Ice Fishing

Friday November 29, 2013

I am not much of a Black Friday shopper.  I believe that in 30 years of life I have made only one purchase on Black Friday and it was a tv for myself.  With that being said I saw this as a great opportunity to go out and try and find some fish.  The weather was predicted to be in the 40's with a winds out of the N NW at 10-15.  I decided to get an early start with my pops as usual.  I just love being on the water early.  Today that may not have been the best idea.  As we rode over the West Neck bridge this morning to my shock the entire creek was iced over.  We decided to ride up to the ramp and take a closer look.

We saw one other really smart truck in the parking lot that appeared to beat us to the idea of heading out in the ice.  My dad and I looked at each other and said what the heck we are already here, never been ice fishing before.

It was a slow needless to say.  We headed to the bridge first since this was the only visible spot that had no ice on the surface to make a cast.  It was so cold that on the retrieve ice was forming on the eyelits of my rod.

We try to find clear open water and deep water and tried North Landing channel as well as the Pocaty but not a tap, nibble or bite on anything that we were presenting the fish.  After some more debating we decided to head back up to West Neck to give it a shot.  We passed fellow blogger and fishing enthusiast Charlie at the bridge. He appeared to have just made it out and thanked us for breaking the ice to make it easier to for his paddle out.  The north side of the bridge offered us the same result as everywhere else, nothing.  About 1130 we made our way south again to call it a day when I decide to throw on one more point that I have had some success in the past.  It was in this last location that I got my first bite and the only fish to avoid the skunk.  I picked up this 12 in beauty on a black and blue jig with a chigger craw crazy legs trailer.  It was a very light bite on a slow slow presentation.

It was a learning experience as the cold water and cold weather is setting in.  Middle of the day from now on will most likely be best or waiting til the warm weather sets in.  Neverless a slow day fishing beats anything else I could have spent the day doing.

Until next time.....

A Salute to our Vets

November 11, 2013
As a grandson of two amazing men whom both served in the United States Navy for 20+ years each Veteran's Day is one that sits close to my heart.  It is an amazing sacrifice to put yourself on the line for the freedoms we so often take for granted.  To all of the men and women out there who serve or have served I thank you and your families to the service that you give.  You are the backbone of this great nation and I salute you.

Like planned I set out for West Neck again, this time my good buddy Brandon in tow.  We got to the ramp as the first boat to launch just as the sun was peaking over the tree tops.  Once again the air was cool and crisp.  The wind was laid down and calm to start the morning and there was a slight fog rising over the water.  There is something incredible about setting out during this time of day, it is and always will be my favorite time to fish.

The day started off hot for me again as I put two in the boat within the first 30 minutes. I landed both on an X-Rap Fire Tiger. I went out to try and find the school again but of course that was unsuccessful.  So after a bit we motored up and headed for the Pocaty. The more I fall in love with the sport of fishing, the more I read, listen, and learn about the techniques and tactics that make you a successful fishermen.  I say all that to say I am intrigued by this creek.  As you head up creek you come across a nice channel that runs anywhere from 6-10 feet deep with a steep ledge that rises to 2-3 feet close the bank.  I feel that with the fall and winter patterns of fish moving up to the shallows to feed and back to deeper water this should set up for a nice place.  I didn't disappoint today!

The bite started early and stayed fairly steady until about 1030.  I had a limit in the boat by 900 and had seven bass in the boat by 1030.  Brandon had added 3 bass and a pickerel in the same time.  My bait of choice was my War Eagle Spinner in Sexy Shad with double willow blades gold and silver.  My luck changed when I unexpectedly lost this bait.  The fish seem to really love it.  Always remember to retie you baits especially after a few fish and when throwing in heavy cover.

The bite slowed down after this and we only boated three more bass between then and 230 before we pulled the boat out of the water.  In total for the day I had 8 bass with the only one I felt like weighing coming in at 1.9 most were in the 1 lb range with one really little guy.  Brandon ended up with 5 bass and one pickerel.  All and all not a bad day, really beginning to enjoy my fall days at West Neck.

Until next time....

