Cape Charles Fishing Report, 20 November: Don't Spare the Rod

 On Tuesday I returned from a trip to SC babysitting the grandkids and had a brief window to fish before a cold front rolled in.  High tide on Wednesday was noon, so headed out around 12:30 to see if the fish were biting.  Decided to bring along the fly rod as a backup, just in case conditions were amenable to throwing a streamer.

Weather was gloomy; perfect for fishing.  Heavy overcast with air temps in the low 60s.  Water temps in the shallows still in the high 50s to low 60s. A light rain shower every once in a while.  Most importantly, though, no wind and flat water! 

The last two conditions would prove key to the day's success.  No wind meant I could break out the fly rod.  Flat water meant I might be able to find fish.

Started out with the spinning rod, throwing a Strike King spinner bait.  On the third cast I hooked a small Red.  So I figured it was going to be a pretty good afternoon.  Unfortunately, the braided line wrapped around the rod tip (it happens).  Instead of fumbling around with it, or retying, I put the spinning rod down and picked up the fly rod.

Fished a 9' 8 weight with a floating line (no need for sinking line, as water depths aren't more than 4'), a 20 lb flouro leader, with an Enrico Puglisi baitfish pattern in white and chartreuse.  The fly works really well down here, but I suspect a Clouser or Deceiver in similar colors would work as well.

Spent the first half hour blind casting and trying to get my casting stroke and distance back, and not getting any hits.  Around 2:00, I got my first hit, and as I was stripping in the fly, could see some fish following.  Another cast and I saw and briefly hooked what I thought was a Red right in front of me.  

There's not much to fly fishing in these shallows, technique-wise.  You just chuck out the fly, let it sink for a second or two, then strip it in.  I vary the strips; long and slow followed by one or two short strips.  There's nothing out there to catch your fly, so if you feel like your stuck, execute a strip set and the fight is on. And if you don't get a good hook set on the take, wait a second and resume stripping all the way in.  The fish, or one of his pals, will probably take the fly.

Thinking things might pick up, I moved further south of the breakwater.  Noticed some disturbed water about 60 feet in front of me.  A cast in the middle of the spot and I was hooked on a Red.  Got him to my hand, about 15-16 inches.  A few more casts resulted in a few more under-slot fish.  Then it ended.

I walked down a little further, and once again noticed more disturbed water.  Turned out this was a large school of Reds.  For the next hour the action was non-stop.  Didn't keep an accurate tally, but it was at least 10 fish, several of which were in the 18-26 inch slot, with one that went a good 24".  A hoot on the 8 wt.

I even scored a PB on Speckled Trout, which easily went 24".

(Apologies for the poor quality of the photos.  Holding a fish, the fly rod, and a camera is a bit of a challenge)

About 3:00 a skiff meandered into my fishing area, and the catching stopped.  So I figured it was a good time to get off the water.

On Thursday air temps dropped and the wind picked up.  Things probably won't settle down until Sunday.  But next week looks pretty good, as long as the cold weather hasn't pushed the fish off.  We may even start seeing Stripers out there.

Tight Lines and Happy Thanksgiving,

Mikey D Fishing

Is it a Brook, a Brown, a Rainbow? Nov 2024

Growing up just north of Baltimore on the edge of suburbia, summer days would find me either on the baseball field, in or around nearby woods and streams, or fishing at Loch Raven Reservoir.  Fishing there started with a long trek through the woods across a feeder stream and over a ridge.   Sanders, a general store nearby,  provisioned me and my mates with bait, sandwiches, and tackle replenishment.  They also had the best milkshakes around.  Every once in a while, we would transport some of the panfish we caught in a bucket to the stream near my house in an amateur stocking effort.  

Fast forward to now and on a recent visit I went on a run near that very stream.  Finding it impossible as usual to pass fishy water without taking  a peek, I peered into a 4 foot deep pool.  I could hardly believe it, but a saw 3 or 4 fish about 8 - 10".  I ran back to retrieve my fly rod and wondered if the stream was healthy enough to support brookies.  

A quick roll cast tipped with a beaded woolly bugger, soon grabbed the attention of 8 incher.  Turns out what I hoped was a trout, turned out to be a rather large creek chub.  Not the result I hoped for, but still pretty cool to feel the tug from my boyhood stream. 

 Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing 

Cape Charles Fishing Report, 10-12 November: More of the Same, And That's a Good Thing

 Three days of some phenomenal fishing:

Sunday: I wade-fished our go-to spot near the mouth of Plantation Creek.  Temps in the high 60s, sunny skies, water temps in the low 60s.  A bit windy, but only a 6-inch chop.  Caught the incoming tide.  Not a fan, but with shorter days, you get what you get.  Which turned out to be just fine.  Got on the water around 11:30 AM.  Caught ten Reds over the next hour and a half.  All on a popping cork suspending  Z-Man Electric Chicken and Slam Shady soft plastics.  Most under the 18" slot, but picked up a couple that were 20" or better.  Stopped at 10 fish to beat feet back home to watch a great Steelers' victory.

Monday: Capt. DiPaola rolled in around 12:30 PM.  We quickly rigged up and got to the same spot around 1:30. Again an incoming tide.  Weather a bit warmer and calmer.  Turned out to be one of those days when everything worked.  Caught fish on popping corks and Dine XLs.  Fished the last of our three hours on the water with gold spoons (Johnson and Clark).  Never moved from one spot, casting to a school of Reds who wished us a happy Veteran's Day by hanging around and eating our lures.   Mostly smaller fish, but again a few within the slot.  We decided to quit at 30 fish, but could have kept catching for a while longer.

Tuesday's weather was not optimal.  Sunny, temps in the upper 50s, but winds in the 20-plus mph, with gusts well above 25.  Seas were choppy at about a foot, but still fishable.  The popping corks were obviously out.  So we started throwing the usual variety of subsurface stuff, with a few fish here and there.  Joe switched to a Strike King spinner bait, with good success.  But the Reds just did not seem to be schooled up, and the takes were more subtle than normal.  That is until around 2:30. We happened on a school near the mouth of the creek, and it was game on for about an hour.  Our casts were no more than a few feet apart, and again we got multiple hookups.  This school, however, seemed to be comprised of big fish.  We brought a couple out of the school that were below the slot.  But the rest, probably 8 fish, were all above twenty, with a "doublee" of a 24 incher, and the other easily above the 26" limit.

Still no trout, but if you check the Mikey D Fishing archive, the next week or so could be the time that the Specks move in.  

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Cape Charles Fishing Report, 02-03 November: Clare Hooks Up

Get your minds out of the gutter.  This is a family-friendly fishing blog.

I meant, with a Redfish. Uh..., time to move on from the double entendre....

Clare and Bery Edmonston joined us at Cape Escape this past weekend to take advantage of the fall Redfish action.  My thumb's unfortunate encounter with a lure had kept me off the water for a couple of days. But, with the wound reasonably healed, and buoyed by healthy doses of antibiotics, it was time to get back on the water.  Especially when the weekend's forecast looked like the catching would continue.

And the solunar calendar was spot on.  Saturday, we got on the water around 11:30 AM to wade the outgoing tide.  Temps were in the low 60s, as was the water temp.  Skies were partly cloudy to mostly sunny.  A bit of a breeze, but coming from the NE, so the water remained pretty flat most of the day. 

Not long after the first few casts the catching began.

It was one of those days when just about everything we threw at the fish resulted in hookups.  Just to experiment, we brought along some live minnows.  They worked, but having to go back to the bucket kept us off the fish.  So Clare and Bery switched to soft plastics (paddletails in Electric Chicken) under popping corks, which the Redfish devoured.  The Dine XL (purple with chartreuse belly) and Salt Strong Skinny Lipper (white) were also productive.

Not only did Clare score her first Cape Charles Red, but she wound up at the top of the leader board, and also pulled in some nice keeper Reds.

The action was consistent until around 2:30.  Then it was off to the filet table and college football.  

Doesn't get any better.  And, fingers crossed, with temps still hanging in the high 60s to low 70s, the fishing should stay good through the month.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Cape Charles Fish...., October 31

 If you'll recall from the 27 October report:

Pro Guide Tip #2.  Treble hooks make releasing fish, especially small fish, very difficult, especially if hooked deep, and may kill it.  For Reds and Trout, replacing all your trebles with single 1/0 hooks do not diminish hookups, makes releasing fish easy, and will help prevent an unintended kill.

Turns out the fish are not the only beneficiaries of a single hook....

A trip to the ER over in Virginia Beach.  Turns out they've seen this before.  

And some post-op therapy....

Tight lines ... soon.

Mikey D Fishing

Cape Charles Fishing Report, 20-23 October: Fish Porn; Yeah, You Know it When You see It

 Warning.  The following material may not be suitable to non-anglers.  Contains graphic catching, extreme netting, smoking.

