Specks, Schoolies, and a Long Paddle

It felt like an eternity.  The leaves gathered on my kayak for over a month as work and family priorities overshadowed my angling desires.  But as soon as my slate was clear, the familiar feelings of my Werner gliding through the water and fish putting that certain curvature in my rod ignited my senses.  

My immediate desire was to look for togs, but that mean four letter word kept me from venturing too far from shore.  North at 15-20 kts was just too brutal so speckled trout became the target.

I met up with Jack Daughtry from Maryland out on the Elizabeth River.  My first cast with a skitterwalk got two blow ups, but no hook up.  It was promising. Unfortunately, those were the only two blow ups I would get.  Being stubborn, I wasted a lot of time trying to make the topwater work as Jack was hookin' up left and right on MirrOlures.  I eventually gave in and switched.  We trolled around exploring new areas and getting reacquainted with old ones as well.  White, chartreuse, silver, and natural colors worked well.  All in all, Jack probably out fished me 2 to 1, maybe more, but it was nice to catch up with him and finally get back on the water.


My next outing came 24 hours later.  My little brother had been wanting to get on the water with me but our schedules never seemed to line up.  So I was super stoked when we finally had the chance.  I had described the lightline striper action to him many times, but for him to actually see it... was more than special.  

Charlie with a nice HRBT schoolie striper

After a little rockfish sashimi with Thanksgiving dinner we went out again on Friday morning.  This time in search of the not-so-schoolie stripers.  We met Kevin and Lee over on the Eastern Shore and went on a super long drift.  After dunking eels for almost 15 miles, Lee was the only one to hook up.

Lee's 32"er

It was a long day, but I'm sure it was better than shopping.

Sea Change and Spreading the Love

The window-down kind of days have slowly brought on the wader-up type of outings.  Like a banner of farewell, the bold colors of the trees bid bon voyage to the mass exodus that brings about a sea change to the Chesapeake Bay fishery. 

The last several weeks have been a great time to take advantage of the gluttonous appetite of many species on the way out.  And if there was a certain summer specie you were looking for, unfortunately time is running out.  My quest for a trophy croaker (3lbs or 20") will have to resume next year as I fell short in 2012.

16.5"

One of the species that stay available almost all year, including winter in certain warm water pockets is the speckled trout.  Local legend and trout master, Forrest Short, was once again generous enough to let me hang out with him a few weeks ago. 

But even the most decorated anglers have off days.  All we got was this lil 17"er.  However, he redeemed himself a week later or so later with an amazing day that included a beautiful 25.5"er.

On Sunday the 21st, I took my cousin Chris and his friend Steve out to meet Richie Bekolay at the trout hole.  Long story short, casting MirroLures, jigging soft plastics and trolling either or both did the trick.  Pink, pink/yellow, chartreuse, peppered white, and dark greens with chartreuse tails were the flavors of the day.  Several nice specks up to 20" and a few small reds were tagged and released.

Richie Bekolay 18" Speckled Trout

Chris Lee with an 18" Speckled Trout.  He also had a pretty 20"er earlier

 We were off the water just as the sun was setting.  After a bite to eat we launched again at the HRBT.  There was 2 hours left of the outgoing and I was hopeful.  But I was wrong.  As my cousin put it, I "snipered" off the one lone striper we saw on the entire light line.  It was a skinny little 21"er and I put the lure perfectly in it's path.  Unfortunately no picture.  As the current slowed, we jigged for whatever wanted to bite since we had to wait until the tide swung.  After several gray trout, I picked up a 15" flounder and just as I was tossing it toward my cousin (just to startle him) I realized that was my inshore slam (speck, red & flounder)... and with the striper, an inshore grand slam... a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately, no pictures of the flounder or striper.  As the incoming current picked up I was really hoping that the stripers would line up thick.  However, after 2.5 hours into the tide, I knew it wasn't going to happen.  We found a few here and there that were very finicky.  I managed to entice 8 or so up to 27".  Chris and Steve had a few follow their lures but not commit.  It was great none the less to see them so excited.  Actually seeing the fish, sometimes literally right next to the kayak in paddle touching distance, reacting to their presentations is really a magical thing.  Even though they didn't catch any, they understood the challenge and what to look for.  They'll be back, I'm sure. 

It was a great day to enjoy the season and spread the love...  and the addiction.

Taggin' some Flatties

After hangin' with Sammons and not getting any personal footage of the flounder action, I went to the HRBT the next evening to remedy that.  I got there at the beginning of the incoming tide and quickly found them hungry and aggressive.

