It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

Well, it has been an amazing few days!  On Thursday, I got invited to join the Team Malibu Pro Staff.  It had been a dream of mine for years to be a part of a pro staff.  I thought my day couldn't get any better, I was wrong.  I was fishing with Mark Lozier at the HRBT for early season Rockfish.  I will say that if you are looking for a guided trip in Hampton Roads, Mark and Cory are class acts!  Anyways, I picked up a 18" Rockfish and a small Grey Trout at the end of the incoming.  It was slow!  We did see Rob Choi, and a few other members of TKAA and Pirates of Lynnhaven.  Rob is a great guy and boy he can fish.  He had a huge following on the water, teaching some newbees the ropes of Striper fishing the light line..  Mark and I let them be About 1230, we decide to hit the road.  On our paddle in, I see some fish breaking the surface.  I make the perfect cast with a 4" Marsh Works Bayou Thumper.  Bam... Fish on!  Mark and I worked the school for about 45 minutes picking off fish after fish.  We leave the school, still feeding to head back in.  We meet up with Derek and Mike from TKAA.  Whaile Derek was finishing up, I am siting back, waiting.  I see a fish chillin' behind a pylon and make a cast with a Killa Squilla and hook up!

Killa...  Squilla

We make it back at around 2am.  I make it to sleep at 3-ish, to be at work at 7:30 am.  It was a great, long day!

Friday I felt like death wormed over at work, but I was looking forward to the Poquoson Seafood Festival Tournament captain's meeting.  Other plans (i.e. replacing the starter in my car) made it for an interesting night.  I got a reprieve for the meeting, got the starter replaced and I was off!

Saturday morning I head to VB for my tournament day fishing.  I was fishing with Mark again.  I try for Reds, while Mark is hammering the Specks!  I join him and catch a few, but nothing notable.  I leave Mark to fish in the Atlantic.  I see one Red caught, but it was way to busy for me to fish effectively.  I head back to my morning spot, and start to pick up the Reds.  The Killa Squilla did them in.  My large fish was 28" (above Slot).

I caught more fish, and weighed 2.  This was a catch-kill tournament so I kept my 3 fish, largest about 24".  Total weight of the 2 fish I weighed was 7.34 lbs.  Good enough to win the Kayak Division!

Sunday, I went fishing again with Mark and his girlfriend Kris.  Probably some of my favorite people to fish with.  The morning was slow for Kris and I, but Mark caught a Slam(Red, Trout, Flounder), with the big fish being a 22" speck!  Great job Mark.  In the afternoon, I met up with Seth (BowedUp804) with the goal of putting him on some Reds.  His girlfriend is the accomplished fisherman and has been messing with him on his inability to catch a Red.  While I was waiting for the water to get right, we were working some Oyster Beds for Reds/Trout.  Seth hooked one on a Squilla, but it came unbuttoned.  While he is working, I throw my castnet and hook up with some Bunker and Mullet.  I hook him up with a "Big Poppy" and we go after some Reds.  I catch a few, but Seth isn't hooking up.  I stop fishing, and work with him for a few.  Seth starts hooking up.  He caught over 20 reds, with his PB set right at 26".  I had one or two over slot.  I got bored with the mullet, and started catching fish on the Squilla!  I even caught a juvenile Black Drum.  This makes Redfish, Speckled Trout, Grey Trout, Flounder, Black Drum and Striper all caught on the Squilla this week! 

Seth's Multi Spot!

Love those colors!

It was great fishing with you Seth.  You and your girlfriend are welcome to fish with me anytime!

Monday I had planed to chase Bull Reds down off VA's False Cape.  This was going to be a nice relaxing day.  As I go to pick up bait, I talk with "Kayak" Kevin.  We have a nice talk, and he convinces me to go fish for Togs, Sheeps and Bull Reds.  What was going to be a nice relaxing day ended up being a busy day covering over 10 miles.

The Launch

I launch, and have a nice calm paddle to my spot.  I fish some of my favorite spots, but have no luck.  Once I make it to the spot, I hook up in no time!  Fish is on and snap!  I fight through the anguish, and a dozen oyster toads to my next fish.  I hook up again, and snap!  Now I am frustrated and borderline angry.  I didn't paddle to what seems like the end of the earth for this.  I fight through and am rewarded with tiny Black Sea Bass stealing all my fiddlers.  Somethings got to give. At this point, I move to the locations I caught my summer togs and Bam... Tog on!

