Dinner Time

A temporary leave from the office chair shackles was granted for a rare Tuesday and the boss lady kindly approved my plan for stripers and togs.  Monday night dinner time with the kiddos was quickly followed by a hasty packing of appropriate gear and a forecast-double-check.

First stop was at a spot I used to fish all the time.  I was all smiles even though the schoolie stripers weren't there in numbers like they used to be.  Over a couple of hours, I plucked 6 off the light line and kept two at 23" and 22".  

Phase one, complete.

The next morning, in search of tautog, I launched at the CBBT before the sun was over the horizon.  Tex had the same idea and met me out on the water.  With the full moon being a day away, the current was brutal.  We started off with a bunch in the 15"-16" range but eventually we got what we were after. 

Tex's two biggest went 20" each.

Chunks of blue crab got it done for us but I'm sure it'll be hard to find them soon.

My craving for that hard thumping signature tog fight got a momentary fix.  I ended the day with about a dozen togs with the two biggest at 22" and 19".

Phase two, complete.

Keeping my promise, I made the drive back to Richmond in time to pick up the kids and get back on dinner time duties.

For those of you that were interested, I'll have striper prints ready in time for the holidays.

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.

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!