I ended up with 8, going 19", 18.5", 21.5", 15", 17", 14", 16.5", and 17".  All were tagged and released except the 16.5"er (flopped out before tagging) and one of the 17"ers got gut hooked.  I try not to take too long before setting the hook since flounder are notorious for completely woofing down the lure/bait (especially smaller lures), just as much as they are known for soft lipping a bait before eating.  If I were using big 2oz jig heads and 6"-7" Gulps at the first island I may wait several seconds after the initial hit before setting the hook, but with 3"-4" lures I wait about 2 seconds.  If it's one of those days that I start off swinging and missing, then I'll add a few seconds before setting the hook.  I'd rather be a little early than gut hook a fish. Anyway, this 17"er was different.  I felt it hit at the top of my jig (when my rod tip is at it's highest) and by the time it got to the bottom, the lure was already down the hatch.  I didn't have a stringer or cooler in the car, so Jared (near by kayak angler) was the recipient of a nice keeper flounder.


Another thing flounder are notorious for is violent thrashing and flopping once they are landed in the kayak.  For the bigger flatties, I utilize the rod pod as what Kevin emphatically likes to label...  "the hurt locker".

They can also be tricky when trying to get a decent pic.

(Enjoy the goofy facial expressions)

Back in the Saddle

Itching with anticipation, Friday night couldn't come soon enough.  At 10:30pm, HRBT was the first stop where I met up with Justin.  I paddled out, keeping my eyes peeled for the welcome sight of a striper silhouette.  I was paddling over a small one when a voice greeted me out of the darkness...   "dude, there's a big one right in front of you".   I thought, what a nice way to greet a fishing buddy, as I caught a glimpse of the massive shape slowly sinking then fading.  We guestimated it to be in the upper 30" range and it was the only big one we saw.  Fish were scattered here and there and not wanting to commit.  They would follow the lure to the boat then take off.  I started twitching the lure once I got their attention and then they would strike.  Unfortuantely, I had several poor hook sets and the fish would get off.   It wasn't too long before the current stopped and I only landed one at 25" while Justin landed several.  We were off the water by 1am.

It wasn't the greatest night, but after an agonizing 31 days of kayak fishing deprivation, it felt great to finally  get back in the saddle.

I found myself at the Elizabeth river by 7am looking for big speckled trout.  I tried everything from topwater, soft plastics, to various MirrOlures, slow to fast and everything in-between, from deep drop offs to shallow flats, the infamous party cove area and a few oyster bars with little luck.  I managed one 20"er and called it the first kayak fishing trip of the year.

Jackassery of the First Degree

I recently found out that a fellow kayak fisherman lives only a few minutes away from me.  So naturally, I convinced him to do a midweek run down to the Tidewater area with me.  We loaded his Redfish 14 onto my car and made the hour and fifteen minute trip down.

Dan Smullen and I launched a little after 9pm and made our way out to the HRBT.  The water was like glass, which brings out the crazy power boaters.  We quickly ran into several other striper chasing yakers and shortly afterwards found a few rockfish of our own.  We also met up with Chuck Wrenn, another Richmonder.

The first few fish were very skittish but as we made our way toward the island, the we found more that weren't shy in the least.  Not too far from the island, we found a school causing a ruckus and busting on baits pretty hard.  Unfortunately, just as we were starting to get into them a boat notices our success and proceeds to run their outboard right through the school.  We held our tongues, even though we both found them guilty of jackassery in the first degree.  Of course, the fish disappeared so we ventured off to find more.

It wasn't quite as productive as I would have liked, but we did end up with a decent number of fish.  Dan caught at least ten.

I ended the night with around 15 or so with the biggest going a little over 25 inches.

We called it a night around 1am as the current started going slack.

The Last Three Trips

Thursday October 6th, got off work and went lightline striper hunting at the HRBT.   I fished the slack then most of the incoming tide and ended up with several decent size croaker and eighteen stripers between 21" and 24.5".  Other species that ended up on my line included grey trout, baby bluefish, oyster toads, and black sea bass.  Lures/baits for the night included chartreuse gulp, gotcha 3" dark green grubs, fishbites bloodworms, and 4" calcutta swimbaits in natural bunker pattern.  I met Matt Anderson out there and we stayed out til nearly 5am.

Monday October 10th.  After work, I met up with Marty Mood and tried for the big red drum under the CBBT.  The bluefish were thick and there were good numbers of schoolie stripers... but no reds.  Oh well.

Thursday October 13th.  I got the urge so back to the HRBT it was.  I started off with a small speckled trout, a dink flounder, then got into the stripers.  I caught about a dozen with the two biggest going...

24.5" 

and

26.25"

They're definitely out there and hungry for anything that swims by.

Get out and be safe!

Traffic Court Excuses

No, I wasn't caught speeding on my way to go fishing.  I had some expired tags and I forgot about the state inspection.  The thing is, I was pulled over in Virginia Beach.  That meant I had to make a trip back to Virginia Beach for court.  Naturally, I brought my kayak to the courthouse and tried not to daydream about fishing too much.

