Josenhans FF ~ Pocomoke Walk-On Trips

15 02 2012
I’ve had quite a bit of interest of late to fish the Pocomoke, with several folks looking to share a trip – I know it’s a long drive for many of you. If any of you would like to take advantage of this fun fishery, along with the walk-on cost-savings, please let me know. The price for two will be $140 per person , for three it’s $100 per person . This is the walk-on rate. You may still charter the boat for six-hours for just $275 – but you need to get your own friends ;-). This includes minnows (for perch and crappie, but they can be caught without bait), license, water, soda, ice, and coffee and donuts. You will need to bring your own lunch. Again, this is a six-hour trip.
 
Last Friday we had good numbers of crappie caught on fly and spinning gear, along with several pickerel to 24″ – and we weren’t even trying for the pickerel. A couple of bass, too. I have an all-pickerel trip this coming Friday so I hope to get some great photos. Stay tuned!!

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ January Newsletter

21 01 2012

Josenhans Fly Fishing = Fly Fishing & Light Tackle Charters

While the name may say “fly fishing,” most of you are aware that I am certainly no stranger to the spinning rod. I carry quality G.Loomis rods and Shimano Stradic spinning reels for your use. In addition, you are more than welcome to bring along your own tackle on your guided trip.  I always love to compare tackle and techniques with my fellow anglers.

In gearing-up for the 2012 fishing season one of my first steps is this slightly overdue newsletter. During the past few weeks, I have made the occasional trip to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) with some nice rockfish being caught on both fly and spin tackle. Take a look at the fishing reports section of my blog for the latest in CBBT action. The next couple of months will also yield some very good light tackle and fly fishing action on the Pocomoke River. See below for trip info. Now for a brief rundown on what to expect in the coming weeks and months.

Pocomoke River Yellow Perch

Fishing Opportunities in 2012 

Pocomoke River – I am currently booking trips on the scenic and wild Pocomoke River. We’ll put-in at the Byrd Park ramp in Snow Hill, Maryland where we will chase yellow perch, crappie, pickerel and largemouth bass. This is a great way to spend a midwinter’s day casting ultra-light spinning or fly tackle. The winding nature of the Pocomoke creates many protected and productive shorelines that can be fished comfortably, even as cool winter breezes keep bay boaters in port.  The all-inclusive cost for a six-hour trip is only $275 and I’ll supply the coffee and donuts. Take a look here for some of last season’s Pocomoke action Pocomoke River Fishing 2011.

Pocomoke River Pickerel

March White Perch –  Beginning around the first of March I will be guiding clients to some terrific white perch action on the Nanticoke River out of Sharptown, Maryland. This is a fun trip for adults and kids, as there is always plenty of action. When the run is on, the perch generally average 10 to 12 inches, with fish of 13 inches or greater caught every season. This was one of my most popular trips last spring, and with the peak of the run  lasting maybe three weeks, it’s best to get your name on the books today! Check out some of last season’s action at Nanticoke White Perch 

Nanticoke River White Perch

Susquehanna Flats – Even though last season’s flats fishing was a bust, I believe that with this winter’s low snowfall (so far) amounts, this coming spring’s catch & release flats fishery could prove to be outstanding.  There have been good numbers of big fish in the lower bay and offshore of the Virginia Capes; so I’m looking forward to a big migration towards the Susky this spring. I have some good dates available during the peak period of the last two weeks in April, so book early to get the day you want. 

Red Drum at Fisherman’s Island, VA –  I have had quite a few requests to make the trek to the barrier islands of Virginia near the CBBT to try for trophy red drum during the spring run. There has been a super fishery for the past few years with big reds averaging 30 to 50 pounds. While much of this is fishing live bait, on good weather days these fish can be caught casting bucktail jigs, spoons and flies. If you would be interested in this type of trip, please let me know well in advance. The timetable for this will be the first week or two of May. 

