The past week has been quite the fishing quest for me. It was seven days of fishing that consisted
of skunks, challenging conditions, little sleep, freezing temperatures, redemption,
fog and a magnificent view of the rising sun over a very serene Chesapeake Bay.
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| A couple of followers to keep me company |
With the cooling water temperatures and a few reports of
bigger stripers caught, I had Kippy Kows stuck on my mind. I knew that it was a
long shot with the waters at only 58 degrees, but once something is on my mind
I have to do it no matter what. Someone
has to do the recon and you never know until you go. With a SW wind that was howling, the
conditions all over Tidewater would be difficult to fish. I decided to look to the concrete ships for
some wind protection and make a go at it.
The plan was set - get to the ships Saturday evening; drown some eels
hoping for a hungry Kow and after sun up try for some togs around and inside
the ships. I showed up a little after
11pm and had my eel soaking a little before 11:30pm. It was a little rougher
than I had expected. The wind never laid
down and the swell continued to build.
Fishing the gaps in between two ships was hairy and helped keep things
interesting. After six hours of zero
bites I called it quits at 530 am and grabbed a little breakfast before round
two. I busted out some blue crab with
hopes of redeeming my eventless night with some tog of war. The current was brutal, the wind increased
even more and I couldn’t convince any Togs to come out and play. I called it quits around noon. I have unfinished business at the ships and I
will be back with a vengeance.
After the horrible day of fishing on Sunday I was feeling a
bit antsy to get back on the water. I
think that trip to Kiptopeke was the longest I have ever fished without
catching a single fish. Monday was out
due to the winds. Tuseday was looking
promising, but what to go for, stripers or trout? My answer came when fellow
angler, Rob Choi, called around mid-day.
He and Justin wanted to chase after some trout on the southern branch of
the Elizabeth River and were thinking of hitting the hot ditch. I consider the hot ditch to be a last
resort. I offered up to show them a few
of my spots and launching area if they where up to fishing some new areas. It didn’t take much to convince the two to
follow me out to a few of my favorite speck holes. It’s not too often that I do this but I felt
that they could keep their lips sealed.
We arrived at location “X” around 9:30ish and proceeded to
the fishing grounds. The weather was
nice with just a light breeze. Not much
was happening in the first few hours for me and the fishing was slow. I think Rob had a few early bites and a small
trout off a jig. Justin picked up one
using a mirror lure. I was throwing a Zoom Swimming Super Fluke Jr. on an 1/8th ounce jig and Rapala jerk
baits with no results. At some point
Justin tied on a topwater lure and started to find success and caught a few fish. Rob switched to topwater with the same results. Naturally if everyone else was getting bit
with a certain pattern I know enough to join in or risk getting skunked. I went
through several topwater lures trying to find the right one to entice some
speck action. It was nerve racking hearing the trout
smacking Justin and Rob’s lures as they walked the dog and all I was doing was just
getting my lures wet. I finally found a
pattern that worked for me in a Rapala Skitter walk sub-surface. On the third
cast I managed this gal - a healthy 21 incher.
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| 21 incher |
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| 19 incher |
Just when we thought the bite was done we
decided to head back in. At this point
it was 1:30. We heard some fishy
disturbance and as Justin hooked up, Rob and I made a cast and we both hooked
up at the same time even before Justin could land and release his. I managed to catch a few more and as the time
started to push later in the morning we regrettably left with the fishing still
biting. Check out Rob Choi’s Blog for
his account of the story. It was a first
rate night chasing ER specks on topwater.
The weekend was approaching and I wanted to pick up where I
left off on Tuesday but also wanted to find some togs around the 1st
island as the weather for Saturday was looking quite favorable. There was only one option in my book - chase after both. To do this required me to forgo rest and
sleep…but then again, who needs that anyways? There are only a few other
anglers I know that would carry out such an extreme behavior to get
infishicated. I met Rob at location “X”
around 12:30 am Saturday morning and the conditions were a little different
than Tuesday. The river had an eerie
feeling to it with temperatures around 28° and a good amount of steam and fog mix. That wasn’t going to be the only the thing
different from Tuesday night. What
happened to the topwater bite? It seemed
non existent and I had only a handful of bites the entire night. I was off the water around 530 am with my
second skunk in a week!
I took a small
break and grabbed some food to reenergize before hitting the CBBT to target
Togs. I met up with Rob Choi and William Ragulsky at Alexander’s on the Bay at O'630.
We were greeted by a beautiful sunrise painted with hues of gold, pink,
and violet over a tranquil Chesapeake Bay.
It was one of the most enjoyable paddle’s to the 1st island
that I have experienced in a long while.
It wasn’t long until we all began to find the right pilings that were
producing. I would catch 5 or 6 Togs at
one location and then search for the next hot spot. Venturing around the island and over the tube
was a little annoying with the amount of boats trolling and drifting around for
striper. I had the last laugh as one
boater smacked into the pilings… and attempting to get off the pilling chewed
up his prop on the rocks. I caught over
fifteen but most were in the 14-15” class; the smallest of the day was a 12
incher and the biggest went a little over 16.5 inches.
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| Biggest tog of the day @ 16.5" |
Feeling some back pain and a lack of bites I
decided to call it a day and start heading in.
All in all it was a satisfying day on waters with a warm breeze and I
was able to bring home a few dinner guests.
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| Dinner |
I was off the water
in just enough time to get home and change into some less fishy smelling
clothes and make my way to the Pirates of Lynnhaven meeting. Good times are had by those that attend these
regular meetings held at Bluewater Seafood in Virginia Beach, Va... not to mention
the fish talk that usually extends beyond and into the parking lot well after
the meeting has ended. Tim, the owner
and chef, always has something tasty cooking up to feed the hungry attendees
too. If you’re not a member and want to
know more, go to http://www.piratesoflynnhaven.org/
to learn more about POL.
I made it home a little after 10pm to fall asleep and dream
about all the fish I could be catching if I was out fishing. I can’t wait to get back on the water and do
it all again. Big stripers should show
up soon or at least that's what I dreamt about.