Schools in Session on West Neck

November 9, 2013
Since the last blog posted I have recently purchased a boat.  The new addition to my family is a '02 Bass Tracker Pro Team 165.  I couldn't be happier to have it and already put a few hours on the water with it.  The biggest issue I am having is now, even more so, with every free moment I want to take it out on the water.
With that being said the plan was to wake up early Saturday morning and hit West Neck.  With the wind blowing out of the north the couple days prior I was a bit concerned the water would be too low but arriving at the ramp things look good to go.  My dad was along for the journey today and we launched the boat about 720 am.  The conditions looked good. Air temperature was chilly but there was no wind until about 1030 am.  Water temperature started out about 60 but warmed to 65.
It was about 830 that we notice some activity on the surface and headed over to get a closer look.  It was about this time that we stumbled upon a large school of feeding bass.  I don't know how fish were there but in the span of roughly an hour we boated to my estimation roughly 20 bass.  Nothing too big I believe the biggest one I took the time to weigh came in a 1.8 lbs.  It was close to an every cast hook up kind of day.  It was something that was really hard to describe, but was a blast.  My only complaint if I was going to make one would have been they weren't big enough! I caught all of them in this period on an X-Rap Fire Tiger suspending jerk bait.  My dad caught them on two different jerk baits a suspending and floating (sorry but I don't know the brand). It was roughly 945 when we hadn't had a bite or fish in a while that we realized the bite turned off and we decided to move.
Over the course of the next roughly 6 hours I ended up boating 6 more bass on a War Eagle spinner bait and on pickerel on a jerk bait.  My dad I believe landed on more bass and on Bowfin weighing in at 3.13 lbs.
All in all it was a blast to be on the water and a day that I am sure I will never forget.  The plan is to head out again tomorrow and honor our veterans by hopefully boating a few more fish.

Until next time.....


Here are some photos from the day.  I will be updating this post later with a short video of some of the action from the day.

Like Father Like Son

After spending last Sunday October 6, 2013 on the water fishing with my dad, I realized that sometimes the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.  Recently my dad turn the bright young age of 60.  Hard for me to imagine that because he doesn't act near what I normally envision for a man his age.  Sunday took me back to my childhood; just me, dad and the fish.  Except he was really the only one to find the later.  As I sat down to write my blog and put together the film from the day, I realized that it didn't matter whether or not I caught fish.  It was just good to be on the water with dad.  I actually felt like somewhat of a guide as on two separate occasions I told him where to cast and he caught decent bass.  I thought that this is what it must have felt like for him to see me catch them as a kid.

Well dad here is to you.  To the man who put the first rod in my hand. Thanks for always being there for me.

Below is a video compilation of all video I have of my dad catching a few from this season.

Lake Tecumseh and Hells Creek

September 28, 2013
I got a chance to get out on Saturday with a mission to fish.  A huge thank you goes out to my dad who kindly allowed me to use his NuCanoe for my adventure.  My trusted fishing buddy, Brandon and I headed out at first light for Lake Tecumseh.  We anticipated a windy day but were not ready for the 25 to 30 mph winds that we would face.  I landed two decent fish in the grass beds and lily pads on the lake before we gave up battling the winds and tough fishing.  We moved the boat into Hell's Creek where we found some protection from the wind.  The water level was down about 2 feet from the strong northern winds that we had been facing for a couple days.  The fishing was steady.  We landed 10 for the day.  Of course we missed a few but it turn out to be a good day.  We caught them on black chigger craw crazy legs and bubble gum fluke. The fish in the creek were holding tight to structure. The two from Lake Tecumseh we both caught on a KVD Sexy frog. The only fish I thought of weighing weight in a 3.26 lbs

I hope you enjoy the video.  I am still learning this editing process.  I was having some technical difficulties with the camera so I missed capturing a few of the fish

Florida Bass Fishing Trip

I have finally had some time to go back and edit some old footage from my Florida trip from this spring. In this post you will find the video from some of our exploits on the Peacock pit in South Florida.  I hope that you enjoy.

Great Neck Bass

September 7, 2013

Got a chance to get out and do some fishing this weekend after moving into a new place and a couple weeks of no real fish.  It has been a slow month of August for me fishing wise, hard to find the fish and the bite.  Saturday morning I set out with my trusty fishing buddy Brandon to a new spot for me.  I found access through a friend to fish Great Neck Lake in Virginia Beach.  I have heard from several people of the years that there is a healthy population of bass in the lake so I was excited to try a new place.  We set out early and got on the water a little after 630 am.  Air temp was cool Saturday morning, in the mid 60's, to get started.  Water temp started at 75 and warmed up only a few degrees by days end, to 77.  Depth varied through out the lake from 1ft near the back to 5 feet in the middle.  No real visible grass to note, but plenty of stuff on the bottom, lay downs, stumps, etc.  Only had success on black plastics texas rigged off the bottom.  I finished with 3 in the boat and missed a few more.  Fish of the day was 20.5 inches I am guessing around 4 or 4 1/2 lbs.  My scale died so I need to get a new one. Not sure when I will get a chance to get out again as I am headed out of town this week, but enjoy the video. Until next time...

