Fished Big Break 10/3

Hot, windless and low tide

But when you haven't had a day off work in over a month it was glorious.  We went out from the Big Break Regional Shoreline Park cause it's free.  The tide was out and the launch was devoid of water and was solid muck.  Luckily next to the pier there is small rip rap with solid footing so we carried the yaks over that and launched.  I was trying out my outrigger kit for the first time . Should have left them in the high position more on that in a bit.

With the seriously low tide  it was a solid carpet of marine plants all the way out to the channel between the islands.  Rudders up, drives on deck, nothing hanging down.  Paddles only for about 30 minutes. The Outriggers really got in my way and I had to modify my stroke.  Next time I will have them stowed and put them on out in the channel. 

Once we got out and into the channel we made our way out of Big Break and started catching some small stripers in about 10-15 feet of water mostly in the 14 inch range.  Those little suckers totally ripped apart the paddle tail minnow jigs I was using.

Now about the outriggers in the down position they really make the kayak stable when getting hit sideways by power boat wakes and when casting but if you are going any distance or trying to make time up or off are the only way to go in my opinion.

Anyways we had a blast and were out for just under 5 hours and rode the incoming tide back to the now full of water launch area
I could have done without the 98F air temp though.  We had the AC blasting all the way back to Livermore. The tracker we had showed that we covered 5 miles out on the water.



14" striper (typical of what we were catching)

Sounds like mission accomplished. Test out the outrigger and catch fish 

Better to go out the Big Break slough to the SJ. Less weeds.

I've been doing the salt thing so much I forgot how much I like Big Break!  It might be time for a fresh water diversion.  Thanks for the post. 

Sand

Sounds like a good day. How protected and how hard is the tidal flow through there?

I'm always looking for spots where my girlfriend and I can paddle our tandem. She likes seeing birds and critters while I fish, but does not like paddling hard (and really, I don't either, let's be honest). Our Hurricane tandem is an open cockpit, so I don't ever take it "outside" in any kind of sea.

Very protected and tides not a factor. As the OP posted, best to do when there is some water in there as opposed to low tide. Franks Tract out of Bethel would be fun too for your tandem adventure. Launch at Sugar Barge.

Loved your post... thanks.  Haven't been to Big Break in a long time.  When I drive over from Davis I've been going to Sugar Barge.  Last time I did that the Rio Vista bridge was a nightmare so probably will not venture over that way again this season but its on the list for next season. Thanks again... and nice pics!

Very protected and tides not a factor. As the OP posted, best to do when there is some water in there as opposed to low tide. Franks Tract out of Bethel would be fun too for your tandem adventure. Launch at Sugar Barge.

We hit it up Saturday AM at high tide--nice little paddle. Zero fish, but I didn't try very hard. I forgot to bring some weedless hooks from my freshwater tackle, and the constant snags were annoying the navigator...