5 Trophy Gar and Chunky Cat

It was what I was hoping for.  

They were everywhere.  

I took Jeff to a spot down on the James River below Hopewell and got into them quickly.  Minnows on the bottom as well as under bobbers didn't last long.  We lost count of the mid to upper 30" gar.  The hard part was letting them run after they picked up the bait.  If it was too earlier, we could feel them drop and the minnow would come back missing scales.  When we timed it right, we were treated to fast streaks and tail walking mayhem.  Anytime you have a 40 plus inch fish jump clear out of the water multiple times then thrash right next to your kayak with mouth wide open and full of please don't get in the kayak yet, adrenaline will flow.

Over the span of a few hours I tallied 5 citations up to a little over 44".  Jeff got the timing right as well and landed a citation also right at 40". 

After running out of minnows, I found a nice channel with a sharp drop off.  We dropped chunks of gizzard shad on 8/0 circle carolina rigs and I quickly had a strong take down.  The heavy catfish swung my kayak around in a hurry but somehow the circle hook came out.  Not too long after, this 41"er gave me a chance for redemption.

I wish I had brought my scale because it had been eating very, very well.

The trophy blue catfish was a most welcome cherry on top of a an already awesome day.  

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.