two years I was a brand new boater with an 18' ChrisCraft, and after only taking it out a few times, my wife and I separated and I had to get rid of it. Fast forward past the year and a half of not being on the water at all, and I just bought a small kayak that I launch from the southern tip of the bay.

Now......since I was always a shore fisherman, standing amongst the commoners (haha), I'm clueless about fishing on the water.

What areas of the bay are good to fish in? I'm out for pretty much anything, but especially perch and bass. Since I have a chart showing depths, I know that the southernmost mile of the bay is only about 2 foot deep, but I'm not sure what depths are good to fish in.

I'm usually all for trial and error, but I'm not only new to open water fishing, but kayaking as well, and a 4-mile long bay turns into 8 to 10 miles when you include moving around while fishing and the return trip, and I'm not quite up for that yet without guidance first.

Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks

[paprman]

You can launch your kayak at the north end of the bay for free. From there you can fish around the docks at Mayers and the rest of the north east corner. Try a texas rigged 4 to 7 inch black or blue plastic worm. If you don't know how to texes rig just google it. Fish the bait as close to the docks as you can. Use at least 10lb test line. Good luck!

[Fishin With Phil]

There are also free launching spots along the west end south of the bridge about a mile? I have launched there twice and it is a short paddle to the commerant island and docks behind houses. The bust luck I've had has been around the docks.

Welcome to the sport of kayak fishing. The most important thing for new kayak fisherman (besides safety) is to keep it simple.

For a more kayak friendly place to fish, try Hemlock lake. There are no big boats and it is mighty purdy.

Another tip: paddle into the wind after launching and use the wind to propel you back to where you launched. This way you don't have to worry about getting too tired paddling into the wind on the way back. It also allows you to work new water. Just watch out for the dredded wind change.

Use this site to guage the wind http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... uery=14607 use the hourly tool.

Feel free to ask me more questions about fishing and rigging your kayak.

Good luck!

Phil

[SinDale]

the bay has been difficult this year for some reason, Im not sure if its the weather, or if numbers are down for some reason, but def. check out whats been said so far. Look on your map for dramatic changes in depth. There are tons of weed beds right on the edge of deep water. The bay can get murkey, so bright jig heads (pref. gold with rattles) have proven their value in my tackle box. Good luck and let us know how you make out! Talk to the marinas, they may be friendly to you as well which could give you access to different parts of the bay.

[reddog_2711]

Thanks to all for the advice. Since I posted, I haven't had a chance to go out except for Tuesday night, but the thunder and mostly the lightning kept me off of the water. I store and launch my Kayak from Bay Creek Kayak on Empire.

I'll definitely try around the docks at a few places, but I can't help but to want to try in the middle where the depth drops off a little.

As for rigging my kayak up for fishing, I'm in the middle of making a removable LED light stick out of PVC for the bow for if I get caught out there after dark. I also have to get some more elastic rope and holddowns since I only have one on there now. (I'll post pics once done if anyone wants them)

I agree about the "keep it simple" theory. When fishing from shore, I have a large tacklebox that I use, but when in the kayak, I plan on taking just the bare minimums with me as to not waste any space or risk losing things that aren't lashed down.

Phil: Thanks for the tip about starting off where you're paddling into the wind.....as a newbie, I hadn't thought of that.

Oh....Where's all the topless sunbathers? just kidding

[reddog_2711]

Update on my light project: It came out great, but I realized that it'll raise the center of gravity of the boat (even though it's only a little bit), and therefore make the kayak less stable, so I decided against mounting it. I now have a light saber I screw with in my house haha

Plan "B": I'm going to get a baseball type cap with LED's in the brim.