I continue to fish and catch a number of togs up to 17".  I kept a 16" fish for my troubles and head back.  This is where I have my "Lesson Learned" moment.  If you paddle far, or an area you know to have strong tidal flows, make sure you know the tides.  Even if it is an unplanned trip, it takes less than five minutes to keep you pain free the next day.  I did not do what I should of.  It seemed like my trip back was at least 5x tougher than the trip in.  To make matters even worse, I left the launch at 6:55pm to make it to class at 7:00pm.  Even with that being said, it was a great weekend.  Thank you to everyone that helped make this weekend great!

REDFISH!

Saturday 10-2

I met my buddy Mark at Rudee Inlet at 0700.  Shortly after, we hit the water in pursuit of reds and specks.  We were going to hit a spot outside the inlet, but the seas were so nasty that 40'+ charter boats would not leave.  Definitely not a place for us.  We hit a few other spots and had a few small trout grace our presence.  We did some exploring, talked about the Corps, and had a great time on the water.  Unfortunately after Mark left, the reds showed up in places that we were targeting.  I threw my cast net, and picked up 20-30 nice shrimp.  I knew it was on.  Fishing live shrimp under a cork is not something we get to do a lot of this far north.  It is a blast!

The bait...

Mmm... Shrimp.

The result...

Multi spot

I picked up some specks that were not picture worthy.  I fished one rod with the live squilla, and another with the Killa Squilla.  The Killa Squilla did just as well as the live shrimp.  The fish were thick!  I also caught a red that was a bit bigger on a spinnerbait.

Sunday 10-3
After sleeping through my weather window to fish for Stripers in the light line at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, I decided to go against the forecast and all logic and target trout and reds.  I was on the water at 0545 am and it was on.  I fished some lights and picked up a bunch of small specks.  Once the sun rose, the wind picked up and the rain began.  I moved into some protected waters and it was on.  I picked up a few small specks and a 16"+ striper.  I had fish attacking left and right.  The problem with the spot I was fishing was that I was getting broken off consistently by fish wrapping me up around barnacle encrusted pylons.  I lost my last Marsh Works popping cork in this matter, as well as some jigs.  It is kinda funny and frustrating to watch your cork taunt you, swimming all around.  I did end up getting it back at the end of the day.

I rigged up some killa squillas, and it was game on.  I picked up a 23" Striped Bass...

Then...

25" Redfish

Then, my personal best Redfish.  I hit the 30" mark once before in Lynnhaven.  This fish was at least 30".  If conditions were better, I could have got a better measurement.  It could have been 31" or 32"  Using a Redfish Calculator, I estimate it at approx. 11 lbs, if not a bit more.  This fish was one of the best fish I have ever fought.  It tried to wrap me around pylons, flip the yak and give me a heart attack.  When I got out in the open, it took a bunch of hard, deep runs.  I am normally a quiet person on the water but since nobody else was on the water I let out one of the loudest hoot's ever.  It was so loud that aquarium staff were looking out the windows.  Either that or they enjoyed the fight.   Today, and this fish will remain in my memories for quite some time.

Release...

                                    

In all it was a great, horrible, rainy, windy morning, but always a good time.  I look forward to my next meeting with Mr. Red.

So Fresh and So Clean

9-4-10
With Hurricane Earl threatening "blah, blah..." and the itch for some panfish, I decided to head out to the Northwest River for some dinner.  The Crappie and Perch didn't want to play on the microlites, but the bream were out in force.  Caught over 50, bringing home 12 of the fryer.  Also caught some small blue cats, which are a blast on microlites.

Good Eats!