Both tickets were dismissed since I took care of the problem issues quickly.  I paid my court fees, changed into my fishing clothes and made my way to the tackle shop.  They didn't have any fiddlers and I didn't want to drive 20 minutes to the other tackle shop.  So I decided to just go with clams and focus on the spades.  

The wind was a little worse than predicted and the swells were definitely bigger than I thought they'd be.  I checked my phone to make sure the line of storms were veering away, and they were.  The surf was looking not-so-pretty, but just past it didn't look that bad.  So I launched.  It was rough.  

I got hit by another big wave about half a mile out.  Most of them were small 1-2 ft waves but this  rogue 5-6 footer was building then started breaking right in front of me at a slight angle.  Luckily I had just enough time to turn straight into it and I got as vertical as I've ever been in a kayak.  It soaked me, but I didn't lose anything.  I definitely would have turtled if I hadn't straightened out.

I told myself, if I ran into another one of those, I'd turn back.  But I didn't.  It got better and the wind calmed a bit as I got to the target area.  The baby bluefish were out in force and annoying as hell.  But eventually I hooked into a decent spadefish.

After that, I had a hard time finding any more.  I tried the clams on the bottom to see if togs or sheepies wanted any, but that didn't work either.  Just after sunset, I made it back to the launch area and heard the roar of the surf.  I knew I needed to utilize the rod pod.  I put away everything that was expensive and tried to time the sets of waves.  I paddled in behind a wave and just as my bow was about to hit the sand a massive wave crashed right behind me and sent my kayak flying.  Luckily I was able to stay in it and keep it straight.  I was completely drenched, but once again glad I didn't lose anything.  

I talked to Justin as I was packing up and we decided to hit up the HRBT after I grabbed a bite to eat.  The wind dropped out and the swells were non-existent by the time we launched.  The baby 10"-15" bluefish were literally everywhere under the bridge.  Mixed in, we found some grey trout, small speckled trout and a few schoolie stripers, too.  

Right around slack tide, I found several flounder and Justin managed to find a beautiful 25" redfish.

I got pretty tired and left around 2:30am.  Justin's crazy ass stayed out there until 5:30am.  I bet the bite got good when the current got running and I'm sure he'll have a good report up soon.  He had an awesome home-made lure he was trying out too.  Check it out!

Midweek Antics

I took the old Redfish12  out to see what was shakin' under the HRBT.  After launching at 8:45pm I quickly found huge numbers of cutlass fish.

aka Ribbonfish

More chrome than your rims and a wicked grill to match.  Check out the barbs on dem teefers!

Korean people love to eat this fish and swarm from as far away as Maryland (maybe farther) to catch them by the cooler full.  But this twinkie (definitions 1,4,5&7 apply) doesn't have a taste for them.  My mom would be pissed if she knew I threw them all back.

I also found a good number of these...

Weakfish aka Grey Trout

Nothing big, but big schools of little ones, which is good because their population was on the brink for a while in VA.  Hopefully this is a good sign for the future.

Par for the course, I also had a few small croaker, bluefish, and some...

Wee little flounder

Also got to do a little battle with good ol' Morone Saxatilis

Most were in the 17"-19" range and very skittish.

All fish were caught on 3" chartreuse, white or dark green swimming mullet Gulp on 1/4 ounce dark green jigheads. 

The smoke from the dismal swamp fire got pretty nasty so I called it quits around 1am.

Until next time...

Peace out homies.

Since my last trip was cut short

The final leg of my last trip was cut short due to weather.  So, I decided to go last night to make up for it and HRBT lightline striper action was the goal.  The last couple of times I went it was less than stellar (compared to last year around this time), but since our team, Fish Junkies, in Kayak Wars needs more points, I took the chance.

I launched around 7:30pm and started off jigging up a few dink flounder.  Then I messed with the croakers for a while until it got dark enough for the lights on the bridge to come on.  It took a while for the current to pick up and I kept telling myself they were going to show up.  I had a feeling that working the incoming tide (as opposed to the outgoing that we fished the last couple of times) was going to produce.  Sure enough, when the current really got going, I saw a few stalking near the surface.  Then a few more.  Only thing is, they were very skittish and veered away from my well presented treats.  I decided I would switch from my light colored grub to a dark green and that was the ticket.  With a 1/4oz jighead, I kept it close to the surface and retrieved relatively fast.  They tore it up.  I must of had at least 20 hard fighting stripers between 19" and 24".  When the current slowed down, so did the bite.  I packed it up around 2:30am and drove the hour and twenty minutes back to Richmond... guzzling energy drinks... and counting up the points for Kayak Wars.