Smallie on the Rappahanock

Coming Soon...

God Bless America- Froggin' on the 4th

It has been brought to my attention that I am not the best at this blogging thing.  So please forgive me that I do not update my blog after every time I go fishing.  I realize that this take a lot more time and energy that I was aware.  That being said I have been fishing a few times over the past few weeks with some pretty good outings.  I have fished a bunch of different ponds and had some decent success, but the best day I have had to date this summer came on the 4th of July.  I had the day off and talked to my fishing buddy Brandon and we decided to get up early and hit the water.  It has been a while since I had an early morning outing  most of my recent trips have been afternoon for a few hours because of schedule, so I was looking forward to some early morning top water action.  We headed to a location behind a friends house that for the time I am going to keep a "secret" so that I can get a few more times before the word gets out.  The day went well from the start. I was rigged up to fish lily pads with a top water frog and a 1 oz tungsten weight texas rigged sweet beaver.  We got on the water slightly before 6 am and went straight to the pads to work the frog.  It didn't take long to the get first bite and first bass in the boat. The first fish weighed in at 3.4 lbs and after the first 30 mins we had three bass in the boat.  The bite continued to be strong til about 8:30 am when Brandon caught a monster 7.86 lbs on top water.  Unfortunately, I had turn the camera off to save some battery and missed the bite and fight, but I can assure you that neither one of us will ever forget that fish.  As I stated, the bite slowed and we decided to work the shoreline and edge of the pads with soft plastics, chatter and spinner baits.  To our surprised not even a tap on anything.  We decided to head back to the lilies and see if we could get anything flipping into the heavy stuff, but nothing that way either.  So we both picked up the frog to see if we could get anything else and that is when I got my biggest of the year.  6.84 lbs on a topwater frog.  It was quite the rush to catch something that big on top water.  It is a little shy of my biggest bass but it was definitely the more memorable one.  For all of you that bass fish you know there is nothing like catching one on top water.  I finished the day with 5 bass and Brandon added 2.  As you will see in the video that we could have had a much better day but it is hard to get those bass out of that thick stuff.  It is a must to have the proper equipment when fishing heavy cover. However, the shear size of the two that we got in made it a more than awesome way to celebrate our independence.

As I stated earlier I did get some quality film from the trip but I didn't get all of it.  I am also new to editing and putting together videos so please bare with me as I learn this new skill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBBlSB4wmW4

Playing Catch UP

I want to begin by apologizing to all of you out there that have taken the time to check my blog and been disappointed to find no new information.  I believe that I last left you prior to heading south for a bass trip in sunny Florida.  So I am going to try to catch you all up on the last month or so of what has been going on in my fishing exploits.

FLORIDA -
As stated before I took a trip with a couple of good buddies to South Florida to do some bass fishing.  The plan was to fish Okeechobee on Friday, a Private Peacock Bass pit on Saturday and the Everglades on Sunday.  It was to be an full weekend of nothing but fun fishing.  Unfortunately as is the case with any outdoor activity mother nature has to play her part.  She did not look down kindly upon us.  Friday was a wash.  A massive frontal system moved through early early Friday morning and severe thunderstorms and heavy rain canceled our trip.  I was bummed, as I was really looking forward to fishing the Big-O.  We did get to head out to fish for peacock bass and large mouth on Saturday.  The weather from the day before again played a role in our success.  Peacock bass like warm water.  One of the reasons that the only place in the USA you will find them is South Florida.  They are aggressive reaction strike fish, that prefer water temperatures north of 75 degrees.  When we launched the boat the water temp was 70.  Just the weekend before the guide told us the water temp was near 79-80.  This drastic change in the water temperature made the fishing slower than we had hoped.  However we did catch fish.  I landed 2 peacocks and 3 largemouth in about 9 hours of fishing.  As a group we ended up with 8 peacocks and about 10 largemouth.  I fished primarily top water, a zara spook. But also threw a jerk bait, spinner bait and poppar.

