Specks, striper, and exciting stuff!

Between work and binge fishing I haven't had much time to write anything. Quite a bit has happened though!

The most exciting news for me of course is my new sponsor Bending Branches / Aqua-Bound! They are a great company with awesome products. Needless to say I am totally stoked to be a part of their pro staff!

I have done quite a bit of fishing in the past two weeks including three trips to the Elizabeth river for some more topwater specks! The main goal was to try to rack up points before the 14th which was the last day of kayak wars. We made a valiant effort, but we ended up a few hundred points short. We had a great time trying though!

The first night at the Elizabeth was with Rob Choi. We started fishing around 9pm on Friday the 9th and didn't plan on stopping until noon the following day...we were not quite as hardcore as we thought. We fished until 2:30am and had to head in due to dozing off while casting. We got to our trucks and took a nap until 6am then got right back to it! At some point during our slumber the winds picked up a LOT, but it did not deter us. I was very fortunate to have my new Bending Branches slice hybrid paddle to help paddle through the wind. We spent the next 6 hours catching trout and fighting the wind, but as always, it was worth it! I really cant remember how many we caught, but most of them were 19" or bigger. I think the biggest was right around 23" and was caught on a skitter walk. I can't get enough of those topwater trout!

After work on Monday the 11th I got back out to the Elizabeth and met up with my buddy Ashley Bishop. He had been catching specks since 1pm with several over 21" including one nice 24.75" release citation.

 

I caught several specks on topwater and a few trolling white Gulp! swimming mullet in a 1/8th oz. jighead. It was a fun night with fairly steady action.

We fished until 2:30am or so which put me home after 4am. I was up at 6:30am and out the door soon afterwards for work! It was a rough morning.

I got the green light to fish again, so as soon as I could I took off to the york river with a few eels to try my luck with the striper. No such luck. It was a tough night of fishing with only one run that took my eel, but not my hook. I fished for ~6 hours til 3am and again got to sleep after 4am.

Ashley had much better luck that night at Kiptopeake around the concrete ships. He caught a 49" 43lb weight citation striper! What a hog! Congratulations Ash!

 Wednesday I felt like a zombie. I had about 4-5 hours of sleep in the past 2 days, but it was the last day of kayak wars so I HAD to fish :)

The reports from Kiptopeake had been pretty good. Kayak Kevin caught 2 release citation striper during the day so we were hopeful.

Rob Choi, Ashley Bishop, and I all met up in Newport News and piled into my truck. It had been a while since I traveled with a group of friends to do anything. I was so stoked from talking about fishing I forgot all about my lack of sleep!

We arrived at Kiptopeake around 8:30pm and got our stuff together as fast as possible. We talked to several kayakers that didn't have any luck. I  was surprised to see people from so many different areas. There were guys from Maryland, North Carolina, and New Jersey. They were a great reminder that I am so lucky to have such an amazing fishery so close!

One guy had an awesome solution to carrying his kayak on his Mazda Miata. It was by far the most creative kayak rack I have ever seen.

How awesome is that!?!?

The fishing (as eeling for striper often goes) was incredibly slow. I remembered quickly that I only had a few hours of sleep because I was nodding off between paddle strokes. Through the whole night I had one run that I missed mainly because it caught me off guard due to sleep paddling. Rob had the same luck as me, but Ashley on the other hand caught a 42"er, making it his second big striper in 2 days!

This was the latest night of the three. I got home after 5am and got less than 2 hours of sleep before I had to be up for work. I actually fell asleep on the couch fully clothed, jacket and all. Needless to say, work was a little tough.

Three days of work, three nights of fishing, and less than 6 hours of combined sleep = Awesome! I love pushing myself like that. :)

Sunday the 18th I fished in the York river again with Miles Wong, Rob Choi, and Luther Cifers from YakAttack. Like I said before...eeling is tough. I was the lucky one that night with the only fish caught. It was not a very long fish at only 34", but it was the fattest striper I have ever caught. It was so fat an awkward looking I actually laughed out loud for a minute of two. Rob had one quick hit, but that was all for the night.

Can't wait for the next trip!

34" long. 24" girth. 21 pounds.