Marlon Surfing

Sunday was perfect for the kids to get more surfing experience under their belts - Marlon was catching EVERYTHING today!!!

WHACK!!!

I took the head off this wave!!! It's been a while since I've had this kite up (Diego???) let alone kited in waves... Fortunately, this move for me is just like riding a bike - somethings are just meant to be ;)

12m - Too Small

If you go back a few weeks, you'll see the last time we came down to Virginia Beach, I BELIEVED the weather forecast and only brought the 16m kite. Needless to say the wind was cranking and I didn't get to go kitesurfing. This trip I brought both. The wind was holding above 15 mph, so I went ahead and pumped up the 12m. My luck - the wind quickly started to die back as soon as I was ready to launch. I went out anyways and...

Busy Weekend

Packed and ready to go!!! SUP surfing and fishing, kiting and boogie boarding - oh my...

Photobomb

Marlon or the Bluegill??? Marlon.

New Fishing Kite

I ordered one of these a few weeks back from amazon. There was a lot of wind today after the front pushed through - perfect time to test out the kite! This thing is really stable and only had moderate pull - never felt like it was going to go out of control. What I should have done was break out the AFTCO kite I have as well to test them in the same wind (which was swirly due to the trees around the park). I am looking forward to the time when I can use these on the water to push bait way out past the vessel (SUP fishing board..., skiff, huge catamaran) to entice spooky fish to a game of tug-o-war...

Kung Fu Fighting

Head Bands from Lolo!!! Salamatpo!

Dog Days of Summer

Quick run to the lake to wet a line. Quick not so much because of time, but it was HOT!!! This has been a mild summer but the last few days would make you consider otherwise. I left the ultra light rig at home and brought along the Helios 5wt with a 150 grain intermediate sink line to cast some flies out. I had a floating line on the reel, but switched it out - this run was mainly to test out the line-rod combo to see if the line was too heavy for the rod. They are good to go. These small Large Mouth Bass would not leave me alone. I stopped counting after ten or so. With this weather, it might be time to go carping in the morning again - the weekend can't come fast enough...

BAM!!! Check this fish out!!!

Taking a cue from Saturday morning, I opted to wait until later in the day to go fishing. I also wanted to use the Hooked SUP board so I went to Accotink Creek. The wind was coming in from the WNW-NW, but not too strong. I paddled out and as I made my way to the weed beds, I saw several largemouth bass swimming away - the board let me sneak up on them well as I was less than five feet away when they bolted. At that point I knew this was going to be a good session. There were minnows swimming freely among the dense weeds - without a care in the world. I set up the ultralight rig with a 1" shad softbait and within the first few casts and I got this big bluegill. The very next cast and I hooked into this Needlefish. While I was reeling it in, it was jumping like a tarpon - pretty much the whole way in. I had a dry spell for a few minutes, then I landed the first large mouth - measured out at just over 11 inches. That fish jumped and tried to throw the hook but the jighead was in the bottom of it's mouth - solid set. I cast again and I got an even bigger one - 14 inches and way rounder. This fish was peeling off drag and had a good bend in the rod - adrenaline pumper!!! When I got it up onto the board, I saw I had just barely lip hooked it - I couldn't have asked for a better fight! I wanted to catch another needlefish, but ended up with a couple more bluegill and I called it a day. The ultralight setup I have has made the last several weeks of fishing an absolute blast! It's not surfing, but I gotta tell you - catching is pretty fun!

Small Large Mouth Bass and Medium Small Mouth Bass

The bass action came late in the fishing session. I could see these guys following the sunfish - egging them on to take the bait. Eventually, they joined in the fun themselves. I love watching the small mouth jump to try and shake the hook off - tough fish. These guys were really healthy too. Makes me want to hook up with a really big one to play a good game of tug-o-war. So - no catfish school today - but these two small mouth more than made up for that. That second picture was taken while the large mouth was jumping out of my hand - kinda funny looking to me (like it is floating away...)

Dawn Patrol - Not Intuitive

I decided to head back to Goose Creek and try my luck at that channel catfish school again. The morning was gorgeous - nippy 58 degrees, no wind, warm water and low humidity set the stage for a gently rising fog vapor from the creek. I looked for the school where I last saw them, but I didn't even see sunfish. I cast for awhile - first with the flyrod, then the ultralight spinning gear, then with Gulp and I wasn't getting any response. The water level was lower than last Monday, so I decided to try a different approach. I headed back up stream and cast softbait into the pools. That wasn't really working either. I kept going upstream and ended up near the trailhead. I saw a fish rolling out of the corner of my eye and I started casting across the narrow-ish part of the creek. I hit paydirt and spent the next hour reeling in fish (mostly green sunfish) cast after cast. I did get a few other types of fish - a Flier (Crappie) and some bass (saving that for the next post). After a few minutes of casting, I took the 5wt out again and the result was the same - tons of fun fish to hand. I'm not sure if it was the location, the terrain, the softbait, or the Sun's position, but it sure did take a while for the creek bite to turn on. Maybe next time I'll sleep in and stall the dawn patrol. Or maybe I'll wait for Marlon's Saturday show to end and then go and bring him too (darn Pokemon...)

Almost Skunked

I took the kids out of the house Friday afternoon and cast some bait and flies out in the lake. We only had a few minutes and the fish weren't really interested. I finally got this small large mouth to get rid of the ever-present skunk. I also landed a few bluegill as we moved back towards our original starting point. Hey - small fish is better than a skunk.

Sometimes the Little Bluegill are All it Takes...

Long days at work. Making the budget work. Cleaning up the house. These things that are not fun and build up stress - but I'm preaching to the choir aren't I??? Breaking out of the rat race and casting a few flies helps kill the stress bug - but bringing some fish to hand definitely melts the stress away. Fall is coming fast - but the water is still warm. It won't be long before the bite slows down, but not just yet. These bluegill grabbed on to my flies and helped out alot by playing tug-o-war. Thanks finned dudes!!!

Channel Catfish Have Gotten Bigger

Late post - I spent part of the last bit of the long Labor Day weekend fishing at Goose Creek (again). I brought the St Croix Ultralight spinning rod and the Orvis Helios 5wt to try my luck. I was able to catch a bunch of the resident Green Sunfish casting to the dropoffs, shelves and rocky outcroppings. I saw a few carp, bass and large channel cats, but they would look at my flies and turn away (yes - I have tied better). After a bit, I switched to the spinning rod and tied on a size 8, 1/32 ounce Trout Slayer jighead and placed a Gulp Cricket on the hook. As I waded back upstream, I saw a huge boil of fish. I looked for a little bit and it turned out the school was composed of catfish. I cast into the school and the cats went into a feeding frenzy. I ended up hooking five or so of these guys. If you go back on this blog a few months, you'll see this same school but the individuals were much smaller. Another few weeks and I suppose these fish will go down river as the temperatures begin to fall. That means I need to get back there this weekend and catch them some more ;)