When you hear the City of Virginia Beach what do you think about. The thing that first pops into my head is salt water fishing. What you don't think about is the fresh water side. I’ve been living in this area since 1999 and even though I knew it was here I never thought about fishing it, even though my roots were bass fishing. This year I have taken a step back from the salt and put both feet into the fresh water fishing locations that I can find and I will tell you I am glad I did it. The salt is fun yes but to explore remote areas that boat traffic cannot get to and still find fish with the added tranquility and relaxation away from everything. This makes the back waters of Virginia Beach a still untapped getaway still with plenty of areas to fish around and find your soul.
This year one of my best purchases so far I have to say is a book written by a fellow kayak fisherman Charlie Bruggemann. I purchased this book from Wild River Outfitters off Rosemont Rd and Virginia Beach Blvd, and they always have a copy on hand for purchase. Charlie is the author of The Fresh Water Fishing Guide to Virginia Beach and has been fishing these local waters for so long I see him as a local fishing icon that has much to teach to anyone that is willing to listen. You can be sure to see Charlie almost weekly in his YouTube fishing reports Fishing With Charlie, where he will take you on a back water journey to areas in his book and map out the days route and show you the lures he was using. Thank you for a great book.
After reading the book and watching some reports I have now visited 3 different areas and have been amazed at what I have seen. I was able to take my children out with me without having to worry about boat traffic or worry about them with fast currents and changing seas. As they grow I will venture out to more with them but for now start them small.
One of our recent trips was to a small creek off North Landing Rd past the Virginia Beach Court House. Go down the road till you see a bridge that crosses the Inter Coastal Waterway and you will be there. There is a nice guy by the name of Chuck that is building a home that lives there. Knock on the door and give him $5.00 to use his property as a launch and you will be in the water in no time.
This creek runs back about a mile and is loaded with a fish called Bowfin. This is a fun and exciting fish to catch and if you got kids this would be the trip to take them on. Just be careful, a must have to take with you would be a good set of Boga Grips or Fish Grips. These fish have teeth and you don’t want to lip them. The day I went we were using Pig & Jigs along with small diving crank baits. I think some beetle spins lures would have worked better in this area.
We landed one but it was great to watch my kids routinely hook up with a fighting 16 to 25 in fish that was aggressively splashing them with water was priceless.
This is a trip to do again with them soon. On the way back it was still a great time for the kids and they got to practice their boat skills and see some wonderful wildlife in this remote area.
If you haven’t gotten out fishing these back waters here in Virginia Beach you are missing out. Go out and buy the book and get yourself started. You will be happy you did.