 Sunday we headed out to the never ending Everglade water ways.  The channel we fished may have been 100 yards wide and went on as far as your eye could see.  We switched up from mostly fast reaction strike fishing to slower soft plastics, jigs, flipping and pitching.  The occasionally spinner and chatter baits and a frog in the morning.  We caught a lot of fish.  Too many to count.  Most of them were small but it was still a blast.  This was a lot my first real attempt at flipping lilies and grass, which too some time to learn but was great in the end.

At the end of the trip my shoulder, wrist, and hand were sore from fishing for 18+ hours over the course of two days.  But it left me hungry for more fishing and wanting to go back down when mother nature could cooperate with us.  We came to find out that was the first rain they had in the area for 40+ days.  Just our luck.  Our guides were great.  They put us on fish and made sure that we had an enjoyable time.  We booked through Bassonline.com for anyone that was thinking about the trip.  It was affordable and fun. I highly recommend it.

LATE APRIL EARLY MAY -
This is a really busy time of year for me with work.  I came back from Florida and hit the ground running with work.  I work in landscaping and since spring wanted to delay its arrival for as long as possible, when it showed up it seems everything grew over night.  That being said I have not had the opportunity to do as much fishing as I would have liked.  I have only been able to take the boat out once.  All my other trips have been an hour here or there bank fishing on some local ponds.  I have had luck on soft plastics texas rigged.  I have also had some luck catching a few spawning bass.  My buddy and I had a really good day out on the boat the one time we took it out.  He landed 9 I landed 6 all but 3 of them were over 2 lbs.  I am not sure if it was the pond we fished, the moon phases, or just one of those days but I hope to have many more like it.  I posted some pictures below of some of the fish I have caught over the last few weeks.  Since I am trying to play catch up I am not going to go into too many details.  I do plan on being better with my post.  I apologize for my little break.

Thanks for taking the time to read.  Until next time....

Whatever it takes

This weekend was my last real chance to get some fishing in before headed to South Florida on Thursday for  my long awaited trip. The plan was to hit it hard on Saturday and pray the rain held out on Sunday to get some more fishing done.  Saturday was a struggle.  I bounced around to multiple different ponds trying to find some bass.  The conditions seemed right.  The air temperature was in low 60's, the sun was out, the wind was reasonable.  I tried quite a few places that I have had success in the past.  After about 4 hours of fishing with out a bite, I did something that I rarely ever do.  I resorted to fishing shiners   Even after about an hour of fishing with live bait and still not a bite to show for it, I packed up to try one last spot.  Finally a little success.  Even though I call it cheating, it was nice to land a few fish.  One nice pickerel broke the ice, next was a 4.2lb large-mouth, and one more dink to call it a day. Sunday did not look to promising.  Walking out of Easter Sunday service the rain was coming down and I thought the day would be wash.  Around 2pm the weather cleared up and I decided to give it a shot.  I loaded up the boat with my dad and head down to Beggars Bridge Creek.  The water was up, muddy and visibility was maybe 8 inches. The water temperature stayed 55 degrees pretty much throw out the creek.  Sunday turned in a big skunk for me and my dad.  We threw everything we could think of in varying colors: beetle spins, jerk bait, jigs, etc. All in all this will most likely be my last trip before boarding a plane and heading south.  My next post should be full of excitement as I hope to have a great 3 days fishing. One day on Okeechobee, one day in the Everglades, and one day fishing for Peacock bass.  I did take the GoPro out on Saturday and am still learning what angles to shoot.  After watching the footage I need some work, but hope to have a small video up from Saturday before I leave.

Until next time....

It was a GOOD Friday

I have been itching all week to get out and do a little fishing.  With less than one week before my first bass fishing vacation, all I can do is think about fishing. I got off work a little early on Friday and decided to see what I could find.  I grabbed my rod and  headed out.  The weather yesterday seem favorable, the sun was shining, the air temperature was mid 50's and the wind was calming as the day went on.  At days end I landed 3 bass, missed one more when he let it go before I could set the hook. The bass weighed in at 1.9, 1.8, and 2.5.  Not a bad afternoon. All the activity happened in a 45 minute stretch between 345 and 430.  The bait of the day ended up being a black with blue fleck Verticle X.  This has been the go to bait so far this spring for me.  I am leaving out as soon as I finish writing this and hope to have more fishin' stories to tell.

