Happy hollidays everyone. It is December, which means striped bass in Virginia waters and getting new tools for fishing in the 2021 season. I am hoping to do some bridge fishing up in Ocean City and get out in the Bay to chase the birds in the coming weeks.
It is also sale season. I took advantage of Hatteras Jacks doing a 20% off sale for Black Friday and ordered a new Penn Fathom II 15 Casting Special. I ordered it Saturday morning, and it arrived in Mechanicsville yesterday. That is big time service from Ryan White and his team.
I have looked at lots of other nicknacks: the Engel dry box with rod holders, backpacks, spools of Berkley Pro Spec Chrome, and as always the 10% off Avet sale has me looking at the Neptune Heart (Hokies Colors) G2 SX reels for cobia fishing.
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I'll catch up on my Thanksgiving fishing which doesn't compare to fly guy trip to NC. I went trout fishing on Friday but managed to find a few flounder and only a small trout. Went to a different spot on Saturday, got a family friend on a few rat reds, a 17.5" trout. I caught more flounder and a couple rat reds. I caught a 16" flounder off the dock. Went on a 24 hr headboat trip with Carolina Princess saturday night to sunday night. Caught beeliners, grunts in a very slow night bite with high current. Moved more inshore to avoid the current. Sun came up and small almaco jacks started hitting our jigs. Triggers, beeliners and sea bass were also caught during the day. I did a mix bouncing jigs, bait fishing and speed jigging. Got into a nice class of 30-40 lb AJs on speed jigs late in the trip but I got tangled up with other lines. Needed to tighten up my drag more. Fun to get out there and get thumped on jigs and have some drag screaming action.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday buys for me were some custom MR27 from chasin tails, new Simms waders, Garmin EchoMap with sidescan for the kayak, Temple Reef slow pitch jigging rod.
3rd gen
which garmin did you get?
Garmin Echomap UHD 73sv. It has the lake maps but I use navionics on my phone so much. I didn't care about the maps. It is compatible with panoptix if I ever decide to get it.
https://www.thegpsstore.com/Garmin-ECHOMAP-UHD-73sv-with-LakeVu-G3-Chart...
nm
in 2'-4' of water, how far to the side do you think you will be able to see?
From what I've heard, you need 5' of water for it to be truly effective. Hummingbird website said it can see 50 to 75 feet laterally in 2' of water. I'll give a report once I get out and use it.
looking forward to that
I have very limited space on the small console of the little Scout and I have one of the small echomap cv's for nav/speed, etc. I think the 73 sv will fit in that spot, probably at an angle, but it would be close
I really want sidescan capability and humminbird makes a little smaller unit that I know would fit but i'm not sure what it has for nav., and I'm used to the Garmin
I have a 4" echomap CV right now. Use it for depth and water temp and somewhat speed if I'm trolling between spots. I'm hopefully that sidescan be a game changer in seeing oyster beds easier and locating fish.
Sidescan would be really really helpful for finding the slight holes while out and about that can hold a few fish that most people would pass right over. Let us know how it works, I'd love to have it for rivers but my luck Id get the transducer broken in the summer.
Any reports yet?
I picked one up but haven't installed it yet It does appear to use the same console base and transducer bracket as the smaller CV so hopefully no more drilling. I have to fish the cable from the rear up to the console and swap the power cord...a little bit of a pain in cramped space but hopefully not complicated.
Nope, haven't gotten out. I'll probably use it over Christmas in Beaufort.
I spent about six hours last night on the Route 50 Bridge catwalk in Ocean City Maryland last night. I managed four schoolie stripers from 14 to 21 inches. The biggest may have been 4 pounds. There were lots of fish rolling but not eating. All my fish were caught in a 2 hour window on a pink BKD and one oz jig head. The fish seemed to be the local resident fish (no sea lice) so I think I tried this a couple weeks too late.
Out here today togging. I have seen some caught, and my friend has one, but none for me. Togging may be the most frustrating form of fishing. Back for the stripers at tonight's low slack.
Glad you found a few to eat.
Is cobia sightcasting more frustrating?