Tangier Sound Flounder and Croaker

Tangier Sound Spring/Summer Fishing – What with the mild winter weather we have experienced, I really expect to see some great speckled trout fishing beginning around the first of May. We caught some BIG specks last fall, and a spring run of big pre-spawn trout is long overdue. Don’t miss out on the return of this great shallow water gamefish. Flounder fishing was off-the-charts last summer and I am hopeful for more of the same in 2012. Bluefish provided fantastic light-tackle action throughout the late spring and summer months in 2011, especially for fly-fishers looking for a good fight on the long wand. The early morning rockfish bite was very good at times, as big stripers smacked out Storm and Stillwater poppers all over the sound. There is plenty to do while fishing out of Crisfield.  

Big Tangier Sound Speckled Trout

Winter Speaking Engagements – I will be speaking at several fishing club meetings and events in the coming months, so if you’re in the neighborhood stop in and say hi.

February 8 – I will be speaking at the monthly meeting of the Saltwater Fly Anglers of Delaware in Lewes, DE. Come out and enjoy a PowerPoint presentation on Tangier Sound Fly Fishing. I will also touch on the Susquehanna Flats C&R fishery and my outlook for this spring. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and you will find directions on their Web site.  

February 21 – I will be speaking at the monthly meeting of the MSSA’s Essex/Middle River Chapter at the Commodore Hall in Essex, MD. Located at 1909 Old Eastern Ave., the meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. I will give a PowerPoint presentation on Fly and Light Tackle opportunities on Tangier Sound, with a special emphasis on the great speckled trout and flounder fishing that we enjoyed this past season. I’ll briefly touch on the Susky Flats as well. Come on out and enjoy an evening of fishing talk!

February 25 – I’ll have a table at CCA’s 10th annual TieFest, the region’s premier fly-fishing show, located at the Kent Narrows Yacht Club in Chester, MD. Show time is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free. This is a must-attend event for any fly angler who’s wet a line in saltwater. I always book a lot of trips at this show, so arrive early and stay late. The food and friendly atmosphere make this my favorite event of the entire year. See you there!

A final note: I am in the process of updating my Web site Josenhans Fly Fishing with new photos and graphics. In addition, for the most current reports and happenings, please check-out my blog at Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog as daily reports may be posted here before they are distributed via the e-newsletter.  Thanks for reading, and here’s to a fantastic 2012 season!

Capt. Kevin  Josenhans

 


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ CBBT on the Fly

19 01 2012

On Monday, January 16 I had the good fortune to fish the CBBT with Brendan Kasper and Brian Hepler. Brendan and Brian, both being very accomplished fly fishers, elected to leave the spinning sticks back in the truck. They were rewarded for their efforts with maybe twenty or so fat, hard-fighting stripers that averaged 23 to 26 inches. The belly of every single rockfish was over-stuffed with bunker. After a morning that began with temperatures in the mid-20’s, a light southerly breeze provided us with a most enjoyable day on the lower bay. Toward the end of our trip, a small pod of right whales gave us a  brief top-water show as they slowly plodded their way upstream with the incoming tide.

Brendan with a hefty fly-caught rockfish

 

Brian fooled this plump striper with a Half & Half

 

Brian with another healthy rockfish

 

Whale Watching

 


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ November Wrap-Up

19 12 2011

And a windy November it was.. The greatest challenge of the past month was not catching fish, but juggling the schedule to accommodate everyone who wanted to fish. A stiff breeze was relentless! I know some of you were moved three times before we were able to hit the water. Thanks everyone for your patience and flexibility. Now on to fishing.

An early November trip brought Tim and Matt King down to Crisfield for some late fall rockfishing. The water was ‘slick cam’ in the morning, with some very nice rockfish caught around the sod banks of Smith Island. Someone flicked the wind switch around eleven o’clock and we hit zero to 25 in the blink of an eye. Made for a fun ride home. “Part of the adventure,” Tim said. Oh, Tim did manage to catch a “Diamond Jim” fish, but when he called the number on the tag he was told the tournament had expired. Sorry Tim.

