Monday, December 17, 2012

First fish on the Fly..



With all this warm weather floating around this time of year I took the opportunity to hit up the HRBT.  It was flat calm and pretty warm out for December.  I fished with POL's head honcho "Surffishing Dave"  Rob Alderman and a few members of his family.  I first met rob a couple years ago with my friend Al fishing the point.  I had seen his videos  on YouTube of his crazy self chucking a brick on a heaver.  Also known as "The General" he runs the OBX based FishMilitia.com website.


We did pretty well on the night with the Stripers.  I managed 4.  One of them being my first fish on a flyrod.  It wasnt anything to brag about because it was barely big enough ti fit on the measuring board.  My biggest was a nice fat 25"er caught on a curly tail in the lights.  Everyone caught fish and went home happy.  





The next day I got another change to hit up the Elizabeth River for Speckled Trout.  This year has been a great year but after 6 hours in the rain I had nothing to show for my time but this picture of a sign coming into the cove.




Kiptopeke on the eastern shore was the next stop for the week.  A few friends were up there staying at the lodges for the weekend.  I was surprised how nice the lodges were.  Lots of room and pretty comfy.  I spent a few hours drifting the concrete ships.  Again with no luck.  First time at the ships so I really didnt expect much to begin with.  Most people who caught fish that day were offshore a mile or 2 and a bit North of us.  IAs we were preparing to launch we saw someone from out of town putting his big hobie sail kayak together.  Im not sure as to what model it was but the thign that caught me off guard was he was going out in waders a t-shirt and some flimsy boat cushion PFD.  Why spend $3500 on a kayak only to cheap out on saftery.  That night around sunset it got cold quick.  The rain moved in and I had enough of of myself.  I can only imagine what this nimrod was thinking.  I never saw him make it back to the launch either.   A few days later the Coast Guard had to rescue a kayaker not far from here because they fell out of their kayak and couldnt make it back into it.  Too many people underestimate safety.  The ocean can be a mean thing to deal with in the cold..
USS Nimrod preparing for launch...

"That's eeling fo ya"

And to wrap it up is the video I put together for these trips.  I hope you enjoy..



A.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

What else can be said but...trout




So I have been lacking a bit lately.  Fishing has been pretty good.  A few warm days mixed in with the "cold" have produced some alright trips.  I guess I will start to a few weeks back.  Chased fish around Rudee inlet and froze my butt off.  Ended up with a few drum just under the slot.  The big winner that day was Tommy V scoring a few nice fat drum and one slot.


A few offshore nor'easter had been pushing the water in Rudee way up and even at Low tide it was pretty high.  As we launched in the morning we had to paddle out of the parking lot.  Don't know how it effected the fishing that day but I sure froze my butt off.  

High Water

pretty colors




Its no big secret that there is trout in the Elizabeth River this time of year.  Earlier this week I made another trip with my buddy Rob.  It was Robs first time out on this section of the river.  The day started out very warm and actually had to layer down.  Fished along some grass beds and picked a 16 up pretty early in the day.  



We tried the slow troll and didn't have much luck early on.  Moved to another spot and fished it hard.  First cast out and I hooked up.  The fish was pulling drag so I knew it was a decent size fish.  Much bigger then the 16-18 inch we had been catching.  Rob was behind me and I heard a splash.  In my mind I figured"oh sweet Rob just hooked too and that was the fish on top of the water.." I turned to look behind me and I see the underside of an orange Tarpon 120. Coolers tackle boxes and gloves floating in the river, and Rob once again taking a dip.  He was able to stand and gather his stuff up.  Once I knew he was okay I went back to the fish.  One of the most nerve racking things I have found on the water is when you take a swipe at a nice sized fish with your net and miss...  Once it was boated I stuck a tag in it and snapped a few pics.  The fish was pretty fat and measured 22 1/4 inches.  My biggest trout of the year.  Still chasing that paper tho.  







The rest of the day was cold and rainy.  The front moved in at this point and it got cold.  We had dropped a minnow trap earlier in the day and went back to retrieve it to try the cove out.  That didn't last but ended up getting into smaller fish trolling around.  In total 11 fish caught with all of them tagged and released   A good day on the water.  This week I'm looking forward to shifting my fishing a little and trying to get into a little something different.  Striped Bass is in the sights for this week.  3 days off starting Monday and a trip to Kipto on Friday.  A short video and some more pictures for your enjoyment.





2 Rob Lee 1 Picture!!!!

Be a Hero







A.