50" Striper and the Curse of the Slim Jim

We got off the exit and decided to grab a quick bite to eat along with some drinks for the upcoming paddle.  Along with the normal pregame snackage, Jeff opted to grab a Slim Jim as well.  During the short rest of the way to the launch I noticed that the wrapper was giving him a hard time; not allowing him to snap into that questionable jerky deliciousness.  He flipped it over to try the other end, but it still would not open.  The proverbial struggle was quite real.  So much so, he thought maybe the universe was telling him that it was not meant to be.  "Dude, it has to be a sign of bad juju".  We chuckled and discussed some of the other foods that created undesirable reactions on the water, included the infamous rumble-gut of 2010 where Justin had to paddle back to shore in a hurry and came back missing both sleeves.  Mid way into theories about good luck food and bad luck food, he finally got it open.  He shrugged his shoulders and it was down the hatch by the time we pulled up to the ramp. 

35"er from 10 days ago

10 days earlier I had fairly good luck with mid thirty inch stripers, but reports from earlier this week showed poor results at the same spot.  However, two nights of colder temps after an unusually warm spell had me thinking my luck could be different. 

I was right.  My eels found their way into striper mouths fairly quickly and at a good pace.  For rigging info, click here.  Both the eel on the free line as well as the one on bottom were getting hits from upper 20 inchers to mid 30 inchers.  They were entertaining and all, but when I hooked into one that had very wide headshakes and didn't come up so easily, I got ready for the imminent sleigh ride.  About 50 yards later, as I'm trying to grab the leader, my freeline rod that was in the flush-mount behind me gets a zip-zip then starts peeling line out.  With leader in hand and mid 40" beast next to my gunwale, thrashing and spraying water all over, I loosened the drag on the other reel.  I reached and tried to grab the lower lip 2 or 3 times but then the big striper dug it's head under the surface and followed up with a few strong kicks.  I should have let the leader go at that moment but my nerves and anxiety from the other fish still hooked up got the better of me.  I tried to force the big one to turn around and popped the 50lb flouro leader right at the hook.  I didn't turn into Hurricane Lee, but as you can imagine, there was a string of expletives before grabbing the other rod.  It came up pretty quick and measured around 32"-33" like many of the ones earlier.  And far, far smaller than the one I just lost.  

Good thing was, it was Saturday night, there was plenty of time, and I came to get down.  Continuing to find and mark fish on the Humminbird, my bottom rod tip would bounce shortly after my screen lit up.  I set the hook, smile, fight, measure, release, repeat.  As the current slowed down, my freeline rod with a fairly small eel started zipping out.  I slam set the hook and knew immediately, this was a good size fish.  While holding on for the impending ride, I reeled in the bottom rod with the other hand.  And the ride came.  And it was awesome.  I took my time, landed it without incident, and stretched it out on my deck.  Jeff helped measure it 3 or 4 times just to make sure it was accurate.  To my delight, the tip of the tail went a little passed the 50" mark.

Released.  Big photo credit thanks to Jeff Lockhart.

Afterwards, I got into a few more lower 30" fish before my feet couldn't stand the cold anymore.  By the time we got back, my car thermometer read 29 degrees.  I ended the night with 25-30 hits, landed 15 fish, had 2 doubles, and a new personal best striper.  Poor Jeff had to listen to my clicker all night and unfortunately only had a handful of hits without any hook ups.  

We were both in utter disbelief at the contrast in results since we used the same rigs and fished the same area.  

As silly as it seems, Slim Jims now keep the notorious banana company on our list of fish retardants.   

I hope you all have a great holiday.  
Stay safe.  
Wear your PFD.  
Layoff the Slim Jims.
And go catch some big ones!

Short River Trip

Hit a creek off the James River well below Richmond.  Main target was gar.  Caught 7-8 up to 35".  A few stripers to 20".   Too many little catfish to lower 30".  Lost one decent catfish in the mid 40" range at the boat.  Most on minnows.  Couple hits on silver buddies.  Hoping to go back for that 40+" gar.

