My bass

The Mission

So i got a message from Rob Choi asking me if i wanted to go to the hot ditch...What a silly question! Of course i want to go fishing!

The mission for both of us was to catch a citation speckled trout to make it our 3rd citation for the year. (same species coincidentally...Sheepshead, Striper, and hopefully speckled trout)

I started the day a little late partially due to my kayak being covered with snow but mostly because i was being reelly lazy and got up late.
I filled a bucket with hot water and poured it on the yak...One bucket hardly put a dent in it. Two buckets after that it was enough.

I wasted a little more time going to 2 tackle shops looking for some 4lb test mono...evidently 4lb test is not popular around here because they didn't have any. Finally after being lazy, clearing snow, looking for tackle, and getting food I made it to the ditch nice and early at the crack of Noon-thirty.

I met up with Rob who let me know why its good to be earlier than later by telling me that he already caught several Specks up to 20". After fishing for an hour or so with only a few small specks to show for it we decided to move. We stopped at one of my favorite spots and again we caught some more dinks and i also got a good fighting 20"er

We paddled to the famous "Pond" and started fishing in the middle of about 12-15 boats...what a madhouse! I felt like i was on the HRBT at rush hour. I like how Rob put it " like paddling through a minefield of bobbers". Aside from 2-3 dudes there, I think we were the only ones using artificial bait. We fished for an hour or 2 and Rob got the first hook-up. He fought it for a bit but it spit the hook. After a few choice words he got back to it and hooked another bigger one. I didn't know it at the time but he was using 2lb test line! He landed the nice trout then paddled to shore so I paddled over to him to get some pictures (plus i had to pee reel bad). It was a fat 24.25" 4lb 4oz release citation trout! Mission...Success!
Rob left me all alone after that but gave me his lucky mirrolure that he just use to catch the big one. Unfortunately It didn't work for me. I used it for an hour at least but it was worthless...I think he might have poisoned it...anyways when i switched back over to MY lure i hooked a heavy trout but lost it just when it boiled the surface. I had 3 more hits in the next 4 casts but could not for the life of me get one hooked. 3 hours of fishing at the pond and nothing to show for it!

I decided to go back to the truck for more clothes cause it was FREEZING! I got more gear and went straight to my favorite spot. It only took about 20 mins of fishing and i hooked something reel nice (Notice how I keep purposely misspelling real because it's a pun?...I'm hilarious.) I fought it for 5-10 mins on "my" 6' light action spinning rod. (its actually my wife's but I like it) It ended up being a 26" 5lb 12oz Weight citation speckled trout! Yay me! Mission accomplished!

I fished for another hour or so and caught a few small specks and decided since the mission was already a success I could leave happy. I ended the day with about 15 specks almost all of which were 15" and less. On my second to last cast i snagged a gizzard shad that reminded me of what might possibly be my next fishing trip...jumbo catfish on the James!

Friday 10th

The striper bite seemed to be on fire so i took off again in hopes of having another stellar night. I was entered in a local church tourney so i actually NEEDED to catch a good fish. I started a little later than the night before but it didn't seem to make a difference. I made it out to "the spot" and within 30 mins i was hooked up with a nice striper. I boated it and measured it in my lap...43" I figured it would be a good contender for the tourney so i started paddling back. After i got it to the truck i met up with Forrest and measured it again...45.5"! Much better! I couldn't just call it a night after just an hour of paddling and fishing so i headed back out with Forrest. By the time i got back Ashley Bishop had what he said was 40" striper in his boat. Later we found out it was 43.5". Its not easy getting a correct measurement from a flopping striper in the kayak! Ash caught one more soon after i got there that was in the upper 30 inch range and that was all for the next couple of hours. It was SOOOOOOOO cold i don't know how we kept fishing but we made it till around 2am then had to call it quits. Forrest did catch one striper that was about 25" or so but i had enough of the cold and had to head in.

