Spadefish, offshore VA Beach

http://www.thesouthernsportsman.net/2011/06/great-weekend-of-fishing-6-18-and-6-19.html

We got into some serious spadefish, offshore VA Beach...28 to be exact. Captain Ed Stonich put us on 'em. Awesome day. We had 'em dialed in. More posts after my studies....

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Sept. 19, 2010

Hit the dock at 7am with Ed, Tyson and two of their friends to head to the CBBT to see if the red drum have shown up and maybe catch some flounder. These drum can reach up to 50-55 lbs. at the right time of the year, but it appears to be a small window. Last year, we caught 6 or 7 in the 20-30 lb. range. We loaded up the livewell with about 50 delicious little croaker for bait. This year, we started at the spot drifting a 100 yard stretch and we hooked up with something of good size. 23" flounder added to the box! We fished for another hour with nothing to show for it. We moved to the pilings and dropped our live croaker down and all of a sudden, the surface of the water erupted! Tons of baitfish were literally flying out of the water being chased by some larger fish. We had some light tackle ready and some folks on the boat that didn't have as much experience so this was a great opportunity to boat a lot of fish and keep the excitement up until we located the big red drum. We chased the bait around and landed about 8 good sized Taylor bluefish. I swear we saw some reds, but none bit. Then we headed to the High Rise and dropped some croaker delicacy. As soon as my bait hit bottom, I felt that unmistakable thud like tap. Again and again, I felt the same thing for about a minute. Then all of a sudden, he ate it and took off running with my croaker. I held my ground to allow the circle hook to set perfectly in the corner of his mouth. Drag ripping and head shakes....FISH ON!!!! We were right against the pilings so I prayed he would not wrap me up. We kicked the engine in gear and led him to open water. After more head shakes and drag ripping runs, we all knew I had a red. Sure enough, 5 minutes later, this gorgeous red is in the boat! Too big at 33" to keep, but maybe I will catch him next year when he is over 40". Great way to end the day!!

Paul

Shem Creek, Charleston, SC on July 9th

While visiting Clair in Charleston for the week of July 4th, I was able to fish in Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant. I launched the yak at 5 pm at high tide and paddled towards the back of the creek, so when the tide started to roll out, the current would take me back to the boat ramp. Tons of boat docks and other kayakers out there. Most yakkers were scenic seeking tourists...so I had the fish all to myself! I was prepared to fish for speckled trout and puppy drum, which Charleston has plenty. Unfortunately, there were no fish in THIS creek! Actually, I had 4 good hits. Three blow ups on my topwater and one pulled my DOA float under but not long enough for me to set the hook. It was a cool place to fish anyway. I took my headlamp with me so I could fish after it got dark. I fished until about 10 pm and headed back to the ramp which was eventful because the current was so strong. I almost got swallowed by a boat dock twice as the current tried to take me underneath of it! Next time, I am confident I will boat some fish!

Paul

Lake Gaston fishing on June 19th, 2010

Ok, went fishing with dad on Saturday at 3 pm after Clair had to leave early to go back to work. :( It was so very hot outside. I decided we should fish deepwater boatdocks because I was not satisfied with the small fish we had been catching in prior weeks. We started at the mouth of Little Stonehouse Creek on a perfect boatdock in clear water in high wind that we had never fished before. With a texas rigged worm, we worked each post and for some reason, I threw back to a spot we already hit and my line tightened up and I set the hook. A 5 pounder emerged and jumped! I got him to the boat and dad had the net in hand, the fish jumped again and was gone! Oh no! So frustrating, but at least we knew we were doing something right. We kept working that same boatdock and dad set the hook on a nice keeper, a one pound largemouth in the boat! We moved a few hundred yards to some calmer areas since our trolling motor was no match for the high winds. We stopped after about 1 1/2 hours because dad had to go to a meeting. I dropped him off and headed back out to find more fish. I told him on the way back that I was going to fish 2 specific boatdocks that looked good. Sure enough, on the second one, I flipped my worm to the shaded side of an uncovered boatslip and the line tightened up so I set the hook and I felt a ton of pressure! The fish kept near the bottom as I tried to horse him away from the dock structure. Since he wasn't coming up to the surface, I thought it might be a catfish or a carp. Finally as he neared the boat, I finally caught a glimpse of him....a huge largemouth!!! He continued to fight like a freight train, running drag off my little spinning rod until I grabbed his fat lip and brought him into the boat. The biggest largemouth I have caught in at least 10 years and maybe ever. I didn't have a scale, but he was a fat 21.5" fish. I know he was right around 6 pounds, so we will go with that. I have caught about 5 right around the 6 pound mark, but one day, I look forward to getting that 8 pound citation. He will be on my wall. I caught 2 more keepers on boatdocks on the same worm over the next hour, so we had them figured out with 4 keepers (9 pound stringer) in about 3 hours and one lost 5 pounder.

I picked dad up on the dock at 7 pm and we headed out again. Dad caught 2-3 more keepers off deep boatdocks! I couldn't get a hookset but I think I had a few bites. It started getting dark so dad stopped fishing and sat back to enjoy the sunset and watch me fish a little more. With the sun setting, I decided to switch to a buzzbait. On my first cast, wham! Keeper boated. Second cast, wham! Another keeper threw my buzzbait after a nice jump. Now I know I am doing something right. I started working shallow stumpy flats with the buzzbait. I caught another keeper and then a fat 2 pounder off a shallow stumpy point near the shore. I could barely see the strike because it was so dark now. We headed back to the dock (without lights due to electrical problems) slowly after a successful day. That was a blast! So it was a 10-11 keeper day totaling 18 pounds!!! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO DAD WITH 3 KEEPERS IN THE BOAT!!!

