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...

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