I put the fish on ice and waited till Sunday. There was only 5-6 striper caught total out of 18 boats! Forrest was the only one to get more than 1 fish so he won the prize for the biggest 2 fish. My fish ended up weighing 39lbs even. That is my 3rd 39lb striper in the past 2 years. I just cant seem to break 40 for a weight citation. I won a nice trophy and a $150 gift certificate for bishops tackle! Not bad for a $20 entry:)

6 Big striper and missing sleeves

What an amazing 2 nights of fishing! First off i have to give the credit to Forrest for showing me the secret spots where i got these pigs. Thanks a ton Forrest!
So the night started with 3 kayakers Me, Ashley Bishop and Miles Wong. I finished my 32oz Monster energy drink then we paddled out to our spot around 8pm and dropped our slimy eels. Then we waited...and waited...and waited. Eel fishing is boring but just when you think "This can't be more boring" it is. We just sat and waited for that one moment of the "Zip ZIP!" of the clicker.

Ash was the first to get a hit...and the first to miss one. He was also the 2nd one to get a hit...and the 2nd miss. After about 2 hours of fishing there were a few hits and a couple hook-ups but none landed. Around 10pm Rob Choi showed up just as things were heating up...well the fishing was, not the air. It was in the mid 20's. After 2+ hrs of fishing Ash lost 2-3, Miles lost 2, and I lost 1. Around 10:30 I finally landed a nice striper at 38"!

I was totally stoked but the monster energy drink i had was hitting me hard...in case anyone doesn't know its pretty hard to pee out of a kayak. I just couldn't hold it any more. I had to GO. I paddled about 1/4 mile to the shore pulled my kayak up and immediately started shedding my layers...PFD, jacket, camera, phone, and finally pulled my waders down. I soon realized i couldn't go due to a severe case of rumble gut. I had no choice. I took off my t-shirt, ripped off the sleeves, ripped each sleeve in half, and did my business. It was not easy to do on the rip-rap but somehow i managed to stay clean!

I paddled back, dropped my eels back down, and then it was ON! Over the next hour or so i caught a 39", 40", 44", and a 45". The two biggest i caught were AT THE SAME TIME! I've never had a double like that before. I had an eel free lining on one rod and the other was near the bottom. I hooked the 44''er on the free line and got it right to the boat when the other one went off! I landed the one and snatched my other rod and set the hook. After a 10min battle i landed the 45" pig and had 2 citation sized striper in my lap at once! Let me tell you... Its a great feeling having 65-75lbs worth of 2 fish in a 12' kayak :)

After that things got pretty slow. We were getting antsy so we decided to move. Just when we started to move Rob Choi got his first hit and hooked up good. I was right behind him and he took off on a nice sleigh ride. I paddled after him and watched him boat his nice 44" release citation!

After that the night was pretty slow. Ash had the last hook-up but again lost it at the boat. After almost 10 hours of fishing in sub-freezing temps we had enough. Total for the night was 6 fish. 5 for me and 1 for Rob. It was my lucky night:)

So work was slow and the water was like glass. Easy choice for the day! I packed my stuff and headed to the the 1st island but got stopped in traffic. The most calm day i could imagine and of course i get caught 200yds from the HRBT tunnel. I sit for maybe 5 mins and decided "what hell... why not cast some?" So i get out of the truck, get my rod, cut off the tog rig, and tie on a jighead with a paddle tail gulp. A few people laughed and one guy said "Got another pole?". I was fishing for about 10 mins and hooked either a striper or a speck in the 18-20" range, but it let off when it got to the surface. Another 15-20 mins go by and i hook another fish but this time i got it in! I grabbed my line and hand over hand i pull up a 14"ish flounder! Nothing special on any other circumstance but this is one of my most prized catches so far!

After nearly 2 hours of traffic i got to the first island WAY too late so i only had about an hour and a half to fish before it got too dark for tog. I hooked a good tog that came unbuttoned and caught one small puppy drum then...nothing. Oh well It was worth the flounder!

Tautog and a ridiculous paddle.

I don't know why i do the things i do sometimes...Like eat lots of fried food even though i know its bad for me or buy a new "toy" when i know I'm already broke.

According to the forecast it was going to be windy but I thought "They're ALWAYS wrong!" So i went anyways. I ended up paddling into 15 mph+ NE winds (just like the weatherdude said) for over an hour to get to the first island. It got calm while i was fishing (just like the weatherdude said). Then just before I head back the wind spins around and comes right at me blowing 15 from the south (Yes...just like the weatherdude said). It ended up taking over an hour and a half to paddle against the wind and current on the way back.

