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.

Lake Smith, May 8, 2010

Had a great day on Lake Smith again! It was a little chilly but it was overcast all day so it was perfect for spring topwater action. I caught 4 keepers from 2pm-7pm including a 4 1/2 pounder, two 3 pounders and a small buck bass. All on PopRs and the fish were holding tight to the shoreline and wood cover. I caught the last fish on the last cast of the day! He inhaled the PopR after one twitch on a huge tree which must have blown over the back of this creek in the nor'easter we had months ago. The average size of the fish in this lake is awesome. Check out the pic of the big bass after he inhaled the lure!