Short Morning Session (with video)

I woke up juggling the calendar, with a foot in my face and an elbow in my crotch.  The Jake and the Neverland Pirates' theme song was still stuck in my head next to potential client email drafts, needy little what's for breakfast and can we have sprinkles.  My mind was crowded with unfinished powerwashing chores, MIA little pink stuffed elephant drama, overdue oil changes, super-evil-mega-corps silently upping my bill, wall doodles, and the infinite stream of laundry.  I Hattori Hanzo'd my way out, making sure not to wake the lil' ninja who snuck into bed upside down.  Then, sans coffee, I silently slid into the river in the cover of darkness.

As light slowly crept through the haze, the curtains were pulled back on the soul invigorating glow of the water.  Long exhales shrank my worries and I felt my head declutter.  With every paddle stroke, I reminded myself of all I had to be thankful for.  A short ways later, I caught a good rhythm on the 6wt flyrod and found a few little bronzbacks to go with my smile.

Back in time to rock breakfast duty and watch Saturday morning couch jumping in pajamas, Jake's theme song wasn't so annoying after my short morning session.

Impromptu Bronzebacks

Timing is everything.  And as of late, my struggles to get that timing right have resulted in me being stood up on my last 4 dates with Big Red.  The Eastern Shore can be so unforgiving to some, but my persistence will be rewarded... eventually.

This weekend, between bleach, caulk, birthdays, leafy gutters, weed, and mommy-daddy time, I found a couple of hours to look for smallies on the near by James River.

I muttered profanities at the wind on several occasions, but the elation of connecting with quality smallmouth overshadowed that quickly.

In two and a half hours I managed 6 smallies.  

19.25", 19", 16", 15", 13", 12"

All on a white/chartreuse spinnerbait tossed around current breaks.

Quick Report: Shad and Smallmouth

After launching from the 14th street takeout we got into a decent number of hickory shad as well as a few American shad.  Everything came on a 6wt flyrod with 250 grain sinking tip.  Purple and greens, pink and greens, as well as a few other shad flies did the trick.

Clayton with an American Shad

Afterwards, I switched gears and managed one 14.5" smallmouth.

Fell for a light colored spinnerbait.

James River discharge Link

As of late...

Since my last post...

CBBT

I took the risk while knowing

it's a heck of a long paddle out for a slim chance in the cold.

And the paddle back without a single tog bite

blows.

The HRBT light line held no love for me, neither.

And the kitties wouldn't come out to play.

Some RVA shad found their way to my fly

But then over in Forrest Short's fish bowl of gators n cows

 I laid an egg.  

Forrest didn't do very well either.

So you know it was a tough night.

Biggest shad went 2lb 2 oz.

And then I retired that kayak.

And got a new one.

Which is basically the same kayak as before, just different colors.

I promptly paid Luther Cifers a visit at YakAttack Headquarters

and within 22 hours of being picked up

the James river was getting some grime and slime on the new Trident 13.

It was a little windier than I'd prefer, but it was still a nice day to be out and about.

Muskrat

Seth Goodrich and a few friends confirmed a hunch earlier in the week that the bigger smallies should be active.  However, this time the jig n' pig wasn't get the job done.  With the water warming up, I decided to pick up the pace and put on a bright skirt n' willow blades.  It took a while, but I finally found the right current break.

The ambush came and it hit with a vengeance.  I was treated to two awesome aerial displays and a fight worthy of the smallmouth reputation.  

19.5" new personal best smallmouth bass

 Shortly there after, the sun dipped behind the trees and Seth scored on a lipless crank. 

18.5"

Smallmouth are a blast, but it is time to introduce the new kayak to my favorite pilings.  The CBBT awaits and as bay temps climb so does my need for tog.

A post on how I rigged the new kayak will be out soon.

River Pullage

It had been a day short of two weeks since I dipped my paddle or played a fish on the end of my line.  Unfortunately, a trip to the salt which I've yearned for even longer was not in the cards.  With the weather forecast being as useful as a magic 8-ball, I stuck close to home.  The river welcomed me with a plethora of opportunities spanning a full spectrum of presentations to match the appetite of several species.

I started off with what I left off with last time; the fly rod.  The sun was higher up this time so I switched to a black wooly bugger and sight casted to various sunfish, small largemouth and smallmouth bass.  I had a shot at a decent carp too, but I got a little too close and spooked it.  I had a couple instances where as soon as the fly hit the water a big bronze back exploded on it, but somehow didn't come tight. 

This was the second time on the water sporting my new Maui Jim shades with PolarizedPlus2 rose lenses and can honestly say, they are awesome.  The contrast is simply amazing and definitely helped me see a lot more.  I normally target smallies in pools, pockets, and eddies around structure, but after standing up with the Maui Jim's I found some just cruising the flats.  I was able to get the fly in the path for one and on the second strip it rushed over and came to a halt a few inches away.  Being able to watch it all, including what happened on the next strip, brought on a huge smile. 

It was only 13" but there's definitely something special about being able to visualizing it all.  

From stalking 
to the cast, 
the chase, 
the take... 

Hookset, headshakes... 

I LOVE IT!













After a while, the wind picked up just enough to make fly line management a chore.  I switched to a spinning rod and found a few more little smallies on Husky Jerks and black spinnerbaits.  

As the sun started to fade, I resisted the urge to put on a topwater popper and switched gears again.  I pinned a lively sunfish from earlier to an 8/0 circle hook - carolina rig.  It wasn't long before my kayak was spinning circles as I wrangled some flatheads.  

Biggest of the evening was 36"

From slingin' bugs and sight casting to chunkin' meat, I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with the awesome local fishery and finding some river pullage.  

Satisfied... for now. 

But I can only resist the salt for so long. 

Slingin' Bugs After Work

Have I mentioned lately how awesome my wife is? Yeah well, she is.  I pick up the kids on my way home... she calls. 

"Weather's so nice... you should go fishing."

Smile starts to curl.  Wheels start to turn. 

Awesome, right?  I freakin' love that woman.

So I get home and transfer the kids over to that awesome woman, then quickly venture down to the Choi-cave.  Still somewhat torn about where to go and what to target, I rummaged through the haystack of rods hoping one would jump out... begging to be used.  Under all my CBBT stuff, my TFO 6wt peeked through with a popper still on it from last time.  The hook was getting rusty and the white rubber legs were starting to change colors.  Bingo.  

Deep breathes... letting the soul soak up the goods.

I grabbed one more popper, stuck it in my pfd and rushed off to the James.  

It was a perfect evening.

Without changing the fly once, I had plenty of action for 2 hours.  

8"-10" smallies kept me on my toes and chuckling.  

Just as it was getting dark, I had one around 15"...

... but it got off on the first jump.

Oh well.  

Still an amazing evening not to be taken for granted.