Its almost like I'm punishing myself on purpose...but in reality I'm just addicted to the thrill of the catch.

...oh yeah i caught 12 Tog ranging from 12''-17" and a Pigfish.

IT WAS WORTH IT!

North River

I got off of work early today and decided to try the north river. A buddy of mine caught a 7 1/2lbs + 28" speckled trout yesterday so i figured it might be a good time to try my luck. I fished for about 3 hours and had a few strikes but only one hook-up. Got me a 22" speck. It was the fattest speck i have ever caught. Probably 4+lbs!

Toggin at the 1st island!

This time every year for the past 3 years I get a job scaring people for Halloween. Last year and the year before i worked at Busch gardens for howl-o-scream (where i met my wife). This year i kept it close to home and got a spot at the haunted swamp. I always have a ton of fun scaring people but i have to say...it cuts into my fishing time a LOT. Luckily for me i don't have to sleep much:)

I worked during the day Friday then got to the swamp at 7. I worked til 12am and headed home to try to get a few hours of sleep. I think i got about 3 hours of sleep but I didn't care cause I was going fishing! Rob Choi invited like 4230 kayakers to go tog fishing with him and I'm glad he did! I met up with Rob, Billy, Kyle, Tripp, Jason, Joe and 4224 others at oceans east. I was about 5 mins late and wish i had got there sooner. That morning alone OE sold 70 DOZEN fiddlers. I got the last 3 dozen and they were TINY.

We got to the launch and started paddling just before sun-up. It was a nice calm easy paddle all the way out. As soon as everyone made it to the island and dropped down they started hooking up! One after another all in the same area. I'm sure there were several doubles cause the action was hot! For whatever reason it took me what seemed to be 30mins of not catching while everyone else already had at least 2-3. Eventually i got into them just like everyone else. Kyle Sawyer and Rob Choi were the hot rods of the day and ended up with 25+ tog each! Kyle had one that was 21 1/2"! Pig tog!

One of my favorite things to do is catch fish next to powerboaters. That morning we all did just that! There was a 30'+ boat with an inboard motor that puled right up next to us without saying a word. He heaved his anchor right next to us to try get on our spot since he saw us slaying the tog. We surrounded the area with kayaks and he had no way to get any closer or cast in out spot. We continued to catch and release keeper sized tog right in front of him for about an hour til he gave up and took off empty handed. That is a good day if i do say so myself:) The total tog count was probably 75 or better (At least 50 of those were from Rob and Kyle) . Everyone caught tog to bring home and most of us caught our limit. I ended up with my limit of 4 that ranged from 16"-18". GOOD TIMES!!!!!!

Weak night at Rudee.

Launched around 6pm and fished til around 1:00am with my buddy Rob Choi and William Ragulsky. The most exciting thing that happened for me was finding over a dozen jig heads lodged in an oyster bed at low tide. We all ended up with a few undersized specks. At least it wasn't a skunk....

HERBERT (HRBT) 10/13

Got out at the ramp at 8ish and fished till around 1:30am. The light line was kind of weak at first so after only getting one small striper i tried for some flounder. I ended up catching 8 flounder ranging from 14"-18". After a while like clockwork the tide started ripping and the striper showed up in the thousands. I picked through them and got some solid fish in the 22-24" range. The highlight of the night was talking to the construction workers on their lift and giving them some striper i caught. Also i watched a guy troll a lure with a tuna reel. It was funny as hell! I could tell he snagged something because his bait clicker went off like crazy but you could hear the clicking slow as he slowed. He came to a stop and so did his clicker then he "set" the hook. It didnt move but he continued to pull as hard as he could bowing his broomstick till POW! He snapped off his monster..."rock". Funny stuff happens out there. Good times.

