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.

Back to Back weekends

The wife and I headed north to Michigan for a long weekend mini vacation.  The whole purpose was to visit family and see our niece and nephew.  Well seeing how I had never been to Michigan during the warmer months and considering  my fishing disorder it was a must to try my luck on Michigan waters and species.  We flew in to Detroit, drove 2 hours northwest, I met up with my brother in-laws and then headed north for another 2-1/2 hours.  We made it on the water as the sun was going down chocked full of anticipation and with high hopes of filling the cooler with Rainbow Trout.  It was a chilly yet clear night; the stars where shining bright but the fishing was slow. We only managed 2 keeper Rainbow’s and about two dozen smelt.  The savor of the evening was I caught my personal best Rainbow trout…it was a whopper…watch out!

The whopper Rainbow...

Lucky me I married the best wife I could have ever imagined.  I got the clearance to get a second time on Sunday with my inlaw’s neighbor.  I met up with Eric and his son Dan at 3:30 am to make the 2-hour trip to Muskegon, MI in the hunt for Chinook and Coho Salmon on Lake Michigan.  The conditions couldn’t have been better, we had partly cloudy skies, a light breeze and perfect water temps.

Sunrise over the sand dunes on Lake Michigan

Again I was plagued with a slow to non-existent bite.  We had 9 rods out at one time with a big wide spread.  With the smorgasbord of lures we couldn’t buy a bite.  We were marking fish but hours went on with only one hit where it looked to be a big steelhead that hit the outside planer board, but shaked off as quick as it hit. Hope was fading and just when we decided to take a minute to snack, so did the fish.  I was up first and popped the cherry on my first Coho and the big fish of the day.

My first Coho Salmon

On the next pass in the area I hooked up again but lost it five feet from the net.  We were pumped and started to develop a pattern.  Sure enough, with another pass I was hooked in to a real fighter; this Coho had spunk.  After running through two other lines, cutting them off and tangling up all the gear, we had to get all the other lines in quick and turn the boat around to give chase.  We won the battle in the end.  I thought by the fight it was gonna be a monster…it was a solid fish but smaller than the first one. As fast as the bite turned on - it turned off and with the weather starting to turn with increasing winds we called it a day.  As I was pulling in the last line heading into the harbor, I had a hit and this time I got the Chinook (King) Salmon we were looking for.  He was much smaller than we wanted but still made it to the cooler. A big thank you goes out to Eric for putting me on some fish -  this guy knows Salmon.

Couple Coho's

  Shortly after our trip, he went back out and sent me a text while I was at work … he got a citation 27.02# Chinook (King) Salmon.

Eric's Trophy King Salmon

What a blast it was fishing new waters for new species and learning new techniques.  I am looking forward to the next trip to Michigan; hopefully it will include some monster Muskie and Walleye.

This was only half of the equation

Recently it’s been on my list to head up to Richmond VA for some Smallmouth Bass and Flathead Catfish.  What better time to go then when the winds looked crappy for my original planned targets in the Chesapeake Bay?  I called up Dan Smullen, made a game plan and it was fish on!  For August, the morning started off cold and rainy.  I made it up to Richmond to fish the James River a little later than planned.  It didn’t matter seeing how the bite was nowhere to be found.  I threw everything I had including the kitchen sink.  I was starting to dread the thought of a skunk coming on.  Late in the afternoon I decided to catch some Bream for Flathead bait and after catching a few, the Bass bite was finally on!  I landed the first Smallmouth of the day on a gulp cricket.

That was followed up with a big channel Cat that broke off when I grabbed the leader.  Then I went back to tossing artificial lures and caught five more smallies on the Rapala in a short amount of time but none worth writing home about.  All fish where no bigger than 8-12 inches.  So I decided to go back to cat fishing and it didn’t take long and I caught the first Flathead of the day. This guy was merely an appetizer.

I didn’t get any measurement but I’m guessing he was mid 20’s - y’all can be the judge.   Well the bite slowed down and it was getting late so we made our way back to the ramp.  I still had a lively bluegill hooked on so I dropped it down and decided to leave the reel in the free spool as we paddled back.  I mentioned to Dan how I didn’t know how I was going to reel in my line without getting snagged up, and jokingly said “I will wait to reel it in with a fish on…”.   With my kayak lying up on the bank while I prepared to load everything up, my rod started to shake and the line started to peel off the spool -  yup Hooked UP!  I couldn’t believe it.  Did I just call it or what?  This was a much stronger fighting fish than earlier and after a short battle I dragged the beasty Flathead up from the river.

37" Flathead

I wish every infishicated adventure ended in this fashion.

What a nice photo bomb!

This is what happens when I leave, they killed it.  I missed out by a couple of days.

