Top Ten Destinations for 2015:Part 2

Part 2 of my list of places to kayak fish in 2015. These places are closer to home and some which are much further away. If you have not checked out part one do so now Part 1.

Top Ten Destinations for 2015:Part 1

Moving up to Virginia I am overwhelmed with so many new species and habit to explore. The diversity of the fishing within a 3 hour drive of where I live is amazing. This is just a list of the initial places that intrigue me whether it be the location ,scenery or the potential to add another species to my list.

Mallows bay is a really cool setting to fish paddling among the wreckage of all the old ships. Plus the abundance of structure should make for some great bass fishing in this area.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H8TqCafBoQ




read more after the jump

Im Just Tryna Catch a Striper One Time

This past weekend My brother and I decided to brave some frigid 30 degree weather and take the kayaks out. The nuclear warmed waters of  Lake Anna would be a good place to start on such a cold day. My goal for the day was to try and catch my first true Striper. When we launched the lake was a 49 degrees on my Lowrance. I figured It wouldn't be as hard as I anticipated to find active feeding fish. All my research had led me to concentrate on the 20 foot contour as this is where the experts  say the Stripers will concentrate when the sun is high in the winter. The method I fished the Striper much like I fish speckled trout in  Louisiana jigging the dropoff when I marked something on the fishfinder. My brother was using a hybrid trolling method where he would troll until he marked significant action and then he would begin jigging. We were both rigged up with soft plastic paddle tails on 3/8th ounce jig heads. I had a pack of H&H opening night handy it has a pink tint and its one of five colors I use in Louisiana my brother stuck with his favorite clear water bait a blue moon Deadly Dudley with a chartreuse tail. We started making our way along the 20 foot contour and began immediately marking fish. After marking a few fish we lucked up on a frenzy and bait was being chased everywhere I did not receive a hit after multiple casts. My brother on the other hand was hooked up and quickly reeled in a little catfish. 

Thats my truck

 I am so glad I got another trailer.

I Hate Prefishing:FallnTideIX

The weather leading up to the event was perfect and fishing was easy ,but two days before the tournament a cold front passed through and threw a wrench in my plans. The winds picked up and made the area I planned on fishing look like the muddy mississippi river water. So I opted to hit my favorite launch on 23 and explore some areas I had never been to before. I launched early Friday morning in the 37 degree and 20 mile an hour north wind to look for some tournament winning fish. I started in a familiar area where I had caught all three fish before. I gave it 30 minutes and searched high and low but couldn't get a bite so I moved on to uncharted waters. I decided to head south along the levee that was blocking the wind. I made it to a dredged out canal that was about 25 feet and began jigging the drop off. After figuring out where the fish were holding I began to catch 11 inch trout every few casts after doing that for 15 minutes I decided to move on to find some bigger trout. By this time the sun had gotten over head and I moved to an adjacent flat that had some relatively clean water. I also noticed some mud slicks on the flat which can be a giveaway for rooting redfish. As I was working the bank with topwater I heard a huge splash behind me. I turned just in time to see a dolphin fin disappear below the surface . Then another dolphin breached 50 feet in front. At that point I gave up on that flat and decided to see if I could find the series of  ponds I had scouted on Google earth. When I made it to the entrance pond I was greeted by a 20 inch red that I initially thought was a big speckled trout.  After netting the red I could see a bigger one crashing bait and working down the shoreline towards me. As it neared I put my deadly Dudley right on his nose a little too close and instead of eating it he took off in a cloud of dust. At this point I decided to switch rigs to a bass jig and a gulp trailer. As i pulled into the pond i could see the reds floating and I staked out in a well traveled corner. It was like a conveyor belt of fish and with the bass jig flipping it in front proved to be deadly. I went through fish after fish and caught a perfect 26 3/4 fat redfish. After catching about 10 reds I decided to move out of the pond and double back to some of my tried and true trout spots. These turned out to be either too rough or too dirty to fish so I headed back to the launch.