Record Breaking VA Striper

73 lb Record Striper. Dang.

Mullet Toss

Throw a 1 lb mullet from Alabama across the state line to Florida?
Alabama/Florida Interstate Mullet Toss.
Enough said.

GWNF and Early Backpacking Trout Trip Announcement

It was thirty six degrees with a bitter wind when I got home and hour ago, now its thirty one. I bet this sweet looking trout hole is pretty damn frozen up in GWNF.
I'm planning on going back to WV somewhere around March 15-21 (hopefully). Anyone want to go? The bears won't be out of their dens for at least another 2-3 weeks if thats your concern.
It will be cold, the weather could crush the trip as it is a week and half earlier this year, so its a bit more iffy but the license info should be about the same (Wait until the last minute to buy the license in case the weather puts the trip out of the question). Look at last years planning to get more info - this trip will be more laid back in terms of planning - I don't know if I will put lure kits together, but I can just get a bunch of the lures that work and you can buy the individuals off me until Mike and Sean lose them all. There should be even less people out fishing and camping, or we can hike up and camp on one of the tributaries.
Be a man this spring, whose in?

An eerie calm...

Everything has been strangely quiet with the Monkey bubbas it seems. The end of rock season ended without much fanfare or action. My last night was at the last possible moment New Years Eve - Casting a bucktail furiously from the bridge at the Jamestown/Scotland ferry as said ferry approached. Dozens of good (18-36") stripers sat in the current, noses to the shadow line. No luck.
I did manage a day of trout fishing in George Washington National Forest in between Christmas and New Years, I landed four small rainbows. Sunday before last I wondered up there again, intending on fishing a pond that ended up being frozen over, and ended up back on the same creek, a bit icy at the edges, but good fishing. I landed four more and learned a new way to fish a micro jig.
I ordered one of the Virginia Wildlife Calendars for 10 bucks, and got it in 5 days - its loaded with info about fish runs and wildlife habits based on the calendar, as well as fishing times, moon phases and a tide chart. A good investment in our environment.

Neighborhood Lake Fish Population Survey

WOW! Eight pounder in my feeshin hole.

Well I haven't caught this guy yet and he (or more likely she) lives in my favorite local fishing hole, but perhaps I should think about beefing up from the 4 lb test before I head out again eh?- Check the fish population survey conducted in my neighborhood* lakes (*within a five minute drive of our home). You can look at pictures or read the entire document (Greg and Blair, I know you are probably the only ones who will, but it makes sense, and its a quick five minute read - lots of graphs). The management plan calls for anlgers to "Aggressively target and remove bass in the 6-11 inch range and release all fish in the 12-18 inch range" in order to correct the forage/predator imbalance. I am guessing I can do my part (wink). I think I will

Oh and by the way, I think I'm gonna find a lure that looks an awful lot like one of those 6 inch bass to try to catch that guy - know what I mean?

I also now know where to go for the larger 12-18" fish when a buddy comes up. They are also catch and release only for that slot, but one lake has a better population of them and is considered "in balance". Oh and there are crappies too in some of the lakes, one fish I haven't spent hours searching out ...

After work fishing

4pm.
Overcast, damp, misting.
50 degrees and falling, fog descending and rising.
Fished s-l-o-w-l-y, finally one bass mouths and spits in sight.
Getting dark, bite, line moves, hookset.
Bass digs, deep bend in the rod.
Smiling tug in the wrist.
Land him.
Release.
Repeated on the next cast.
Three more casts, dark.
Walk to the car.
5 minutes.

Home.

Thankful...

Hey Guys, you know, we are pretty fortunate to do all of the following in one night:

I caught like 15 16"ers and 2 18" keepers tonight and was able to get back, fillet them, stuff them with crab, and eat a great meal. So, think about the less fortunate this holiday season!

Back in Bloggin' Action...