Days fished: Sunday through Wednesday

Locations: Sunday wade-fishing off Bay Creek, Monday the Mikey D headed up Plantation Creek, Tuesday and Wednesday the Mikey D hit the fish traps north of Kiptopeke State Park

Conditions: outside air temps in the high-60s to low-70s.  Water temps at 64 degrees.  Sunny skies.  Winds calm to light breeze.  Sea state flat.

Terminal tackle: live minnows under popping corks, Dine XL (purple/chartreuse), Salt Strong Skinny Lipper (white), Salt Strong topwater (white), Enrico Puglisi baitfish fly pattern (white/chartreuse)

Highlights: Picked up a slot Red wade fishing Sunday afternnon.  

Monday explored Plantation Creek for awhile, picked up some small fish, hit the creek mouth with the outgoing tide, picked up another slot Red.

Pro guide tip:  If you notice that the motor's cooling water exit port (commonly known as the "pee hole," is not, well ..., that could lead to engine overheating.  The problem may be blockage by sediment picked up when running shallow.  Running heavy mono (80 lb test does the trick) up the hole may loosen enough of the blockage to get the pee hole doing what it's supposed to do.

Tuesday and Wednesday ... JACKPOT.  Based on intel from Capt. Kenny Louderback, we drove down 7 miles from Cape Charles to just north of Kiptopeke State Park to fish what the locals call the "northern nets," two fish traps about 400-500 yards apart.  Tuesday, we fished the north side of the most northern net.  Fish were concentrated in a corner where the net met the beach.

Literally a fish on with every cast for about four hours.  Tides did not seem to matter.  The area was just stacked with hungry Reds

Returned to the same spot on Wednesday but fished between the nets.  A few other boats doing the same, but there were plenty of Reds for everyone, as the fish moved up and down the shore between the nets.  Fished between 8:30 AM to about 12:30 PM.  Again, a fish on nearly every cast.  Most were in the slot limit between 18 and 26 inches.  One went 27.  

Pro Guide Tip #2.  Treble hooks make releasing fish, especially small fish, very difficult, especially if hooked deep, and may kill it.  For Reds and Trout, replacing all your trebles with single 1/0 hooks do not diminish hookups, makes releasing fish easy, and will help prevent an unintended kill.

In short ... epic.  And tasty table fare.  Bounty of the Bay.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Hey, Hey, Hey, Fat Albies! NC Fishing Report 15 Oct 24

Since August, Capt Jeff Kidwell of Wilmington Fishing Expeditions, and I couldn't seem to find a day to get out on the water.  I have been trying different spots around the Wilmington, Carolina Beach, and Wrightsville area from the shorelines with some success.  But avid fans of Mikey D Fishing will recall one of our pro tips:  "When fishing in a new area or new water, use a guide to learn the tactics, techniques, and territory to fish".  Turns out that bad weather and competing calendars provided a chance to go after one of the most sought after of fall fisheries: the false albacore "albies" run.

When Capt Jeff suggested that instead of going after fall reds in the intracoastal waterway, we might target "ablies" on the fly, I was all in.  It was a cool day for autumn fishing in NC, with temps in the upper 60s and gusty winds.   The fishing is even more challenging considering that much of the action takes place just outside of the surf.   

The first groups of false albacore were readily visible several hundred yards away.  Akin to Chesapeake striper fishing in the fall, the fish bust mullet and bay anchovies, chasing them completely out of the water as gulls and terns fly above to grab the remnants of the aquatic chaos.  The scene is tipped with dolphins and sharks shadowing nearby.  All this while beachgoers lounged blissfully unaware just a couple hundred yards away.

Now albies are known to be incredible fighters.  And the pull that ensued lived up to the hype.  However, it took some time before I got to feel it for myself.  The first groups of fish popped up for 10 - 20 seconds and then reappeared from a new spot.   I also had to learn how to get the fly moving through the water fast enough to entice a strike.  A long double haul cast downwind was required so not spook the fish.   For many predatory schooling fish like stripers or red drum, the best cast is made to the edge of the group.  With false albacore, you should present the fly (we were using a chartreuse clouser minnow) right in the middle of the frenzy.  What was new to me, was just how fast you need to get the fly moving through the water.  With Capt Jeff's guidance, I started stripping the fly by tucking the reel under my armpit and stripping the line hand over hand as fast as possible.  When it all came together, a quick strip set initiated an albie run that grabbed all of the fly line and a lot of the backing on my 10wt. rod within seconds.  What a fight!   After landing 3, I needed a break.  After landing 5 or 6, the day was complete, and another incredible sportfish was checked off of the Mikey D Fishing list!  Thanks to Capt. Jeff Kidwell for a great day on the water and working through the conditions to land several beautiful fighters.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing