Kiptopeake Kows Come Home

On monday I made my second attempt to catch a Kiptopeake Kow. Left work about 2pm and made the 45-min drive across the CBBT to Kiptopeake State Park. When I got there there were already kayak anglers on the water, Kayak Kevin and Shante were set up to film footage for his upcoming DVD "Kayak Fishing the Chespeake Bay". Jay Flemming was also on the water taking some phonemenal stills.


Kayak Kevin and Shante with their cameras running!


There was a great sunset, but my Sony a700 is getting serviced, so I had to catch some stills from my HD camcorder. They are OK but not up to par with the DSLR's.


Jim Porter came down from Maryland he caught this nice citation striper during the daytime bite. Photo courtesy of Jim Porter, taken by Jay Flemming. http://www.jayflemingphotography.com/

Chad Hoover caught this monster 51.5-inch striper at the pound net poles. Photo courtesy of kayakbassfishing.com.

We are offering trips out to the ship, but we require you have the proper winter paddling apparel. Call or email us for details. The fishery here is very unpredictable, but get there at the right time and the payoff can be BIG!

Cold Water Kayak Self Rescues

Was joined by 6 members of the TKAA for our annual turtle recovery practice. We use this opportunity to let people know the reality of cold water kayak fishing and to see if their clothing and gear can make the cut. As always I am the first to go over or "turtle".


TKAA tournament director Wayne Bradby excuting his turtle.


And his successful recovery. "IM ALIVE"!

Tom, Justin, and Vic waiting for their turn.

Group shot of all the participants, everyone successfully recovered and came prepared. Everyone went inot the 40 degree water and noone went home wet and cold.

We are keeping an eye on the Striper fishing at Kiptopeake I have a few trips pending and will start booking as soon as the bit gets hot. In January we will premier our new website start to stream episodes of the show. We will also shut down charters to have booths the winter fishing shows (dates and locations will be posted soon). See you on the water or at the shows.

Busy Weekend

Had charters all weekend, two on saturday and one today. Despite Saturday's excellent weather and clear water, Lynnhaven Inlet had no love (or trout) for us. For Sunday I opted to fish Rudee inlet.



Joe Calahan from Richmond was my guest today. He brought his motorized NuCanoe and we spent most of the trip looking for fish.


Joe managed to squeek out a spike trout about halfway through.


I lucked out and landed a nice 20-inch trout rigth at the end of the day.

Toothy critters!

We will be taking a break for the next two weekends but will move our operations to the Elizabeth River for trout and to Kiptopeake State Park for trophy stripers. Book Now!

Fall is here and so are the Spotted Trout

We got a very short window of opportunity for spotted trout here in Virginia. Having the day off I decided for a pre-dawn launch at the Owls Creek Ramp in Virginia Beach. Mullet were busting everywhere so I cast a super spook jr to the commotion, I was gettting severl blow up but no takers. IN the Shadows I saw another kayaker fighting a fish, It was Trevor Holiday a fellow plankowner of TKAA and a great artist. I cast my lure and it was smashed as soon as it hit the water. After a quick fight I landed a nice 24-inch citation trout. We called wayne Bradby over to take a pic..and here it is. These fish were caught less than 100 yards from the launch.



It seems that as the sun came up the mullet went down and so did the trout, so we switched over to sub surface lures. I gave Trevor a Rip Tide Ultimate Inshore Minnow, he put it on and hooked up in a few casts.


Got em in the net! 18-inch trout.


Trevor likes the Ultimate Minnow and so do these trout! You can get you Ultimate Monnows online here! http://www.riptidelures.com/html/ultimate.html

A really "Crappie" day

My good pal Jay Kocan just bought a new house on one of the freshwater lakes in Virginia Beach. He wanted to paddle it, so we launched from his yard and went looking for some sweetwater pullage. Crappie was the fish of the day, Jay used his fly rod and I used jigs.

Most of the fish were small but still fun on ultra light gear.

Jay with a scrappy crappie.

There were also some hungry bass in the lake.

Jay fly casting from his Native Ultimate 14.5 the best flatwater kayak available!

My biggest crappie of the day, I caught him vertical jigging around a downed pine tree.

Fall Flounder

Went solo fishing today and had a nice day on the water. I saw what I thought was a stingray settle down on a oyster bar. Realized that it was a flounder and cast to it. The fish did not hesitate and took my lure. after landing the fish near by motor boats promptly moved into my spot. Fish was 23-inches. POTLICKERS! LOL!