Had to go to Deltaville to get my next supply of drinking water from the fire department. It's hell living in an area where potable water is a luxury, but I know that my problem is definitely a first world one. As usual, though, I digress.
Point being I stopped in J&W's for a few shrimp and talked with the guys in the tackle shop. Their report on the rockfish this year so far is that they're still in Maryland and up the rivers. He told me the hot bite right now is around Urbanna starting above the Rt 3 bridge on the Rappahannock. Usually by now, the mouth of the Rapp and out along the Cut channel have a lot of fish and birds, but apparently it just isn't happening yet.
Interesting, kinda makes sense with a warmer fall.
That seems to be the consensus.
Any idea where the trout have wandered off to? Seems weird the drum and stripers are still in the creeks but the specks are gone.
Not hearing dick about the trouts. My neighbor caught his last one a couple of weeks ago and he said his buddy had caught a couple of shorts under the lights in the wee, wee hours before dawn, but the three trips I took with him recently produced no trout at all.
apples and oranges geographically but here the trout are acting really weird, even in shallow water
I'd cast out a shad tail. let it sit on the bottom for 2-4 seconds. then reel real slow for 3-4 turns just dragging the bait. then rinse and repeat. almost like fishing a carolina rig for bass in summer. trout are picking it up while it is lying still on the bottom or as soon as it moves. now, when they hit, they are inhaling the bait. but I have NEVER fished this slow for trout. this time of year they are usually in the middle of the water column and really active. and it was the same before and after the big cold front this week (hey, we had frost!).
A dozen trout and a red today, all undersize. But it was a beautiful day, mid 60's and a light breeze, and had my fav spots to myself.
Them's purdy.
Stinker tonight. Three diaper stripers and one tog fishing from 9:30AM to 9:00pm today, with a break for food. I am going into quarantine for two weeks so I can see my parents at Christmas. This may be my surrender cobra trip to end the year.
Went out of Wilmington yesterday hoping for blackfins, african pompano, big jacks. The big blow the day before had messed up the fish. We lost a ton of jigs to barracuda cut offs and a few shark attacks. One nice african pompano was caught, a red hind grouper, one big jack was caught around 45 lbs. The worse offshore trip I've been a part of. Had some great marks but fish didn't want our jigs.
Nothing to get excited about around here in the mid-Bay area. At least you got out and saw a few, but I know your expectations were a bit higher than that. My fishing season has been a lot like the Hokie football team, some highs, too many lows, and a feeling of something I haven't experienced much of as a fisherman...indifference bordering on apathy. Don't know exactly what to blame this on, age, burn out, whatever, but I'll just blame it on Covid and hope I can bounce back with enthusiasm next spring. I fished less this past year than any year I can recall as an adult since I was finishing up at Tech back in the 70s. I firmly believe that were I not a married man, I'd probably be lying in the shade behind a shrimp shack somewhere in south Florida, with a bottle of rum and a lime and a couple of other reprobates to share them with, waiting for the right tide to go find some snapper to fry light for supper. Walter Middy's got nothing on me.
I hear ya Fish. The burn out is real. I got frustrated and burnt out with trout fishing in your area in fall. I might pedal around if it's decent on sunday just to get out but most of fishing this fall has been mediocre and it wears on ya. Shrimp shack sounds lovely right now with the snow in RVA..
I am completely burnt out on the Bay. Even sight casting redfish in the few spots you can do it there, meh. It just doesn't hold a candle to fishing in NC. And talking to my friends living in Morehead, they all think the fishing is much better in SC than NC.
I just want to live at a Colorado ski resort again for the next 4-5 months and shred the gnar on my snowboard. It's all I've been thinking about lately.
Only fishing related thing I feel like doing is tying flies and instead of that I'm tying earrings 90% of the time. Fish, you asked what I'm doing for money this winter... well I just totalled my earring sales for the year and I'm over $2200. So, I'll be tying more of these amongst other business ventures.
If anyone wants a unique, fashionable Christmas gift for their significant other and to help this fly fishing guide pay for trailer and boat parts, I'll extend a special TKP deal of buy one pair, get one free.