TKAA tourney

I fished the TKAA Heroes on the water tournament sept. 25th and had a great time! I decided to fish the Back river because the night before at New point comfort I only ended up with one small striper. I launched at Wallaces in Hampton and fished the flats close to the ramp but the wind was killing me and the water was muddy so i decided to head across the river to fish a creek that was productive for me before. I'm REALLY glad i made this decision. In just the first couple casts i hooked a tiny speckled trout that was way undersized. Within minutes after that I hooked a nice red drum on Alice's 5'6" light action rod and fought it for a good 5-10 mins. I was so excited to land the fish! I put it on the tape and it came to 25 inches. Not bad for the first keeper fish of the day! It's exciting to catch a Drum that size on light tackle but it being a tourney makes it 100 times more exciting. I continued to work my way back in the creek and i hooked a striper and landed it. I took the hook out, it kicked out of the boat and PLOP... into the drink. It was a small striper (around 17" i guess) but later i found it would have been a 2nd or 3rd place striper...oh well. After the striper i caught about 8-10 small specks under 14" all in the same little hole. I was working my way further back in the creek when i made one more cast to the hole and got distracted by something. I put my attention back to fishing pulled in the slack in the line and felt a little resistance. I figured it was another small speck but when i set the hook it was SOLID. It was another good fight and ended up being a bigger red drum than the last at 26 1/4 inches. I fished for a few more hours after that seeing red drum everywhere but not much luck catching anything other than an 18" drum and a tiny spot. I made my way back to the ramp 1 mile across the river through the 20+ mph winds.

Just like last year the weigh in was awesome! Wayne Bradby and crew did a great job! Really nice to see the HOW (heroes on the water) and Project healing waters Veterans get out and do some fishing. Some of them had never even fished before! Can you imagine! Some got their first fish ever. One guy was standing, casting, and catching with his flyrod! They are great organizations with great causes. I just might volunteer for it next year.

After everything was said and done i got some lures and stickers from Aqua Dream, got 4th place for the red drum and won a $100 entry fee for a bass tourney, also got various stickers, bags and things from Hobie. A few of my friends placed also. Forrest won 1st in the bass division and won a killer Kayak. Rob Choi won 57 hats and 2nd place for flounder, and Kam won 2nd place for his 20" speck. Great times!!!!

HONEYMOON!!!!!

Alice and I went took our honeymoon trip to Florida to go fishing and also visit my Grandma and her Grandpa. We got to her Grandpa's house in New Smyrna beach first and had a nice dinner. We walked to the beach that night and felt the softest sand in the world! It was like walking on warm snow powder. The next day we drove to my Grandmas house and did a little bit of fishing in a pond behind her house. I caught one nice Largemouth and a couple of small ones. The next day Alice caught a pretty good one on a spinnerbait.

Finally we made our way across the state to Pine Island. It has the coolest little towns i have ever been to. Matlacha was a great little place that is an old fishing village. Saint James city(i don't know why they call it a city) was another spiffy small town. The entire island is surrounded by mangroves and creeks...perfect kayak fishing area.

We got a site at a KOA campground to park our trailer and it ended up being on a small pond. Needless to say i fished it as soon as we were set up. I had a few hard hits on a spit'n image but none that got hooked. I decided to wake up early the next day because i was so excited about the potential big bass i missed. I got up around 6 and started fishing immediately. I had a couple hits but again no hooksets. About 45 mins of fishing i finally hooked one on the spit'n image. It started to scream drag! I thought "This is going to be the biggest bass I've ever caught!" It took several good runs and i finally got it to shore..."what the hell is that??" I was 100% certain it was a freshwater pond but i had no clue what kind of fish it was. After looking for a bit i thought...mangrove snapper? Nah. Its freshwater. But it was! A 22" mangrove snapper in a landlocked freshwater pond. Later I found out that people have caught snook, tarpon, sheepshead, and mangrove snapper all in this little pond the size of a football field. Crazy! I also learned that it is not uncommon for certain saltwater fish to adapt to fresh if they are hatched in it. (Thanks for the info Cory Routh)


Over the next 3 days my new wife and I fished the west side of pine island and got on some good fish. It is unreal how full of fish the area is! The mullet there must be on steroids because they were the size of small torpedoes and jumping everywhere all the time! I'm talking about 4lb+ mullet! Altogether it was extremely fun and fairly productive. We found some nice creeks and cuts in the mangroves and caught snook, trout, ladyfish, puppy drum, and catfish. On the 2nd day Alice saw a 5-6' long shark in about 2' of water and took off after it to get a better look! FEARLESS! What a trooper :)

Pine island is an amazing place to fish and the people there are great! I think I know where i want to live for a while. I have to start working towards that...

AMAZING HONEYMOON! BEST WIFE EVER!!!