Lynnhaven Inlet Fishing for Speckled Trout

This morning, I towed my jet ski onto the base I work on so I could immediately head towards Lynnhaven Inlet after work. I haven't fished since the 10th, it was great being back on the water. After catching that Sheepshead earlier this month, I was stumped with the question of what the heck do I target now?  I had spent so much time trying to get a Sheepshead that I pretty much completely ignored targetting bigger summer species like Cobia. I had honestly tried for Cobia for only an hour or so this entire summer, only because I was waiting for the tide is slow down one morning. My work schedule then got heavy with an underway, so I missed the last bit of Cobia fishing that had been going on late this month.

After some thinking, I knew I wanted to catch a Speckled Trout. I had tried previously once, but I wasn't armed with a lot of knowledge. I wanted the challenge of trying to work towards catching something new for me, something that wasn't as easy as sitting there with live bait. Not very experienced with soft plastics, I began to play around with some simple jigging techniques near an area I thought might hold some specs. I used a cork rig with a soft plastic at first. After some time with no luck, I removed the cork and switched to a red jig head and a Gulp instead of a regular soft plastic, and everything changed!  My 2nd cast out, this small 12" Speckled Trout couldn't resist

 First Speckled Trout

Afterwards, I kept working towards catching more, changing spots throughout the afternoon. I saw another  larger spec come up next to the jet ski. It had followed the Gulp all the way without striking. Right when I noticed the trout, my jig had just came up from the water. Never saw the fish again. Oh well. 

My girlfriend called me and told me plenty of rain was likely headed my way. I knew there was a good chance it would since I knew a cold front was coming through later on, so shortly after I went ahead and called it a day. It was calm day, very relaxing, weather was perfect, and I came back satisfied that I was able to catch a Speckled Trout.

I'm in Chesapeake Bay Angler Magazine!

To my suprise, someone told me yesterday that a photo of my Sheepshead made it in the Chesapeake Angler Magazine. So after work today, I headed to Bass Pro to snag a couple copies and there I was on page 5, awesome! Below is a photo of it, the magazines website hasn't updated with a PDF copy yet.

I haven't been able to fish lately due to underways with the Navy, but I should be able to soon, so hopefully I'll have a new report on here this weekend.

My First Citation, Big Sheepshead At the CBBT

Last night, taking advantage of an entire weekend off, I decided to once again fish the Cheseapeake Bay on my Sea-Doo in search of Sheepshead and Spades. As some of you know, I've been determined at targeting Sheeps since late June, and after many outings I had just been unlucky.

Getting towards the end of the season, I knew my chances of catching one were slowly windlying away. I left Newport News this morning thinking that this would probably be the last time I'd be targeting these species. I wanted to give up in the past, but for some reason I continued to press on, going as far as not even going for other popular summer species at all this year.


I stopped by Atlantic Bait and Tackle once again to pick up fiddler crabs. I worked various area of the CBBT and ran into some friendly kayak anglers, one who had just hooked into a release citation red drum while flounder fishing. 

Shortly after, I picked another spot, and my luck had finally changed! I felt a small tap, and thought my weight had just bumped into the piling something, but it felt a bit different, so I lifted up my rod and the battle began. The fish began to take some line off the reel, in short powerful bursts. I was slowly bringing it to the top when I finally saw it's right side as it tried to pull away one last time. BIG SHEEPSHEAD! I couldn't help but to be excited, all the time and work I've put into trying to catch one and here it was. 

I'm sure the kayak anglers I had previously met heard my excitement from the distance. Not only I was excited about finally catching one, but I knew there was a good possibility this would also be my very first citation. Since the beginning, every time I purchased Fiddlers from Atlantic Bait and Tackle, Rory would always tell me to come back with a citation. I was glad today was finally the day I would come back and do it.  

12 lbs and 3 oz!


Getting a citation was a goal I set for myself at the end of last year to do in 2011. Hard work does pay off!


It was absolutely a great day of fishing. Seas were calm, weather was nice, and I didn't get skunked. 

CBBT Fishing For Sheepshead and Spadefish

Yesterday, I towed the Sea-Doo down to Crab Creek to launch out of Lynnhaven Inlet in the hopes of catching some Sheepshead and Spades. I started off targeting Spades near the 1st island, and quickly learned that next time I need to bring more clam then I had originally thought I needed! The Spade bite was definitely hot, and I was able to hook into several, but couldn't land them this time around. In my efforts to get them away from the structure, their quick powerful dashes usually resulted in the hook being ripped out. While fishing for Spades though I managed to catch a small bluefish.

Armed with fiddler crabs, I tried a variety of pilings along the CBBT in addition to over the tubes, only landing another monster Toadfish. Armed with a tough glove on my hand, I attempted to remove the hook from the fish, however, the fish decided to clamp down on my thumb, which instantly felt like I slammed my thumb in a car door. Fun! Time on the water in the Chesapeake Bay is always a learning experience in some way or another, and I definitely learned what NOT to do next time around...haha.

Water clarity wasn't that great on the Bay, lots of pine needles and various debris were all around. The bay became rougher coming into the afternoon, then not long after I couldn't find any Sheepshead so I decided to return to Lynnhaven Inlet around 5pm. It seems like hurricane Irene has not effected fishing as much as everyone thought it would, but it surely seems like it at least put a dent into it. Several other anglers I spoke with at the boat ramp pretty much said the same about Saturday's fishing.

Overall, would have been nice to land those Spades or catch Sheepshead but it was still a decent day fishing. I now understand why kayak anglers love going for Spadefish so much, they put up such a great fight on light tackle, they're a blast.

I recently purchased a GoPro video camera and took it out on this trip. I created a short basic clip in my spare time, check it out: