Most Recent Flats Evening

Posted on September 4, 2021 by admin

Tricia got a nice pup right at sunset.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Most Recent Flats Evening

Long Boat Ride

Posted on September 4, 2021 by admin

Last Saturday, I had decided to make the run from my house down to the southern towers. It is a stupid long run. It had been awhile since I had tugged on an amberjack. I did not tell any of my regular fishing friends what I was thinking because those guys are crazy enough to jump aboard. My assistant said that she wanted to go. I asked if she had heard the part about it being a stupid idea? She said that she had a stupid boyfriend to bring along. (I made that up Zach). It was a stupid idea. They got a really long boat ride with a couple of fish thrown in.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Long Boat Ride

We caught stuff

Posted on September 4, 2021 by admin

Stan Simmerman, Wes Blow and myself fished the 4A Drydock today. The target was triggerfish. We caught a dozen or so. One was citation-sized. A few nice flounder ate our triggerfish baits. We caught a bunch of sea bass and Wes could not stand looking at the spadefish under the boat. What we did not catch were a couple of cobia that visited and followed our jigs around. We also had a big king air out and put on a show.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on We caught stuff

It was a sheepshead

Posted on August 22, 2021 by admin

My assistant asked if I would take her and her father fishing. Sure, what do you want to fish for? She said sheepshead. So today, I took Meghan and Michael Wells fishing. Meghan caught a sheepshead so mission accomplished. Next time, she may want to be more specific as to the size and numbers of fish that she would like to catch. They also caught some tautog, sea bass, and croaker but what they really experienced was a world-class oyster toad bite.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on It was a sheepshead

What to do Tomorrow?

Posted on August 14, 2021 by admin
We ran over to the Eastern Shore early Friday morning. It was still dark, so maybe Thursday night. We had a nice meteor show. When the sun came up, we looked at tarpon. Saw ten or so. Sharks were not too bad this time though we caught plenty. Wes Blow also caught a nice speckled trout on a live mullet.
Today, I fished an artificial reef this morning. Caught a number of little tautog, nice sheepshead, black drum, striped bass, sea bass, and a gray trout plus some other stuff. Came back in and picked up Tricia for a “boat ride”. Was going to take her out to the flats for pups but some thunder boomers made it into just a boat ride.
Now, what to do tomorrow?
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on What to do Tomorrow?

Back on the Flats

Posted on August 10, 2021 by admin

I took the boat to Dare Marina during lunch for a 100-hour service hoping to have it back for the weekend. They called me a couple hours later saying it was ready. I love that place. Back to the flats I went after work. This evening the drum were larger from 20 to 30 inches long. When do we stop calling them puppies? On the tackle I was using, they were kicking my butt. I’m going to call them butt-kickers. I ended up landing nine with a number of doubles.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Back on the Flats

Drum Drum

Posted on August 9, 2021 by admin

On the way home from work this evening, I stopped by Grafton Fishing Supply and picked up some peeler crabs. Made the short run to the flats and proceeded to tag and release puppy drum. Ended up landing seven and didn’t land some others. All of the fish were between 20 and 22 inches long.  Really fun quick trip.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Drum Drum

Couple of nice fish

Posted on July 30, 2021 by admin
We stayed close to home today. We had some failed drum and sheepshead encounters and a couple of successes. Hunter Southall caught and released a 50-inch red drum. Stan Simmerman finally caught his first citation sheepshead at 11 pounds. We saw a couple cobia swim by us as we were anchored.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Couple of nice fish

Long Weekend

Posted on July 25, 2021 by admin
My “fishing weekend” started Monday when I received a text from Captain Jorj Head asking what the state record for tripletail was. We added tripletail to the state record program a couple of years ago as more were showing in the bay each year and anglers were starting to target them. We set the initial minimum at 8 pounds as that was about the size of one Jorj had caught in the past and was the largest I had heard of in Virginia. He said that his son, Hayden had caught one that should make the minimum. I let VSWFT Director Lewis Gillingham know that a potential record was coming in. Hayden’s fish did make weight at Wallace’s. Lewis was hours away. I was finishing with my last patient of the day and said I could meet them at Grafton Fishing Supply to view the fish. At Grafton, the fish weighed 8.6 pounds. Congratulations Hayden Head! A state record form was filled out and sent on to Lewis to continue the process.
Friday, I ran over to the Eastern Shore in the dark and watched the sunrise and rolling tarpon. I caught sharks. They were relentless. No tarpon hookups. On the way back across the bay, I got a call from Grafton Fishing Supply wanting to let me know about a potential record tripletail. You mean the one I already checked a few days ago? No, another one coming in. OK, call Lewis if it makes weight. I got home and when I got out of the shower, there were two messages waiting for me. The fish weighed 16.8 pounds. While I was talking to Grafton, the home phone rang and it was Ann from the tournament office wanting to know if I had gotten her message on my cell. I said that I saw it but was talking to Grafton on my other phone. She said that Lewis was out of town and asked if I could take care of it. I said sure and I told Grafton to keep them there, I was on my way. I did put pants on. I have reached the stage on my life where I do not have to worry about drying my hair after a shower. Ok, I reached that stage a long time ago.
The massive tripletail was caught by Richard Stuart, Jr. who was fishing with his father, State Senator Richard Stuart. The Senator said that when he had the fish in the net, He called VMRC Commissioner Steve Bowman to make sure that the fish was even legal to keep. Another state record form was filled out and sent into the tournament office.
For any questions concerning the two pending state records, contact Lewis Gillingham: (757) 491-5160.
Saturday, I ran down past the ribbonfish fleet. I had caught more than I wanted of those things on my last trip to the oceanfront. I spent the day not catching king mackerel off of Sandbridge.
Sunday, I made a short trip close to home. I caught tautog, black drum, sheepshead and of course, oyster toads.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Long Weekend

Black Drum

Posted on July 17, 2021 by admin

I fished a reef inside the bay again this morning. Today, I had my dental assistant, Meghan Wells with me. Apparently, I was there just to net her fish. I did catch a sea bass and a flounder on the same hook. Other than that, I spent the morning cutting bait and netting the black drum and tautog that she caught.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Black Drum