Phil. W Kayak Fishing.: To nice weather and meeting new people!

This winter has been pretty crazy with record snow falls and temperature drops. The brutal cold has been detrimental to the residential speckled trout and redfish in the surrounding inlets and bays. Since the two times I went out in the salt I didn’t get a bite or see any active fish so during the two warm spells we had I decided to hit fresh water in hopes of catching some yellow perch, crappie, bass, or whatever bites.

My first outing after installing the fish finder was out to West Neck Creek. I met Tim from TKAA/POL out on the water. There was 2 inches of ice from the ramp to 30 yards out but it was sunny and little to no wind when I got to the ramp at Westneck Marina. There was 2 vehicles with trailers and you could see where the ice was thinner where people had launched earlier in the day. I unloaded the kayak and slid out on the ice, a few yards out and it broke and I pushed through the slush to open water. I met Tim at the bridge and we started targeting whatever was biting. Unfortunately my bad luck started out my first trip of the year with a skunk. It was a nice paddle and a lot of fun exploring a new area. The fish finder kept going from zero feet to 300 feet in depth and wasnt showing any fish or marking contours on the bottom, I dont know if it was a low battery or a lose cable.

Pretty nice paddle.

Water was like glass with no wind.

Two days this month have been in the 60s. The first day me and BB headed out on a small local lake that has reported to have a good yellow perch bite. We got some bait from Oceans East and paddled out on Little Creek Reservoir looking for suspended fish. Yet again my bad luck was the victor and we were not able to locate any fish, and after talking to several other kayakers and boaters not a fish was caught that day on the whole lake. I don’t know if the cold freeze had any effect on this lake, the deepest part I marked on the depth finder was 10 feet, and the majority of the lake was in the four to five foot range. The depth finder wasnt jumping and was displaying the contours of the bottom and structure so hopefully charging the battery was the fix!

BB being goofy with a self photo (she thought she looked cool with sunglasses on.)


BB really liked this pic of her Werner Camano reflected off the water.

The second outing was with a few Pirates of Lynnhaven anglers. I got a few tips from a local guru and headed down to Lake Meade in Suffolk hoping to find some yellow perch for the fryer. I met Joe, Joe, and Ski out in Chesapeake and we caravanned to the lake. Once we got to the bait shop I met Joe from TKAA and we unloaded the kayaks. The weather was amazing and all of our hopes were up for a good day of fishing. Paddle over here, paddle over there, casting near, and casting far not a fish was caught except a small pickerel by Ski. I wasn’t close enough to see how big it measured, and im sure by the time im writing this it has quadrupled in size so ill leave him to tell the tail of catch. Luckily I enjoy paddling as much as I do fishing or I would be pursuing the wrong hobby. I just hope my bad luck and skunk smell isn’t rubbing off on people I fish with, as I do enjoy the company!