Let the Season Begin

After two full months of weekend trips fishing here there and every where, with out so much as a bite, I finally landed a few nice bass. The day did not turn out at all like I would have planned, however at the end of the day you will here no complaints from me. The plan was to do some pond fishing in the morning before heading out to coach soccer. The weather all week sounded promising high if 65 with chance of afternoon showers. Boy did they get it wrong. The showers came about 915. Just as we arrived at our destination. This sent me back home with only frustration for never getting a fair shot at it. Just as the rain died off my dad asked if I wanted to wet a line in the retention pond at the front of the neighborhood. What could it hurt? 25 minutes and 4.8 lbs later I was a happy camper. As much as I love fishing, catching fish is so much more fun. The day didn't stop there. After coaching two games and perfect afternoon weather I decided to head back to the pond from this morning to give it a shot. An hour and 2 bass later I called it a day. It was good to finally set the hook into something other than a tree limb. It also was my first bass on my new rod and reel. I recently became the proud owner of a Quantum Smoke bait caster place on a Dobyns Savvy 7' medium heavy rod. All my fishing today was with a creature x green with red fleck.

Below you will find a few photos of today's adventure.
Soon I hope to adding video from my newly purchased gopro camera.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Richmond Fishing Expo 

January 25, 2013 I rose early, battled the icy roads to pick up my dad and head to Richmond to take a trip down memory lane.  Years ago when I was just a boy, my dad used to take me to a little event know as the Bass-o-Rama.  I remember it as a giant event filled with millions of goodies: boats to climb in and on, jerky to eat, fishing tackle to look at, and everything you could want as a young boy and soon to be fishing enthusiast.  I was young and just like any other boy wanted to be out of the house in January.  Now as an adult ventured to a similar event with I think even great excitement.  We set out for Doswell, VA to the Farm Bureau State Fair Grounds.  The just under two hour ride up was filled with old stories, memories, great conversations and plenty of anticipation for what the next 5+ hours would hold.  While the event was not the same as the one I attended in my youth, it was still a good opportunity to see a lot fishing resources under one roof.  I think this is an event that I would like to see expanded in size and vendors, there was a good amount of knowledge to be had.  It took us about 45 minutes to just walk through the local and browse the vendor stations.  Of course I had to see it all first before diving into what had found my eye.  I picked up a few new lures that I am very excited to get out in the water and test.  I will be posting more on them as I use them and see what kind of return they yield.  The insightful part for me was sitting in on a few of the seminars (which I never did as a kid).   We sat through a great hour long discussions of fishing soft plastics.  It was a great setting.  About 8 people including my dad and I sat in close quarters and really had a discussion with the pro, as opposed to a lecture. He had some great tips on selecting the right plastic based on water color, clarity, temperature and time of year.  Over all I had another memorable trip.  It was a great day reversing the roles and taking my dad somewhere he took me as a kid, a huge grateful thank you to the man who has taught me about more than just fishing.  Thanks to the weather in our great city it has been a few weeks since I have been out, and that itch is getting greater with every day that passes.  Spring can’t come soon enough.

Until next time….

First Trip of 2013

1/12/13
I finally made it out on the water in 2013.  With the new toys in tow and the itch to fish, I loaded up the boat and head to West Neck Marina with my dad.  We got on the water about 9 am.  The water level was normal.  Conditions were good consider fishing in early January.  Water temperature held steady at 52 all day.  Sky were overcast, air temperature in the  upper 50's and little to no wind.

Due to the above average weather conditions for early January I was anticipating having a pretty good day on the water.  I set out with the thought of finding some holes with good sudden depth change in the hope of finding pockets of bass. I started the day rigged up with a Jackal Aska square bill shallow running crank bait, black and blue jig with a Power Bait 3 in chigger craw crazy leg trailer, and a white 1/8 oz beetle spin.

The day started out much slower than expected.  There was no real action to speak of for the first 3 plus hours.  We tried every technique and lure to think of for winter conditions.  About 12:30 after talking to a few passing boats that had landed a couple bass and seeing one guy land a 3.12 oz bass next to the bank, I decided to change my approach.  I began throwing a 4 inch Breen Power Bait Chigger crawl crazy legs, Texas rigged with a 1/8 oz bullet weight.  Fishing in about 1 ft of water, I began to slow down my retrieve to almost a crawl, dragging the lure across the bottom.  This is the only thing that produced results.  I landed two small bass the largest just over a pound. My dad landed one small bass and 5.2 lb Bowfin.  We were disappointed that it wasn't a bass but they put up one heck of a fight.

All and all it was a great day spent on the water with the man who taught me how to fish.  I wish I would have discovered the pattern of the day a little sooner and maybe landed a few more fish.  However, you will find no complaints out of me.

Until next time...