After forgetting my password to the blog, I am finally back in action. This has been a pretty tough weekend for me because I have had to work and stare at a flat James River from my desk. The warm temperatures have also made it hard for me because I know that I should be out catchin' the Rocks. All of the fishing reports are saying that the bigguns are finally in the bay (making going to work even harder). All I have to say is... Greg, I hope that you fished all weekend and I am waiting to see some nice fish. As of lately, my days off have consisted of cold temps, rough water and preparations for the upcoming child (aka baby Blendy).

Even at work I think of fishing, so that is why I have attached this picture of a keeper that I caught on a "bucktail" during our last deer hunt. I have checked with the Game Wardens to find out what kind of license I need to legally keep this in my cooler.



Fish on fellas...

Fishing in my dress shoes

I have to pass by my favorite neighborhood lake when driving to Safeway, which makes it hard not to want to stop and fish the last 30 minutes of daylight. As I was returning some out of date food products I had bought, my mind began to wander over to the lake. I knew I had my light action rod, which has been ready for action in my car pretty much every day I go to work (just in case, you know?), but did I have my line clippers, a hat (its chilly), and the ziploc bag with my favorite soft plastics? I got back to the car and was delighted to find I had stashed those bass essentials in the cargo net of my trunk. But I was sans boots, I was fishing in my dress shoes straight out of work.
Sweet! I walked up to the shore just as the sun was setting and within minutes i had my first bites (which I botched two in a row, including one that yanked my drag pretty good before spitting the lure). I found a spot on a curve of the lake where there was a little school of them and worked the jerkbaits s-l-o-w-l-y. The water had gotten very cold but none the less I caught three in a row off of the same structure, then botched two more subtle bites before calling it. 3 fish, 40 minutes, not bad. I wonder how much longer I can keep catching them before the water is just too darn cold?

A few rock...

Went out with Pat from the Green Leafe last night and pulled in quite a few rockfish. Something like 12 with 6 that were over 19" and one spec that was around 19-20". GREAT night with the moon rise out of the Northeast! The 4th dock up river from mine was the spot...

Back Home, Sample the Local Waters

I strolled over to one of my local lakes after the drive back from my parents house. With my light action rod and my trusty lures I landed 3 largemouths in the last hour before dark, with no short strikes or misses. Sweet! I wonder how long I can keep catching them this way before it gets too cold, its been in the thirties most nights for a few weeks.

I landed the biggest one (respectable little guy almost 12 inches long) on my third cast while answering my cell phone as brad called. I said "hello" and Brad answered "Hey John whatcha up to?" as I felt the subtle pull on the line, I set the hook and said "I'm setting the hook on a neighborhood largmouth". Brad was a little confused, but I explained the situation as I fought the fish, unhooked and released him. Man - although I wanted to talk to Brad I gotta stop fishing and talking on the phone, it really ruins the experience of catching those little guys and I'm sure its only a matter of time before my phone goes for a swim...

It was a beautiful evening and sunset, but sorry no pictures - Rochelle has the camera with her in Arkansas.

What a night...

Well, we *BARELY* got this Thanksgiving trip off the dock due to an engine fuse and a dead battery problem! Luckily, the awesome manufactures at Yamaha put an extra fuse right in the engine for such events! At any rate, once the engine warmed up we were off to 2 spots where we landed some 15-20 fish that included blues, flounder and 2 keeper rockfish (one Guinea keeper). Not a bad Thanksgiving: turkey and fish.

late fall freshwater

mmm, dinner

Bummer way to start the weekend... my striper fishing charter was canceled due to 4-5 ft. seas. I had been looking forward to that trip for 2 months, plus I would be fishing with new buddies from work, I was excited about that too. So what is a man to do? Enter the internet...

Its nice to find another fishing hole not too far from your homestead. I found a VDGIF stocked trout lake within 30 minutes of our place. Its small, 2 acres, but almost three weeks after a stocking its still full of little trout. My first day there spoiled me. Friday seemed like a miserable day; cold, windy, cloudy, threatening rain (always a great day to trout fish) drove out and took a look at the lake, picked the spot I thought looked the best (even though it was on the opposite side of the lake from other two guys fishing). I must have been right, I was amazed to have my first trout in less than 10 minutes at that exact spot. The creel limit was 4, and I was at 3 before I knew it, so I released the next two and kept the 6th fish I caught since it was the biggest yet (not quite 10 inches). I laughed out loud, picked up my trout and went back to the car. I checked the clock - I had been fishing for an hour and twenty minutes. I have never had a day of trout fishing be so successful, esp. at a new spot.