Matt King with the season's last speckled trout. What a year it was!

Tim with "Diamond Jim"

 

Matt King enjoyed the fight of rock like this beauty while using the feather-light G.Loomis Pro Green series spinning rod

 

Monday, November 7 brought Karl Bernetich and Bernie Kemp together for a walk-on trip. This has been a popular cost-saving program, while at the same time giving fellow anglers a chance to make new friends.  I’ll act as your booking agent and make all the arrangements at no extra cost to you. Since the program’s inception, several clients have made repeat requests to fish with the same angler. 
Karl Bernetich picked a good day to fly fish the creeks of Smith Island
Wednesday, November 9 was a wild day, weatherwise. Dave Fetterman, his son Cory, along with Dave’s brother Kurt met me bright and early at the Somers Cove ramp in Crisfield, only to be greeted by a blanket of fog. While visibility was limited, we could see far enough to avoid a collision, so off we went. It was kind of neat actually, the GPS helped point me to a shoreline location that I wanted to fish, the sod bank would appear out of the haze, and more times than not there were rockfish waiting for our offerings.  It was fun fishing and gave us a sense that we were the only boat on the sound. Later in the morning, as the sun burned-off the fog, we chased surface-feeding rockfish in the bay out near the target ship. A great day on the water with three great friends.

Dave Fetterman was happy with his Smith Island creek striper

   

Kurt and Cory spot working birds through the lifting fog

On Saturday, November 19, it was a treat for me to take Mark Horst and his three boys fishing out of Crisfield. His sons Kent, Shannon and Delvin turned out to be very good with the spinning rods. After a slow, cold morning – and a boat trip that seemed to cover Tangier Sound in its entirety – we found breaking fish right out in front of Crisfield at the infamous “Puppy Hole.” The boys had a blast pulling in rockfish to five pounds. Thanks for hanging tough guys! 

Kent handles this rock like he's done it a thousand times

 

Shannon shows off a nice rock

 

And the big fish of the day goes to young Delvin! Nice catch!!

 

Mark and his sons after a fun trip!

On the day after Thanksgiving, Frank Shipper, along with his two sons Chris and Ford, met me at the docks of Somers Cove Marina for a six-hour trip in search of breaking rockfish. It took a good ride in the cool morning air, but we finally found the stripers just east of Tangier Island. The guys had a fun time jigging soft plastics and Li’l Bunker spoons by Specialized Baits, all-the-while catching rockfish averaging 17″ to 22.” After a couple of hours of steady action Frank says “let’s get lunch.” A hot crab cake platter at Drum Point Market in Tylerton on Smith Island was the perfect ending to a fun morning.

Chris and Ford catching two at a time

On Saturday, November 26, Justin Matoska and friend Kenny Fletcher enjoyed catching schoolie stripers on both fly and spin-tackle. We ran into working birds pretty much everywhere we tried, which was pretty much everywhere.. Kenny managed to master the fly rod and catch his very first saltwater fish of any kind on a fly. Thanks for being a quick study Kenny.

Birds working over acres of rockfish - a common sight in November!

 

Justin trying out the G.Loomis NRX 9-wt. A real gem to cast!

 Jack McKenna was one of my final trips of the year out of Crisfield and he enjoyed a mixed bag of breaking rockfish early, followed by a few shallow water stripers around the banks of Smith Island. Finishing-off the year in the creeks of Smith Island was the perfect way to end a terrific season on Tangier Sound. Now it’s off to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel for a last fling at some big sea-run rockfish. At least that’s the plan…

My Lowrance HDS-7 helps to keep tabs on the rockfish when the birds take a break

 

One final creek rockfish for Jack


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ Snapshots of Autumn

23 11 2011

 

Creek fishing for fall rockfish

We have switched to full rockfish-mode here on Tangier Sound and fishing has been very good when the wind allows us to get out. While there are still a few rock swimming the creeks of Smith Island, as they search for killifish and small mud crabs, the majority of stripers have schooled along the edges of the sound’s deep channel. Look for bird activity – gulls, pelicans and diving gannets – to signal feeding rockfish. While most of the rock have been running 18″ to 26,” the occasional fish over 30″ is always a possibility. This run-and-gun fishing should last through mid-December, but you need to bundle-up. Enjoy some snapshots of ‘Fall on Tangier.’ My best always, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Paul Eichelberger fooled this creek rockfish with his custom-tied fly

 

"Paul's Fly" was the ticket!

