Healthy Grin Sport Fishing

I went out this morning to see in the rising of the sun and the setting of the Harvest moon. I caught five speckled trout before coming in for breakfast. An impressively violent topwater explosion made sure that I was fully awake. 

I love Monday mornings. David Brabrand was nice enough to take me fishing this morning. He was also nice enough to let me catch the biggest fish. We got there in the dark. Stan Simmerman was already there in his boat. At our first stop, under the full moon, David had a topwater blowup. He pulled off what turned out to be our only topwater bite. Our second stop was loaded with trout. Almost all were little, aggressive dudes. Fun and if we can get them through the winter, they’ll be nice fish next year. I did manage to catch a few nice fish up to 21 inches long. A smooth pufferfish destroyed my lure. When we left, Stan was still catching trout. He may still be out there.

I went out after speckled trout this morning. It was still blowing too hard but it was dark, so I couldn’t see the waves. By the time I could see them to be scared, it was too late. The trout seemed to like it. I don’t know how many bites I had but I managed to hang on to 18. They were mostly aggressive, small males, 13-18 inches long. I lost the one big fish that I had hooked.

I woke up and it was dark and rainy. I let the dog out and went back to bed. I woke up again and it was light and rainy. I fed the dog. Apparently, old retired me doesn’t want to get wet so I just sat around until the rain stopped. Went out and chunked a topwater bait for a couple of drifts. Four explosions, held onto three. Nice trout between 22 and 24 inches long. Came in for lunch because, apparently, that is something old retired me does. Who the heck am I fishing with? Might go back out after lunch. Might take a nap. I’ll decide after coffee. 

George Poveromo came to Virginia Beach to film an episode of his television show “World of Saltwater Fishing”, www.georgepoveromo.com . I joined him on the Top Notch, with Captain Russ Kostinas and mate Bobby Kostinas: www.topnotchcharterfishing.com . I really liked the old Top Notch but this new boat is a really nice ride. Fish on it if you get the chance.

Russ put us on the fish and Bobby was a wizard in the cockpit. The target for this episode was white marlin. We caught those and they were not camera shy. We also caught a roundscale spearfish, yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, and a bunch of dolphin. I got in on some great fishing on a great boat and George got an action-packed television show!

The show will air in 2026 on the Discovery Channel and will have second airing on ESPN2.

Yesterday, we went out with Dr. Hamish Small to help him with his red drum research. We caught 9 red drum and a cobia. They were all tagged and released. We also caught a flounder, which was not released. Three of the largest drum (citation sized) were fitted with pop-off satellite tags. They will release from the fish after 45 days and transmit their data. Please release any of these fish with tag still in place…and report it! Our fish were mostly caught on live spot provided by Tricia Neill (Honey, we are out if you aren’t too busy ).
We also caught bluefish and some full-sized southern and butterfly stingrays. One of the big southerns had a nice cobia swimming with it. Instead of helping me with the stingray, that was kicking my butt, Hamish Small and Wes Blow casted to the cobia. It did turn on their baits but did not bite. Wes did snag the stingray with his jig so I did get some help after all.

We took Dr. Hamish Small back out to tag red drum this morning. We caught 10 red drum, including one that was already tagged, a black drum, a nice flounder, a number of bluefish, and Stan Simmerman caught a full-grown southern stingray. 

We took Dr. Hamish Small out to tag red drum this morning. The largest of the drum are being fitted with psat tags. These tags will release after 45 days and transmit their recorded data. Please keep an eye out for fish with these tags (it is not like you can miss them). Release the fish with the tag still attached so it can continue to gather data. We had a good trip catching 16 red drum. We also caught a half-dozen or so medium bluefish. It was a busy morning.

Yesterday, I trolled plugs along the oceanfront and caught multiple sharks. Today, I tried again and caught multiple red drum. I like the drum better.