Instagram is @prettyflydesigns_
Website: www.prettyfly-designs.com
Yeah sight casting the flat isn't a big thing up here. I'm curious what is better in SC other than having more opportunities at tailing/flood tide reds. NC has bigger drum, bigger trout, closer offshore runs. Don't know if SC really has an albie fishery.
One of my long time Hokie buds has lived in both states for decent intervals, now in Surf City for the second time. When he lived in SC, it was generally accepted that the waters were a bit warmer, plenty of grassy areas and sloughs inshore, and better enforcement and stricter laws on nets, etc. How it is now, I have no idea, but for flounder and reds, he preferred SC. Other fish, I dunno.
Interesting about Flounder. I've always done best on them in NC and I crush them on fly. The success of the moratorium the past year should teach us humans a lesson, but we will see. Some damn big ones were caught this past fall.
Interestingly, the sea bass/tog boats in Ocean City had a run of massive flounder (5-8 pounds) the last couple days of November.
I think a lot of it has to do with the tailing reds and the amount of them, plus tarpon. If NC did away with all of the bullshit nets, both gill and pound, you'd have an epic redfish fishery and probably a tarpon fishery there too.
I prefer NC because the majority of it is clean clear water over sand, whereas NC is dirty water over mud. I just like sight casting cruising fish in clear water the best. Tailers are great too. As you mentioned albies and the ease of getting offshore, particularly from MHC, it really is tough to beat.
I also find SC to have more crowded waters, though admittedly I've only fished mostly around Charleston. My friend on the SC/GA border raves about the fishing he has down there and he grew up in MHC. Hoping to go visit him soon.
I think the tarpon will continue to move more north with warmer temps. I didn't know that SC had that much grass/sand flats and was unsure how legit their tarpon fishery was. I think mud and big tides but only fished Kiawah Island casually awhile ago. My focus has always been MHC when going to seminars and listening to podcasts so kinda ignorant to SC stuff. Probably has less boat traffic which can help fishing regardless of where you are at.
There are tarpon in VA, if you know where to look. Unfortunately, I do not. I have seen them off Bogue Inlet and Avalon Pier during the summer.
I know a very very general area but I'm not looking for a unicorn fish. I'm just talking that there will be enough of them for it to be a legit fishery where a good amount of people target them.
That's insane that they get that far north. I didn't know your waters got warm enough for them. I guess with the gulfstream not being terribly far offshore it does make sense.
Speaking of consistently warming waters, some guy in a facebook group I'm in caught a bonefish about an hour north of tampa about 3 weeks ago. I had honestly given up hope of ever seeing one outside of the keys, but that hope is renewed.
There were a few bonefish caught off of OBX piers in the summer. So they are definitely moving around more.
That's awesome. I've heard they're an absolute blast. I was supposed to be in the keys this past April fishing for them until the Rona hit and the keys completely closed themselves off. Maybe this coming year...
Tarpon are caught in VA every year off of Cape Charles. Only 4 have ever been recorded caught on fly. I have people every year who ask me how to do it. I have no freaking clue and no interest, frankly. If I want to catch Tarpon, I'll come sleep on your couch.
There 's also permit in NC and juvenile snook, but the snook never make it through the winter supposedly. And I've seen tarpon on three different occasions at Cape Lookout, off of the jetty. A 125 pounder was caught in a net off of Emerald Isle two weeks ago. Fucking nets.
I was also told last night Redfish have recently been caught off of NJ.
Just a very few years back a guy caught a tarpon on this side of the Chesapeake Bay, in an area between the mouth of the Rappahannock and the Potomac in an area called Fleets Bay. There's a Youtubery thingee out there, I believe, because I recall seeing the picture. Guy was in a kayak, caught the fish on bait, and it hit the bait while the guy was taking a leak, if I correctly recall.
I've heard of eating fried chicken to get the fish to bite with your hands preoccupied but that takes the cake!
It's a wonder that fish made it through all of the gill nets in Fleets.
Tarpon is my sole target next may through september next year from the yak. I've yet to land one, spinning or fly.