 

Ray Leety having fun with the 'long wand'

 

Paul with another striper on the fly

On Halloween day, Jack McKenna had a special morning while looking for rock in the tidal creeks of Smith Island. After a dozen or so nice stripers at our very first stop, we rounded a bend only to find rockfish exploding on the surface along the edge of a shallow flat. Jack tied a small popper on his 8 wt. and for two solid hours had rockfish from 18″ to 23″ jumping all over his topwater offering! Fly fishing doesn’t get any better than this!!

Jack McKenna in fly fishing heaven

 

Crab shanties of Smith Island

 A trip out of Madison on the Little Choptank yielded acres of breakers for Margaret and Doug Worrall and long-time friend Ann McIntosh. Fall is where the fish are!!

Margaret Worrall with one of many Little Choptank rockfish

Tom Weaver, Dave Wood and Nick Shuck, USMC Col. Ret., enjoyed a beautiful fall day fishing the creeks and bayside shorelines of Smith Island. One secluded spot in particular brought a flurry of action with bigger stripers that kept this captain hopping like a barefooted kid on a  hot tar road.

Tom Weaver shows off a healty rockfish

 

Nick Shuck enjoyed the action of the light G.Loomis spinning rods

 

Dave Wood had the hot hand at the 'big fish' hole


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ October Specks

5 11 2011

Friday, October 7 – Paul Anderson, his son Matt, along with Paul’s brother Mike joined me for a day chasing rock, blues and specks. At daybreak we had rock to 26″ on poppers,  hard-fighting blues to three-pounds mid-day and ended with a speck apiece ranging from 18″ – 20″ for three Tangier ‘Slams.’ It doesn’t get any better than this!

Paul, Mike and Matt with some Tangier variety

Saturday, October 8 – Chris Cianci, Chuck Prahl and Don Cochran took a break from their home waters on the Choptank River to put Tangier Sound to the test. We began the day with some topwater rockfish action, with many more blow-ups than hook-ups. Sometimes rockfish aren’t very good at eating poppers. The excitement of the strike though is well worth the effort. The surface action was interrupted when Don switched to a 4″ shad and began to hook speck-after-speck. It didn’t take long for the other guys to take the hint and soon all had boated a nice speck or three to 21.” Final tally on the specks was eight. I think we could have done much better were it not for the super pretty day, light winds and an abundance of Saturday boat traffic. A guide’s gotta have some excuse..

Don Cochran had the hot hand on specks

Monday, October 10 – Ed Roach, Doug D. and David Blorstadt enjoyed great daybreak topwater action on stripers up to six-pounds. The shallow-water rockfish really put on a show, smacking the Storm and Stillwater poppers all over the sound. The action died once the sun came up so we turned our attention to blues. While the size of the blues has diminished, there was just enough action to keep the guys entertained. After the blues quieted down, we went speck-hunting. While playing hard-to-get, we did land a few nice specks, with Doug’s 22″ beauty the prize of the day. We picked at school stripers for the remainder of the day while enjoying good weather and conversation.  Three nicer guys you could not fish with.

Dave Blorstadt had some early topwater success

Tuesday, October 11 – Jack McKenna had a day to remember with speckled trout. Overcast skies, calm winds, clear water and plenty of spotted fishes! To top it all off, Jack is a fly fisherman, and an eight-weight was his weapon of choice. Specks jumped all-over Jack’s pink Cactus Striper as he boated 22 trout to four-pounds! To date, a 2011 high for my boat. Great job Jack, and be sure to tell your son in Florida that speckled trout fishing is alive and well here in Maryland..

