Living in Delaware we don’t typically see many Red Drum in our waters. Traveling for the opportunity to target these game fish is exciting. Fortunately its only a 140 mile drive south from my home! It’s only a little over 2 and a half hours to make it to the trip to Cape Charles Virginia. I’m spoiled since I have been driving maximum an hour to the water all my life and now it has become my backyard. This drive is worth it though. This is the story of A Fourteen Hour Fishing Trip.

After Work Fishing

Midway through October 2017 and the days have been still warm. I have been getting out after work here and there for the evening Striped Bass bite close to my work. Some good fish but it’s still like summer. The size of the fish is still 30″ and below. Tuesday Oct 10th during an evening on the water I sent Joe H a text giving him a fishing report. He called soon after informing me that he was planning a trip to fish in Virginia for Sunday. The weather looked good so I decided to ask if it was cool if I met up with him there. The trip was on.

The Plan:

Photo by Joe Hosler

Meet up at 06:30 near the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge Boat ramp Sunday. Then go fishing targeting reds. Simple enough!

The Chesapeake Bay can get rough in this area but I loaded my Jackson Kayak Kilroy as i feel it is the best suited for saltwater creek style fishing. The kayak has a Torqeedo Ultralight 403 installed for those days when you need to get back quick or against a river style current ripping tide. It comes in handy!

Sunday Fishing Day!

Out the door by 3:45 am on the road. It’s still raining and foggy. The misting and fog finally became intermittent around 2 hours in.  I can spot the deer peering into my headlights while passing through heavily wooded areas. Warm coffee and maximum concentration. Thinking to myself how much i love my 2016 Ford F150 over my old truck. Waze on the consul broadcasting the distance traveled and my ETA its 6: 30 to start but traffic light s and such made it more like 6:40.

I arrived and everyone was there gearing up. It was just starting to become light. There was an eerie yellowish cloud as the sun hit it from below the horizon. We hit the water and fished a small creek. It was slow fishing only with a few small Speckled Trout.  So we crossed the channel and begun fishing that area. The tide was on its way out. A few more trout early. Paddling through the shallows I went as far back as I could. There were oysters all over in the sod banks. Not sure if these are edible or if they are even legal to harvest. I found one laying on the bottom and picked it up to examine it. They were pretty small and flat but i put it back and went back to fishing.

There was no water only an inch or two. I circled back and figured id throw some casts at a drop off I saw on my way in.

First cast reeling slowly bump bump across the bottom and bang fish on! Great fight on my bull bay rod paired with the Abu Garcia Revo Inshore casting reel. Peeling drag running towards the kayak and back deep again. A great fight to land a 23 inch healthy Red Drum!

Released him and caught a few more on that drop until there was inches of water left. The clouds had finally broken away to sunshine. It was nice and warm now as everything begin to dry out. The tide slowed to a crawl so did the bite. Managing a bunch of Speckled trout a few more reds and small Striped Bass. At this point it was 12:30. We realized we were now landlocked. We fished for another half hour on a slow bite until finally dragging the yaks across the sand bar to return to the launch.

I took a detour to go take a few photos of a large chunk of drift wood that had washed up on the sandy part of the island. As an amateur photographer I spot these things and have to get there to grab a few photos. This particular piece of drift wood i spotted from a mile away in the morning on the way across the channel. After getting my shots using the Torqeedo I went back full throttle. 6.5 mph most of the way. A following sea made it a bit strange.

Fortunately the drive home wasn’t so bad. I was worried that id be exhausted as I have been in the past coming back from really long fishing days in the summer heat. Arriving home around 5 PM the concluded the fourteen hour fishing trip.  Will defiantly be doing this trip again in the future.

Bonfire under the full super moon.

It was great having the venue being the Kayak fishing store. I arrived around the same time as many others. Scattered around were RV’s tents and car campers being set up on the grounds of an old boat grave yard which also houses the Kayak Fishing Store. There were kayak anglers from many walks of life and places. They came from as far north as Maine to as far south as Virginia. Captain Jim had arrived with the newly patched old moldy his pop up camper which we would call home for three nights.  A bonfire was set and a Dutch Oven was placed into it. A 1/4 cooked roast was offered then there was a half stick bang to start off the festivity’s and fishing.  The 7th Annual Cape May Kayak Fishing Jamboree was officially underway!

The next morning it was fishing time. Awaking prior to the sunrise the night temps must have went down to the low 30’s. As a few anglers were already out fishing with my camera in hand i awaited the fiery sunrise. The wind was stiff and cold.

As more people arrived we went out and fished the Herdon inlet Rock walls. The fishing was pretty good with our whole crew limiting out on Tautog. I had a beauty at 17.5″ Its not hard to limit out as each angler is regulated to keeping one fish over 15″ The tide starting moving again so we headed in to enjoy a fish fry along with some fresh steamed clams Dee raked from her home waters on Long Island. Fellow anglers stopped by our campsite and enjoyed some of our catch. Moving around camp there were some other excellent meals shared among the attendees present.