Permit are an absolute blast and delicious. I'd love to hear about one of you guys catching one up there!
Permit are an absolute blast and delicious.
Eating a permit and being a fly fisherman are not things that go hand in hand.
I have not eaten one since I started fly fishing salt water. This was much before I knew how amazing they are as a species
They don't have tons of grass and sand flats like you would think of a traditional tarpon fishery in the keys or tropics. They do have a fair number of fish moving through and up into their rivers. A few can be caught on fly, most are caught on live mullet. I know of one guide who has a 3 month season dedicated strictly to them, north of Charleston.
I figured you were watching those Fraser Island flats photos and setting up an "Australia or Bust" savings account.
(Or, that could be me.)
That's on the list along with a million other places. Trying to get this whole making money while I sleep thing to be as consistent as I need it to be and I'll be only guiding minimally and traveling more.
My master plan-
via GIPHY
Twitch my slow days. Makes cash. Because everyone likes portly middle age guys that sound like Barney Gumble.
You're guaranteed to get more subscribers if you're wearing a pair of my feather earrings while out on the pier...
Anyone else see the new permit rules for using public boat ramps come out? It didn't clarify if using a public ramp was allowed with the possession of a valid fishing or hunting license or if you needed a permit as well. I'll try and find a link from DWR
Found it
https://dwr.virginia.gov/access-permit/faqs/
I didn't hear anything about that at yesterday's VMRC hearing. I was too buys having my public comments ignored while our cobia season was decimated.
I saw this announcement and am torn it's not bad but I also think public access is that and not too thrilled for a new permit even if I'm fine with a fishing license still not going to help in getting people outside and see the world.
Fishing license counts. I'm kind of meh on it. Seems stupid, but as Fish said, would be nice for float tubers to help pay for boat ramps. However, it's one more thing the government likes to have control over. My concern is when the government shuts down like it does every four years, they claim that we can't use boat ramps, much like they blocked access to OBX beaches years ago during a government shutdown. So dumb.
Well see how strictly it's actually enforced I guess it would be easy to stake out a landing with all the drinks and write tickets all day but dunno if it would solve anything. Guess it pays to have any private access even more now
Tubers were of less consequence than the canoes and kayaks, to be honest. Yep, some of those folks were fishing, and presumably had bought fishing licenses, which to my mind vests them in the use of the ramp as legitimately as the rest of us who have, but in my experience on the New, the overwhelming preponderance of those people are not fishing, have no licenses and therefore, are freeloaders.
I still don't get it. Eyes glazed over before I could figure it out. I'll look again tomorrow.
I will admit that there were times on the New River that people would clog the ramps with tubes and kayaks and canoes, impeding we fishermen who paid for the ramp in the first place. I always thought some way of making the freeloaders help pay the freight was a good thing.
Can't see harm if we knew the money would directly go to boat ramps but with all things like this who knows. The rhetoric in the rule confused me and never to me was clear but probably to get some confused sap like me to buy a permit regardless.
I've been on the Boating Advisory Council in FL for 3 years (and I'll likely walk after this term which I think/hope is over next fall) and the "who pays for/gets what" is a chronic issue. All of the user groups think they are holier than the others, and yet they do all have some legitimate points. If anyone on this board has a magic bullet for equity among the user groups, I'll gladly put it in front of the folks in FL that make the rules.
Personally, I favor some kind a registration/fee for ALL vessels (no free lunch); and I favor an increase in access points for non-motorized craft. And anyone getting "out there amongst 'em" needs to have at least a rudimentary boater ed class.
I couldn't agree with that second section any more. Non-motor (or removable trolling motor vessels like mine) access down here is poor beside a few spots. Between bonita springs and marco I can think of one spot where it's "worth the trouble" to launch a canoe/kayak, and that's still almost a quarter mile walk from where you unload, and another mile at least out to decent water.
The boater education minimum needs to become mandated. Idk how many times now I've almost been hit by some idiot who has no idea where he is or what he's doing. Last weekend I saw no less than 7 boats get pulled off of mud, sand and/or grass flats because we had -.4 tides and people dont know how to follow channel markers. Stuff like that is going to get people killed, or tear up the feeding grounds to the point where we start losing fish to habitat degradation.
