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Jan, 2nd 2012

Hope all of you have a GREAT! and Prosperous New Year!!

This past Striper season was not a bad one. Certainly better than the last 2. Still had to deal with the weather and there were a lot of cancelled trips because of the winds but the days that we could get out weren't bad. We caught some nice fish and had a good time. It did seem like most of the trips scheduled for the weekends managed to fall on the windiest of days. Go figure.

Show time is around the corner. The first show is the big Richmond Fishing Expo on January 20 - 22 at the State Fair Grounds in Doswell, VA. I'll again be in the VA Charter Boat Assn. booth. The next is on January 28th. The Fishing Flea Mart at the Eagles Club, 21 Cool Springs Rd. in Fredericksburg, VA. After that, we
will be at the NCC-TU show in Bethesda, MD on Sunday, March 11th. And the finale, plus my personal favorite, will be the Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival in Waynesboro on April 21st and 22nd. You don't have to be a Fly Fisherman to enjoy this show but it might just get you started!
All of these shows, except the Flea Mart, have a clickable link on my websites Links page.

Stay safe and I hope to see you soon!!

Dec, 27th 2011

Well, I can finally say the Speck season is done for us. Still some is the Southern parts of the Bay and, of course, the "Hot Ditch" area of the Elizabeth River. This was the best year we've had in 10 and I hate to see it go. But, we tagged literally thousands of juveniles and, barring another really bad Winter, many of them will return in the Spring ready to go.
Stripers will be the name of the game until the weather gets too nasty. Last week, when the weather permitted, there were some good catches in the deeper water across the Bay. This past week, we marked a lot of bait but caught only a few fish. Water temps are still in the 54 degree range and, as it continues to cool, the fish should move farther South and down the rivers.
Hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving and have a WONDERFUL Christmas and New Year.

Oct, 24th 2011

And the beat goes on! Have had some wonderful days on the Specks. With the influx of the colder air, the last few days seems to have slowed it down a bit but they are still there to be caught. Still a ton of Kittens around. We tagged 14 of the little dudes yesterday and 12 the day before, but still taking enough keeper Specks (to 20") home for a couple of dinners. Striper fishing still is not what it should be but the influx of colder air this weekend should do something for that. The darn wind has kept us from making the run down to the marsh too many mornings where the best action should be but we've still found some on the piers most mornings. If you have time, go to the web page and scope out the last 2 pages of Pics. The young man on the last page is a dynamite caster but has NO mercy on his Dad. Ya gotta LOVE IT!!!

Oct, 10th 2011

October 2011 may go down as the finest Speckled Trout fishing year in memory. Although there have been very few Citation fish caught, the numbers of quality fish are just unheard of. The numbers of smaller fish that represent next years catch is amazing. I took my wife out today for a 4 hour tour and we caught 14 Specks and 6 Stripers. Tagged all the Specks, up to 18 1/2", and took 2 Stripers home, 1 - 18" and 1 - 24". Just had a GREAT time.
Stripers are showing up in much better numbers so I'm hopeful this signals a change from the slow Summer we had.
There still are a number of dates open and specifically the 24th of October which should be a prime date judging by the moon phase and tidal prediction.

Oct, 1st 2011

I started the week off with a bang by catching 28 Specks with 16 keepers. Thought we were in the money but it began slowed down from there. With all the rain and the extremely High Tides, perhaps it scattered the fish out a bit? The end of the week saw us tagging 14 Kittens and only 1 Speck but it was 22" and that made the day. We also found a fair number of Schoolie Stripers on the marsh grass edges that were a lot of fun. The crew was throwing top waters at them and the fish would swipe at it multiple times. That was fun enough to just see that. We had a young fella, 8 years old, who hung in there all day with his Dad and Uncle. A fine caster and a heck of a fisherman!
Striper season opens next week and I still have some openings.
Catch 'em up!!!

Sept, 15th 2011

All I can say is "What a Week!!". You would think that with the way the weather was (terrible) we might not have fished but I had the Boyz from Texas, and an intrepid pair they are. They were well rewarded for their perseverance. The Speck bite is just plain HOT! They caught their dinner for most of the week on Monday and on Wednesday added to it. On Thursday, we chased and caught Stripers and, when the tide forced us to leave the marsh, we caught more Specks. Friday was totally a catch and release Speck day. The dern wind was blowing 4 times harder than predicted, as usual, so we hide up in a cove and caught more Specks, mostly Kittens (the old time word for Dinks). When the wind finally laid down and came around 180 degrees from the prediction, as usual, we made a move and fell into a school of cookie cutter fish in the 18" range. I was tagging almost as fast as they were catching and they kept me busy for the best part of an hour. What a great way to end a 4 day trip!

Aug, 24 2011

Hate to be repetitious but things are still pretty much the same. Few Stripers but we finally hit a couple of small Reds. Redfish just have not been what they had been the last couple of years. My understanding is they are rather cyclic so this is definitely a down year. Have had several really good days with the Specks and they seem to be getting bigger. We also are now seeing the "young of the year". Lots of Bluefish around to ruin your lures.

If you go to the last photos on the Photo page, you will see 2 unusual catches that occurred within a few minutes of each other. A young man caught a juvenile Cobia 25" and within a couple of more casts, caught a Ribbonfish (aka Cutlassfish). That was a very unusual day and one of the few that we didn't catch any Specks.

Here's hoping that hurricane Irene leaves us alone and we have a productive Fall.

July, 23rd 2011

Not a whole lot of change since the last time. Right now the heat is again upon us. We did have a good 1/2 day Tuesday picking up 12 Specks, keeping 5 to 17" and tagging the rest. The fish are getting bigger slowly and with a normal growth rate of 1 & 1/2" per month, things are looking up. Hope the heat goes away soon.