Saturday Morning meeting Charlie (Lunchbox) LaBar at the 2 mile launch we fished a bit in search of Stripers. While waiting for the tide to flow out hues of the sunrise glistened from the East. Marking fish was nonexistent along with no strikes on the line. Over the radio was one casualty a fellow angler went into the water trying to rescue a fishing rod. Fortunately he was ok. October presents cold air and water temperatures which for kayak anglers is a risk. The tide changed and we were sucked out the Cape May inlet. No paddling really necessary. Once at the tip of the southern jetty wall it was game on. Green crabs and sinkers at the ready drop a line. Around 15  total anglers made the trek to the ocean. Many tog were landed and it was a great time. A nice black drum was also landed had to be 25 lbs or so.

Just about the last ones out there we quit and headed back. Charlie was running his Torqeedo on 0% which amazed me because I have never ran mine past 20%. But he made it and kind of against the tide. IT was about 30 min before slack.  Loading up and headed over to charlies summer home for a much needed shower.

Back at camp traded stories of the day. There was drones flying by taking the effect.  Gary ward and Larry Newman were still fishing. I don’t think they even enjoyed a meal the entire time. They fished hard and wanted that calcutta more than anyone. The evening set in and it was time for dinner and prizes. The iconic seafood pasta and roast beef was served once again as a yearly feast. Three tables filled with prizes and a Pelican 120 kayak were up or grabs plus the Wolfpack beer raffle. This night the bonfire was amazing and photoed above. All kinds of strange graffiti appeared on a red ford. Ribs were grilling. The sole owner of everything ate everyone’s food and all was good.

Sunday morning was a pack up day for most.  Best of all the calcuttas were awarded to Gary Ward and Larry Newman respectively as they got the bass and blues regions. I never got a final list of  Calcutta awards but its a non tournament. All for fun and that’s they way it should be. If you have ever been to a boondoggle the jamboree is the same just the northern way.

Excellent job by Chris Parson The Kayak Fishing Store Prostaff team and JCKF!

Looking forward to october 2017 for the next one. Hope to see you all there.

Wrap Up 5th Annual CBKA Tournament September 10th 2016

Another Chesapeake Bay Fishing Tournament in the books. For me it was great to be out on the water with my kayak after two and a half months due to relocating and my truck having mechanical issues. Living now in South Eastern Delaware it was a pleasure to have half the driving distance to the venue on Kent Island Maryland. This was my third year to be present at this beautiful venue.

Preparation:

It was the first kayak haul for my new 2016 F150. I took the Friday off from work which worked out as I was able to get my new truck bed cap installed at the ARE Dealer, Trick Trucks in Millsboro DE. Previously had removed the Thule rack in anticipation of installing it on the new cap asap. It took me around an hour to drill and bolt on the rack to my new cap. It was now pretty set for kayak hauling. I loaded up and let around 3:50 PM to arrive at the venue around 6:00 PM.

Arrival:

Upon my arrival meeting up with Joe Hostler. Checked in and received my captains bag stocked with goodies. Then awaited the captains meeting. After sitting trough that went to the field to set up my tent. The day was a scorcher at 95 degrees and high humidity. As the sun set during the potluck dinner which I provided some tuna mac with crab salad. All of the potluck food brought by others was excellent as always. Joe’s mac salad was amazing along with various other items such as jalapeno poppers, chicken wings, and a crab mac & cheese dish.

As the evening set in the temperature leveled at about 86 degrees as the humidity shot through the roof. The conditions were not the best to be camping but made the best of it. Sat in the truck air conditioning for a bit. Finally going to the tent around 12:00 am. Some of the guys were still up hanging out and apparently were until around 3 am.

Tournament Day:

The morning came fast. Sounds of alarms and others waking from camp. It was still dark but not for long. I went over and met Joe at his cabin grabbed some coffee and rigged up a few rods. We were probably the last to launch but it worked out because driving to the drop in was simple. Rather than loading up the kayaks and walking then there on kayak carts. Hitting the water we immediately started fishing for bait. In these areas Spot are an excellent source of bass bait. Spot can be gathered using a small 1/0 Octopus hook a small bit of weight and a fish bite or small piece of blood worm.

After about a dozen or so spot and catching small white perch at the same time we trolled over to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in search of solid fish marks on the chart plotter. By this time the wind had kicked up from the southeast and it was rocking and rolling out there. Live lining for bass was non eventful after a few hours. The stripers just didn’t seem to cooperate on the live bait.

Attempted trolling for hours catching one small striper around 17″. We went back at catching perch with an attempt to place in that category but could only manage fish up to 8″. We fished the entire time and missed the weigh in but were sure we had nothing that qualified for placing in the tournament anyway. It was a great day to be out on the water doing what I love the most.

The awards ceremony commenced and as always is very well put together. A representative from the make a wish foundation was present and spoke a little bit about the charity followed by a tear jerking video of a boys wish to take a trip on a US aircraft carrier. They really do amazing things for these kids whom unfortunately endure a lot of pain and suffering. This is what we do it for!

If you have never attended the Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers tournament come next year and check it out. Hang with a bunch of friendly kayak anglers.