Fishing with Heroes

Had the honor of kayak fishing with 18 warriors from Project Healing Waters and the Marine Wounded Warrior Regiment. This trip was organized as part of the 6th Annual TKAA Charity Kayak Fishing Tournament. Each year the Heores On the Water or HOW, organizes volunteers and equipment to take these deserving indiviuals out for a day of kayak fishing.

We had both fly and conventional anglers and every one took to kayak fishing like it was second nature. For the rest of the day we were all kayak anglers.

Some took to the open water solo, while others found a spot with their brothers and enjoyed the day. These Marines found the hot spot of the day.

This particular Marine caught his first kayak fish today, and others even caught their first fish ever..on the kayak. I believe they might be hooked.

I take pride in being able to "give back" to these deserving indiviuals by sharing my passion. In one way or another I believe we are doing in a day, what it takes the government much longer to do. HOW continues to grow and chapters are organizing nationwide. If you want to volunteer or contribute to the Heroes on the Water, please check out their website at http://www.heroesonthewater.org

Lynnhaven Scouting trip.

Got an early start to scout out some spots in Lynnhaven Inlet. I was joined by Mark Lozier, Jay Kocan , and IFA competitor Scott Inge from Raleigh, NC.

Paddling into the sunrise.

Scott starts the morning with a nice sleighride.

He nets a nice redfish after a quick but hearty fight.

The fish ends up being a nice 28-inch multi spotted redfish. It hit a redfish magic spinnerbait.

It was not a gangbuster day but things seem to be picking up, we even managed a few trout this morning. We have lots of slots open for fall give us a call to get in on the action.

Well I guess I owe everyone an apology for not posting fishing reports and photos. I have been going through alot lately including a seperation. I wont go into depth but the dust is finally settling and I am ready to move on. I have also moved to Knotts Island, North Carolina, which is about 45minutes south of Virginia Beach. I have taken over the caretaking responsibility for private Hunting and Fishing Camp there and simply love it. Well have more about it soon.

Now a fishing report. First of all this year has been a slow one, everywhere in tidewater fishing has been slow, and the air temperature are sweltering. I did have an opportunity to fish with Jim (Arrow1) from TKAA on Saturday morning, and believe it or not we had a pretty good day getting small flounder in Rudee inlet. He also managed to land a small redfish, which are starting to show up more lately, but not like past years. I am confident that with the abundance of bait, the late summer and fall will be red hot.

We are steadily booking trips for September and october, so get wiht us soon so you wont miss a great trip. I am also offering freshwater trips out of the camp in Knotts Island for bass, bream, catfish, chain pickeral, and perch. Check out the website for more information.

See you on the water!

Ruthless

Snow in Virginia Beach

It has been 30-years since we have had a significant amount of snow in Virginia Beach.



The weatherman got it right and we reciveved about 8 inches of snow, as seen here on the avalanche.


The morning after the storm yielded some great images.

We are pretty locked in with winter, but we are still doing shows and are getting some great interest in trips this year, 2010 is going to be a killer year! See you on the water!

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!