Jacksonville, FL Fishing Report, 07-09 November: Grindin'

 That's guide-speak for spending a long day on the water looking for fish that should be there, but they're not.

Fortunately, that applied to only the third of the three days I spent down in Jax fishing with Capt. Curt Toomer.  I had planned the trip months prior around the new moon.  The up side was that it was supposed to be a period of high activity.  Of course, the factor you can't plan is the weather.

Well, the weather gods smiled on us.  Sunny skies, highs in the high 70s, a bit breezy on Saturday, but otherwise excellent conditions.  The first two days we spent hitting creeks off the intracoastal waterway in Curt's skiff.  Friday was spent mostly exploratory, fishing creeks that we had never visited.  Consequently, the catching was a bit slow, but we managed over 15 Speckled Trout, many in the 15-17 inch range.  

Saturday was a catching spree.  Curt put us on his go-to spots.  Over 20 Trout, a bunch of under slot Reds, a keeper Black Drum, and a Flounder to round out a North Florida Slam.  Also a bunch of Mangrove Snapper, with a few in the keeper range.  Fished with live shrimp, and Salt Strong 2.0    paddle tails in Mud Minnow color.  The first time using this particular color, and it did not disappoint, as it managed to keep up with the live bait on the trout.

                                                                                          

Fortunately, we'd enjoyed enough catching to make day 3 enjoyable, even if we didn't land many fish (actually, only 2).  We fished with Capt. Matt Chipperfield.  While Matt targets multiple species, one of his fortes is targeting Redfish in the grass flats during flood tides.  In the fall, tides surge above normal levels, pushing water well up into the grasses. The bait follow the water, and theoretically the Reds as well.

You're only fishing water that's 1-2 feet deep, in the grass, looking for tailing Reds.  Matt prefers flyrods throwing crab patterns.  Since there's grass all around, you throw the fly away from the Red, drag the fly close, and play with the line to make the fly jiggle and attract the Red.

We had great conditions, a sold flood tide, and plenty of bait in the grass.  Unfortunately, the Reds did not show up.  That's the down side of this kind of fishing; there's really no Plan B.  So after about 3 hours, and having spooked only one Red, Matt decided to call it a morning.  But he suggested we meet again in the afternoon and hit a couple of creeks off the intracoastal at low tide.

We met up again at 3:30, and Matt motored his skiff south to hit the first creek.  The tide had been going out for quite some time.  You know the water is getting skinny when the boat is sitting below the bank, and you can barely see above the grass.  Curt boated a keeper Trout not far up in the creek.  But that was it.  So Matt decided to leave the creek and hit one more while we had daylight.  

As we moved up the second creek Matt went from the motor to poling.  Again, really fishy water.  Around 4:45 we made our way up to the spot where we could see Reds moving around.  I managed one fish close to the slot on the mud minnow paddle tail.  We poled around what was essentially a big mud puddle, casting to Reds in what had to be less than 2 feet of water.  Unfortunately, the time we had spent at the first creek limited the time in the hole.

As Matt said, and every angler has experienced, sometimes you're just grinding.  Matt knew his stuff, and was an excellent teacher.  But as the old saying goes, when the fish aren't there, they're somewhere else.  😂

Yeah, it might be grinding, but it's still fishing.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

                                      

Cape Charles Fishing Report: Rookie Camp, a PB Red, Product Reviews

Mikey D Fishing held its inaugural Rookie Fish Camp over the past two weeks.  As we were beta-testing the concept, we looked for the perfect subject.  And we could think of no better one than ... a golfer.  A sportsman who spends his days chasing little white balls around manicured fairways and greens, riding in a cart, hailing down the beverage girl, and at the end writing down numbers that really don't mean much in the galactic sense. (Apologies to the golfers out there.  Can't help myself.

Fortunately, we had the perfect candidate just a few houses away from the Cape Escape.  So we drafted avid golfer, neighbor and friend Anthony Canade, and put him through the ringer.

