Herding Cats and Catching Fish

In my last post I posted the rigging of my new yak. I have yet to get it wet and haven't had the gear i.e. a paddle, good weather or time when the weather was good to take her out. So knowing I had a whole weekend open and the weather looking good I started to plan a good excursion to get the yak wet,catch some fish and enjoy some time with friends I have not seen in a while. And getting my group together is well,like herding cats. I had a busy week to plan a float somewhere we haven't been rig a kayak and get work done so my weekend would remain free. I chose to fish the Tuckahoe river on Maryland's eastern shore. The yellow perch had been spawning for the last 2 weeks and the white perch would be due to follow plus it looked like a good place for bass and pickerel and if all else should fail there are always cat fish. I pass the word on my plans and tp my surprised got a lot of yes answers. The plans set we would float the river form Hillsboro launch until rt 328. I'm usually the planner of the group I will go over maps figure distances decide what I'm gonna fish with and where to attack. This trip I would do none of that being to busy with work I barely got my boat rigged having to bring it in the house for light Friday evening before we left to put it together. My lack of oversight would make for an interesting trip.

Me and 5 amigos heading out

First nice bass of the day

some nice yellow perch

11 incher are fun on light tackle

scenic river

her first float

T

We launched about9 am after a interesting talk with a DNR officer. The fish came early and often with a nice mix of fat yellow perch, white perch and bass. We also hooked a few shad and a couple of cats though we never found mister pickerel. We  fishing for about 6 hours when we decided to stop stretch our legs and get a bite. I checked my phone and Pulled up google maps to see how far we've gone. I figured us to be about half way with the time we had spent on the water. Surprise we had only gone about a mile and the trek according to (name withheld for security) was 6 miles. After lunch we dug in and paddled down river for an hour tom make up some distance. Then some more fishing, now pushing 5 o'clock and maybe a little more than 2 hours left of daylight I decided to check the map again but I studied it a little more now. The  unnamed person when chec the distance before hand check it ion a straight line and this river is any thing but straight.If we were going to get out by dark we were going to have to paddle 6 miles without stopping against a head wind and a incoming tide. This is not something a fat 40 something guy wants to do on his first float of the year. Long story short we made it to the take out at dusk and I'm sure I wasn't the only one to need ice for more than my beer.

DNR officer is also a kayak fisherman and gave some insight on future fishing spots.