Thursday, June 14, 2012

Better Than a Skunk


Hit my favorite spot in Loudon County last weekend. With summer heat picking up, I decided to launch by 5:30 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Both days started off with some top water action using Megastrike buzzbait, Jitterbug, and Rapala popper. The Jitterbug was the winner of the three with a fish hitting the bait on the last pause, just a couple of feet from my kayak. It was somewhat funny and caught me off guard as you can see in the video where I actually reel him in all the way to the tip.




As it got later in the morning, I switched it up a bit tossing Zoom Super Fluke, Strike King Shim-e Sticks, Strike King Baby Craw, and Gulp 3” Pearl White Minnow Grub. The winners here being the Shim-e wacky rigged, Strike King Baby Craw and the 3” grub on a 1/16 jig head. All fish came off the edge of the grass.


All in all it was a great outing; I even had a chance to try out my new toy, a GoPro HD Hero2. I rigged it up so that it sits on my back left shoulder with a YakAttack PanFish using Rob Choi’s v1 method of securing the Mighty Mount to my crate. It definitely was a great investment.   

Some lessons learned from this outing: I need to transfer my transducer from my old yak to the Ride. A game warden I ran into Sunday provided me some valuable information to a cove I fished for the first time in this reservoir. Additionally, I need to invest in a YakAttack PanFish Portrait for my Kodak PlaySport.  

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Last Cast, First Bass for My Princess

A late post but a memorable one. On Sunday, my day started off at Beaver Dam Reservoir, with nothing but dinks to show.  With my wife and oldest daughter heading to the movies in the evening, I convinced my little 7 year old to go fishing with me. It had been over a year since our last outing together. 

So, off we went to a local community pond out at South Riding in Loudoun County. The last time I was there, the fishing dock was in the initial stages. Wow! What a fantastic job they did. And by the looks, they may be adding a second one. Anyhow, back to my story. We had about an hour and half before we had to be back. Her first few casts I rigged up a 3" Senko worm with a bobber. She received a few hits but not hooking up. So, I decided to tie on a 2" Gulp minnow grub without the bobber as she loves the casting and reeling in method. 




On my end, I had a few hits but that was about it. With time flying by, I told my daughter one last cast and for her to aim towards the grassy edge. The next thing I know, I'm hearing her say "dad, it's heavy and pulling hard.", of course I had to help her reel it in because she simply could not reel this girl in herself. This was her fish using a lure, her first bass, and on her last cast. Wow!


And as you can see, that was about as close as she was going to get to the fish. We'll see if I can convince her to lip a bass for great hero shot to add to our memorable moments together.