Finally got my Kow!

I got up at 2am, drove down from Richmond and was on the water by 5am. I was aiming for the morning tide change and finally after 6 trips of at least 8hrs each (usually 12), I got my kow. 45" 36lbs. I got him on braid early and decided to get him in the car. As I was getting back out, I get a call from Charlie Church, and told him Kevin got two, another guy got two, and I got one. According to his report, he did pretty darn good (50+lber!). I went out to the drift and got pretty close to the bouy. There were lots of boats out there. I had three take downs total. One of which I hooked up to. I had 8lb test line (looking for a line class record). After a couple of minutes the hook came out. I left out the expletives from the video. On the way back in I ran into a school of porpoises. Got back to Richmond by 5pm in time to make it to my company xmas party. Tired, but an amazing day.

Good Ol' Kitties

I got on the river at around 6am only managed about 5 or so shad in the cast net. It was a good thing I brought some frozen ones and two big eels. I ended the day with 5 around 15 to 20 lbs and one 31lber.

I'm Exhausted and My Wife is Kinda Pissed

So I took the day off of work on Friday, dropped my daughter off at the sitters and got my gear together. Drove from Richmond to Virginia Beach, and after finding bait and getting a bite to eat, I got to the base of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel around 12:30. Launched and trolled around the Small Boat Channel for a bit. Nothing. On the way out to the island, met Kevin and Lee. They were on the way in, since the wind was picking up. They said they slayed the togs. Kevin told me he caught a 22.5"er, 1/2 an inch from citation! Listening to him got me all excited, so I got to my spot with 5 dozen fiddlers and used every one of them. Lost count of the togs after 15 or so. The paddle back in really sucked for the first half. But as the sun was setting, the wind died down a bit. The sunset was gorgeous.


I tried for stripers again at the Small Boat Channel with a bunch of motorboats with little luck. I ran into several other yakers I knew, but left them to try for the trout at little creek. Here's my limit of togs.

I grabbed a bite to eat and launched just west of the bridge in the creek. I got to the jetties and the wind was BLOWING. I tried for about an hour out there, but it sucked. It was rough on the way in, too. I hung around under the bridge for a while and only got a few bumps. I stayed out there til about 2:30am with nothing to show. I packed up the car and decided to take a nap. Woke up around 6:30 and couldn't decide what to do. I REALLY wanted a trout. So, I Rudee inlet it was. Got a little breakfast on the way and upon arriving at owl creek, I see Ruthless was there. I launched and quickly caught up with Cory. He told me he was out there yesterday at dawn and he found an all out blitz. His first fish yesterday was a citation (on topwater) and just kept on slaying them. Of course, today was a totally different story. The wind was NASTY! I got to $ cove and lots of motor boats. But not a lot of action. Got back to the police docks and just as I was saying "this is my last cast" I get get a hard hit on a mirrolure. I pull back, it rips drag, then it's gone. I must have barely hooked it. I said that was my last cast, because I told my wife I would be back by 1:00. It was 11:30 with a 1.5 hour drive. But you know darn well, it's now impossible for me to leave. Another hour and a half goes by and I kept making excuses in my head. "I know they're here and as soon as I get one, I'm leaving".... "at least the launch is right there, so I don't have to paddle far to get going".. etc. The one thing that does turn me off of fishing is wind. Finally, after several big gusts, my hat went flying, so I decided that was it. No trout, no striper, not even a bluefish. 4 togs and a very irritated wife.

Done did it again!

Caught this little guy on the fly while trying to catch bream (bait).


Then, I got to the river...
and it was FISH ON!

Good Day Off of Work

I've been hoping to win a catfish challenge over on Kayak Bass Fishing.

So here's my latest entries...

Early Morning on the James

I wanted to head down to the beach and go for the specks, but business schedule was conflicting. So I decided to get some kitties.

First came a 26" Blue cat.
Then a 28" Flathead

Then a 35" Flathead

I had a 29" flathead too, but just as I was reaching back for the camera, it did the perfect flop and got out of the boat.

Good times none the less.

Togs and a Sheep

Got the ok from the wife after I made breakfast, did the dishes, changed baby's diaper x2, bought groceries, walked the dog and fed the baby. I was thinking about catfishing but changed my mind at the last minute and drove down to the beach. I'm glad I did. The togs were out in force. I must have caught over 15. I was hoping for a limit of sheep too, but only one.