Little Creek Res., June 5th, 2010

Yesterday, I planned on waking up around 7am to head out for largemouth fishing on Lake Smith. Well, somehow I woke up on my own at 4:45am and said, "why would I not?," and hit the lake at 5:45 am. I actually ended up on Little Creek Reservoir (across the street!) instead because the lazy park officials didn't wake up as early as I did and Little Creek doesn't have a locked gate. I have caught nice fish in both but I have more confidence in catching larger fish in Smith. As soon as I hit the water, the waterfall from Smith into Little Creek was flowing hard with TONS of baitfish and larger fish feeding on the surface, so of course I try topwater for 30 minutes but nothing to show for my efforts. How could I not get bit!! I stopped immediately after I noticed a carp jump out of the water...great...I think it's breeding time for them in early summer.

Here we go...I started working the SW shoreline with a buzzbait for an early morning bite as the sun was just starting to break on the horizon. After 30 minutes, I threw to a pretty small, sandy beach and halfway to the yak, a largemouth boiled, but missed my buzzbait! Dang! As seen on TV, I casted right back to the same spot with a topwater popper (Rico) and twitched it a few times and WHAM! After a few really nice jumps, I landed a nice 2 pound largemouth. I can't help but think I could have caught more bass on topwater if I didn't waste my time with those baitfish and carp! I went 3 hours without a nibble using small crankbaits and topwater. I started getting discouraged so I slowed my presentation and went to the Zoom Trick Worm. I was working the brush lined shore in the canal in the NW corner when Clair calls and I take a break from fishing with the yak resting against the shoreline. After I got off the phone, my first cast was to a good looking laydown log which was 10 feet away and my plastic worm begins swimming into deep water! I took up the slack and set the hook! What a great fight...this guy did not want anything to do with my yak and I had to cradle him with my hand instead of lipping him...he was angry and fat! Nice chunky 3 pounder!

I worked the rest of the canal with the plastic worm and came across a huge laydown, a full sized tree in the sun...the other bass came from the hot sun too, which surprised me. I flipped the worm into the heavy cover (Fireline is crucial in this stuff) and I felt snagged on some branches underwater for an abnormally long time so I set the hook hard and a pretty bass leaped out of the water with my worm in his mouth! I fought him through some more cover and horsed him out of there. He looked huge coming out of the water in the middle of that fallen tree, but he wasn't as fat as the last one...2 1/2 pounder. I'll take it! These two fish came on large diameter wood, not the small, thick brush that they were relating to in Lake Smith recently. All of these fish seemed to be males that were left behind post-spawn to look after their fry. No evidence of the large females anywhere...I assume they are in the deep water suspending and recuperating from the spawn. By this time, it was about 11:30am. I am pretty tired and hot. It's 92 degrees and feels like 100. I fish a little more but packed it in and headed 1/2 mile back to the ramp, splashing water over me so I didn't die of heat stroke! Not a bad day on the water.

Ended the day with 3 healthy largemouth totaling 8 pounds. I'll take that any day. All bass were released so they can protect their fry so I can catch more next year!

Lake Smith, April 10, 2010

Fished Lake Smith for largemouth bass today. I learned some new tips on worm fishing from a seminar by Woo Daves, so I deployed them on this trip to the fullest. I fished a worm 95% of the time today to force myself to get good at it...that works for me when I am trying to gain confidence in a particular lure. I fished the Zoom worm on a small bullet weight thru brush and docks in the usual places. I caught 4 keepers including two very fat 3 pounders. I moved to a new spot in the NW corner along a huge fallen tree. I threw my worm between a boatdock and a big pile of brush sticking out of the water, switched it twice and WHAM! (well, more like tap tap, swim to the side). So I set the hook and watched a 5 1/2 pound beauty jump clear out of the water 3 times until I landed him. What a way to end the day!

Lynnhaven Inlet fishing on May 22nd

I hit the water inside Lynnhaven Inlet around noon on Saturday, May 22nd about 1/2 hour after the incoming tide began. I prefer the outgoing tide, but I would have needed to get up at 3am (not going to happen on a Saturday) or wait until 6 pm. Bright and sunny and about 75 degrees...without sunblock (after the day was over, I realized it was no more than one foot away from me all day!). The mission today was to explore the huge inlet and see if the redfish had moved in yet and maybe catch a few flounder and croaker. Used fishbites (Artificial bloodworms and squid) and all the traditional artificial lures for the redfish. It took 3 hours to get my first fish...a small spot which is pretty rare this time of year. The redfish haven't moved in yet, but I found some great spots I will definitely revisit when they move in soon. The one pic of the kayak was a little sandbar I found at low-mid tide where I sat and ate my lunch and fished from the sand a while. That's the kinda stuff that makes fishing the inlet so much fun. No kayaks or boats in sight.

Loaded the kayak in the truck at 4:30 and met my brother and nephew at the ramp to fish off the beach under the Lesner Bridge. We caught about 6 flounder with my brother catching the biggest at 19"!!! That's huge for a flounder and even bigger for surf casting off the beach. We caught all of them from 6:30-7:30 just as the outgoing tide began. We packed it up around 11:30pm. Yes, that is nearly a 12 hour fishing day for me. Good times.