I went back on Sunday for about 2.5 hours and only caught one, but there were already 3 people in my hot spot, I guess I'm not the only one who knows its there. Oh I did land 3 bluegill, which if I wasn't trout fishing, would have been a good thing. They do fight hard on an ultralight rod.

Today I got home about 45 minutes before dark and looked outside; cold, overcast, falling barometer. My light action and ultralight were already in the car with my trout fishing stuff, and I knew my other freshwater tackle bag was in the car.... the wheels started spinning in my head and the next thing I knew I was putting on my boots, 5 minutes later I pulled up to my neighborhood lake (one of 4 actually, but the only one I have fished). I fished for 45 minutes, and spent [part of that time talking to a catfisherman who has been pulling in 1.5-5.5 lb channel cats every night for the last 4 weeks. Hmmm, did you hear that Matt?

I caught a nice .75 lb bass on my second cast (no shit), and before I left I had landed two more, one a little heavier. Three bass, 45 minutes, and I wasn't even planning on fishing today. Huh, life ain't so bad, is it?

Tricky

Trout are tricky man. I left work early for a bit of R an R and hit passage creek in GW National forest, which is an hour away. It was stocked a few weeks ago, and there are trout there, but man, are they tricky. I had a several short strikes that were made so much worse because I watched the fish chase them and miss. Then I had quite a few followers, some where pretty nice trout. Its so exciting to watch them materialize from nowhere and chase it, but your heart drops just as quickly when they stop or turn offI did have a tiny but beautiful chunky bronze smallmouth smash my spinner with a vengeance. No trout, no pictures. Hopefully the wind dies down on the bay before friday - I am supposed to go on a rockfish charter with some guys from work, tomorrow its supposed to be 4-5 ft waves. Keep your fingers crossed.
But the trout have me wanting to go back...

Deck!

So you guys wanna know what I've been up to and why I have put rockfishing on the backburner? Well, here's the answer:

http://miscconstruction.blogspot.com/

I'll be fishing this Thursday though!

-G

Chilly Weather Backpacking and Trout Anyone?

Chilly weather. Back packs (we don't have to hike too far, my recovering lungs can't handle it). Campfires. S'mores from the leftover halloween candy. Warm drinks. A bit meat fishing for dinner (but fishing most of the time). A Monday or Friday off? VA or WV? Who is in? Who is a real man?
(Greg - it is way too early to snowboard, so don't use that excuse)

The Freaks Come Out At Night

You all know that my wife thinks I'm crazy, along with my mom, and brother too. Last Saturday Night/ Sunday morning I had the opportunity to prove them right. The Captain (Greg) was out on the town with the guitarist from our high school metal band (Jerry) and I hadn't heard back from him, but I drove to his house at 11pm anyway, while my wife went to bed. I was pulling into Greg's driveway when he called me back and said he was just leaving the Greenleaf in Williamsburg. I parked my car, assembled my rods and tied up my rigs. At midnight we hit the A docks right off the bat just after low tide and there was zero action - I began to wonder if my recent fishing slump (zero keepers and two total skunkouts in three excursions) was going to keep me down, you see folks, I thought I lost my mojo. The captain said he knew the spot to hit in just such conditions (clear, quarter moon) He said it would be guaranteed because of a great location and insanely bright (and insanely expensive) dock light (whenever you hear the words "guarantee" and "fishing" put into the same sentence, one should always be wary). We rode a while and crept in quietly and silently as we watched stripers and possibly trout smashing the surface of the bathtub slick water. The last five minutes of the ride I could see the splashes, but we didn't want to spook them with the engine or an anchor. Lets just call this spot the "Food Chain", because at night, thats what it attracts in a very small area. Greg and I hooked into a double within five minutes of seeing the first rocks smashing topwater. Two simultaneous hook-ups occurs less that you would like it to. Of course it always calls for a silent end-zone style celebration dance while reeling in and landing the fish. We fished topwater and jigged jerkbaits with small lead-heads - which landed the rock, speckled trout and fattie puppydrum (redfish) I am gladly holding (I got my mojo back folks).
"The Food Chain" gorged us with 7 or 8 rockfish (3 keepers) 2 trout (1 keeper), the 3-4 lb puppy drum ( which peeled line off my reel and dug in deep for a fun, extended battle) and at least 25 flounder (no keepers). The light produced this eerie daylight, that was so surreal I had no idea that we fished until 4:15 am. We saw squid, tons of baitfish , lots of baby crabs, big mullet and the aforementioned species. Incredible. Greg was in awe, he really hadn't seen it like that before. We had never caught that many flounder jigging, and all in that one spot.
Greg "Hotlips" Lynn (AKA The Captain) and a keeper, no wonder he doesn't have many dates.