Well, maybe not the ringer.  But we fished pretty hard with him over two sessions at Secret Beach.  I'd have to judge the camp as a success.  After the first session Anthony became proficient with casting, hooking fish, and losing jig heads on underwater obstructions.  After the second session he demonstrated proficiency in an unsupervised setting, continuing to hook fish, and losing jig heads to underwater obstructions.  Most importantly, he had fun.

Another reason the camp was so successful was that the fish cooperated.  We fished outgoing tides on both days.  A consistent bite from Flounder, Trout, and Pinfish.  White Berkley Gulps proved effective as well as Z-Man and Savage shrimp soft plastics.

                                           
                                           

                                         

 

I haven't seen Anthony's golf clubs on E Bay yet, and he's not yet ready to wade out in the bay.  So, we may have to set up a third camp session to fully bring in into the cult.  

PB Redfish.  This past weekend Capt. DiPaola spent a few days at Cape Escape to get some fishing in.  The solunar calendar predicted great fishing.  And it was, maybe not in numbers, but with one big fish.

We waded down at the mouth of Plantation Creek on the incoming tide in the late afternoon on Friday.  Tossed mostly plastic shrimp soft plastics.  The bite was fairly consistent, and we landed a few Trout (a good sign, as long as we don't have a harsh winter).  Then, it happened.  Joe's spinning rod bent over, line started peeling off, drag started screaming, and Joe was along for the ride.  At first it looked like a Ray might have taken the shrimp.  I was more optimistic, waiting for the fish to turn, an indication that it was a Red. And it turned. Joe got the fish within 20 yards or so, and when we saw the huge tail come out of the water, we confirmed a big Redfish.

Took a bit of time to get her to us, but a beautiful fish of 40".  We got a quick pick, and revived her until she slowly swam off under her own power.

There may not be many slot Reds out there, but the opportunity to tie into a monster kind of makes up for it!

Product reviews:

Z Man and Savage Shrimp soft plastics.  All saltwater fish eat shrimp.  So do not go out without some of these in your bag.  Both catch fish, and stand up pretty well to all the other critters out there which you don't want to catch but also like to munch on shrimp.  Both are pre-rigged and weighted.  All you have to do is tie it on, cast out, bounce the bottom, and wait for the take.  

Pros of the Savage is that it is rigged weedless, which helps if you're fishing over grass.  Downside is that the hook eye tends to pull through the lure after a few fish, requiring it to be pushed back through.  It's also pretty expensive; $12 for a set of 2.  The Z-Man is a bit more durable, and less expensive than the Savage shrimp, at around $8.  But the hook, while rigged through the top of the plastic, is not entirely weedless.

SharkBanz.  After my encounter with a shark while wading a few weeks ago, I purchased a product call SharkBanz.  The product uses magnets, encased in a band that you strap across your ankle.  There's no assembly; you just strap it on, cut the strap to fit, and go.  It comes in a box specifically designed to protect the band from other magnetic objects, or devices like cell phones, which can be damaged by the band.

The idea is that the magnets mess with a shark's magnetic field, causing it to turn away.

Does it work?  Well, maybe.  I haven't come across a shark since I started wearing it, which is a good thing.  But there are a lot of Rays out there.  And they apparently have the same sensitivity to magnetic field distortion.  I did notice Rays would swim in my direction, stop about 3-4 feet away, hold for a few seconds, then swim off.  With a discount, the SharkBanz sells for $120.  

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Cape Charles, VA Fishing Report, August 25: Baby Shark Do do do do do do

 Well, not exactly a baby....

One of the cardinal rules of wade fishing in the salt water is to keep your head on a swivel.  Down at the mouth of Plantation Creek, for example, you'll see a fair number of Rays.  They're easy to avoid, and if they get close you simply slap your rod tip in the water and they swim off.  Turns out that technique works for toothy predators as well.

I decided to break out the fly rod and get in a little casting this morning.  Conditions were excellent.  Temps in the 70s, clear skies, a light breeze, but the water was clear.

