BB had just received her custom YakAttack BlackPak and with 2.5 days off work and good weather forecasts we were ready to hit the water. I had reached out to Luther concerning the availability of a custom purple BlackPak and he said it was a no go but suggested I contact Chad Hoover at Hook1. A short phone call later and I had a purple digital camo BlackPak on order. If you havnt checked out Hook1 head over to
Hook1 and check it out. Chad was able to work with me to make sure I got exactly what I was looking for. The only thing holding us back was we both had to work late, and a few
stray cats. We somehow got sucked into a strange cat voodoo worm hole
that was destined to bring at the time unforeseen bad luck to our
weekend. Due to extreme delay-fish style tactics we didnt get out onto the water
until Sunday. Our early start Saturday was sabotagedand we spent the day
taking care of responsible things like mowing the lawn (or atleast I
was responsible.*) BB made an epic breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs and I was under the impression she didnt want to go fishing so I was focusing on another day of boredom when she started loading up kayak stuff.
We finally made it onto the water around 10 A.M. at the HRBT Hampton side. I started unloading the kayaks while BB paid our launch fee. I got my kayak unstrapped and was about to reach for the handles to bring it down when BOOM! It slipped off the foam blocks and landed CRUNCH on the passenger side. An 80 pound kayak can do some damage, and it isnt the first time BB's poor car has been damaged by my kayak, having the roof dented in last summer when I was struck by a car while unloading.* Her passenger mirror was smashed. and dangling. It seems the black cat was already affecting our day! We began searching for flounder from the ramp to the bridge, the current and wind were coming from the E and pushing us across the flat grassy area. Unfortunately we didnt manage any bites. The weather was really cloudy and although it was humid you could feel a coolness coming from the water. There was grass/debris in the water and it was murky and churned up. Once we made it to the bridge we began searching for the flat fish around and between the pilings. BB began focusing on croaker and rounhead with fish bites while casting with her purple Striper Addiction jig. It wasnt long before I felt the bite of a fish on my double jig rig. Unfortunately what I thought was a small flounder turned out to be a big ol ugly oyster toad who decided he wanted bucktail for dinner. I quickly unhooked him and tossed him back. Second cast and it barely hit the bottom before I seen the line pop to one side and I set the hook again on another fat toad. I was getting worried after a few more casts and not catching anything, even on fishbites neither one of us were catching a single croaker. It seemed the black cat was even making the fish steer clear of us! We paddled further down the bridge and then we started getting into black seasbass. None bigger than 6 inches but as soon as you could put a lure into the water it was attacked. BB managed to catch a few black seasbass and two oyster toads herself. We decided to paddle over to the East side of the island and look for some fish in the rocks. I was busy tying on a new lure having lost one of my jigs on a hangup. While I was tying up I happened to look up and see BB had a fish on! She pulled up about a 12 inch croaker, she was super happy and it was a nice fish. I helped her get it off the hook and released it. Not twenty seconds later but I look over near the rocks and see the fin of a small shark slicing through the water. I then noticed 2-3 more and seen the churned up water where they were searching for food. Why did I let that croaker go?! I was hoping BB was going to cast back where she had caught it and catch another because I had changed out the bottom rig on my other fishing rod, but BB took this ill timed shark bait release to remember that she had forgotten somthing. BB forgot she had dropped her uniform off at the dry cleaners and she needed a uniform to wear Monday. I think she was kinda disappointed in the weather, and that we didnt go fishing Saturday, she said she wanted to go get her uniform and that she would come back and we could keep fishing.
I switched a rod over to fishbites and started trying to catch a small croaker to use for bait keeping an eye on the "busy" water where the sharks were. I dont know if it was the presence of the sharks or the bad luck we had been having all day but I wasnt able to catch a fish to use for bait and then the sharks moved on. I paddled over to the West side of the island to see if they had continued to swim around chasing baitfish. I ran into Jake Lusk out fishing on his boat, I told him I was trying to catch croaker and not even managing to do that. I watched him and his friend pull up a few double hook ups of small black seabass and then continued to drift down the rocks of the island. I switched my spinning rod over to a PTL 3.6 JP Hammer Shad on a 3/8 oz Owner roundball jig head. I was just bouncing it along the bottom while trying to catch a croaker and look for shark activity. Cast to the rocks, let it sink down to the bottom and a jerk pause retrieve. I was hoping for a nice flatfish, a couple friends of mine had just pulled up some nice 20 inchers the weekend before, so I knew I was in a good spot for them to be. I did manage to catch a croaker finally, but he was scarred up on both sides by somthing and I figured he earned his right to live so I let him go. I had almost given up on fishing altogether and was about to call it quits when I casted the all important and mythical 'final cast.'
I felt it sink down and popped it up let it sink back down and was just about to pop it up again when I felt like someone tried to jerk the rod out of my hand. The drag was screaming and it pulled my kayak around where the fish was running. I reeled down and set the hook good and was really excited to have such a nice hit. I thought it was going to be a massive flounder. Only this didnt feel like any flounder ive ever caught. It ran down and then started with big head shakes that felt like a mule kicking. I couldnt put alot of pressure on him because I was using my old cheap BPS mega cast fishing reel with only 10 pound mono-filament. (For explanation of the junky reel see my previous
post.) I was trying to gain line back knowing that with the rocks around the island and the direction I was going I might lose the fish. I Thought I gained some line back and got the fish closer when it would take off again doubling my medium action Blair Wiggins inshore rod over. I could feel my BPS reel handle bending and feel the spool getting warm as I tried to use my finger to slow the fish down and turn it from the rocks. After about twenty minutes I managed to raise the fish to the surface, a nice redfish aka puppy drum. I scooped him up with my leg and got my fish grips on him before I put him on the hawg trough. 25 inch redfish was not anything I had expected to catch at the HRBT. I casted again to the rocks and hopped it a few times over the bottom and felt the same slam and long run, another red! This one at 24 inches. I sure could get use to catching fish like that! Redfish in July are about ten times harder fighting for their size than in April! I cant believe my reel held up, and the 10 pound test Berkley Trilene mono!
I fished the rocks a few more passes and managed a few more smaller fish that I couldnt keep, and then the school seemed to move on. I kept fishing around the island and managed a few bluefish in the 16-19 inch range but no flounder or more reds, and I didnt spot the sharks again. Then BB called and said she was at the ramp and I decided to paddle in and call it a day!
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| BB's custom BlackPak mid assembly. |
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| Creepy black cat that jinxed our weekend. |
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| 25 inch Redfish aka puppy drum |
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| An awesome looking 24 inch redfish, they really are gorgeous fish! |
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| 17 inch Bluefish bit my PTL Hammer Shad in half! |
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| Big ol croaker with a big scar on his sides, it looked like either somthing tried to eat him or use him as bait when he was smaller. |
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| The scar was on both sides, looked like a bite or a hook scar. |
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| Video of the 2nd Red about halfway through, its bad quality and I had to hold my cellphone with my mouth to record. See the full video here! |
