Big Bass, Roughfish, and Trophies All Around

Big Bass, Roughfish, and Trophies All Around

          As any skilled angler knows, you must fish with the cards you are dealt and chase which bite is hottest on any given day. This post is more or less a collection of exactly that. The past month or so has been very good to us on the water and it’s pretty tough to be sitting here and typing this instead of chasing fish.

          Flash back to the start of May. Many different bites were picking up and it was actually difficult to choose which species to target. I got word from a good friend that the Carp were on fire at a lake I hadn’t fished in years. I made it a point to leave work on time and gun it down the interstate for some evening carping action. Fishing late into the evening, I decided I better pack it up and head back to RVA that way I could get a little sleep before the next work day. While loading up my gear I received the drag peeling run that I had come for. After a brief fight in the dark with no visibility due to a busted headlamp, I quickly got the fish in the landing net… the landing net that I then proceeded to break because I didn’t realize just how big the Carp was. Needless to say fishing solo isn’t always easy, it’s even harder with malfunctioning gear. However, the struggle was worth it considering the fish tied my personal best Carp at 22 pounds. It was also my first ever Mirror Carp, a close cousin of the Common Carp.

(22 pound Mirror Carp, surpassed Virginia trophy fish standards)

Some other recent catches.

(A respectable pre-spawn Flathead)

(A notable Chain Pickerel, just short of trophy standards)

          May 16 marked the 7^th annual Yakattack tournament benefitting Heroes on the Water and Project Healing Waters; Two organizations that use the power of fishing and fellowship to help heal veterans both mentally and spiritually. The tournament was a blast, as always. Grant and I had a great time. Nothing is better than time spent with friends talking about fishing and getting the chance to make new friendships with other anglers in the sport. The fishing itself was pretty tough. I managed a few decent fish that landed me 3^rd overall, edging Grant out by only .25 inches… which is pretty amazing considering we fished for 9 hours straight on two completely different parts of the lake. You never know how much those precious extra centimeters can matter! More importantly the tournament raised over $10,000 (I don’t recall the exact figure at this moment) for a great cause. Needless to say we can’t wait for next year!

(tournament fish)

          As we approached June the fishing continued to get better. Grant bagged a nice 6.9lb, 23.25” post spawn Largemouth that crushed a white Buzzbait he was working near the shoreline. Once female bass get over the rigors of spawning they tend to be very aggressive in an attempt to regain whatever body mass they may have lost during the spawn. The topwater bite tends to heat up as well due to the increase in temperature along with the aggressiveness of the bass. Frogs and Buzzbaits work great during low light conditions, early morning, late evening, and overcast days for example.

(A Virginia trophy Largemouth Bass)

       More recently we've been focusing on some of the "roughfish" species, specifically Longnose Gar and Common Carp. Gar are opportunistic fish and will very rarely pass up an easy meal. When water temps rise and the spawn approaches this behavior is even more profound. Gar become highly aggressive and will do nothing short of burning up a reel's drag when hooked. They are the heaviest during the prespawn-spawn period and they use that added weight along with their torpedo body shape to their advantage, making it almost impossible to slow down and turn a big female with a full head of steam. Both Gar and Carp are hard fighting fish and are completely underutilized in the angling world. Do yourself a favor, go catch one.

(Personal Best Longnose Gar at 47 inches, a Virginia Trophy)

(44.25 inch Longnose Gar, a Virginia Trophy)

(Pre-spawn Common Carp)

       Lastly, and most recently, I was able to get together with my good friend and mentor Stephen Miklandric. Stephen is Virginia's most decorated multispecies angler and nothing short of a machine when on the water. So it goes without saying when I was invited aboard his boat to chase some trophy fish, I was more than ecstatic. I learned a lot from my friend. Most importantly, fishing can be slow no matter who you are, no matter how good you are; as it was for us that day. However, we kept the faith and continued to fish hard, which rewarded us with a beautiful dinosaur of a different kind. The Bowfin! 

       The Bowfin or Grinnel(Grindel) dates back millions of years, as does the Gar, and though they are hated by most Bass anglers and feared by many for their sharp teeth and ferocious attitude, Bowfin are actually one of the few trophy eligible species that are actually native to Virginia. For a Bowfin to qualify as a trophy in Virginia it must meet or exceed 30 inches in length or 10 pounds. Luckily for me, my fish went 31 inches and 11.20 pounds, a true beast! As with all of my catches, the gnarly beast was quickly photographed and released to be caught again someday!

(Virginia Citation Bowfin)

       That's all from our corner for now. We've been fishing relentlessly and will continue to do so in the coming weeks. So much time on the water makes it hard to type reports for the website, so if you are interested in seeing more content on a more frequent basis I recommend "liking" our Facebook page www.facebook.com/peelindragextremefishing. The fishing is only going to get better as the year pushes on and I really hope you chose to follow us on social media if you haven't already. There's sure to be more fish pics coming and undoubtedly more trophy fish destined to be caught! Stay Tuned!

Fish Hard or Stay Home,

Josh D.

