The Return

Well hello. It's been a little more than a year since I jotted some words or shared some photos on this blog. 2015 was supposed to be a better year in terms of running. Unfortunately, I rushed my return to pounding the pavement after sustaining an injury on Christmas Eve 2014. I didn't do much running only managing 300 plus miles. Since I couldn't run, I did a lot of fishing. Which it kind of balanced out. Anything to get outdoors.

Here are some highlights of 2015.

Injured foot



First complete 5 mile run in 2015




Back to full strength in late fall



Switched to a Garmin Fenix 3 watch for 2016




Fishing 2015 Top 4

19 1/4" at Bull Run Marina in September 2015



19 3/4" at Beaverdam Reservoir in December 2015



20" at Bull Run Marina in June 2015




21" at Bull Run Marina in August 2015




















My biggest toothy fish caught at Sandy at Sandy River Reservoir during YakAttack 2015.

Summer 2014 Fishing with a Sick Stick

So it's been two months since I last posted. In the month of June, I don't believe I took the yak out once, since I was mainly focused on my running challenge of 150 miles for the month. Which I am very happy that I accomplished. Anyhow, I definitly made up for it in July into the first weekend in August.

In July I mainly hit Leesylvania State Park, but I also pounded the creeks at Pohick Bay, Mason Neck, and a little Occoquan Reservoir action. Not to mention Lake Mercer to finish off July. I managed to land fish 15"+ in each of those locations using PowerTeam Lures Sick Stick Texas rigged. Not too bad for this part of the state. My largest bass of the year is an 18", still looking for the 20"+.

Anyhow, here is a short 2 minute video of the fish I caught from July through the first weekend in August.

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.

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!

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

Goose Creek | Upper Potomac

This outing was one that I had been wanting to make since I began kayak fishing. The problem is, I really didn't know too much of the area. More specifically, I didn't know if it was one that required two vehicles. A drop off and pickup point. Well, I found out it doesn't. Thanks to Steve Clark who put this outing together. Matt Matocha and Scott Wilson also made this really nice float down Goose Creek into the Potomac River.

On the float down Goose Creek, I had several short strikes on a small buzz bait and tube on a carolina rig, but no takers. 

My observation of Goose Creek is it has no vegetation, but lots of hidden boulders. I can see smallmouth being drawn upstream in late Spring, early summer, when the water is flowing. 

We finally hit the upper potomac. Should we go left or right. Steve had made this trip before, he made the recommendation to go left. He began picking them off left and right. Matt and I were missing. Matt eventually hooked up as we headed up river. I, unfortunately, had a skunk going. I eventually got onboard on the way drift down stream. 

Steve and I began picking them off on the drift down stream using a dead stick technique. Color didn't matter, since I was a coffee color BPS worm and Scott was using a smoke color Yamamoto worm. Scott on the other hand, pulled out a nice size largemouth hitting the bank line. 

Although, numbers weren't there for me, I would definitely make this trip again. Next time, I'll have some type of in-line spinner tied on, since it was working for Scott. 

Summer Froggin'

It was fun to get out again on my orange Ride.

The day started fairly slow as my buddy Miguel and I hit my favorite fishing hole. I really wish I had got him into some fish in terms of quantity. Unfortunately, he had to head out before the fun began.

 

 

Tossing the Rage Tail Frog was fun, but I should have learned my lesson from the last time. Stick to braid with snakeheads lurking around. As you will see I landed some nice tidal largemouth, but I had another large snakehead take me for a ride and with it's lock jaw, it broke off as I tried to get a hold of it with my fish grips. It just wasn't going to have it. You bet the next time around I'll have the Ego S2 Slider landing net with me. Yup, just picked it up today.

It took some time to land some fish. And as you will see, I lost juice on my GoPro. So I had to turn to my Kodak Sport to capture some footage of the fish I landed and being pulled by the snakehead. I hope you enjoy and I'll be at it again on Saturday with some friends from Kayakbassfishing.com and my fishing partner, Matt.

Playing Catch Up...

Anyone paying attention to this blog has noticed a drop in my blogging. Well, I can say it isn't from a lack of fishing, but rather a lack of time to edit footage and write about my outing.  I have found that a photo blog such as Tumblr or Instagram much more easier and less time consuming. But, I'd have to say It's difficult to get into details. Here is my link to Instagram site. Anyhow, since my last post, most of my time I've been focused on my new position at work. A challenge I accepted and needed. On top of that,  I was coaching soccer, taking my daughter to soccer travel tryouts. I'm happy to say she made the team.

Carp and Kayak Bass Fishing
It was my first time targeting carp, so I had to take to the tubes to learn about carp fishing. I found it very interesting and amazed at some of the carp being pulled out from different waters here in the United States and in Europe. It's pretty crazy!

The tackle of choice and bait were fairly simple. I like to keep things simple as possible in anything I do. I used a No. 6 single short-shanked and straight-eyed hook on a carolina rig. My good buddy Jason Defraitas brought the corn and away we went.



Creek Fishing June 9,  2013

I made a trip back to my favorite creek, launched at the tail end of high tide, and had a decent outing with 10 bass and 1 snakehead (lost) on this day. There is some great topwater action using Rage Tail frogs in the video below, but I wish I had not lost juice on the GoPro when I hooked into the snakehead that was about 25+ inches long, however I have the story below.

I  was using 15lb fluorocarbon line with a Rage Tail SpaceMonkey at the end. I tossed that bad boy onto the muddy edge, gave it a couple of twitches as I slowly brought into the water. Then Bam! The fight was one.

The landing piece was a bit difficult. She sat still as I had pressure on her while I made my decision on how to land this long beast. I decided I would reach out with my fish grips, slice her, and set her in the back of the yak. The excitement and adrenaline was awesome!  So I went in with my fish grips, it was like she knew, she started to slam against my yak about 4 times, went into a death roll, and then SNAP!  My line snapped and it she went under. After that, I had lost interest in fishing for the day. So, I called it a day and went home--a defeated man!

First Bass of 2013

Well, I've been missing in action due to a huge project at work, finishing up school, and no way to transport my yak since trading my old Santa Fe for a VW GTI. It was a decision I made and planned for, but the money I had set aside for kayak rack was used for a family emergency. Fast forward. I finally got my Thule kayak rack coupled with the Slipstream 887XT for my Ride 135. Install was free with purchase from Eastern Mountain Sports. Thanks to Mike and EMS Dulles for the install. Fabulous job!

Now if the weather would cooperate. Any how, I finally got yesterday to pound the banks with some old buddies. Jason DeFratus and his dad, Ron DeFratus. They are a some great folks, who have done so much for wounded warriors through Ron's Reel American Heroes Foundation.

Here are some shots of of the two I picked off yesterday. Here is Jason with a 3lb 6oz bass. He managed to catch another 3 pound bucket mouth.

Here is my first bass of 2013 which went for 3lb 6oz. Amazing it was the same weight as Jason's fish. I had been fan-casting into one location that looked promising. I probably tossed out to that point about 20-30 times before she hit as my lure landed in some weedy grassy edge. 

My only other fish came the same area. A 4lb bucket mouth. You bet I was excited. Heck I trembling from excitement. I knew she was a decent fish by the fight.I would say this one took about 10 fan-casts. 

Here are some other shots. One with the hero of the day. A swim jig with a Fat Albert grub.

A couple of hours fishing with some good old friends is was what I needed. Until my next adventure, here is a good tune. Check it out.