Saturday, April 26, 2014

My First Shad Run 2014

As the American and Hickory shad make their annual run up river, I decided I would give it a go to see what the fuss was all about. So I went on on my first chase on April 12, 2014. I managed to catch 8 shad that day. They certainly put up a good fight on light tackle.


Then chased after crappie after lunch.


Then after some largemouths, but blue cats decided to play.


I certainly had a great time out on the Occoquan River. I'll be hitting it again tomorrow. Hopefully the greenies will come out and play.


Friday, April 4, 2014

Pounding the Bank and Pavement Winter 2014

It's been three months since my last post. I guess it was a bit of laziness on my part. Since majority of my photos were posted on Instagram, I didn't take the time to take care of this blog. So I decided to catch up before I take the yak out for the first time this year. 

So what have I've been up to this winter? Well, I made a promise to myself that I would take care of my body and add more cardio exercise this year. You see when I left the US Navy, I de-compressed and stopped working out. Well, that wasn't very smart of me. So, on Thanksgiving 2012, I took my first steps back to getting into shape by taking a mile walk. A week later, I was running a mile. In 2013, I ran a total of 300 miles. Now those that run or love to run, I should say, that is nothing. But it was a start. My goal for 2014 is 900 miles.

Snow running.


Spring running.




In December, I stumbled upon a post by @oldguyrunning on Instagram. He was reminding runners about registering for the January challenge in Challengeville. Basically, you select a challenge, you run, post your mileage and tag it in Instagram. There are several challenges to choose from. I'll get into that later. Anyhow, I started on the lower shelve with the #oldguyrunningtimefighter, which was 48 miles for the month of January. I decided to move up the shelve to the next challenge, which is #oldguyrunningtinman. This challenge which was 93.3 miles for the month of February. I then decided to stay with this challenge another month since the weather wasn't cooperating. I ran another 93.3 miles in March. 

The shopping cart as it's called.


A guide to some of the challenges. 


I was asked last month to join the Challengeville City Council. I happily accepted.





My April challenge is #oldguyrunningbigfoot, which is 150 miles for the month. I currently have 17.3 miles is in. More to come.



Now, onto fishing. Well, I have not taken the yak out since December, but I was busy casting true left, right, and center when the water wasn't frozen over. I did some research in late fall on how to land more fish when fish become lethargic. I downsized. I used 1/32 jig head with BassProSop Mini Magnum tubes filled with PowerBait Crappie Nibbles. As you can see, my research and persistence paid off.

Crappie



More Crappie


Bluegill 


Bass


The first three months of 2014 have been fantastic! Heck I feel fantastic! My running will continue and kayak fishing adventures will start up again tomorrow. Tight lines, my friends.