Harper's Ferry, WV: Screaming to be fished

Rochelle and I went for a hike two weekends ago at Harpers Ferry, WV. I had never been and it was a very cool place, but the whole time I was on the cliffs at the tops of the hike I could here the wind whispering, "Fish me, fish me". So who is in? Greg has one canoe, anyone else? When?This is were the real upper Potomac River meets the Shenandoah River to form the main stem of the Potomac river. The three Rivers split three states, WV, VA and MD. All three look totally different in terms of structure and characteristics, who could ask for more? This is the main intersection, above to the left is the Shenandoah, and to the right is the upper Potomac, and below left once they meet is the main stem Potomac.


Here are the shelves on the upper Potomac, great structure - Wow!

These rocks are for you john!

Ok, well Friday after some beers at the crabdeck, Blair and I caught a bunch of rock working both side of the York river hitting all the well lit spots! Caught like 10 with 4 keepers. The next days fishing out on the bay only alowed for a bunch of bluefish action with live mullet, perch, and spot as bait...

Early Fall Smallmouth

A few weeks ago, I got up early on Sunday morning for the "early service", and this is the sight I was greeted with at the point in my hike when I first encountered the Potomac. It was about 7 am. It was one of those magical mornings when the steam was rising off the river as I waded, the air temp was 56, and the water I would guess was 70 or so.
The light was beautiful as it hit the rocks. I had to stop and just soak it in for a few before I wet a line. I landed 5 or 6 in a few hours and shot some video landing a few fish, but I accidentally erased most of it. Not a bad way to wake up, I was home by 11 am after a trip to the grocery store.
Work has been pretty stressful, so I decided to blow out two hours "earlier" than most days lately (by earlier, I mean I left only 45 minutes after my contract hours were up for the day). I had packed my light action rod with 4lb test and my vest with only the essentials (a few hooks, soft plastics, camera, forceps and knife). It was a gorgeous Indian summer day, 80 degrees with water temps in the 68-70 degree range. I started wading in a location I knew usually held a few bass and sunfish. I hooked in the first smallie within minutes. Not a soul was around fishing, all I could hear were the geese, and I was shorts deep in the cool water. Suddenly, life wasn't so bad.
I hooked several fish in that spot, and decided to wade up stream, through sections I either had never fished or hadn't fished in years. It didn't matter much, the water is low and its like a whole different river. The old saying is true, "The same man never never steps into the same river twice." Ask this smallie, he'll tell you, check out the color of the reflections in the ripples.

I was doing quite well, and the bronzebacks were in full effect.
Here is a chunky one on the run, one of the eleven smallies I landed . I felt revived in under three hours. What a day, I wish I could do it more often.
Weekend before last, Rochelle and I went down to Gloucester to hang out with my family. My Brother and I got the little outboard running and took it for its first trip on the creek in the undersized flat bottom I have. We ran up and down the creek right before dark and were rewarded with incredible views including this amazing sunset. No time for fishing, the wives were waiting on us, but we snuck out anyway - it was great.

Rock in yer eye!