I started wading down towards the mouth of the creek, blind casting every once in a while.  The tide had been going our for an hour or so, and I was in thigh-deep water.  As I was making my way down, though, I saw thrashing in the water about 200 yards further down.  

Curt, Joe and I had seen a shark while fishing Secret Beach two weeks ago.  Figuring that there was a shark down there, I slowly made my way back to the breakwater and shallower water.  About 100 feet or so from the breakwater, more thrashing.  Couldn't tell whether it was a big Ray or the shark.  But not far from the breaker I saw what I thought was a school of Reds.  So what do you do in that case?  Well, you start casting of course.

I was standing in shin-deep water, casting to fish, and happened to look to my left, only to see Mr. Shark swimming toward me.  Even in shallow water, I wasn't going to out run it.  But I remembered a fishing video I saw some time ago where an angler slapped his rod tip at the nose of a shark to scare it off.

So that's what I did.  And the technique worked.  The fish got within 5-6 feet of me before it took off.  I hung around for awhile, and saw two wakes pushing water beyond the bar.  So I figured Mr. Shark was with a buddy and still in the area.  So called it a morning.  

In 5 years of wade-fishing this spot, it's the first time I've seen a shark up close.  My suspicion is that they were going after the Rays in the shallows.  A little Google search revealed that Sandbar and Bull Sharks feed on Rays in Virginia waters.  I couldn't tell what species was swimming my way.  Looked like it might have been 4-5 feet long, but I was more focused on scaring the fish off than close observation.

Nature, go figure.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Cape Charles, VA Fishing Report, 08-10 Aug: The Man in the Brown Suit

 Last year both of our scheduled Cobia outings with Capt. Kenny Louderback (Fish Freaks Sportfishing) got weathered out.  This year our July outing met the same fate.  Fortunately, last Monday's weather was about as good as it gets to hunt the Man in the Brown Suit.

Joining Joe and me was close friend, former squadron mate, and avid saltwater angler Curt Toomer.  Curt has been out on the Cobia outing before, so he knew the deal.  In the mid to late-summer, Cobia spend much of their time near the surface.  Hot and humid is key, as well as clear skies and low winds.  Get those conditions and you have a great chance of spotting and hooking into big fish.  The other key is the guide, which is why we've been fishing with Kenny for 10 years.

Prior to our Monday outing, we spent a few days DIYing it on Plantation Creeks.  We were able to put the boat in the water Sunday afternoon.  But for the most part we fished "Secret Beach," a spot off of of the Bay Creek Preserve trail, which provides access to a deep channel of Plantation Creek.  We fished a variety of soft plastics, but white Berkley Gulp twister tails seemed to pick up the most fish.  I wouldn't call the fishing great, but we managed a few Flounder and Croaker, and Curt landed a small Striper on a Salt Strong white Flea Flicker, which was kind of surprising.

Sunday afternoon the winds calmed so we put the boat in the water.  Fished the cement ships down at Kiptopeake State Park, and around Plantation Creek.  Much like the prior few days, we caught some Croakers, but that was about it.  Did manage two catch a small Trout and Croaker on the same lure, which was kind of cool

All of our fishing, however, was a tune up for Monday's event.  We hopped on Kenny's boat at 0800, and headed west to the main shipping channel.  Kenny noted that the Cobia fishing has been pretty tough, and for the first couple of hours it seemed like that might be the case.  But then, we were out with Fish Freaks.  And periods of boredom can quickly turn into moments of sheer fishing madness.

Which is exactly what happened.  Not seeing any fish, Kenny decided to fish around the channel buoys.  That's when the magic happened, for about 45 minutes we experienced the fun of Cobia fishing.  

As a reminder, the guide (or his mate) cast from the boat tower.  They're either tossing live eels, or bucktails with a soft plastic.  Once a fish is hooked, the rod is handed down to the angler.  Might not seem like all that much, but the fun is in the fight.  I think Kenny and his mate Nick hooked into at least 5 fish, a couple of them monsters.  Two got off before he could get the rods to us, but we managed to land 3; two between 42-43", and one keeper that went 46".

When the action slowed, Kenny moved to a flats area on the eastern side of the bay, where we spotted and landed two more small fish, and lost another monster that wrapped the line around the trim tab and broke off.

It was by far one of our best trips.  And you won't find a more experienced, determined, and persistent Captain than Kenny Louderback.  We were fortunate to have found him for our first outing, and look forward to many more.

Oh, and I should mention that Cobia is exquisite dinner fare. 

Of course, while catching is great, it's more about being on the water with close friends.  Well, and catching....

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Missoula, Montana Fishing Report, Part 2: Fishing in Grizzly Country, Blackfoot River

 You know you're in Grizzly country when your guide is carrying a big can of bear spray, and packing a large-caliber revolver, and yelling "Hey bear!" as you're walking to the stream.

James Quigley guided us on our third outing, which was a walk/wade trip.  The streams shall remain unnamed, per James' request.  Some beautiful freestone water, loaded with big fish.  Much like our drift boat outings, we fished mostly hopper/droppers.  Although I managed a nice Cutthroat on a Trico pattern.  It took awhile to get the fish to eat, but worth the work.

Last outing on the Blackfoot River.  A slow start, but our guide Dylan Tucker did the work and by mid-morning we were into fish, including some nice Rainbows and Cutbows.

   

All in all, a fantastic trip.  There are a lot of places to fish in Montana, but when we return, we'll be fishing with the Grizzly Hackle team!

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Missoula, Montana Fishing Report Part 1, 29 July-02 August: Clark Fork and Bitterroot Rivers

 After a year away from PA, Mary and I decided we needed to get in our trout fix.

Montana beckoned....

We booked four days of guided fishing with Grizzly Hackle Fly Shop in Missoula, Mt.  Of our many trips to Montana, which included some exceptional lodges and fishing, this trip was hands down the best (which is saying something).

The fly shop is located right in town.  Even better, it operates apartments located right above the shop.  Not only were the accommodations convenient, but also extremely comfortable and well appointed.  Ours had a full fridge, range, microwave, sink, dishes, glassware, and utensils.  

Missoula is a cool, eclectic town.  Plenty of restaurants, brewpubs, bars, and markets within walking distance of the fly shop.  If you want to save some bucks, the markets offer plenty of options for meals. 

 

The fishing.  Flat-out awesome.  First two outings were drifting the Clark Fork and Bitterroot Rivers.  All of the rivers (we drifted the Blackfoot on our last day) have unique characteristics.  We also did a  walk/wade trip, to get the full Montana experience.  All are phenomenal fisheries. As daytime temps reached into the 90s by mid-afternoon, the state placed "Hoot Owl Restrictions, which prohibited fishing after 2:00 PM.  That meant 6:00 AM meetups with the guides. (Another reason to stay at the apartments above the shop).  

We were on the waters by 6:30-7:00 AM.  The guide fee included rods/reels (5 wts), flies, and lunch).  We didn't bring waders (you can rent those), but I did purchase Korkers wading shoes from the shop for our one day of wading. (with the temps we wet-waded).  But that was it.  Much more convenient than hauling our stuff.

Drift fishing was fairly easy.  We fished hopper/dropper rigs for the most part.  On a few occasions the guide switched to a single hopper or a dry if we saw rising fish.  Fishing the hopper/dropper rig got some getting used to.  Not really from a casting perspective, as we weren't casting more than 10-15 feet from the boat.  The challenge was the set.  Since we were fishing a variety of water depths, the dropper sat about 4-5 feet below the hopper.  That meant when the hopper moved (even slightly), our set was more like a back cast to get the slack out and hook the fish.  

 Our guide, Drew Miller, knew where the fish were.  More importantly, he was an outstanding coach.  We landed some quality fish.  Rainbows, Cutbows, Cutthroats, Whitefish, and Pike Minnow (The name is a misnomer.  While the fish looks like a Walleye, it can get pretty big)

Four quick highlights from Days 1 and 2:  Mary sticking a stud Cutbow, Landing an 18-20" Cuttie on a hopper. (pictured above),  Mary hooking a small trout, which was subsequently eaten by a big Pike (we got the fish close enough to the boat to see it before it turned and broke off on 4X), hooking two Pike, one taking me under the boat before spitting the streamer, and the other cutting the leader).

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Cape Charles Fishing Report. July 2026: Yeah, it's been that kind of month....

July started out to be hot, hot, hot.  Great if you're into bronzing your body.  Not great if you're looking to tie into Reds.  So it's a monthly summary, which is what happens when you've spent a good bit of time on the water, with little to show for it.  Except for being on the water, which is better than not being on the water.

The few highlights for the month:

July 5th: Hit Secret Beach in the am on the incoming.  Bounced a white paddle tail off the bottom.  Picked up a couple of small Croakers, and, to my surprise, a keeper Speckled Trout. (released)

                                     

July 12th: Had a Cobia outing scheduled with Capt. Kenny Louderback, but cloudy skies and wind forced us to cancel.  Waded off Plantation Creek instead.  Fished a popping cork with a Salt Strong paddle tail (Mulligan 2.0 in Slam Shady) suspended underneath.  Despite offshore winds, conditions off the beach were decent; water was relatively calm and clear.  I was mostly goofing off; casting and popping, rinse and repeat.  Not expecting much.  Mostly looking around at all the critters in the water.  Looked out to where I though my popping cork was, and couldn't see it.  

(Pro guide tip: you should pay attention to your popping cork when fishing.  But if you get distracted, and look out to see the cork nowhere on the surface, set the hook.)

So I set the hook.

My first thought as drag started screaming was Stingray, because whatever had eaten my soft plastic was heading to Norfolk.  A few turns on the drag, though, and whatever it was turned.  So not a Ray.  A breach 20' out from me revealed a Bull Red.  Got her in, though didn't get a pic because fumbling around for my phone in thigh deep water while holding on to a 40-50" fish is a recipe for something bad to happen. (like lose the phone).  So I popped out the hook, and after a couple of shakes she swam off. 

July 14th: Out in the am to fish the outgoing.  Again with the popping cork, just meandering down and casting here and there.  Then, near the mouth of Plantation Creek, I saw tails.  Lots of tails.  So, like an idiot, I chucked my popping cork in the middle of the school, only to see the water blow up like I'd thrown a stick of dynamite into it.  Fortunately, my fishing faux pas had not spooked the school.  I quickly reeled in, tied on a white Salt Strong Flea Flicker  and cast back into the school.  A couple of cranks on the reel, and my Flea Flicker was heading out into the bay.  Slowly tightened the drag to turn the fish, and just when I thought I had it turned ... the line when slack.  Figured my lure was accompanying the fish where it was going, but surprisingly, the lure was still on, albeit missing an important component:

And yes, the hook was a bit corroded.  But not at the point of breakage.  That was a big fish.

Yesterday: Fished Ostrica, Captain DiPaola's expansive property on a tributary to Nassawadox Creek, and the future headquarters of Mikey D Fishing.  Construction is coming along nicely.  The barn is looking good, and should be ready for the boat by the end of the season.

The dock was completed a few months ago (as you would expect), so I headed up to fish the incoming.  Overcast skies, temps in the mid-70s.  Lots of bait in the water.  Fished live minnows under a float.  Managed a decent sized Croaker, which was it.  

But not a bad way to pass an afternoon....

This morning.  High tide on Plantation Creek at 0724, calm winds, decent water clarity.  We've had much cooler temps the last few days, so I figured a good chance the Reds would be in the shallows.  I was right; cooler water brought in the fish, and some slot fish (a good sign).  Unfortunately, they weren't eating what I was throwing.  

A long report for so few fish.  But we needed some content, and this is as good as it gets for July.  Off to Missoula Montana with Mary in a couple of days to get my trout fix, then it's back on the salt for another try at Cobia with Captain Kenny.  Seeing Reds on the shallows for the first time this year is hopefully a good sign for the fall.  

Tight lines,

Mikey D Fishing