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.

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. 

Winter Fishing at Bull Run

As December approached, I focused on crappie. I really never targeted crappie, I mainly caught them while chasing largemouth bass. One of those "oh, hey, look what I've got here", kind of things. I believe Robert Altman said it best: "I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what's on the other end. Your imagination is under there."

I began researching the best approach to keeping your lure in the target area during the winter season. Since my favorite winter hole is known to have some huge giant timber laying underneath brought down the creek from the rushing water. I wanted to minimize hang-ups, but get the lure down to the those fish in deeper water.

First, I decided to look into the slip bobber approach coupled with a dual jig rig. Since I am fishing fairly deep water, I wanted a setup that allowed me to adjust accordingly.

Second, I went with Strike King Crappie Tubes coupled with Road Runner jigs. Additionally, I filled the tubes with Berkley Crappie Nibbles. Here is the method I used to inject crappie nibbles into the tubes. The method works as you can see here.



It's been a great December and a great year of fishing. Hopefully, next year I'll be able to get a couple fresh water citations.

Hiking and Fishing Bull Run 2013

Here are my adventures down Bull Run from October through December 2013. There were some mild days, there were some cold days, there were some skunks, there were plenty of tiny fish caught, but most importantly it was relaxing, fun, and I got plenty of exercise. I love this time of year!

Fall Fishing October 2013

I had some time to spare over the weekend, so I decided to pound the bank at a local lake that has produced around this time of year in the past. I tossed a StrikeKing Redeye Shad and a Berkley PowerBait 3" Smelt on a 1/8 jig head. I ended catching two greenies on each lure. Here is a quick time lapse of my outing this past weekend.



I'll definitely be bringing my yak out with me next weekend.

 Until next time, tight lines.

Chased Greenies, Caught Señor Gato

It had been almost 3 weeks since my last outing. I decided I would head out to my old favorite fishing hole to see if I get some bucket-mouths. Since majority of my fishing time back in August was geared toward smallmouth, I figured it was about time to go after some greenies. 

I began hitting the edges of the spadderdock with my usual setups, a spinnerbait and a carolina rig with  a worm at the end. I missed a couple by not paying attention, you know, wiping your forehead, moving something out of the way. Yeah, those short strikes are really precious when the fishing is slow. 

It took roughly about 45 minutes before I landed my first fish. This catfish smacked my spinnerbait on the retrieval along the edge in the distance.

The 6.5 pounder came later. This one smacked my worm. I tell you what. It darted towards the spadderdock, then made a sharp turn back towards the channel. It took me about 15 minutes to land her on the light tackle. 

 The release.

The bent Gamikatsu hook.

Although, I didn't catch a largemouth, landing a decent size cat was surely fun. 

August 2013 Bass Fishing

It's a been a while since I last posted. Since my July 27th post, I chased mainly smallies during the month of August, with only one outing where I targeted bucketmouths. I guess I got hooked on river fishing and fighting those feisty bronzebacks.

Here are a couple of videos from my August outings. Enjoy!


First outing

Compilation