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.

Grand Slam...

I got lucky.  I was expecting to have to work with my dad at his shop while my mom got in on some quality time with her granddaughter.  But my dad got it covered so he told me to just go fishing.  Bingo.  Bango.  Weather looked good and the tides were alright so I launched at one of my favorite summer time spots, the CBBT.  I knew it was going to be close to 100 degrees if not over, so I packed a soft sided cooler with five frozen 1-liter bottles of water and lots of sunblock.  In hopes of trying to stay cool during the long paddle out, I stayed in the shadow of the bridge.  It definitely helps to not be directly in the sun.

My first stop of the day brought in several flounder with the two biggest going...

and

The 21.5"er was lazy and didn't put up much of a fight.  I knew I wanted to keep him so I opened the rod pod and as I was grabbing the leader, the flounder went nuts.  I slid his body over the gunwale, got him in the rodpod and for about 10 seconds straight it thrashed, banged around and threw up minnows all over the inside of my yak.  Flounder are notorious for going ape-shit once landed and I've lost my share so I was glad I had the rodpod for this one.  On a side note, if you get one of these while leadering a fish...

... make sure you use the other hand to squeeze the lemon while cooking the fish.  Not fun.

Anyway, back to fishing... I was using a 1/2 oz jighead and 5" crazylegs gulp jerkshad in white/chartreuse.  TKAA member Scott J. was out there, too, wearing the flounder out on live bait.

After a while, I decided to switch rigs and bust out the fiddlers.  My first drop down...

Mr. Tough Guy Tautog, even for a 16"er.

The very next drop in the same spot produced a single distinct thump and a heavy weight on the line.  I slammed the hookset hard and the ensuing mayhem had me thinking it was the citation tog I've been wanting (for those of you who have been follow along for a while, can you tell I want one really bad?)  A skiff with three guys on it, that happened to be near by, started hootin' and hollerin', when they saw me put a nerve-racking bend in the rod.  After a while, I saw the stripes so I knew it wasn't the tog.  But who can be upset after a fight like that?

24.5" Release citation Sheepie

I tell you what I did get upset about... bad fishing etiquette.  While I was taking the above picture, I drifted off just a little (no anchor) and the skiff with the three guys on it scooted right into my spot.  I saw a small opening for me to squeeze my yak in, so I got over there, asked if they have had any luck, and dropped my line right next to theirs.  They started small talk and mentioned they had been sheepshead fishing all day and hadn't caught a single one.  They asked what I was using for bait, and me being the polite guy that I am, said "fiddlers".  A minute later, I get a hard thump and a heavy weight on my line, again.  It's that split second that you know, "This hookset is going to be awesome".  Wham!  It's on.  Bowed up and tearing drag, I look up at the guys with their jaws dropped open.  I smile, give a little "woo hoo!" and enjoy the signature sheepie fight...

25.5" Release citation Sheepie

"In your face!"

I get back to my spot, low and behold, the douche-bags have now positioned their skiff so I can't squeeze in anymore.  I decided not to get upset and fished the next set of pilings over.  I was thinking of switching over to spadefish soon anyway, but wanted to try for one more.  About 3 or 4 minutes later, I was about to pull my line in when once again, I felt that familiar thump.  Immediately after setting the hook, I yelled out "There he is!" just to make sure the skiff knew I was a hooked up, again.  It finally got to the youngest of the three.  He was just disgusted.  As he watched me fight the fish he yelled "What the fuck man!  Now that's just not fair!  God damn it!  You gonna make me go out and buy one a dem damn kayaks..."  I was trying really hard not to burst out into laughter, just smiling and nodding my head.

Real pretty 23"er  with all it's fins out.  Love it.

I wished the guys good luck and moved on to the spades.  I switched rigs, opened up some clams and immediately started getting bites.  The thing is, their bites are so damn fast.  Eventually, I finally got one to hook up, almost losing my rod in the process (wet hands with clam juice on them).  I saw the flash of it's bright side just before it came off.  Frustration set in soon after when the same thing happened to me 4 or 5 times.  I would get the hook up, have an intense 4 or 5 seconds with drag ripping chaos, then it would come off.  To make things worse, the current was picking up, which meant I wouldn't be able to maintain the one arm paddle for much longer.  But I really wanted to beat my 12" personal best, so I kept at it and finally got one to stick.  It didn't fight as hard as the others I had hooked earlier, but I was glad to finally land one.

Toughest 12" fish ever.

It only tied my personal best, so I went back to try again.  Unfortunately, the current got even stronger and the fish had disappeared.  I decided to take a break and anchored up next to the island, under the bridge to stay in the shade.  As I was eating a snack I realized I caught 4 species of fish that day (not including the trashfish like oystertoads and baby bluefish that I failed to mention earlier).  I thought to myself "CBBT Grand slam, baby!  Yeah!"  It had been a good day and I was contemplating about heading back in after my break when I noticed a skiff with a pair of flounder fisherman on it looking up at the sky.

I thought "what the heck are they looking at?"


That's when it happened...