Lil' Nephew's Flathead

I took my wife's nephew (Calvin) out on the river to try our luck at some kitties. With in 5 minutes of anchoring I had one on, taking drag and .... snap.

Gone.

A couple of minutes later Calvin had a nice one.

After that we heard some thunder so we left.

It was a good decision, because on the way home it got really nasty.

Hail and Tornados n stuff.

Finally got the skunk off...

Got to Lynnhaven Inlet around 7:30am.

This one fell for a live gudgeon. I had about a dozen other dinks either on gulp or gudgeon. Bites were about even on both.

Caught a bunch of croaker,too.

The crabs were out in full force tearing up everything.

Briery Creek Bassin'

I went to Briery creek last Sunday and got into the bass pretty good. It was a lot winder than I wanted, but it was still pretty fun. I use very light tackle 2 and 4 lb test for the challenge, but I should know better than to throw that into lilly pads. I hooked and lost way more than I landed. It was nice just to try it out though, I've always wanted to go there.

1st island Togs

My first trip to the 1st island of the CBBT took one hour and five minutes. It was a perfect day for it. The wind was non-existent and it was nice paddle out. I left about 8:00am and got there at 9:05. When I got there, I decided to go all the way around the island just to see if there were any other yakers around. None. First fiddler in and not a minute later, I felt that faint little bump. It had been a very long time since I went Tautog (calle blackfish up north) fishing. The bite is so fast and easy to miss. But instinctively, the split second I felt the next bump, it was on. I almost feels like you're snagged on a rock, until it decides it wants to get back to it's hole. They are awesome fighters. It was a decent 16incher. The action came and went for the next 5 and a half hours. I ended up with 15 togs and brought home the 4 biggest. Two tubby-ass females, were thrown back. It took me about the same amount of time to get back.

It was a perfect day for a client to cancel a meeting, the wind was barely blowing.

ARC's Old Dominion Canoe and Kayak shad tournament

Appomattox River Company held a Shad Tournament on the James River in Richmond and I got second place with 9 shad plus one for a flyfish only "handicap". The winner caught 12 fish. I usually do much better (20-30 fish by this time in the season), but I just couldn't find what they wanted. The water was like chocolate milk too. Anyway, I got an X-tools scale. Good times. Thanks Vic. Here's a picture of my biggest of the day 1lb 11oz.

Elizabeth River Citation Trout

My first. Came to 5lbs 12 oz. Caught another around 4.5lbs.

WOO HOO!

Personal Best Catfish on Yak

It was a gorgeous day and I went catfishing.

I got bait (gizzard shad) from my boss who went the day before and had left overs.

I caught several in the 5 to 15 lb range.

Then I did battle with this 42lb Doosie.

I had to pull anchor and go after this one with the one-arm paddle action.

Crazy fun and intense fight on light tackle.

It was on 4lb test line and a mere 3lbs away from the IGFA line class record for Blue Catfish.

Which happens to be owned by my boss.