Unproductive Streak

So at the end of my last post, I was thinking about the infamous Mr. Brown.  Cobia have frustrated me to no end and apparently I'm not the only one.  Kevin's buddy Lee Williams called me up and vented his frustration too, as we came up with a game plan.  Unfortunately mother nature had other ideas and our trip to NC turned into a trip to the Eastern Shore for another shot at the big reds.  Kevin, Lee, Zach, Mike and I were hopeful since Kevin found them the day before.  It was humbling to fish with that group.  They've been doing this for so much longer and it showed.   If you look through Kevin's fishing reports through the years, these are the guys that are usually out there with him.  I learned a lot looking through those old reports and I learned a lot listening to their stories while fishing with them.  Plus they're a fun group of guys who love joking around, which is nice when the fish don't cooperate.  We saw a few in the mid 30" range, but spooked very easily.  That was about it for the reds.  We did however find some sharks.  We took turns casting at one really big one and Zach managed to get his swimbait in the perfect spot.  I actually saw the shark turn towards it and next thing you know Zach was off to the races.

Yes, that is a construction helmet.  Like I said, these guys know how to have fun.

We were all surprised that he had it on for as long as he did.... probably around 5 or 6 minutes.  Kevin estimated it to be around 9 feet.  Crazy huh?  But that was it.  Nothing else.  It was an all-star cast, but the show had a disappointing ending. 

That was June 2nd.  On June 10th, I drove down to Back River in search of trophy speckled trout.  I met up with another guy who has an incredible amount of experience and recently pulled up two citation trout at 29" and 28".  Local legend Forrest Short was kind enough to show me around and give me some pointers.  Once again, I was humbled and grateful that he was sharing such info with me.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't my night.  I spent close to 10 hours on the water, all night, and caught 2 small trout, 13" and 15", and several houndfish.  The sun came up, and I had to go since my wife had and appointment.  Later on I heard Forrest hooked into several BIG fish moments after I left.  He got another citation trout at 27.5"!!!  I guess it's just the way it goes sometimes.  Congrats Forrest!  (sorry no pics)

On June 12th, I was given a couple of hours in the morning, so I decided to try my luck with the Smallmouth bass.  The spot is minutes from my house and I used to go all the time, but it had been a while... I was excited.  Plus, I felt like I could redeem myself for the last two trips.  Wrong.  I jumped off a 13" Smallie and a 15" Largemouth.  A few bream and this is all I had for the morning...

Not exactly what I had in mind

To put it lightly, I was frustrated.  Tuesday night came and I was confident I would get good pullage at the HRBT.  This time last year I was catching 10 to 20 stripers a night so that was going to be my way out of this slump.  I was going to get much needed points for Kayak Wars and feel better about the last three trips.  Wrong again.  I fished the last of the incoming tide and most of the outgoing.  Lots of tiny croaker and bluefish to tear up my soft plastics, but the stripers were far and few between.  And the ones I did see spooked very easily.  I was hoping for flounder as well, but that didn't happen.  Just before I needed to leave I caught one striper at 25".

Hopefully that's the beginning of a change in luck.

On a side note, it was nice to meet a few guys that enjoy my blog.  Philly Joe, thanks for all the kind words.  Hopefully we'll have better luck next time.  Ben and Tim, good to meet you guys as well.  

Take care, be safe, and may we all find good luck on our next fishing trip!