We had a virtual BAC meeting last week and Skip Lyshon (Maverick/Hewes/Pathfinder) said he expects the accident rate to be way up this year. Covid has been a HUGE boost to sales for them (8 month backlog in production) with lots of first time buyers getting expensive high horsepower rigs, and many of the buyers exceeding FL's age requirement for boater ed. Another compounding factor is that USCG Aux. isn't doing training right now due to Covid. A neighbor a couple houses down wants me to train him...something I'm eminently NOT qualified to do.
My main motivations for registering everything are twofold:
(1) many (maybe most) search and rescues (emphasis on the search part), which are VERY expensive, involve kayaks that are spotted floating around with no one in them...AND no ID on the vessel. Kayak blows off the end of the dock; next thing is a chopper in the air and vessels are on the water trying to find someone who likely isn't there.
(2) Increased access comes at a cost. Non-motorized access is less expensive than big ramps, but there are still expenses. And from a practical standpoint, if a group wants to be taken seriously when decisions are being made, they need to put at least a nominal amount in the till.
My last couple of years guiding the New, boating exploded exponentially, some from private rafts, some from "belly boats" fishing, but mostly from kayaks and canoes. When I first started guiding, a crowded run might include seeing 10 other boats of any sort on a weekend day. I thought that too crowded and tried to set trips up for weekdays whenever possible. My last year guiding, that number had blown up to maybe 110 boats on a weekend run (not hyperbole, we kept count a couple of times). This degraded the fishing, our numbers went from 60-100 fish per day to 25-30 fish per day, but it also degraded the experience my clients had come to expect from the New. While I quit on them before they quit on me, most of my clients agreed that the New had lost its luster for them, and most of them gave it up when I did. Most of those boats were not fishing boats, and they had little or no respect for we fishermen, to the point of actually running over lines while clients were fighting fish, and landing on a small spit of beach while we were eating lunch and actually pulling their boats to within 10 feet of our lunch table as we ate, on a tiny slip of gravel, crowding us beyond my patience. While one outfitter who also ran guided fishing trips was nice enough to warn their floaters to avoid the old gray haired guy in the cowboy hat in the big blue raft, folks like church groups and the Boy Scouts weren't so kind and caused complications at the ramps with their numbers and lack of river etiquette. Overuse being a complication of its own, and due to both outfitter promotion and Giles County promotion, the proliferation of clueless personal watercraft operators still makes me see red, 8 years later. There is no easy fix, the water is public and the ramps have been improved to the point of attracting lots of out of town interest, but a requirement for water safety and etiquette and a modest registration fee to actually stop the freeloading would be of help as the problem inevitably grows. Horse out of the barn on the New, and it is an incredible river to float for beauty and fun, but the fishing is suffering from the popularity. Folks who weren't around when it was fantastic fishing don't know the difference, and maybe I'm the epitome of the "get off my lawn" response to "progress". Either way, my time has passed and where I am now, kayakers have plenty of access, with many being unusable for motorized boating, and they don't all gang up in one place at one time, clogging the ramps and overusing the parking lots so I don't burn hot when I am around them, but I feel sorry for anyone seeking solitude on the New from Spring to Fall. Same in winter for the fishing, where we went from the only boat on a frigid winter day to seeing 10 others, but we weren't talking about crowds, just freeloaders. Sorry to digress, a habit of the old and in the way, I guess.
I hear ya. I'm having to redefine what I consider to be a "quality experience" almost every year. So far, I haven't given up.
Re: 'yaks...in FL we don't have a lot of "moving water"...you paddle out, then you paddle back with wind and tide being your friend or enemy. When access is oriented around traditional boat ramps, we find a lot of yaks launching alongside and in the middle of everything...PWCs, ski boats, flats boats, jons, crabbers, offshore CC's, you name it. so getting the 'yaks off the "interstate" is typically a good thing for all concerned.
we also have boat speed considerations both for human safety and resource conservation. I'm mostly a power boater and I hate idling against the tide thru slow speed areas in the Florida heat; but professionally I've installed more than my share of slow speed areas for manatee conservation. If you've been in a federal manatee zone in Florida, my name is probably in the admin record somewhere. With the Florida human population continuing to explode, finding the balance of resource conservation/public use will continue to be multidimensional chess for the foreseeable future. As a resource manager here, anywhere I could overlay safety with manatee protection with a high quality fishing opportunity, I'd probably do it.