The bite is on at the Amoco docks at night! Now mind you these aren't the ocean hogs that come into the bay later on in the Fall but it is fun. Caught 4, gave one to a tugboat captain who's deckhand informed me that 2 guys were fined $250 for undersized rockfish, and kept one for myself

	Ok, the bite was DEF on for Sat. at the CBBT (Ches. Bay Bridge Tunnel). What was biting for most of the day however were rather large black sea bass but I was after some big flatties. All in all, I caught like 4 undersized and one whopper 25"-6.5lb er' caught on a 5" mullet. Was GORGEOUS that day as well! Brad will be posting his catch from Sunday soon... hopefully...
	Brad landed this 18" on Sunday with me with full force! Go Brad and he's JUST getting started! Thanks for the shirt to Brad...

Eels, John, and Flatheadz Part 2

Do I listen? Or do I talk? I think this time I'll just listen.

You know, it doesn't matter what size they end up being, it's just the experience of taking part in what that river has to offer.

Life does not suck when you are staring upriver with a full bait bucket.

Somehow the guy always maintains and doesn't skip a beat.

Not a bad stringer. I think John weighed it out to be about 60 lbs.

After almost 12 hours of watching that rod tip and the JD escape us, John says it all.

Pre season rockfish

Ok, well I landed like 7 15-18" rockfish tonight at the Amoco dock. Caught them on my new graphite med-hvy 6'6" with small Penn combo. I tried a small white bucktail at first and they just played with it. Then I slapped on a top-water silver/gray split-tail bass assassin and the bite turned on a bit. It looks as though it's gonna be a while until the bigger fish roll through because the water temps are still up even though the nighttime temps are dropping./p>

Matt's trip to Montauk

Matt sent me this album from a recent fishing trip. Cool big water fishing pictures.

Greg's getting serious about his live bait

Haha, well this livewell is about 3.5' diameter (circular so that the fish don't get damaged and go crazy with a square design) by 4' in height. I spent $60 on the damn wire and I think that stupid ass True Value ripped me off! That dude has ALWAYS ripped me off! At any rate, works well and I put a zink at the bottom to give it weight and to ward of electrolysis.

Freshwater Bassin'

Smallmouth On the Run
(all photos in this post: Rochelle Adams)

There are pretty much only two reasons I am willing to wake up before light: work, and fishing. One of them I actually enjoy getting up for, and Sunday was no exception. My alarm went off at around 5:15, I rolled out of bed, grabbed some coffee and cereal, threw my canoe, rods and tackle in the car and headed to the closet local lake (less than two miles away). As I approached the lake and saw all of the cones blocking the road, I thought my day was busted. Hoards of bikers cruised by and I soon learned the Reston Triathlon was going on, so much for fishing.
I thought about going to bed, but instead decided to hit another local lake that is one of my trout fishing holes in winter and spring - I had never bass fished there in the summer, so what the hell. I'm glad I did, even thought the canoe would have to stay with the car; fishing from boats is not allowed on this lake. I would be shore-bound for the morning.
Within minutes ( 3rd cast?) I was hooked up with a largemouth bass, nothing big, but fun on the ultralight rods I've been using for these guys around here. The ultralights turn a 10-12 incher into a hog, and a 15 incher will damn near bend the rod tip to touch the butt. My tiny 3" slug-gos were like bass candy and I landed 3 more within 30 minutes. In under 3 hours I had landed 6 Largemouths and a Goggle-eye or Red-eye bass (depending on who you fish with). I hooked but missed at least as many. A very rewarding and relaxing morning, with the lake almost empty. Then the inevitable happened - my cell phone rang. It was Matt Grimes, he wanted to fish, and had a plan.
After a run and some sweet-talking about how nice it would be on the river, Rochelle and I packed some sandwiches. Matt and Paulina came over and we headed for Riverbend park, about 30 minutes from here. A nice little hike along the wooded flood plain got us to a spot where the girls could stretch out and relax while Matt and I fished. The girls waded out and sat on a rock while Matt started catching bait (he is a live bait fanatic, and I firmly believe he would rather catch bait than fish, not a bad guy to be fishing with). Meanwhile I started catching smallies right away on my trusty soft-plastics. I had moved up to a light action rod due to the current, but it was still a rod bender of a day.
Hooked up! Oh yeah - I had 3 smallies by the time Matt had caught a dozen crayfish, and that was just the beginning. I fished under the same riffle all afternoon While the girls ladies watched and caught up since the wedding. Rochelle also took photos (all the photos are are Rochelle's). Matt wandered around the river and caught a small catfish, but mostly just explored - its easy to burn an entire day up there just looking for another sweet spot, and there are plenty. I've done it more than my share of times at that park.
I landed 15 fish, easy in 2 hours. Most were very small, but it seems as indicated by numbers on this particular day the smallies are hopefully rebounding from the fish kills that have plagued the upper Potomac and its tributaries in the previous summers. The water was clean, the fish were healthy and plentiful - check out the rich golden color, no wonder people call them bronzebacks.
Heres a good action shot - check out the bend on the light action rod - in the lower right you can see the fish...
This is the nicest smallmouth I've caught in a few years since the fish kills(about a pound, maybe a bit more) , I'm being optimistic and reading this as a good sign.
So many times freshwater bass fishing can be slow and frustrating, and this was a good one. Not epic, but darn near perfect. (There has to be some kind of smallmouth canoe/camp trip on the horizon right guys?) There aren't many Sundays that can top catching both species of freshwater bass in one day (well, that Drum was caught on a Sunday too..). Tight lines!
(I want to say thanks again to Rochelle for being open-minded and going fishing with me and thanks for taking the pictures! All bass were released safe and sound)

