Kayak Fishing Antioch

Jackson Coosa all rigged up! This boat available for demo!

I finally had the chance today to get out and do a little fishing. My friend Mary and I, launched from the Antioch Marina boat ramp around 10:30 this morning. There is no charge for launching here unless you have a trailer. Low tide was predicted at 1:07 p.m. and winds were under 10 m.p.h.. Though the winds were light, there were quite a bit of steep wind waves moving to the south east. We had the current with us but the wind against us as we paddled towards the Dow Wetlands Preserve. Once we arrived at the preserve, the waters were calm with a gentle breeze to help keep us cool.

Mary enjoying the day

Someone suggested using frozen shad for bait to fish for stripers so we picked some up at Hook Line and Sinker in Oakley. We also used a couple of red and yellow jigs and a red and yellow dart lure. The first hour we tied ourselves to some tule to keep us from drifting and used the shad with no success. We decided to break for lunch and then headed southwest, deeper into the preserve to see what we could find. As we paddled we were greeted by a river otter who swam in circles next to my boat checking us out. For a minute I thought he might jump in my boat! We both decided to switch to red and yellow lures. I tossed my line in the water and started paddling and quickly it was fish on! I reeled the fish in and it turned out to be a Sacramento Pike measuring a little over 10 inches. I took a picture and quickly released him. I put my line back in the water and almost immediately had another fish on! This time I could tell it was bigger than the last one. Mary helped me bring the fish in and it ended up being another Sacramento Pike but this one had to be close to 20 inches! I took another picture and put him back to catch another day.

One of three river otters spotted today!

Unfortunately, Mary didn't catch anything today but we both had a great time fishing! We left the preserve a little after 1:00.  The wind had picked up some and the wind waves were quite large. It was slack tide and we didn't get much help home with the current but the wind helped push us home.

If you like fishing from a kayak or would like to give it a try or even demo a fishing kayak, I have a fishing tour scheduled for July 6th which is a free fishing day in California which means you don't need a fishing license. Go to my Meetup or Facebook page to sign up! Be sure and call to reserve a boat!

First fish on

Fish number 2