You're absolutely right. I would hate to see what is spent on false searches every year. And the access issue is frustrating. I mean, I'm not saying there aren't accessible holes in the mangroves off some side streets, but who wouldn't rather leave their vehicle in a decent parking area, with maybe a bathroom (coming from someone who, without fail, always has to go as he's getting to the launch for the first time), with other cars around?
For Virginia guys in 2021
Cobia season won't open until June 15, and closes August 21
Down to 2 fish per boat.
Size limit is the same.
No gaffing allowed.
Based on the Oceans East Eastern Shore Instagram account, it looks like a big wave of the giant rockfish showed up for the eel guys today. At least those guys had nice weather. That is tough fishing.
Tough indeed, French. Lots of drifting and sitting around for usually a bite or two...or none. Long way across the Bay from this side, too, and even in nice weather, the trip is longer and more likely to turn out rougher than I like for me to take my Scout over there. When you get one, though, they can be big mommas and 40 lbs and up are pretty much the norm. We used to put four lines out. Two with bobbers at different distances from the boat, and two with wire line straight down at the transom. All baits at different depths down to maybe 25' or 30'. You just float along. Some folks troll amongst the drifters, trolling giant Mojos and the like, but the fish are generally coming in on eels, if at all. Two or three times, we got the only bite, and fish, of the day within 15-20 minutes of quitting time. Not the most fun fishing, better than trolling, I guess, but the best way to get a really big striper in the Bay. Usually done around Kiptopeke and the Concrete Ships and Cape Charles area.
For folks looking for a great Christmas deal on inshore rods, St. Croix Tidemasters are being sold direct for $109 and up. https://stcroixrods.com/collections/rod-shopper?mc_cid=9e9c0d87da&mc_eid...
I wish I could load up on them. I love my Tidemaster travel rod.
If I had enough I'd be stockpiling the triumph rods they're my favorite bang for the buck and last ages if taken care of. I hope they aren't going to leave the idea of a budget line behind.
Triumphs are $68 a piece I believe.
The triumph 7 foot mediums and medium heavy are perfect smallmouth rods for rivers and I have a pile of them. The medium light is a great panfish rod as well
thanks!
7' mediums are $75...no tax, free shipping
For those of you who enjoy cocktail sauce with your shrimp, I've discovered the best sto' bought sauce I've ever had, better than I can make and we consider it perfect. Kelchner's. Probably not widely available, it is kept refrigerated, I got it from the ice at J&W's seafood market over in Deltaville. I'll never use another unless I can't get the Kelchner's cocktail sauce.
not sold down here : (
I don't recall seeing it anywhere else but J&W. It is made in that famous seafood mecca, Allentown, PA, but it's stupid good. Fortunately, I go to Deltaville every three weeks or so to fill up my water jugs since we don't drink our water at home, so I can stay stocked up.
You have a surface well and not a deep drilled well?
Essentially, yes. Dig too deep here and you hit salt water, so our well isn't very deep, don't know how shallow it is, though. Anyway, between the rust and the methane gas (yep), even softened and filtered, the water tastes like shit. No problem for washing, etc., but I wouldn't even give our tap water to our cat, much less my dogs. It's a well known problem area known locally as "Courthouse water". Flush the toilet and it looks like someone just peed in the bowl. It's potable, but unpleasant. I fill up 35 gallons at a time at the Deltaville Fire Dept. where it's easy, the water is good, and it's worth the 10 cents per gallon they ask for. We have sewer service, but the water thing will not soon be tackled. It's politics, too. Some folks have spent a lot of money on some more sophisticated RO and filter set ups and they say the water's fine. Haven't wanted to spend money that I don't have confidence will satisfy me with the result, but that may be necessary one day.