Til the Break of Dawn

10pm Friday night and Rudee inlet was completely deserted.  Slick calm water and a dense fog made for an other-worldly ambiance as I took the first paddle strokes of my new Ocean Kayak Ultra 4.7.  At 15 and a half feet long, it's meant more for open water rather than a small inlet, but I had to try it out.  The acceleration and smooth glide had me geekin' to say the least.  A full review and rigging post up will be up in the near future.

I wasn't quite sure what the plan was that night but I figured, like a party that I wasn't sure of, I can always leave and go home early.  I ended up wildin' out until 9:40 the next morning.  As long as I was back by noon, the boss lady was ok with it.  So I hit up the lights first after slowly navigating through the fog.  I was mildly entertained by small bluefish on little grubs n jigheads but thought about leaving if that was all Rudee had to offer.  I checked a few other lights with little improvement until I found one with bigger shapes cruising around.  I immediately recognized them as schoolie stripers and just as I expected, my paddletail got crushed as I swam it just under the surface.  I pulled two off the light then they disappeared.  After paddling around, trolling, checking other lights, and messing with more small blues, I came back to the same light and the stripers were there again swiping at little minnows.  Again, I danced with a couple more before they would shy away.  I repeated this process until I was satisfied with 6 stripers up to 23", all fat, strong, healthy, and released.  By now it was about 2:30 am and I was thinking about peacin' out but then I heard a massive splash through the fog.  Fast forward 4 more hours and I ended up with 4 or 5 blues in the upper 20" to lower 30" range with the biggest going 34".  I also had one on that felt really nice but I couldn't get her to join me in my new ride.

So as color streaked toward the east more and more people showed up.  Before I knew it, it was down right crowded.  As I paddled along, I heard my name and saw someone waving me over through the fog.  It was Ryan Clark with a few really nice flounder up to 22".

He found a good bite and started throwing a flyrod with sinking line after that.  Not too long, he had an 18"er on his own fly.

I'm not one to leave a hot bite, so I threw a little paddletail on 1/4oz jighead and...

31" Red

Red Drum Chamber of Death

Shortly after that, I finished off my night/morning with a 17" flounder.

Bluefish, Stripers, Red Drum and Flounder....
I'd say the Ultra 4.7 maiden voyage was a success.

VIDEO: 40" Striper on Fly / Kayak

Here's a video that accompanies the earlier post, "Slingin' Big Flies".  Unfortunately there was a delay in hitting record on the remote so it starts about 10-20 seconds after the hook set.  The fight lasted about 8-9 minutes but I edited it down to about 7.  Hope you enjoy.

VIDEO: Sightcasting ES Stripers

No Dice

After spending a grueling 14 hours on the water (11/3), then 12 hours the weekend after that (11/9), I straight up rocked my hubby/daddy duties this past week.  My wife enjoyed her slack time while I took care of everything.  You name it, I did it.  I even threw in a few massages, a kickass video of the kids, and she got all the yoga she wanted.  When Friday came along, I picked up her favorite pizza after work and got the OK to go on a little binge.  Her graciousness, patience, and understanding toward my pursuits is nothing short of saintly. 

My quest for six hinges on one last specie citation; the tautog.  However, tautog don't bite at night.  So this weekend's marathon started with some night time speckled trout fishing.  I launched Friday night around 9:30pm at one of my favorite creeks where it dumps out onto a nice flat with a deep channel near by.  I've been jonesin for some topwater action and that's exactly what I got. 

Sorry for the burned out photo, but I was anxious to get back to fishing.  I stayed out until 1:30am after 7 or 8 fish up to 23.5" then drove over to the baitshop to snooze for a few hours before picking up some crabs for bait.

I launched with the sunrise at the base of the CBBT and the hunt was on.  But some of my favorite spots didn't produce much so my confidence started waning.  After several minutes on one spot, I started bringing up my rig to change locations when the crab got hit about half way up.  It ended up being a strong, healthy 27" striper.