9/19/09

Met up with my friends Thom Mattauch and Tim Morris. Got to Thom's special spot and got into 'em good. Got my limit reds then met Jimmy Jimmy under the bridge. Got a good sheepshead. 20" 6lbs.

9/18/09 Double limit of...

... Sheeps n' Reds. Got done with my business meeting early so of course, I decided to go fishing. First I went for the sheeps/togs. Caught my limit of sheeps but no togs. Largest sheepie was 17".


Then I went back to the launch to get a snack and put the sheepies in the cooler. Met up with Bass Assassin and his friend Jeremy. Went out to the marsh together and I managed a 21" Red. The other two took off after a while and I went to a different spot (one of my faves) and hooked into a 23" and 24". Had another pull rip drag like an overslot, but he pulled the hook so I never got to see him.

Sheeps n Togs

Got up @ 3:30am. Left Richmond and got to Oceans East and picked up 4 dozen fiddlers. Was on water by 6:15am. Wind really sucked. Jigged gulps for a few dink flounders then dropped what looked to be a 22-23 inch flatty at the boat. Switched to fiddlers around 9:15am. Ended up with 3 sheeps, 6 togs (3 throwbacks, and a bunch of black sea bass. Was back at the launch by 12:30 and was back in Richmond in time to see my team whoop up on the skins.

Baaa....

Sheepshead.

Caught a total of 7. Had 4 on the stringer. I have to say, these are some of the most fun, hard fighting fish, I've ever caught. The picture below is of the second largest one I caught (16"). To give you an idea of how hard they pull, here's what happened to the biggest one I caught.

I have one of those metal clip chain stingers that I hang over the yak and attach to the side handle. I had 4 on (including my biggest 18"~19") while trying to catch more while the bite was on. I can feel them pulling wildly on the stringer, jolting the kayak, making it swing in the current. Eventually, I ran out of bait and the current was getting very swift. As I start heading in, I pulled the stringer just to take a look at the fish again. That big sheep pulled so hard that the metal clip pulled out of the socket! As you can imagine, expletive after expletive poured out of me. The wire part was bent wide open and my heart sank knowing I had no picture, weight or actual measurement.

Friday and Saturday Reds

Got there and the wind was pretty bad, but stuck with it anyways...

Had a total of 6 and kept these three.

This hard fighting 27"er went back. (try not to mind the silly face)

Went back on Saturday with a friend of mine from Richmond.

Got skunked except for this little guy.

Took Marty to a nice hole and he caught two. Here's the first one.

1st Island CBBT 8/16/09

Got to the Virginia Beach side of the CBBT and launched at 7:50am.

Arrived at the first island in a little over an hour and started looking for spades.

Nothin'.

I little birdie told me there would be some togs at a certain spot.

Nothin'.

Tried for Sheeps with fiddlers and clam.

Nothin'.

Ended up with a bunch of bait stealers...

Black Sea Bass

Pigfish

I did manage one Triggerfish.

Wind picked up in the afternoon.

I tried for spades, togs, and sheeps on the way back.

Nothing.

More wind.

Long ass paddle.

Tired.

8/15/09 Evening

I wanted to try my hand at throwing my net from the yak and have fresh bait. It worked pretty good. Along with the usual menhaden and mullet, I caught the smallest flounder I've ever seen...

...and also a Lookdown fish.

I paddled around under a cool sunset...

...found my spot and put out the mullet.

Caught two 21" reds. Sorry no pic.

CBBT 8/1/09

Got up at 3am and checked the weather. Lookin' good so I met a friend of mine, Matt, left Richmond, headed for VaBch. Got on the water by 6:20. Saw NAVYIDC at the SBC. Hope you got into them! As soon as we got to the island we started catching fish. Matt got into a couple small flatties and I got about 4 or 5 toads. Jimmy Jimmy met us out there and fished for some flounder for a bit. Then he disappeared for a while. By the time he came back, I had a 14", 15", 17" 18", and 2 18.5" flounders. It was driving me nuts since limit is 19". Matt had one keeper. JimmyJimmy came back to show off his limit of spades. That's when I notice that Kayak Kevin and his bud Rob were a little ways down the bridge. I went and joined them. They were tearin' it up! However, don't think it's easy. It's tough to try and keep yourself in position. Not to mention that spades are insanely fast at stealing your bait. With some tips from Jimmy and Kevin I eventually ended up with 4 hook ups, dropping one at the boat. My first time catching spades and holy crap are they fun. Especially on light tackle (4lb test). Left them biting cuz i ran out of bait. Wind picked up significantly on the way back.