       

2015 RVA Shad Shootout

2015 RVA Shad Shootout

            Shad fishing for us, along with many others, has been rather frustrating and difficult to pattern this season. Fishing for them in general hasn’t been all that great, which left us unsure of what to expect for this year’s Shad Shootout. Nonetheless, we were excited to get another opportunity to participate in a great event benefitting Heroes on the Water. Not to mention getting to spend a little time with our kayak fishing brethren from near and far that we simply don’t get to see often enough.

            I know some may be curious of what we did on tournament day that led to us catching the fish we needed to catch. Therefore, the following will be a play by play from my (Josh) point of view of the day’s events.

5:45 a.m.

            Knowing how insane and impossible the Anncarrows ramp can be on a Saturday morning, Grant and I made it a point to be at the launch earlier than some might think necessary. With the particular tide cycle we had, and the rest of the fleet starting upriver, we decided it would be wise to start our day downriver.

            We got in position and awaited the 6:45 “lines in” call. Meanwhile, through the fog rising off the water we were graced with one of the coolest spectacles any angler could hope to see, the tiny topwater pops of herring getting obliterated by the abrupt, destructive blasts of Striper inhaling fish like candy!

IT. WAS. EPIC.

6:45 a.m.

            The casting began and fishing was tough. Slowly but surely we started picking up Hickories here and there. Grant began sticking them left and right while I was retying a broken leader. I got a new gold spoon tied on and quickly evened the odds by catching a few on back to back casts.

8:00 a.m.

            I left Grant with the Shad and began searching for a catfish. He had me by a half inch at this point but I wasn’t worried…. I’d catch a good cat and it wouldn’t matter, or so I thought. After getting pestered by tiny cats while drifting I decided to hit a few spots that have produced good Flathead for me in the past. As I got anchored up Grant began drifting over the same water I just covered. Sure enough after what seemed to be two dozen passes over the exact same stretch of water, I watched him hook up with a good Blue Catfish. It was the Blue that would eventually help him win the tournament.

12:00 p.m.

            By this time the clouds had moved out, making the task of catching a respectable cat almost impossible. I decided to head up river in search of Striper and Perch, Grant followed close behind. We began to get word of a big cat that had been caught earlier in the day, and if the rumor was true such a fish would threaten Grant’s chances for a repeat Shootout victory.

1:00 p.m.

            We got into position and began casting again; it wasn’t long before I started picking off Striper. I ended up catching around a half dozen, the biggest at 20 ½ inches rewarded me with 1^st place in the Striper Division. We both tried for Perch in the areas we caught them the day prior but it seemed they had simply moved farther up river with the cycle of the tide.

            Knowing it would be a very tight race for 1^st place with two nice Blue Cats being caught, we decided that it was very important for Grant to land an American Shad. Generally Americans are larger than Hickories in weight and in length, so landing even an average American could add precious inches to his overall total. The only problem… the Shad were not complying with the plan. As it would seem, the Shad we were after were not in the area, however Grant mentioned that he kept bumping what he thought were herring. This sparked the memory of a situation I had from two years ago where the American Shad would lightly strike the bait I was throwing and if you weren’t keyed in on such a minute strike you simply would not hook them. I relayed this knowledge to him and he executed within minutes, landing a solid American Shad to add the few inches that proved to be just what he needed to pull out the win. That’s a great example of why we do pretty decent in these tournaments. We combine our knowledge and experiences to form a plan of attack… and in the end we’re usually both competing for the win.

We fished for a few more hours and left the river at around 4 just to be sure we beat traffic.

            The weigh in and raffles were fun as always. We spent some fun times with a great group of guys all the while raising money for an awesome cause. Grant brought home the 1^st place trophy for the second year in a row with a total of 72 inches, beating out 2^nd place by a half inch, proving that last American Shad was as important as we thought it’d be. I won the Striper Division and brought home about $155 bucks along with some sweet winnings in the raffle which included a badass Bubba Blade brand fillet knife! We love this tournament because of its variety of species along with its multiple fish limit and I think it could go without saying but we can’t wait for next year! It was a good way to end the Shad season and a strong momentum push for the Yakattack tournament in May. Until then, it’s back to chasing that paper. Trophy fish beware.

Fish Hard or Stay Home,

Josh D.

Striper Surprise and another Porker Perch

Striper Surprise and another Porker Perch

       With the Shad Run finally getting started I decided to focus on another Virginia citation eligible species, the White Perch. The White Perch spawning run coincides with the Shad Run and if an angler is persistent enough to wade through the smaller schooling fish he may just be rewarded with a true Spring time chunk..... for us, however, that was not the case.

       My buddy Jack and I spent the majority of the weekend lost down a winding river, casting, casting, and casting some more. Catching everything from Striper to Blue Cats, Crappie, and both species of Virginia Perch. Though we didn't find any trophy White Perch, I did manage to bag another trophy Yellow Perch along with some surprise drag ripping schoolie Stripers which are always a blast on light tackle!

        Plenty of fish being caught of all species made it hard to complain about not finding the monster White Perch we we're looking for. All in all it was a good time with a great friend, who could complain about that? Meanwhile, Ill be counting the minutes until I'm back on the water!

Fish Hard or Stay Home,

Josh D.