My 2012 Striper Season

  My 2012 Striper season started off on my birthday November 10th on a trip out of  Wallace Marina in Hampton Virgina. It was my fist time out after Sandy blew through the area and I was still hopefull  to find some gator specks. Didnt find the Specks but I did find a small school of Striper in which I was able to get this on on a topwater Bomber Badonk-A-Donk. Not what I was searching for but always enjoy a good pull no mater what it is.

   Since work is a priority and family comes first I got back out on the water in December a month later where I hooked up with a couple of fishing buddies Mike (FishNinja), and Patrick (HarborPartrol) from the TKAA and we thought that we would give Lesner Bridge in Virginia Beach a try.

   We launch from Crab Creek and paddled out to the bridge.

  Mike was able to hook a small drum in the tail off the bottom with a jig, of course I didnt get anything this trip but was able to try out my new Frogg Togg wadders in which I think work great and I think Patrick got a few bites.

   By the end of the night after fighting the current around the bridge I feel the best part was passing the bar by the water wishing the fishing was a little better in that spot so i could fish, listen to drunk people singing and watch sports on the big tv all from my yak. Still it was good company and great to be out fishing.

  A week later I was out at the HRBT.  The bite was on and I spent the night trolling back and forth allong the bridge with the Striper on force with a surprising hit an pull from some good slot sized fish though the night. Patrick got a few that night himself. Myself I was able to get 7 good ones between 18 to 21 inches.   I got there at 1800 and I left about 0100 in the morning.

   With my 2 chosen keepers for the night.

   All packed up ready for the trip to the house.   Cooked them the next day with some breading and a little olive oil and butter in the bottom of the pan and it was melt in your mouth goodness. I was ready for some more.

  It was now time try my luck at getting myself a Cow Striper.  Been planning this trip for a while so Mike came over to the house and we carpooled across the bay to Kiptopeke to try our luck at the Concrete  Ships.  First stop we headed over along the way to Oceans East 2 and grabed us about 6 eals each from Kayak Kevin and the shop crew there and some extra hooks and some weight for our leaders and we were northbound to the ships.

  We tryed around the ships for a while with no luck then looking out to the horizon and seeing that everyone else was heading out to deeper water we felt that maybe someone knows something we dont.  So with the old saying, (When in Rome, Do like the Romans do.), we headed out on our way to the hopefully promised water of big fish.  We started out drift with the incomming tide around the bouy and with my fishfinder I watched our distance and after a good drift of 3 1/2 miles Mike and I got to feeling that the ships were looking a little far off so we started our very slow trip against the current back to the ships. If we waited another hour we would have had a much better trip back with the outgoing tide.

  Back to the ships it we were dropping some eals and since we both had some Blue Crab we tried at some Tog too.  Again everything was slow no hits and everyone I talked to said they were having no luck.  There was a report of a few 30 pounders being caught but the were few and far between.  After this trip I was down with the flu for about 2 weeks with the family. Fishing was the last thing on my mind then I just wanted to feel better.

photo by: Mike Manning

  Now feeling better but not 100%,  28th December my final night for the 2012 Striper season was again a slow night for the fishing for me. I did have a good time though. I met up with a few guys from the TKAA like Jeff, and Dave (SurfDawg) and we set out from the public boat ramp on the Norfolk side of the HRBT.  There was a lot of kayakers out there that night and was glad to meet a lot of them and put a face with the name.   There were fish being caught that night but all in the 10 to the occatiional 17 in range from the reports people I was able to get from poeple as i was passing by them.   I had fish all around me at some points where i could have touched them but they didnt like what I was giving them on the menu.  Heared from some guys that were in ear shot of me after they hooked up a few times that they were useing some jerkshad on jigheads, well I didnt bring any that night.  I was still a great night to be on the water and good company to talk to.  Glad I went out.  Untill next year everyone Tight Lines And Good Safe Fishing.

OPC Experimental GIS Data and Products For Google Earth

   Google has come along way.  Since I havent been able to get on the water latley I have been doing some time online and came across this cool ability by NOAA that will be able to allow you to put pluggins into Google Earth.  What you end up doing while on Google Earth is to open the NOAA link and look for some wind or Gulf Stream info and it will plug in onto the Google Earth map you have open for current or future predictions of what you are looking for.   Looks easy to use and another way to help plan a fishing day out on the water. Some screen shots of some of it i was messing around with below.   Cheers yall and tight lines .

 

 

 

   Just check out the links above.

Olympus Tough TG-1 review

   My wife surprised me earlier this year with a new camera that I can take with me while kayaking.  She got me the Olympus Tough TG-1.  I have found this to be a well put together camera with watertight doors for usb plug in along with one for memory SD card.

Since getting it and useing the crap out of it I have got to say that it lives up to what it says. They say its shock proof, I have dropped it. They say its water proof, I've gone under with it. They say its freeze proof, well I put it in the freezer and it still worked.  Im happy with it, and it takes great pictures.

 

 

 

With 12.0 mega pic, 3" LCD display, and you can charge battery or download pics with just the one cord without having to take battery or memory card out, easy to use controls. This camera has worked out well for me and my family.

 

 

 

Ive been able to find this camera from $399.00 in stores and some EBAY finds for new but refurbished ones for $200.00 and up.  Ive bought refurbished electronics in the past and have had good luck but its up to you and what you are comfortable with from your wallet. There are also other lenses  for this model that can be bought for extra zoom for around $100.00. For myself I just made an extra lanyard with a float with D-ring to clip it to my vest or something to secure it to and I was good. I hope this might help some of  you out, I will think if you got one you would be happy with it.

 



	

Kiptopeke Concrete Ships to Elizabeth River Mad Dash.

We have been wanting to do this trip for a while now. Ever since we found out about the ships it has been in the back of my mind to get out there and catch some Tau Tog.

   This has been a fish that has always been out of my reach untill I got my kayak. Started doing some homework watching YouTube videos, reading articles and even messaged Rob Choi and Kayak Kevin to just make sure that the currents weren't going to be to much for my kids to handle. Again thanks for the help on the current info.

     On this trip my buddy Brice joined us and checked in throughout the morning.

 

 

The plan was to time our trip a few hours before and after slack tide. From the tide chart it looked like slack tide was around 0700 but we didn't get it till about 1030. We paddled out attempted to fish but it was just to fast so we ended up finding what my son now calls his honey hole, a room opened up to the outside which allowed us to paddle right inside and we waited out the ripping tide outside.

 While inside we fished and sure as anything we were having a blast catching the fish we were going for. Inside myself and Orion caught our first ever Togs.

 My first was a little 10 incher and Orion caught a 15 incher.

    I got another 14 incher and then we both caught more smaller ones along with Orions everyother Toad Fish. 

 Mario wasn't able to hook up on this part just got his bait took every time. After slack tide hit we ventured outside and found a good sized crack. We hooked back up with our quarter BlueCrab and dropped lines in the water. I there hooked up with a nice 17 1/2 in Tog landed and Orion hooked up with a bigger one that shook the hook at the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 Mario still fighting the bait stealers kept his moral up with a good since of laughter and just enjoyed being out there. Bait gone by 1230 it was time head to our next location for some Specks.

   Back across the CBBT toward Top Rack Marina on the Elizabeth River off 17.  Hours there are between 0800 and 2200 for the gate opening and 5 dollars to park. Easy drag to the launch with some dodgeing of the fiddler crabs and oyster beds and we were in the water.

   Doing some drifts toward the bridge and along the bank and we ended up with 3 good sized Specks. 2 18 in and 1 19 in Speck.

   Kids had a blast for the day and with the last good light we headed back in. A fishing trip to remember and cant wait to get back to the ships again.

My Lowrance Elite-4 DSI Fish Finder Install On Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140

 

Well I have been wanting to do this for a long time now. This week I got to the install of my fish finder for my Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140. The unit I ended up going with is the Lowrance Elite-4 DSI. This unit also has a mapping feature that should come in handy when I shall mark my new found fishing holes as I will find them. The install started with finding the spot I felt was more user friendly in placement. First thing I sat in the kayak and had one of my boys hold the fish finder in different spots to test how easy it was to operate.

Using a RAM mount to attach the unit to the kayak, I ended up having to shave with a grinder on two spots on the base to allow it to fit within the factory mounting area.

 

 

Now that the base was mounted it was time to install the scupper mount with the transducer. Since my style yak didn't have a rear access hatch behind the seat i ended up placing the scupper mount in the forward left hole.



 

With a little trimming to the lower plastic holder it ended up fitting nice and snug within the bottom groove out of the way so it will not get snagged or damaged when beaching after a long day of fishing. 

 

Now to run the wires. A fellow fisherman Hanover Yaker in his blog Froggin For Bass used some cool wire hull threws that I was able to find at Boaters Warehouse.

 

 I used two once I found the ideal spots to route the wires. Drilled two holes and with some marine sealant sandwiched between everything it made a nice water tight seal around the wires.

 

 

  

  

I did already have an existing RAM base from a GPS mount I had on the kayak before. I left enough wire that attached to the head unit so I now have the option to mount the fish finder in two spots on the kayak. That was somewhat not the original plan but it worked out in my favor.

 

The battery box is another good project to make this whole project come together. After doing my own research and reading other post from other kayak fishermen along with a phone call to another fellow yaker (Chip) who gave me his idea for adding a car adapter plug to the box, this was my direction to go.

 

 

Found a dry box from Wild River Outfitters and started cutting the foam to the placement of how I wanted everything to go together inside.

 

 

Even had room to store the head unit for when I wasn't using it. Drilled one hole on the handle side of the box, attached the female outlet sealed with more marine sealant, completed the wire job and now I just plug the power cord for the fish finder to the box and presto instant power.

 

 

  The box now can be used to charge my phone in case of an emergency or some other 12 volt device can be plugged in. Thanks to all that had information from there installs to read and tell and thanks for a wife that encouraged me to buy some of the parts for this project. She supports me in my fishing and without her I couldn't have the best fishing partners a man could ask for, my kids. Been a fun project for the whole family now let's fish.