Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Made a late afternoon trek up to Wawayanda on Friday to see if I could tease up some cold water and warm water species in the same outing, one of my favorite things to do from the yak. It was surprisingly not very crowded. In my haste to get out on the water, I left my paddle leash behind. Oh well. Had to paddle out straight into the wind. I got halfway across and my rudder line snapped, oh well, no rudder. Thankfully the wind eased up a bit and the sun was out and I had the place all to myself. It never ceases to amaze me in this ultra-crowded Garden State, if you pick the right water at the right time, you can be rewarded with beauty and solitude. Drifted back with a light paddle, two lures at depth and dragged a minnow to keep it interesting. The minnow was down around 40 ft in a 70 ft column of water and it got hammered. After some savage pulls, I brought this nice landlock to the net. Pound for pound, always a great fight. I was planning to stick around for more deep water action but the wind picked up again and I couldn't manage a good troll so I headed for the shallows. Picked a number of small bass and pickerel on the way in, none really photo bragging material but lots of fun to catch and I completed my goal of a cold water and warm water species in the same outing. The LL tasted great too!

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Landlocks go bananas when hooked, nice work finding a deeply suspended one.

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Great trip and report!!! Amazes me that you liked the LL...I've had it a few times cooked a few diff ways and never liked it....maybe it's a water body thing or time of yr, but glad you liked it...

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Nice crazy Salmon and delicious dinner! Great catch!

BigFishy!!! Ever try it with a sweet n spicy glaze? Really good in my opinion. Basic ingredients needed.

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Cant say that I have ,but I'll look into it...thx

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Nice landlock my man👍

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Awesome report man! What is your method for kayak trolling? I've tried it before but i feel like I'm doing it wrong :D

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Fantastic report from Way-Way-Yonder! I'm glad you were able to turn your day around. I really enjoy that place in the fall when the crowds are gone and the weeds start to break up. Really nice job on the LL, too. They can be tough to locate and even tougher to entice when that wind is pushing you (and your lure/bait) around. Nice Report.

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

Speed and depth! Speed and depth! Trolling is definitely a learning curve but the 1st priority is making sure your offering is at the proper depth in the water column. There are a ton of trolling charts out there that will give you a good idea of how deep 1oz runs with X amount of line out, 2oz runs, leadcore, etc. Once you have that dialed in, experiment with different speeds. Use a GPS, as a lot of times the difference of .2-.3 mph can determine whether you hook up or not. Maintaining a constant speed while paddling is tough but can be done. Once you feel comfortable with that, you will start buying planer boards, line counter rod/reels and downriggers :p.

Re: Quick afternoon jaunt to Wawayanda
 

All great suggestions from Skunk and all true! A contour map (or app) showing the depth changes is essential. A lot of trial and error too depending on the body of water and dialing in to the speed/offering the target species prefer, but it's all worth it. It's such a rush when the rod behind you bends in half while you are paddling (or pedaling)!