Went out to Stumpy Lake in Virginia Beach with BB in hopes of catching some catfish. Catfish is her favorite fish and since I had caught a bunch of keepers before she wanted to go and catch some herself. The weather was nice, although a bit windy and it had rained for the past few days before we went out so the water was a little high. We started fishin around the far side of the golf course and managed a few small white perch and blue gill but no catfish. We kept fishing the bank with nightcrawlers and then finally BB started catching catfish. Unfortunately they were only little kitties not big enough to eat but that didnt stop her from being excited catching fish. She wouldnt pose for a picture and the few pics I took didnt save, having issues with this cheap 30$ digital camera saving photos. Towards sunset we decided to try for some bass and started fishing around the cypress trees. BB was using a purple flippin creature texas rigged and I was using a blue/white 1/2 oz buzz bait. I landed a chunker 3lb bass that was 16 inches long but wide as a barn. BB asked me how she should fish so I told her to hit the trunks of the cypress and let the bait drop and sink down then hop it back to her. She had been casting up into the branches and getting upset, so when I turned and looked and seen her rod nearly doubled over I assumed she was snagged again and started paddling over to help her when suddenly I seen her rod jerk and the line shoot off. It wasnt a tree she had hooked it was a mailbox of a fish! It was a lesson learned for her though because she had her drag set wrong and as soon as she got it up to the kayak it kicked around and the fish went one way and the lure the other. She was still pretty excited to have hooked a bass on her own and how big it was. It could have swallowed a cantaloupe!
 | ||
| White perch! |
 |
| Irritated phil caught on camera! 10 second timer and the fish jumped out of my lap before I could get the photo! |
 | |
| Chunky bass on the buzz bait. |
 |
| 16 inch 3 lbs! |
Tuesday (2JUL) I spent the afternoon fishin Lake Bradford on Little Creek . Took the kayaks out with a buddy from work hopin to catch some bass and took some nightcrawlers along to get a few cats for dinner. The forecast was for scattered rain in the evening but partly cloudy and warm throughout the day. We got out on the lake at around 3pm and paddled to the end of the lake and started fishing top water. Some darker clouds moved in and we started paddling into a creek. Summertime bass fisherman know that a few rain drops wont damper the fishing and sometimes can even turn the bite on so we kept on fishin. Almost immediately once we decided to stay it seemed someone wanted us off the lake because the bottom of the clouds fell out. It started raining so hard I couldnt see Zach who was only about 40 feet away from me. The kayak was nearly submerged with the rain coming up from the lake so we started paddling for the boat ramp. Of course my biggest worry, especially after watching Rob Choi's video at the CBBT was lightning. Sure enough in the distance a flash and a rumble let me know this wasnt gonna just be a summer rain storm. I started paddling faster and Zach felt it necessary to anger the powers that be. "What are you worried about Zeus and Thor are too busy to waste time throwing lightning bolts at us on this lake." Simultaneous with 'time' a huge lightning bolt shot across the sky right above us. It was so close the sizzle and crack of the thunder made my hair stand on end! I couldnt believe he was trying to jinx us while actually out on the water, in a rain storm so strong we were practically submarines! Needless to say no fish were caught on this trip. Although im sure there was enough water in the jeep when I got home that a few herring were eyeing it as a place to wade for fish...
Wednesday I spent the day out at Lynnhaven with absolutely no luck, didnt take any kind of bait only gulp and I didnt even catch a croaker. I guess thats fishin not catchin!
Thursday for the 4th I wanted to spend the day at the CBBT but I couldnt find a single parking spot within 2 miles of Alexander's so I fished the HRBT instead. I fished all day and into the night catching more croaker than you can shake a stick at and a dozen or so 'belt-buckle' sized flounder. I never did land any keeper flounder but I did manage a few large spot and croaker to take home for dinner. I had the saltist out with a live croaker on it and it took off peeling line, I tightened the drag and started reeling got the mystery fish near the kayak and right when I was able to see color/shape it took off again and jerked once or twice and then my hook flew out of the water. I think it was a blue, but not too sure.
It was a pretty awesome 4th of July One of the cool things about being out on the water at the HRBT was I got to see some pretty awesome firework shows. It was nice weather and a nice day out on the water anyway.
 |
| 13 inch croaker, not bad eaten when fresh! (This one was dinner.) |
 |
| Belt buckle flounder, caught about a dozen this size but no keepers! |
 |
| Whats left of the croaker after somthing bit it. |
Friday I did laundry and chores. For dinner I boiled up some shrimp, blue crab, and the spot/croaker I caught on the 4th and had a pretty excellent meal.
