Sheeps n Togs

Got up @ 3:30am. Left Richmond and got to Oceans East and picked up 4 dozen fiddlers. Was on water by 6:15am. Wind really sucked. Jigged gulps for a few dink flounders then dropped what looked to be a 22-23 inch flatty at the boat. Switched to fiddlers around 9:15am. Ended up with 3 sheeps, 6 togs (3 throwbacks, and a bunch of black sea bass. Was back at the launch by 12:30 and was back in Richmond in time to see my team whoop up on the skins.

Baaa....

Sheepshead.

Caught a total of 7. Had 4 on the stringer. I have to say, these are some of the most fun, hard fighting fish, I've ever caught. The picture below is of the second largest one I caught (16"). To give you an idea of how hard they pull, here's what happened to the biggest one I caught.

I have one of those metal clip chain stingers that I hang over the yak and attach to the side handle. I had 4 on (including my biggest 18"~19") while trying to catch more while the bite was on. I can feel them pulling wildly on the stringer, jolting the kayak, making it swing in the current. Eventually, I ran out of bait and the current was getting very swift. As I start heading in, I pulled the stringer just to take a look at the fish again. That big sheep pulled so hard that the metal clip pulled out of the socket! As you can imagine, expletive after expletive poured out of me. The wire part was bent wide open and my heart sank knowing I had no picture, weight or actual measurement.

Friday and Saturday Reds

Got there and the wind was pretty bad, but stuck with it anyways...

Had a total of 6 and kept these three.

This hard fighting 27"er went back. (try not to mind the silly face)

Went back on Saturday with a friend of mine from Richmond.

Got skunked except for this little guy.

Took Marty to a nice hole and he caught two. Here's the first one.

1st Island CBBT 8/16/09

Got to the Virginia Beach side of the CBBT and launched at 7:50am.

Arrived at the first island in a little over an hour and started looking for spades.

Nothin'.

I little birdie told me there would be some togs at a certain spot.

Nothin'.

Tried for Sheeps with fiddlers and clam.

Nothin'.

Ended up with a bunch of bait stealers...

Black Sea Bass

Pigfish

I did manage one Triggerfish.

Wind picked up in the afternoon.

I tried for spades, togs, and sheeps on the way back.

Nothing.

More wind.

Long ass paddle.

Tired.

8/15/09 Evening

I wanted to try my hand at throwing my net from the yak and have fresh bait. It worked pretty good. Along with the usual menhaden and mullet, I caught the smallest flounder I've ever seen...

...and also a Lookdown fish.

I paddled around under a cool sunset...

...found my spot and put out the mullet.

Caught two 21" reds. Sorry no pic.

CBBT 8/1/09

Got up at 3am and checked the weather. Lookin' good so I met a friend of mine, Matt, left Richmond, headed for VaBch. Got on the water by 6:20. Saw NAVYIDC at the SBC. Hope you got into them! As soon as we got to the island we started catching fish. Matt got into a couple small flatties and I got about 4 or 5 toads. Jimmy Jimmy met us out there and fished for some flounder for a bit. Then he disappeared for a while. By the time he came back, I had a 14", 15", 17" 18", and 2 18.5" flounders. It was driving me nuts since limit is 19". Matt had one keeper. JimmyJimmy came back to show off his limit of spades. That's when I notice that Kayak Kevin and his bud Rob were a little ways down the bridge. I went and joined them. They were tearin' it up! However, don't think it's easy. It's tough to try and keep yourself in position. Not to mention that spades are insanely fast at stealing your bait. With some tips from Jimmy and Kevin I eventually ended up with 4 hook ups, dropping one at the boat. My first time catching spades and holy crap are they fun. Especially on light tackle (4lb test). Left them biting cuz i ran out of bait. Wind picked up significantly on the way back.

Richmond Flatheads and Blues

I took a friend of mine, Brian Welteroth, out to do a little catfishin' on the James this afternoon.

He caught 17lb, 23lb, 14lb, and 10lb Flatheads.

I caught a couple flatheads around 17lbs each.

Then he battled a 40lb 11oz Bluecat!

Followed by another 30lber.

Good times.