The Past Few Months...

As of late, I haven’t been on the water as much as in years past.  Between my work load and the weather, it has been frustrating trying to plan any attack. Now that I live in Hampton, I have spent a good amount of time just scouting new waters.  Here are some photos that summarize my spring and early summer.

Back in April I made the drive north to Richmond to hangout and fish the MS Shad Shootout.  This is the second year that Thom has held this event. It just keeps growing in fun and size of the turnout.  To learn more about the Shad Shootout and this years recap click here MS Shad Shootout.

This fat 35" Blue Catfish secured me the win and I won the Calcutta.  Whoohoo!

To silence any critics and to prove my method was no fluke, I pulled out a 30-incher to finish the day.

Off to Hawaii for our late Honeymoon

I had a blast exploring the Big Island with my awesome wife.  I Even managed to get a couple days fishing in.  That's all it was, fishing not catching.  We didn't get skunked but it was close enough.

Hawaii is full of life, we enjoyed the sights and company of the Honu (Green sea turtle) daily.

Nicole's Blue Line Snapper

That's the kayak launch thingy, too bad we
never found the fish and didn't use it.

Baby Octopus I found inside some floating trash. Released alive and well.

John with a grouper.

The second day out the weather was much nicer and we headed out of Anaehoomalu Bay with great anticipation of some pullage. We avoided the Skunk but never found what we where looking for.

Trumpet Fish to avoid the skunk.

The very next day back home from Hawaii, I needed to redeem myself and catch some fish. No jet lag was going to stop me.  After a few lost fish due to a bad hook on my jig, success! 28" Redfish!

Reds at this size are a blast on light spinning tackle and will test your angling skill.

The very next weekend I was off to the Yak-Attack Tourney-what a blast. Nothing better than camping and fishing with old and new friends.  My results where poor even considering I caught almost 2 dozen bass.  Problem was the size of bass ranged 12-14 inches. I will be back next year.

First bass of the day.

The Rapala strikes again!

It wasn't long after the YakAttack Tournament that I was heading south to Charleston, S.C. for the IFA Kayak Tour.  With post tropical storm conditions, fishing was going to be tough with strong winds and muddy water.  The first day of pre-fishing was just a little paddling to check a few areas out.  The next day was frustrating.  There were Redfish all over the flooded grass, but trying to get one to bite was very difficult.  On tournament day I was greeted to much better weather but saw fewer fish.  I only had one Red bite and this was a pig, estimated 32-35 incher.  After a long battle I went to grab the leader and the Red took another run and this time it went right through a flooded spartina grass island and went out the backside.  That was no match for the 6lb test I was using.

S.C. Alligator, I got within a inches of this guy.

Staying a little closer to home and doing some exploring on the Peninsula.  Fishing has consisted of small Specks and Redfish.  Nothing worthy of a photo, but the sunsets never disappoint.

The last sunset of spring on the Peninsula

First trip to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and I was meet with strong North-East winds and rough seas.  I was not going to be discouraged though and was rewarded with some tasty triggers.

C.B.B.T. Triggers

No Sheeps or Spades yet for the year. When the weather allows I will be hitting the CBBT complex full throttle.

Sunset over the H.R.B.T.

Cobia?

To sum up Cobia Fishing, it is throwing money into a chum bucket and watching sharks chew it all up.  On my second and third trips I did spot several Cobia. One good run on a live eel under a float, problem was I got too excited and pulled the eel out of the Cobia's mouth.

Dan Smullen going on a ray ride.

I was determined not to lose my rig on this stupid Cow Nose Ray.  After a lengthy battle I was victorious!

You may be a “Pretty Lady” but you have little respect for others on the water and use poor etiquette.

This spot was still alive and breathing.

After giving a this shark some new lip piercings, maybe
he will stay away from future hooks.

This shark thought he was Jaws and was trying its best to take a chunk out of me. He settled for my paddle Leash instead.  ARC Paddle Leash shark tested and approved!

19" Red, First fish in the new kayak! 

Bought a new OK Trident 13, and had to quickly slim her up.  Shortly thereafter I went out to a nearby marina, launched and found a school of puppy drum between 18-19"s. I managed to catch a few and then called it a night as the wind was quite aggravating.









Sunday, July 22, was a rare occasion.  I was able to go out on my cousin’s boat and get everyone on to some fish.  We had some drag screaming action on the Eastern Shore prior to heading to the CBBT but, unfortunately the hook didn't stick. After loading up with bait we made it out to the 4th island and right away we were on the Spades.

Daron and his first ever Spade Fish

Storm approaching, time to head in.

I have a fishy feeling the rest of the summer is going to be great.  See y'all on the water!