James River Blues

After coming off of duty this morning, I decided to make a short afternoon fishing trip to the MMBT in search of some Stripers. I launched near the James River Bridge around 12pm, in time for the tide change over at the MMBT. Not a lot was being caught, there was one boat that was very successful however, trolling various Stretch lures. Good size Stripers too.

After some time with no luck, I figured I'd give the JRB a shot. I cast out my Storm Shad a couple times and finally got some a couple strikes but not hookup. I tried again, this time hooking into the fish. It didn't quite feel like a Striper though but it fought hard. When it finally came close to the top, I couldn't quite make out what it was, but the drag started ripping from my reel. This fish didn't want to leave the water. The fight became more intense, then shortly I landed the fish. To my surprise it was a 16" Bluefish!

 After catching tiny Blues off Cape Henry, it was surprising to see such a larger Blue in the James River

 The Bluefish attack signature...no more paddle tail on the shad.

Overall, it was a nice day out. Colder then I expected, I'll have to dress a little warmer next time. Water temps are dropping, the James River was at 67-69 degrees during my entire time out. Glad I was able to at least catch something right before heading back in for the day.