Im surprised they don't have any city water but what do I know I guess. Our well water by the east is that way and took me a few years to get used to it but we have found a softener to help and now I actually like the taste now. Definitely only shallow wells in the area though with all the stuff below ground in mathews.
There are plenty of deep drilled wells all over the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. It is interesting though to see the variation in depths of wells that are close to each other and very close to a tidal water. I have seen them from 300' - 700' deep. There maybe some free flowing artisan wells in the area still. There were several in Richmond County.
A lot of people in the general area do seem to have drinkable water, but not right here where I am. Being a po' man, we don't have waterfront property, but we are up at the head of Put In Creek, and can see it from our kitchen window (in the winter, anyway), so tidal influence is pretty close to our front door. The methane gas is so ubiquitous here that at one point, many moons ago, they even drilled test wells to see if they could extract it. I have seen local news reports of people lighting their faucets (again, back in the day), and a fellow told me his plumber put in a closet shower for him but recommended that he leave the door open when he showered to vent the gas, but that is anecdotal.
No stranger to shitty water, I grew up in Great Bridge (Chesapeake), and our water there was horrible with bad taste and tons of iron, but we were young and eventually accustomed ourselves to drinking it, albeit after chilling it down in the fridge. We aren't able to do that here, just couldn't face drinking a glass of what looks like weak tea. I will admit that Water Pro said they could make our water sparkling clean and wonderful tasting, but when it came to the part where I asked "Or our money back?", the hedging began and my skinny wallet said, errrr, maybe I'll haul it for a while more. And with the Covid stuff, it's the farthest I've been from home with one exception to see my wife's 95 yr old mom in her retirement home in Bridgewater, and that was a 7 hr round trip for a half hour visit. I actually enjoy having something to do, and then there's the Kelchner's.
Edit: There are springs around the area, for sure, and I used to get water from an Episcopal church over in Gloucester that uses a big spring for public access to water, but they've been treating it and the chlorine smell isn't pleasant, and my wife is pretty particular about such, so we forego the free and get our water from the Fire Dept. instead. Not sure what they do to treat the water they offer the public, but there is never a chlorine smell to it. My brother in law, who retired from the State Water Control agency, said the church had to treat water for the public, and maybe the water at the FD is similarly treated, but we can't smell it and the water is very good water, so there I am.
Well, due to the holidays, work, and vacation time I wont be getting out this month... on the plus side, my custom FC fly rod comes in on Tuesday. Will give you fly guys a note about it in January it seems.
Not considering coat, if you could get any spinning reel with the following parameters, what would you pick?
200 yards minimum 50lb braid
Smooth drag with at least 17lbs of pressure locked down
Rate of retrieve over 5.7 to 1
Thoughts?
Wandering the Near West End (RVA) neighborhood down Sauer Ave this afternoon and I stumbled across a grey Toyota with fly fishing stickers and rod racks on top off. The license plate had one of those VT Hokies brackets. Reveal yourself neighbor!
I am going to give a Daiwa Ballistic LT 6000 a try as a cobia sight casting reel. Only 11 ounces and 25 pounds of drag. We will see if it can handle the torque. Penn Fathom casting special for drum season. Let's hope I get to spend more than five days on the water before drum season this year.
Nice, I was wondering what you choose. I might be in market for a big spinner for tarpon. So I'm starting to do some research.
I know the standard for big tarpon down in Florida is the XXH Teramar 8ft and the Saragosa 8000. I would think that prerequisites would be digital cut gears, a relatively low gear ratio, a smooth drag, and 250 yards of 40-50 lb braid minimum. I think everything changes depending on fishing from a boat, bridge, shore etc.
I'm going to use the tidemaster 8' heavy that I just bought. So a size under that XXH. It will be from shore/bridge. Talking to travis he said he uses his cobia setups and lives with not catching 120+ lb tarpon.