9-5-10
With the TKAA tournament coming up in short order, I hit the salt.  To my surprise, the water was nice and clean, not to mention a drop in water temperature as well.  I got out to the ODU reef during low tide, and with some fresh mullet, proceeded to drift for some "Fattie Flatties".  My drift was North to South, which made fishing fairly difficult.  My first fish was a VA Citation Toadfish (at least it would have been given the state included it in the saltwater tournament).  Shaking off the stink from the toad, my next fish was "tap, tap, fish on, or is it..."  That is the fight of the ribbon fish, which got a piece of me.  My final fish at the reef was a nice keeper flattie.  If you don't know, flounder are notorious for their antics once in the yak.  Lets just say that it was a mutual release.  I finished up with a blue in the surf to call it a day.

9-6-10
Got an invite to fish with Mark, Kris and her son Daniel.  We hit Rudee inlet in search for some "Fall" fish.  Some specks were caught, with Kris catching one for our group.  I hit a small red, which I was hoping was a speck.  I tried fishing some structure, and had a nice trout hit.  It decided to wrap me around some pylons, and release itself (I hate that).  Im pretty sure I let out a hoot, and a holler on that fish.  Still working the same structure, I hit a "schollie" striper to call it a morning.  All fish in our group were caught on Marsh Works plastics!

"Puppy" Drum

"Schoolie" Striper

I had a prior commitment to take a friend to the ODU reef.  After calling from Rudee and hearing "Oh, the water's like glass", I departed the Oceanfront for Norfolk.  To my pleasure, I walk over the berm to find 2-4' seas.  The period on these waves was not 10-15 seconds, but more like 2-5 seconds.  Needless to say it was rough.  We paddle out and decide that going the mile and a half to the reef is not the best idea.  The day ended early and on kinda sour terms.  But hey there is always next week!

Dramamine please

Catchin' for Kids, and Catching Up

8-29-10

This post seems to have a common theme (searching for redemption after a tough Saturday).  I hit some local water with the president of TKAA Mark Lozier and his girlfriend Kris.  It was a beautiful morning on the water and the company was second to none (thanks guys)!  On the way to our morning destination, Mark hooked up with a nice red (approx 26-27'').  Working the water and the incoming tide, Kris hooked up with a mid 20" red.  I am feeling the pressure now.  Next thing I know Kris has a nice red on again.  This one was 27 1/2".  All fish were over the VA slot size of 26".  It is nice to have these quality fish in the area!

On another note, Mark is a pro staffer for a number of different companies as well as a local guide.  Mark gave me some plastics and corks form a company called Marsh Works.  Their products are sweet.  The plastics have a nice shape (Bayou Thumper, and the Killa Squilla) and are durable.  One of my favorite presentations for reds are throwing spinnerbaits with paddle tails.  The problem I have with other baits is the plastics ride down to the bend of the hook.  The Marsh Works plastics did not have that problem.  Running over oyster bars, crab's clawing the baits, and the infamous croaker biting the tails off your plastics are not a problem.  I fished with one plastic all day.  The action is second to none.  I recommend taking a look at their site and support a American company (products made in the USA).

8-28-10

I headed out to Lynnhaven via Crab Creek looking for some reds.  The water in the system is getting better, but is still a bit murky.  I got to my "usual" spot looking to hook up.  I had a few short hits, but nothing i could do anything with.  It was a tough day of fishing, but was nice to get out none the less.  I left the water with the black and white striped kitty on my back.

8-21-10

After feeling down in the dumps about not scoring any points for the club the previous day, I hit the Old Dominion University (ODU) Reef.  The reef is man made, about a mile off shore in the Chesapeake Bay.  The weather was threatening all morning.  After realizing that I was in the clear, I paddled out.  I saw one Cobia, but was unable to make a cast.  The water was like glass, and the tide just started to ebb.  I was fishing a "Big-eyed Bucktail" flounder rig with a 5" finger mullet.  On my first pass over the reef, I nailed a 23" flounder.  It was a nice fish and a nice fight.  I was on my way to let a new TKAA member paddle my X-Factor, when I hooked up with a ribbon fish.  It was definitely a first for me.

8-20-10

I had the pleasure to fish in the 2010 Catchin for Kids Angler Club Challenge.  I was fishing with Cory Routh, and two other members from TKAA.  Fishing was slow for us, catching small sea bass, spot and blues.  Cory caught a nice little 15" flounder to make us feel a bit better.  It was a tough day, but in the end, TKAA took 5th place in the tournament (not bad for being the only club without powerboats).