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Short River Trip

Hit a creek off the James River well below Richmond.  Main target was gar.  Caught 7-8 up to 35".  A few stripers to 20".   Too many little catfish to lower 30".  Lost one decent catfish in the mid 40" range at the boat.  Most on minnows.  Couple hits on silver buddies.  Hoping to go back for that 40+" gar.

Surf, Exploration, and a Lack of Albies

"Go forth

and Catch Fish."

Long story short, we went looking for false albacore down near Harkers Island, NC and found a slew of other species.  Willy Rags led the charge with Tex, Luther Cifers and three others from the YakAttack crew hoping to experience the drag scorching fight of an albie on light tackle.  We were fully aware that they can be caught closer to where we live but historically there are much denser concentrations of them down near Harkers Island.  This was also a chance to explore new water and enjoy what my wife likes to roll her eyes at and call "a boys' weekend away".

Some of the YakAttack crew had little to no saltwater experience, not to mention surf launching.  Turned out to be a trip of many firsts for them.

Nick Kellogg's first of 4 sharks

We also found bluefish, grey trout, black sea bass, lizard fish, needlefish, grouper, sea robins, baby jacks, and I'm probably forgetting a few others.  Most were caught bouncing a diamond jig on the bottom. 

Willy Rags messing with sharks on a bass rod.

Lizardfish

Needlefish grill

Needlefish dorsal

Rags and I got lackadaisical during one of the surf landings and paid the price.  We should have timed the waves better but at least we didn't lose anything but a pair of cheap scissors.  Cory Routh was kind enough to document my "oh $%^" moment :)

Photo credit: Cory Routh

Just before it was time to leave, John Hipsher lucked into what we were after while trolling a 6" RonZ.

Good times were had and memories were made.  Laughs, brews, fishing stories were shared and Luther cooked up an awesome batch of fresh grey trout tacos.  I didn't catch what I was after, but I definitely can't say the trip was unsuccessful.

Recent Critters

I haven't been able to get on the water with Kayak Kevin since last November so I hit him up and the plan was to team up on the fall red drum madness.  If you haven't seen what he's been up to, click here.  It's ridiculous.  Disgusting even.  His moniker, "Drum Jesus", is more than fitting.

The time comes to get together and of course mother nature spews chunks all over our party.  So there we were... the only two kayak anglers in the area who have achieved "saltwater expert angler" hoping to chase monster drum...
but instead
settle for.... 

spot.

Opting for the tiniest rods in our possession, we put on bottom rigs with fish bites and blood worms.  Our thoughts switched from fighting big game fish to grocery fishing for tasty morsels.  Unfortunately we got the attention of a wide array of itty bitties but no spot.  Plus, the current was on turbo mode in the creek we were in.  

At least I got some fun photos and hung out with one of my mentors.  

Black Sea Bass 2nd dorsal fin

Pigfish scales

Stabby little Pinfish

Sea Robin dorsal fin

Sea Robin

Sea Robin 2nd dorsal

Sea Robin

Included in the mix was a baby tautog that ate bloodworm and a 15" croaker which came home along with nine 8"-9" pigfish (aka grunt).  It was my first time trying pigfish, especially since I never catch them over 5"-6".  They are very similar to spot and quite delicious.

38" and 51" Cobia VIDEO

Here's the video of the two cobia from a few weeks ago.

Froggin' and Making Little Green Friends

The decision was determined by the forecast.  Open water pursuits for big saltwater species were put on hold for small creeks protected from the wind.  The game became ripping frog imitations across the surface and Jeff and I had a good time with it.  

 

 Jeff ended up with the two biggest of the day at 18" and 20.25"

The highlight of the day was discovering not one but five little frogs on my kayak.  I'm assuming that one of the patches of lily pads I paddled through produced the hitch hikers.  

Sunrise with Two Trophy Sheepshead (VIDEO)

Here's the video of the two sheepshead from this post (link).