Pau Hana Fishing (just not in Hawaii)

I get my seiryu/tenkara/keiryu rods and supplies from www.tenkarabum.com - and Chris S (proprietor) started a "Blue Fly" contest (check out his website for details). Anyways, I finally tied up a blue fly and used it yesterday. I caught 12 bluegills on the single "killer bug" with a red tail. I was using a Nissin Fine Mode Zoom rod - 14'6" with a number 3 level line. It was real windy too so the casting with this soft rod was challenging - but the action when a pugnacious BG took the fly was AWESOME!!! Not bonefish on 8wt A-W-E-S-O-M-E (epic awesome), but still a great time. Noe caught one on her own and Marlon came away with a 6 count. The crappie and LMBs were no where to be seen. Not sure if it was the wind or the rain we just had - we'll see later on today...

This never gets old...

Late afternoon walk to the Lake. Noe came with me, but it turns out she was avoiding homework - she fished for about 10 minutes then asked to stop and hung out to play with the Cherry Blossom petals. When I brought up a fish, she would come back so she could "feed" them some petals. I hooked up to the Crappie that lives by one of the rocks near the dock - three separate times I hooked into it and three times it came off the hook just as I was about to land it. The other fish caught today - 11 Bluegill and 6 LMBs. The LMBs turn into dead weight once hooked - the Bluegills fight like you just stole it's lunch money. Pound for pound these are one of the most spirited fish to catch - they have a bad rap for being too common, but I'll catch them (sight casting flies, no bait) day after day... if this gets old, I'm in trouble (3.5 hour drive to the beach...)

Day Two Catching

*No harm was caused to any of the fish caught today* that includes the four Bluegill and the six LMBs - despite the distressed look on that small bass Noe is holding. That's just good acting on both their behalfs. Among the lost fish and those that got spooked by the long shadows, I did get a Crappie to take the fly (red ant). When I tried to set the hook, the fly would just shoot out of its mouth - five times in a row. I won't complain though - catching is better than fishing which is better than freezing your butt off and not enjoying the outdoors. The kids tried to sell hotdog chunks to the locals, but they were on a diet (they didn't get a single bite, while my fly only approach was kinda making them upset and impatient). That's fishing...

Winter is Outta Here!!!!

I got home and asked La how her day was - she said she felt good because she got a SUP paddle in today. I asked her if she saw any fish and she said 'yes - all over the place - about as big as my forearm'. That was not the answer I was expecting based on the past several days down at the Lake. I took Marlon and we headed down to see the fish. At our pier, there were at least 10 Large Mouth Bass a couple of big Bluegill and a few other fish. I lined up the Soyokaze 27 and it had a green bead head nymph on it from the last time I used the line (number 2). I caught a 5" LMB and with that the long hard winter was OVER!!! After that, I tied on a floating hopper (that didn't get the time of day) and at Marlon's suggestion, I tied on the Orange Scud - two White Crappie and a second LMB (bigger than 5") later, and we welcomed in Spring!!! I've been waiting for this day since late last year - it feels good to have a tug-o-war with a piscene!!!

Sakuramen Trip

We drove through the Tidal Basin portion of DC yesterday thinking the Sakura "Monza" or peak bloom would be underway (from the poor advice given by the radio announcers - it's like they were paid by the city, the food vendors and the festival organizers to tell the general public "come down now before the blooms are gone" even though they haven't come out yet - it is after all the weekend and you need to give us all your money). It was super crowded and if you didn't pick up on my sarcasm, barely any blossoms were out. We decided to divert and eat ramen. I had the "meat-lover's" bowl this time and it was even better than the DC Bowl I ate last time - savory, warm goodness with delicious slices of pork belly and beef swimming among the al dente noodles. I'm sure the food was not good for my diet (I'm trying to lose another 6 pounds), but if you are going to blow a diet, you need to do so in style. We will probably have to try a different ramen shop next time, but Sakuramen has set a really high bar (third best ramen shop I have ever eaten at).

The Armada is Deployed

I started packing and everyone else started paddling - literally everyone else. It was awesome seeing everyone having a great time out on the Pamlico. Super flat water, brilliant sunset and decently warm temps. What a wonderful way to end a vacation - reality sucks compared to the vacation life. I need to find a new line of work or win the lottery....

The Adoption of a Touring SUP

I brought Charlie over to check out the boards at Ocean Air Sports (for you old timers, the old Windsurfing Hatteras shop). He ended up adopting an Amundson Touring board - got a great deal on it too. La and my two boogers gave it their seal of approval (check out those priceless smiles!!!). Charlie's PSH surfing SUP had too much of Ramp 27 on it, so I hauled it back to our condo (three boards and counting on the Surf Taco)! Finders keepers??? Nope -

Good Eats at the Froggy Doggy

La and I ate at this place back when we lived in Virginia Beach and made monthly trips down to Avon-Waves-Salvo. It was hard to look at Chicamacimico and not think of Chimichangas, but eating a lump crab cake sandwich or the Carolina Pulled Pork made you temporarily forget Mexican food. The place has upgraded quite a bit since the early 2000s, but the ambiance is still the same. Now I feel like eating a chimichanga....

Saturday - Off Roading... Almost

Just for the record, I only went to the top of the ramp to make loading easier. I did not buy an off road permit this trip so I didn't take the surf taco "off" road. Next time. This was the last surf session for this trip, but not the last water excursion.

Saturday - Ramp 27 from the GPH2 w/Wifi Remote

So I finally pulled the Go Pro Hero 2 I have out and used it again. Having the remote made a HUGE difference in ease of use and sparing the labor post session sorting out the keeper shots. The funny thing about this camera though is it always makes my belly way bigger and it shrinks the waves - Go Pro needs to fix that...

Charlie's Bomber

Probably the wave of the day - even if it wasn't, about the only more you could ask for was 20 degree warmer water. You already had - no crowds, warm sunshine, family having fun on the beach, peace and quiet all around. Ramp 27 delivered the goods!

Saturday - Easter Egg Hunting at the Beach

For those of you that know Amy Bisgard, heed this warning - spending too much time in the Outer Banks will shrink you. She is now La's height... And on another note, the kids had fun pulling the plastic eggs laden with money and chocolate delectables from the grip of the Graveyard of the Atlantic sands...

Friday - Another Ugly (Not) Sunset

Last Friday post - there is something ultra relaxing - almost sublime - about watching the sun go down over a water horizon. In certain places, you can be lucky enough to watch both the sunrise and sunset over water (like Hawaii) - the lower Outer Banks is definitely one of the sublimest spots I've come to know...

Friday - Microwaves

Friday afternoon SUP surfing - the waves were small, but to a landlocked surfer, waves are waves and they must be ridden or you will suffer the curse of dry skin and creaky joints (DRY ROT). I had fun and so did Noe!

Friday - Storming Jockey's Ridge and the Attack of the Kites

We're back from spring break and almost settled back into our normal routines. I'll be posting the rest of our activities for continuity. So on Friday morning we were joined by the Bisgards for SUP surfing, running the kids around and essentials like eating and drinking. We heard over the radio that Kitty Hawk Kites would be throwing an Easter Egg Hunt and a Kite Flying Festival - so we thought we take the kids over (the Outer Banks schools started their Spring Break the next day). The kids had fun climbing up the dunes and rolling down - I was emptying sand out of pants pockets, car seats and jackets for the next couple of days after this. What matters is the kids had fun (especially while being attacked by the jellyfish tailing kite)!