Saturday I had plans of fishing the outgoing night tide at Lynnhaven but decided to fish with some friends on the Norfolk base pier. It was pretty packed with kids running around screaming, people crossing lines and casting every direction, and just chaos and disorder so I decided to fish the rocks. I brought my surf rod along so I was actually able to cast out farther than the people at the end of the pier were so I had pretty high hopes as I started out. I was using chowder clams on a fish finder rig. A guy a few yards beside me (yeah the rocks were packed too) was catching small croaker and spot and he was using a little spincast zebco so I figured id catch somthing atleast. A few hours went by and all I managed was a few small croaker, I know rays like to come in around the bay so I chopped one up for cut bait. Thom showed up, and he too decided to fish the rocks instead of the pier. As we waited on Bryan and Schyler to show up we were talkin about the different fishing regulations. Im not sure if your allowed to fish from the rocks on base, but I do know that on the pier you dont have to have a saltwater license because MWR has one for the pier itself. But, once your off the pier, your no longer covered so you have to have your own saltwater license*. Bryan and Schyler showed up and we started fishin and I noticed the guy beside us was catching undersized flounder and was keeping them. As I came back from the jeep getting a drink he decided to brag to me about catching "some nice flounder," so I took a look. I really hate people who dont follow regulations and this guy trying to brag about it really bothered me. I told him they were illegal fish and he needed to let them go. 10 seconds later he packed his stuff and left. I dont know if it was me calling him out on the fish and he thought he would 'get me' or if it was coincidence but about 10 minutes after he left the gamewardens pulled up and made a line straight for us. I couldnt believe that after this guy was catching undersized fish and then the gamewardens came right for us. Of course I checked out fine, I even have base permit from MWR along with my salt/freshwater license.
Sunday I wanted to go to the CBBT, but I didnt get out to the beach until 10 am, and again there was no parking. So I tried Lynnhave and Rudee with the same results, no parking. I ended up just paddling off the beach at Ocean View at the park. I paddled out until the beach looked tiny and started fishin. I figured I was right in between the CBBT and HRBT so there had to be some fish. I started chumming with a block of frozen cut bait with clam juice and had 2 rods with live small croaker. Within about 20 minutes my saltist started screaming. I flipped the lever forward and jerked back on the rod. There was somthing huge for about seconds and then nothing. I reeled it in and found a clean cut piece of flouro (40 lb leader.) So I switched from flouro leader to braid and tried again. Another 40 minutes pass and again the clicker starts screamin. This time instead of setting the hook hard I just applied steady preasure. It felt like a decent sized fish and I was hoping it wasnt a ray when all of a sudden it took off peeling line. I tightened the drag down and then they kayak got spun around, I didnt want the current to pull me with the anchor at an odd angle so I released my anchor line. After about 5 minutes I got it up to the surface and was surprised to see a shark! This was my first shark from the yak and I was super excited. I didnt get any pictures because I was messing with the shark, trying to land it without losing a piece of me, measure it, and I didnt want it to die. I got an inaccurate reading of 42 inches on the paddle as it was flopping around. It dug some sweet gouges in my fish grips though. Got the circle hook out and let him swim. It was a brownish grey with darker fins, unsure what kind of shark it was. Then the break offs continued. Total I lost 6 hooks before I called it a day. I had a trolling motor battery in my jeep and it leaked acid all over the back seat and I think it got on my fishin line. Every 20 feet or so my 65# PP would mysteriously just give under pressure. I ended up coming home with 3 large spot to eat and slime from hundreds more croaker.
The weather was amazing and it was a great day to be out on the kayak. I got to hangout with a huge sea turtle. It scared me half to death when it surfaced the first time. It was less than 5 feet from the kayak and its huge head plunged out of the water and it snorted and wheezed like a big ol buck in the rut. I nearly fell out of the kayak. Then it just kinda floated around by me lookin at me. I think it wanted the fish on my stringer but didnt know what to think of me. I kept my paddle close incase he wanted to get closer and take a bite I could push him off. It was every bit of 5 feet across on its shell. Its head was as big as a basketball with eyes the size of a grapefruit. Once I started movin around trying to get my digital camera off its mount to take a picture it dove back down. About 4 hours later it came back up again and checked me out but again I didnt have time to get a photo. I did take some video as it was submerging but you cant really see anything. Definitely one of the coolest things to happen out on the water. Seeing dolphins is cool but that sea turtle was huge! And after watchin documentaries and movies and hearing about them it was really awesome to actually be that close to one and see it out there. Finding Nemo has nothing on the real deal!
Today I got the saltist respooled with 65# power pro green, I got a crimping set and 80# Berkley big game leader, and new swivels. As soon as the weather clears up ill be back out there lookin for red drum, black drum, cobia, sharks, rays, and ofcourse croaker!
No comments:
Post a Comment