Now It's All Pau

I cleaned up the deck pad, cut the new hole for the mast track, and fixed the gap between the front and back pads. I can't wait to get this board back out on the water!!!

Fishing Report 10/18/2014

I took the Hooked SUP out to the Mayport Salt Marshes again - launched from the northern side of the bridges that crosses a feeder creek along A1A. That was a mistake - mid calf deep salt marsh mud from the high water mark down to a few feet into the creek. This side seemed more attractive because it had a less powdery dirt road to get to it, but now I know why (doesn't get as much traffic). I paddled down a different feeder creek than last time - took the left at the fork instead of the right and paddled toward the Wonderwood Bridge. There was a lot of flats-shallows-drainages-oyster beds along the way and I was able to use the terrain to pick a couple of good 'fishy' spots. I caught my first flounder on the fly!!!! This guy took the supreme hair shrimp fly I cast on the first shot out!!! That is one heck of a fly (I want to learn to tie them, but they look like a lot of work...). Not legal size so back in the water - with attitude - splashed a bunch of water back at me, almost as if to say "next time I'll kick your ass!" A bit later I found another spot that was downstream of a draining feeder creek. I threw a swimming Gulp mullet on a jighead and caught this nice spotted sea trout. Nice paddle, a 'first' on the fly and beautiful weather! I'm not complaining! The tackle I have been bringing out on these salt marsh trips impress me more and more each time I use them. The Epic 686 casting a full sink line and the St Croix Tidemaster are going to be hard to top.

Fishing Report 10/10/2014

I took the Hooked SUP out to the salt marsh just outside of Mayport Naval Station. I brought the St Croix Tidemaster and an old friend that I haven't had out in a while - the Epic 686 built out by Chris Barclay. I ended up catching a 15" Speckled Trout (Spotted Sea Trout) on a gulp mullet. Decent fight, but the Tidemaster was just a hair too much for this fish (my lightweight St Croix Triumph would have been sweet!). But when you are fishing for meat, getting the rod power right is just gravy - I'll take the meat! After a little bit more time with the spin gear, I switched out to the Epic 686 with a full sink line - basically the same setup I used when fishing for shad in the Potomac Shad Run. On the first cast I got this needlefish on a shrimp fly - it jumped a few times just to make me smile a little bit more than I already was! Casting a lighter fly makes using this combo oh so nice - I was able to throw very pretty loops - I really LOVE this setup!!! I think I am going to tie up more shrimp flies (smaller and slightly heavier) and cast the rod with both a DT6 and WF6 to see what I can get out of it - it really has been a while since I used this rod. I saw a few other fish, but didn't bring anymore to hand. Awesome fishing day!!!

Fishing Report 8/21/2014

I took the paddleboard out this morning. I had the St Croix Tidemaster and the Orvis Hydros out with me. I started out by casting a pretty long gummy minnow. Within a few minutes, something had grabbed it, pulled a bit and took off with my fly - good sign. I spent the next 45 minutes trying different flies. I got a few more takes on a chartreuse clouser, but nothing hooked on. I started throwing a popping lure (mullet) and got no interest either. By this time I had also seen three mantas (small ones - 3 foot across) and one shark - maybe a 4 footer. I finally switched out the popper for a 5/8 ounce deep lure and started trolling it (which I think is pretty cool from a paddleboard). I got a hit - smaller Spanish Mackerel. I got another hit - a bluefish. Now is where the fun really begins. I cast the swimming lure again and I quickly got another hook up. This one was bigger and was moving pretty quickly. I did not turn the GoPro on (but really should have). I got the fish in sight and saw color - it was another bluefish - but it started to pull drag and WOOSH!!!! A big shark threw a bunch of water while trying to eat the bluefish. For a second I thought "there is no way that I have that shark hooked... it would have broken off a long time ago - and how the heck am I going to get my lure out that mouth..." - but then I saw the bluefish jumping to get out of the water. I got the fish on deck and decided that it was time to paddle in. That shark was bigger than the 4 footer that I saw earlier - and way thicker... I have not had that much adrenaline flowing through me since I was in Diego Garcia and had a bluefin trevally on the end of my flyline and it was running from a shark!!!

Blast From The Past

I caught up with an old buddy of mine from the time that I spent in Baghdad - Eric R. He's been crossbow fishing for gators and snakehead, but recently picked up his own bow and kayak. Even managed to rig a set of pontoons to increase stand-up stability. We paddled out of Fort Belvoir into the Pohick Bay area. The water was super murky. I though enough time had passed since the last rain, but I guess I was way wrong. We actually didn't catch anything. BIG FAT SKUNKING. There were fish though - and the ospreys were out to prove it (several were flying around with some pretty big fish that were bleeding out in the talon grips). I also saw the water swirls left behind by fish of decent size fleeing the scene as they get notice that something not piscine is floating by... As bad as skunking is, beer does take the edge off - as does catching up with old friends.