Biggest Fish So Far

Early morning, York river, Sunday September 2nd. Greg and I headed out to hopefully catch more big mullet with cast nets, but the tide was against us. We had plenty of bait, but only a few of the big mullet we hoped would score some big flounder that day. But the tide was against us and we took the skiff back and jumped on the parker. We fished Back River reef after getting gas and hooked into a few nice flounder, close, but not keepers. Then we nailed a double, both hooking up with fish simultaneously and landed two keepers - perfect. We had lots of bites and a few snags, but not many takers. A few drifts later it happened...
I felt resistance, drop my rod tip and steadily pulled up slowly in founder hooking fashion, ready to drop the tip quickly if, it got off to put the bait back in front of the fish. Solid weight followed the boat in the drift a few feet as I reeled in slowly and then, the drag started screaming. I stopped reeling and kept steady pressure. The medium-light rod buckled in long screaming runs off and off for at least fifteen minutes. Greg and I were sure I had a shark on the big mullet - I felt the head shakes and everything, but the 50Lb fluorocarbon leader never broke - Finally i was surprised to see the huge head of this...
BIG OLE RED DRUM! 45 inches and my biggest fish by far, but the netting was stressful - he was almost twice the size of Greg's net, and I thought he was going overboard when he tried to heave it in the boat. Obviously he got him - I was flabbergasted. This is the biggest fish I have caught, and the biggest one pulled in on Greg's Parker. Greg is now ready to catch more mullet and target black and red drum after this haul.
We fished some more around York spit light, looking for flounder (we each landed another one just a little under sized), and spade fish. We found no spade fish, but the juvenile black sea bass ate our our clams up! It didn't take long to go through a half dozen clams and realize all that was there were the sea bass, so we headed in. Awesome day!

Gregs sending me text messages

Greg sent me text messages but neglected to tell the story, well, the second was pretty obvious and was labeled - 8 flounder, one keeper.

Honeymoon Preview

Hey dudes - its late, so I will only post a few images from the honeymoon - which we had some much fun on (in addition to the given activities). I'll post more later when I get back from Arkansas.
Kickin' some ass at water polo at the resort (actual, my team lost by one point)
Cool little puffer(?) fish I followed around for a while to try to get a good shot while scuba diving on the chankanaab reef and park off of Cozumel Mexico. Rochelle talked me into diving and now I think I'm hooked!
Rochelle took this picture of me diving on the reef taking pictures of fish -so exhilarating - We had a blast!