I have one spot open to share a trophy red drum trip with another angler on Thursday, April 30. We will be casting lures or flies to cruising red drum and stripers on the flats of Smith and Fisherman’s Island on Virginia’s lower eastern shore. Contact me for details at kjosenhans@aol.com or 443-783-3271.
While last year’s Susquehanna Flats catch and release season surely tried the patience of even the most passionate flats aficionado, I look for better things to come as this spring approaches. Here’s my reasoning. This past fall saw a pretty good run of striped bass in Maryland’s mid and lower bay. Beginning in mid-September, Tangier Sound and the bay proper along with the shallows surrounding the bay islands of Tangier, Smith, South Marsh, Holland, and so on, provided some of the best fly and light tackle angling for rockfish that we’ve experienced in several years. As the waters cooled, stripers gravitated towards the deeper channel edges of lower Tangier Sound, Smith Point and the mouth of the Potomac River. While the strong 2011 year class was well represented, many fish in the 28″ to 32″ category were also brought boat-side. These bigger males should begin returning to the spawning grounds in March, and I have to believe many of the 2011 fish, which should be approaching twenty inches or better, will tag along and fill in the gaps. There is always the chance of a true trophy of 40-inches, or more. All we need is some relatively clean water. Hopefully, most of the heavy snow melt gives the Susquehanna river basin a break for a change.
To that end, I will once again be trailering my Jones Brothers to Havre de Grace for this very special spring fishery. I still have a few open dates remaining during the month of April, so if you would like to get in on this fun shallow water fishery please email or call me at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at kjosenhans@aol.com or 443-783-3271.
Had a short scouting trip on the Pocomoke yesterday and found a few crappie biting. The water was a cold 39 degrees but there were a few slow-moving speckled perch able to chase down my 1/16 ounce jig. Please sign up to my Twitter feed @TangierFly for up-to-the-minute fishing reports and other related fishing news!
January 29-February 1, 2015 | Baltimore Convention Center
Don’t miss out on this year’s Baltimore Boat Show running from January 29-February 1, 2015 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Once again, the promoters have generously agreed to donate a limited number of FREE tickets to readers of my blog. This is a show that you don’t want to miss, especially if admission is FREE!! I will be giving the tickets away first come, first served with a maximum of four tickets per caller. You may contact me via email at kjosenhans@aol.com or phone 443-783-3271.
For additional information on the show follow this link:
Still some nice rockfish around for those who don’t mind a long run in a cold boat. No heater in my Jones Brothers but we still have fun. Here’s a brace of 30-inch stripers caught today on my G. Loomis NRX 9 weight.
Due to the large number of calls and emails that I have received requesting a spot for my walk-on trips I have decided to open up a few more November dates in an effort to accommodate as many of you as possible. I now have available November 19, 20, 21 & 24. In addition, I need a single angler to share a full day (8 hour) trip on Friday, November 14th. Also, on any one of the latter dates, I need a single angler to share a half day (4 hour) trip. Please call or email me for details. This is it for November, and while I do plan on running trips in December, you just never know what to expect with the weather. Thanks again for your overwhelming response!!
We’ve all been waiting for the speck fishing to heat up and with the recent spell of hot weather there is the anticipation of some North Carolina trout heading our way. Yesterday, while prospecting for a few of the spotted variety we happened across one of his cousin’s, the weakfish ; a.k.a. gray trout, grey trout, yellowfin, tiderunner, squeteague, or simply sea trout (This fish has more aliases than a bad rapper). Anyway, the six pound ‘weakie’ (had to throw that in there, sorry) was a pleasant surprise. Oh, and we did manage to land four ‘specks’ of 18 to 20 inches, so things are looking good for a summer run. Remember, all speckled trout caught in Virginia waters must be released until August 1st. Specks caught in Maryland’s portion of the bay may be kept, but the creel is now 4 per day.
Paul Anderson shows off his 27-inch ‘weakfish’
Chen Sun boated this fine redfish on a Berkley Gulp! Swimming Mullet
Lefty Kreh’s TieFest 2014 is scheduled for Saturday, March 8 at the Prospect Bay Country Club in Grasonville, MD. Show hours are 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. I’ll have a table there and I hope to see you at this great event! For additional information click on the link below.
Believe it or not, I am already receiving calls about the 2014 Susquehanna Flats Catch & Release Striped Bass Season. For those of you who have yet to fish the flats with me, I keep my Jones Brothers Cape Fisherman docked at the Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin for several weeks each April. If you have fished the flats, you also know that the fishing can be like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates – “you never know what you’re gonna get.” This past spring we experienced a handful of days (five to be exact) of some of the hottest fishing the flats can provide. Rockfish up to 43-inches provided consistent action in water no deeper than six-feet, exciting light-tackle fishing to say the least. Then we had an early spawn and the stripers vacated the flats for over a week, and never really returned in numbers. The remainder of the season was spent working really skinny water, casting to several pods of trophy stripers that ventured back onto the flats post-spawn. This can be exciting fishing, especially during low-light periods when the large rockfish would crash a surface popper. There were several days where we did more fishing than catching, but that chance at a real trophy on light tackle kept people’s interest. That said, you can book your trip today with the assurance that should the rockfish decide to play hard-to-get, I will inform you ahead of time so you can decide for yourself if you wish to roll-the-dice. When making your decision, be mindful of the fact that the fishing can get hot with each new tide. Drop me an email at KJosenhans@aol.com or give me a call at 443-783-3271 if you would like to get in on some shallow water striper fishing.
Despite a constant and relentless breeze, speckled trout catches are ahead of last season’s record pace. It looks to be another fantastic season for this spotted member of the drum family. While I have yet to have any puppy drum come aboard my boat, I have heard of a few starting to be caught in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay. We have had the best success casting Bass Assassin 4-inch Sea Shads rigged to a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce Specialized Baits Jig head, something brand new in an already excellent line of speciality lures from creator George Lenard. George’s old standby, the Li’l Jimy, is as effective as ever when trying to coax a fat speck out of the grass or stump-field.
John Nelson shows off a big spring speck
Chris Mitchell with one of nine specks to 24-inches
Jack McKenna in perfect form with his G. Loomis 8-weight
In addition to specks to 24-inches, Jack nailed this fine flounder in skinny water
Benjy Duke took a break from guiding for trout in Wyoming to fish for the salt water variety
Reddi Duke, following in her brother’s footsteps as a guide, adds a nice speck to the days catch
Not to be outdone, dad Ben Duke gets in on the action
Phil Kerchner hit it right with the high catch of the young season – 35 feisty speckled trout between he and walk on partner Chen Sun
Chen showing off a perfect cast after lessons from Lefty Kreh
Rob Leatherbury braved the wind to land this fat speck
Rob’s son Jake with his first fly-caught speckled trout
Long time client and good friend Maurice Klein hefts a pretty speck
While fishing with Maurice, Gene Jones ups the ante
Gene nets a nice rockfish for Mom
Tangier Sound sod banks serve as avenues for specks and stripers
Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog 