Cast of "Characters":
Capt. Joe DiPaola
Capt. C.C. Felker
John "Rat Catcher" Hupp
And starring ... Captain Kenny Louderback, Fish Freaks Guide Service
ACT I: A Night in Cape Charles
After two phenomenal outings with Capt. Kenny Louderback over the last couple of years, it was a no-brainer to get out on the water with him again. Joining us on this trip was childhood friend and long-time Mikey D angling client John Hupp. We warned John that, despite his mastery of Striper fishing, that out quarry in the lower bay was going to test his abilities. Time to put on the big boy pants and tie into one of the toughest pulling and best-eating saltwater fish out there.
Capt. DiPaola and I departed Annapolis early Thursday afternoon to meet John in Cape Charles. As we were in no hurry, we decided to stop in Chincoteague for lunch, and hit a chain restaurant called "Ropewalk." While the venue was what we were looking for, the service was good, and the menu looked promising, the actual meal was a bit disappointing, not to mention the $8 oyster shooters.
Shrugging off lunch, we continued down to Cape Charles and arrived around 4 in the afternoon. The town has definitely upped its game over the last three years that we've been fishing with Captain Kenny. After checking into the Hotel Cape Charles (right in the heart of Cape Charles), we stepped across the street to enjoy some tasty beverages at the newly-opened Cape Charles Distillery. With some time before dinner, we rented a golf cart from the hotel (who can get into trouble driving a golf cart?), and headed to the Cape Charles Brewery, another relatively new establishment, and enjoyed a couple of their local craft brews. The brewery is also a restaurant, and the fried clam strips and fried oyster specials looked inviting. But we had planned on dining at "The Shanty," a casual waterfront restaurant at the Cape Charles marina, and had a phenomenal meal. From there it was off to Kelly's Gingernut Pub, where we sat outside, enjoyed a bourbon and cigar, and planned out the next day's action.
ACT II: Cobia Hunting
After a great breakfast at Stingray's restaurant, we met Captain Kenny at 8:30 at the boat ramp at Kiptopeke State Park. Kenny quickly got the boat in the water, and we were off by around 0845.
While last August the fishing was south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, the Cobia this year were still above the bridge. So we spent nearly the entire day "hunting" off Cape Charles. I say hunting because at this time of year that's what Cobia fishing is about in the lower bay. With water temps warm, the fish normally hang near the surface, and usually in the vicinity of stingrays and sea turtles. Even thought the fish are near the surface, seeing them is work. Low winds, calm seas, abundant sunshine, a spotting tower, and a seasoned guide, are essential to finding these fish. Once a fish is sighted, the guide takes a rod pre-baited with a live eel, casts in front of the fish, and waits for the take. Almost as soon as the fish sees the eel it almost immediately chases down the bait. Once he senses the take, the guide then lets the fish run with the eel before putting a solid hook set, then hands the rod down to the angler to fight the fish. It might appear easy; all the angler has to do is fight a fish. But these fish pull hard, swim to the boat, jump, and when they get close to the boat dive like there's no tomorrow. Although I'd say 80% of the work is done up on the tower, there's not a lot the captain can do until he gets down there to net or gaff the fish. The last 20% is on the angler.
Conditions were great for seeing fish. Early cloud cover had burned off by 10:00, and seas were almost dead calm. This year the ray and turtle sightings were spotty, so Captain Kenny focused instead on large bait balls of Menhaden (also called Bunker), another favorite haunt for Cobia. Sure enough, Kenny's instincts were right on. We saw Cobia throughout the day, with the greatest number of sightings occurring after 1100 or so. Unlike last year, where we lost several fish, we boated every fish that Kenny hooked up. John more than held his own and took honors for 4 fish landed, all in the 30-plus inch range. Captain Kenny calls these fish "Rats," because they were under the minimum keeper size of 40 inches. I get it, Kenny is driven to catching big fish. But more often than not he was casting to a group of Cobia, and the "smaller" ones were just quicker to the eel. Still, these fish still gave one drag-pulling fight; a thirty six inch fish is pretty big my book!. We did manage two keepers, a 43-incher and a 46-incher, which each weighed well over 35 pounds. Captain DiPaola also got close to a first for Mikey D Fishing, when he induced a follow from a Cobia on the fly rod.
Again, Captain Kenny was the fishing machine. We can't say enough about his ability to find fish. In fact, while we were fishing above the bridge, there was a Cobia tournament going on off Virginia Beach. Kenny reported that no one south of the bridge was catching fish. Even the 2-3 boats that were in our vicinity weren't having much luck. That tells you something. But just as importantly as his ability to put folks on fish, Kenny has a passion for fishing and great repertoire with his clients. He let us hang out up in the tower (which put a second set of eyes up there), carried on conversation throughout the trip, and had a great sense of humor. You can tell the man just loves being on the water, which is all you can ask of a charter captain.
ACT III: This is What Victory Looks Like
Although I swear Captain Kenny would have stayed out until the next morning to put a third fish in the cooler, we opted instead to head back to the ramp. We transferred the fish to our cooler (may have to get a bigger cooler next year!), iced them down for the trip home, dropped "Rat Catcher" off at his car for his drive to Delaware, and hit the road for Annapolis. We kept the fish iced down overnight, which firmed the flesh up and made filleting much easier, not to mention the fact that they were huge fish!
It was another epic trip. The two keepers were the largest so far. And not losing a fish was an improvement on previous years. But there are bigger fish to be caught, and we can,t wait to head out there again with Captain Kenny!
Tight lines,
Mikey D Fishing
Great story! I even believe some of it.
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