I eventually found the togs and got about 6 or 7 with the biggest going 18".  Of course, I had several oystertoads and black sea bass in the mix as well.

Dark Female Tautog

Oystertoad Pectoral fin

The 11 or so hours on the water flew by without the satisfaction I needed.  So, I decided to take my mind off it and called up a few buddies to see if they wanted to partake in some topwater trout action.  An hour and a sandwich later, I met Richie Bekolay at the prior night's spot.  The water was eerie calm over the flat and my skitterwalk wasn't getting the same attention it was 24 hrs ago; and neither was Richie's.  After switching to a pink MirrOlure, I immediately had a few short strikes.  Two casts later and bam... I found my lure of the night.  Billy Ragulsky and Dan Smullen met us out there and quickly joined in on the fun.  Without a possibility of a citation tautog that night it was low pressure fishing.  And I had a blast!  It felt so good to simply enjoy catching fish... in good company at that!  I admit, I caught myself giggling like a little kid a few times on the hooksets.  A few hours later, a dense fog rolled in to add a sense of wonder and adventure to that kid-like feeling.  Before the night was over, I tagged a little under a dozen trout with the biggest going 23".  Unfortunately, I skipped out on taking pics, but Richie has a few on his report.


Feeling rejuvenated after 5 hrs of down time, I was ready to up jump the boogie on some togs.  I wasn't expecting the fog to still be there though...

It burned off as the morning went on, 

and I got into good number of the right species.

After 8 hrs (from launch time to recovery) I ended with 16 togs ranging from 12" to 17.5" and one 13" bergall, aka cunner.  Oddly enough, I didn't catch any other trash fish; no toads, no seabass, no none of that. 

For those of you who haven't spent a lot of time trying but want to give it a shot at tautog, here are a few tips.  Drop your rig down and find pilings with lots of rocks at the bottom.  Try to map out the bottom in your mind as you feel your way around. Raise and lower your rod tip until you find holes where the togs are usually hiding.  Sometimes, as you feel your way around you may find areas of rocky bottom away from the pilings as well. 

Pretty patterned female tog

Well, it's no dice after about 45 hrs of toggin' so far this month.  But that doesn't mean I'll stop looking for my trophy.  Hope to have a good post for you (and me) soon. 

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.

RVA Stripers

It definitely seems like all the local migrations are happening earlier this year. 
The warm water temps are expediting the process and I, like most fishermen, am not complaining.  The magic of this time of year is more than welcome as many of the popular sport fishing species enter our local waters and get our juices flowing.

Reports of bluefish, puppy drum, flounder, speckled trout, and stripers pepper the local forums.  Togs are also readily available, but remember the closed season starts on April 16th this year.  A few regulations have changed for some of the species, so check out this site if you're not up to date.

The local rivers are also experiencing peak spring populations of anadromous species.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to paddle out on the James River after work.  Making my first paddle strokes a mere 5 minutes from home was also a warm welcome.  Richmond, VA (RVA) boasts a great venue to take in this special time of year.  Near the I-95 bridge, the hickory shad action was on fire from the first cast at 7pm until I decided to scoot down river around 7:45.  I was hooking up on almost every cast.  If I let my orange and green shad fly sink near the bottom, the white perch were all over it.  After keeping a couple of each for bait, I drifted down and set up two fish finder rigs just above a good size hole.  The little catfish up to 28"were incessant, but every once in a while, I'd hook up a 26"-28"striper.

I was hoping for either a big bertha kitty or a striper that was bigger than "schoolie" size.  It wasn't long and my wish was granted in the form a 38" clicker-squealing heifer.

Various striper lures should work well over the next couple of weeks, including topwater poppers near the fall line rocks. 

 If I don't find myself looking for other highly anticipated saltwater species, I'll be back on the river chasing RVA kitties n stripers.  Hope you get out to your favorite spring fishing destination soon.

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!