HOW TKAA Charity Event Winner

Had the pleasure of fishing with 15 warriors from the Wounded Warrior Regement at Portsmouth Naval Hospital and Project Healing Waters. The fishing was tough but there were some fish caught, the biggest was a 12-inch redfish caught by Marine Bronson Bell, he went home with a custom rod by local rod maker Jese Buke of JB rods. Everyone had a great time and we cannot wait until the next event. Also if you know a vet who can use a day of kayak fishing, pleas contact me and we will get them on the water!

TKAA Tournament Slide Show

David Schwartz of
http://www.davidschwartzphotography.com/
volunteered to be the official photographer at this years TKAA Charity Kayak Fishing Tournament. He followed the whole process from the captain's meeting to the awards ceremony. He is truly a talented photographer and I highly recommend him for capturing your special event.

The slide show can be found at http://www.davidschwartzphotography.com.temp.livebooks.com/tkaa/index.html

Thanks to David for his work and to all those who made this a great event.

Short trip with "lil miss ruthless"

Got out for a little pre-tournament scouting with my daughter Cara "lil miss ruthless" Routh. She loves to paddle and I got to get her a Werner paddle of her own. We caught lots of small trout and pinfish. Got 20 HOW and PHW vets to fish with in TKAA fifth annusl charity kayak fishing tournament. Tigh Lines!

Redfish action still hot in Virginia Beach

Took John Fuller and Nick Kutner out today for a quick afternoon trip. As soon as we got to my spot in Hidden Cove both guys hooked up, here Nick fights a scrappy red.

And Nick's hero shot.

John also hooked up in the same spot.

An John gets a hero shot as well (check the perfect lighting).

Things are going to get better as fall approaches, book now, we are filling up fast!

Hawaii Fishing trips

Had the opportunity to fish with two members of the Aquahunters family while in Hawaii. The first was with Ji Fay and his son Issiac, Ji took us out in his outrigger canoe on the private waters of the Kaelepulu Pond Reserve. Below is a picture of Ji, Issiac, and the Routh boys posing for the camera.


The pond is a brackish water estuary that is allowed to flush with Pacific Ocean water every month at the highest tides. This flushing creates a killer fisher for Papio, Baracuda, Milkfish, and a species of Talipia. Issac joined us on his kayak.

Ji and dad contemplating which lures to use.

We hooked a few nice baracuda, but noone was able to get them to the boat...yes they were that big, and toothy!

One day before I was to fly home, Boogie-D aka Dave Elgas of Coastal Kayak Tours offered to take me on his inshore run from The Backyards to Haliewa ( over 5 miles). We launched right at dawn and the wind was behind us all the way.

Not 5-minutes in and we are both hooked up with Papio. These were very scrappy fighters and after the first, I wanted more!

Boogie-D with a Papio, notice the swells, thay got bigger as the day went on.

Our final catch, we kept 4 papio, and a Leather skin jack. we released a triggerfish, and a needlefish.

These guys were part or our final day Lual and were very tasty on the grill with Hawaiian Seasoning!

I had a great time and the hospitality of our fellow kayak anglers was second to none. If you want to check out the Hawaiian kayak fishing scene check out www.aquahunters.com and if you are on Oahu and want the to hire a kayak fishing guide check out Boogie-D at www.coastalkayaktours.com.

Can't wait until I return!

ESPN features Kayak Fishing

Todays blog is a link to a piece done by Colin Moore of ESPN. Enjoy and we have alot more on the way from Hawaii!





http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/news/story?id=4418580

Aloha from Hawaii!

Aloha from the North Shore of Oahu! On vacation with family in Hawaii and found out about a Kayak fishing tournament in Haleiwa, just down the road from our rental house at Sunset Beach.
This tournament was the 2009 Papio Open with two divisions, the target species Papio or Bluefin Trevally and a big fish catagory. The papio catagory had an $1800 total payout while the bigfish catagory winner went home with a new Oceak Kayak Prowler.

This event attracted 47 anglers and was a well run and organized event.

Papio was the target species!

There were some great catches in the big fish catagory including this 18.8 pound Ula (Great Trevally) caight by Steven Uchida.

Other pelagics were also caught such as this Mahi.

And this 24 pound gaffer Mahi caught by Chris Paglinewah.

Ji Fay took second place in the big fish with this 31.9 pound Kagami (African Trevally).

The target species division (papio) was taken by Micah Pignoley with a 7 pound Papio, he took home $1000.

The big fish division was won by Michael Nevius with a 33 pound Great Trevally, he took home the OK Prowler.

Group shot of all 47 anglers and support staff. Great turnout and tourney!

It was an honor to meet all these kayak anglers, and really great to see the enthuasium that all these anglers have. The sport has a lot of potential in Hawaii and it was great to be a part of this tourney. Mahalo! More to come!