Santa helped with a new medium st croix 6'-6" and a greentop card so I'll be slapping a shimano reel probably a 2500 to go for flipping lighter baits
Went down to NC for the long Christmas Weekend. Wasn't fishable Thursday or Friday with 25+ mph winds. Tried to fish friday in a protected area but couldn't find a bite. Saturday changed areas and worked around for a few hours before finding an amazing bite where I caught solid trout almost every cast for an hour plus. Capped off with a 25" trout and then the bite was over. Went out Sunday and found trout in the same spot but picked trout off here and there. Caught around a dozen with a mix of dinks, keeper fish and two nice fish at 22" and 21". It was a great feeling to find a bite and catch some nice trout. Probably should have stayed down there the rest of the week before the blow over the weekend but I'll head back down soon to continue to figure out another piece of the puzzle. Lure for the bigger trout was a broken back corky.
Dave, I used the new fishfinder with sidescan. I was starting to tell what fish looked like by the second day. Could definitely make out oyster beds very easy. I turned it up 1120 khz to be able to see better. Still had a little issue with how my transducer was sitting in the water with how I had it setup.
beautiful fish and thanks for the report on the garmin!
Thanks, definitely nice to get back on some trout and always feel fortunate to catch a citation. It's been too long since I've had that thump. You're welcome, I trusted what I was seeing in about 5 feet plus.
You might like this video...spoiler; your skitter V makes an appearance in the 40-45 minute range
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/1-year-topwater-lure-experiment/?utm...
Thanks, I'll check it out. I don't look at salt strong too much. I'm stocked up on skitter V's. Even have the bigger 5.25" need to have enough confidence to throw. Although the 4" has obviously produced big fish.
I'm not a huge fan (I haven't joined and can't imagine that I ever would) but they do put out some useful info from time to time.
Nice trout
Anyone have any insight into fishing in the Bahamas in February? Missus and I are gonna fly down there and spend a week with a couple we know from work. I'll be bringing both light/medium spinning gear and my fly fishing gear (5wt & 9wt). I'm planning on picking up a Hawaiian spear for snorkeling but could use some advice on the tackle side of things. Not looking to go offshore or deepwater, but stick near our rental in Spanish Wells.
Bonefish on flats. I wouldn't even bring the 5. That's going to be pretty small for bones. 9 will be plenty for them. What do you specifically want to know about the fly game?
To be honest, I'm bringing the fly rods in case I want to sneak away for a day with a charter, but most of the fishing will probably be with the spinning tackle going after reef fish. I've never done that and was just wondering what rigs worked best for them.
Wife & I went to Belize last year and did some fly fishing for Bonefish/Permit but wasn't successful (and didn't have a very good guide). I've got all the flies I need. 5 weight is small, I'm just bringing it because it fits in my fly bag and it's an extra rod just in case.
As far as reef fish go, I'd guess they eat just about anything, like a small jig. If you really want to have some fun, bring some cuda tubes with you and go looking for barracuda with the spin rod.
Take that 9 weight, put a Chartreuse clouser on it and cast it at reef fish. Bet you'll catch them all day.
Or, grab some chartreuse cuda tube flies and HOLD ON!
Slow fishing today but the weather cooperated and it was great to get out and spend a day with a good friend.
I think the fish must have dined on the full moon last night...didn't get a bite on the top half of the falling tide. I finally managed 5 fish, including 2 slot trout; all on gulp crawled on the bottom.
for those throwing an 'opening night" (lavender over silver flake) color pattern soft plastic; what color jig head/trout eye are you pairing it with?
Chartreuse or white
OT
Check my post this a.m. in the Burn 2020 to the Ground thread
Kind of on the "Burn 2020, make 2021" better side of things- my sweet new FC Ronin buggy whip was delivered while we were in Tennessee this past week, and the wife has agreed to let me throw a new reel and line on it (so excited!)
So I asked her if the kayak and I could make a couple quick trips down to the Keys this year on weekends that worked out with our schedules, and she agreed. DIY trips for Bones!!
Anyone around VA have any recommendations for places that do reel repairs and maintenance? Tired of trying to fix my baitcasters and one spinning reel that's been messed up. I have one good spot but it's a bit away and with the mail all messed up I'm a bit hesitant to mail them