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...

Preparing for a New Year!

So after a lot of thought and more procrastination I have decide that for the start of 2013 I am going to document my fishing adventures.  As a soon to be 30 year old and with a newly invigorating passion for bass fishing I have decided that it is time I share my adventures with whomever will care to listen.  Inspired by my family, friends, and  fellow local bass fisherman and blogger vbfishguide it is time to get this ball rolling.

So as a first time blogger, I feel that it is only fair that I share just a bit about myself to get this ball rolling.  As earlier will be turning 30 in May of 2013.  I am a born and bread Virginian.  I am currently working for a local commercial landscaping company, which means my fishing trips consist of mostly weekends with a few nights and the rare occasion of a lunch break fish.  I started fishing as a boy with my father and rediscovered my passion for wetting a line last spring.  I would call my self a solid recreational fisherman, but every time out I learn a bit more about the art that is fishing and love it.  I currently fish using two main rods, a St Croix 6'6"  medium lite extra fast action spinning rod with a Diawa Takara reel rigged up with 8lb fluorocarbon. The second is a 6'8" Shimano Cellus medium lite fast action spinning rod with a Shimano Sedona reel rigged up with 15lb braid.  I fish mostly from my boat which is a 12' john boat that is nothing special, no trailer, no gas motor, just two seats and great memories of catching bass.

I had a really good summer fishing.  I don't know how many fish I caught. I don't know exactly what the biggest one weighed. What I do know is that I caught a lot and every nice day that comes around all I want to do is get on the water and wet a line. My plan is to document my trips, take pictures of the sights I see and fish I catch.  I hope to one day to be capable of posting videos of my trips.  But mostly, I want to have a record of conditions, tackle and locations of it all, for myself and hopefully for someone like myself that when I started fishing again didn't know where to start.  So where do we look, the Internet.  I hope that along the way someone like myself will find these post and be inspired to try out some of the places I have been.

Well here is too a great year! Until next time.


Caleb