Thursday, October 3, 2013

September 2013 was fishy!

September was a very productive month for Redfish and Bass. All my scouting and exploring really paid off at the right time, as most Reds are at least 20" with many going over 26" and my average catch was in the 22-24" range. Almost all my Redfish were caught sight casting shallow flats in less than a foot of water. Bait of choice varied between Skitterwalks or spooks, paddle tails and soft jerk baits rigged weedless.
This Red was one of many while fishing 6 inches of water, it was an awesome day.

After fighting this brute I had to replace the hook due to it no longer resembling a hook.
Fat 27" E.R. Redfish
Over Labor Day I was able to get my wife out on the water.  She wanted to go paddling on the Eastern Shore. I don't know what it is but whenever she wants to go; it is inevitable that the wind is going to blow in the worst direction.  She was not too happy when she realized that she was going to paddle into a stiff wind for a couple miles in open water.  The hard work paid off we found a creek with a little wind protection and it was game on.  She was able to land her first red on her own with no assistance from me at all.  I did hand her a rod with a bare jighead already tied on and later tossed her a Gulp to bait up with.

On the hunt!
I can stand too!
Labor Day Red
Nicole's first Redfish!
On the windy days fishing deeper waters or at night I have been successful lately using Gulp swimming mullet on a weedless 1/4 oz-1/2 oz jighead, slow bouncing the bottom.




Last day of summer I went looking for Bull Reds, instead I found these guys wanting to play.

When it was too windy to go out in the Chesapeake Bay I found refuge at the local reservoirs.  My main pattern has been pitching through weeds bigger fish have been very shallow. The Booyah Spinnerbait came through late in the day too.

Ambitious little bass






I had a wedding to go to in Michigan and was unable to participate in the annual TKAA Tournament this year.  To make up for it I was able to get 3 trips in on the Maple River, but I had to do some borrowing of equipment.  All tackle, Rods and kayak was loaned to me by Tom (father in-law), Matt and Brent (brother in-laws).  I am thankful that my wife's family is avid outdoors enthusiast, for situations like this especially. The launch was a mere 2.25 miles from my in-laws and which made it possible to keep each trip short to not miss to much family time.

Friday afternoon was the first trip to the river and my expectations were low seeing how this was my first time on the Maple River.  The river holds many species but my main targets were Bass, Pike, Muskies and Walleye.  I was also keeping a look out for migrating Salmon and Steelhead as this is the time of year they start migrating up river to spawn.

I didn't take long to find the Smallmouth and Largemouth. In little time I landed over a dozen all on a beetle spin, this one in particular is my brother in-law call's "Kenny". When I wasn't throwing Kenny around, I had a square bill crankbait tied on. I fished for 3 hours and landed 30 bass.  I was stoked and couldn't wait for the chance to do it again.  Saturday was the wedding, ceremony, reception, eat, drink, dance it was a memorable time. On Sunday I somehow squeezed in two trips.  First a solo trip to the same spot for a couple hours with similar results from the first trip. Then later in the day Brother In-Law Matt and I went a little further north on the river to see if we could find some pike and walleye before sunset.  Matt lost a keeper walleye at the side of the kayak, and from that point on it was all Bass.  Kenny was getting it done again until we noticed a little surface activity.  I tied on a small super spook and first cast I was hooked up and piled up the numbers in a short amount of time.
First fish of the trip.






These little guys came from a small feeder creek.





Hard fighting Smallmouth



Fat Largemouth bit a square bill


Kenny strikes again
Topwater action! woohoo!
Never found any Northern Pike or Muskies but who cares, I sure don't! I had an Infishicated time fishing the Maple River and its feeder streams. Can't wait for my next trip up north at Christmas when I will be able to have my own gear, if the river has not freeze over by then.

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