 

Jack McKenna with one of many specks on the fly

 

 

Another fat speck

 

The pink Cactus Striper was a speck favorite

 


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ Rock, Blues & Specks Like the Old Days!

16 10 2011

Rock have been giving my clients a super top-water show during the early morning hours casting Storm Chug Bug and Stillwater Smack-it! poppers. Bluefish in the two to four pound range seem to be everywhere, and they will chase the same poppers – even with the sun high in the sky. But the fish that has everyone buzzing is speckled trout. We have had some fantastic speck fishing this fall, much like days of old. While most of the specks are running 16″ to 21″ there have been quite a few in the four-pound range, with one tugging the Boga all the way to the eight-pound mark! That big fish was fooled by a Stillwater Smack-it! Jr. popper. Some highlights!

Monday, September 19 – Don Harrison and Drew Clemens had some fun with rock on poppers early casting the skinny water near Tangier Island. A cold front during the weekend had dropped the water temperature at my bluefish honey hole from 80 to 68 degrees. Not good. However, after moving to the bay proper west of Tangier we found warmer water and school after school of hungry two to three-pound blues. Don and Drew had their hands full – and kept the captain busy – for the remainder of the trip.

Wil Goetz with a 29-inch skinny water striper

Tuesday, September 20– Matt LaFleur, Wil Goetz and Alan Fiekin joined up for a trip to the lower end of Tangier Sound. From the first cast it was non-stop blues and rock anyway you wanted to catch them. While Matt and Will battled it out with three to five-pound blues while casting Storm Chug Bugs, Alan kept busy in the back of the boat throwing a popper with his fly rod. At times, the blues would literally become airborne in a head-on charge, before landing choppers-first on top of the fly. Stripers to five-pounds were in the mix as well. I was kept busy netting, releasing and re-tying for a good three hours straight. Who says fishing is a non-aerobic sport! To finish the day, we hit the skinny-water for some fantastic rockfish top-water action.

Matt LaFleur enjoyed non-stop action with rock and blues

Alan Fiekin caught his fish on the fly

Wednesday, September 21 – Jeff Kaplan had a great trip with early morning stripers on top-water, followed by all the blues and rock he could handle out on some underwater humps in the main bay. The rock ran up to 28 inches while the blues averaged two to four-pounds. I was finally able to drag Jeff away from the non-stop action to head to the grass flats for a try a speckled trout. Jeff was not disappointed as he landed six nice specks from 16″ to 23″ during our final hour of the trip! What a way to complete the Tangier ‘Slam!’

Nice speck Jeff!!

 

Makes getting up early worthwhile!

 

Jeff with another nice speck

 

Don Harrison with a nice rock

 

Drew Clemens caught this fat speck to complete the 'Tangier Slam'

 
 
 
 
 
 

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ Tangier Slam is Alive and Well!

24 09 2011

The Tangier Slam – or one version of it – is usually considered catching a rockfish, bluefish and speckled trout on fly during the same day. Well, this is the time of the year to come on down and give it a shot. That is, if I can get you away from the blues once you get here. Yesterday, we had six of the prettiest speckled trout that you ever want to see from 16″ to 20″  that we caught during a quick stop on the way in from a very successful day of watching rock and blues knock our poppers all over the sound. When the weather has cooperated, the fishing of the past two weeks has been phenomenal! Here is a brief summary of some of the highlights.

Sunday, September 11 – I Fished with Gus McKee and his son Mac, along with Gus’ father-in-law Lou Pochettino and nephew Alex Pochettino. We found the mother lode of blues down near Watts Island and all hands had their fill. The 2 – 5 pound bluefish were all young Mac could handle on the light G. Loomis spinning rod, and the fellows sure kept the captain busy with the net! Great to see the younger generation get such a kick out of fishing. I believe Alex and Mac are ‘hooked.’

Alex and Mac with their trophy

Gus, Mac and Alex after a fun day on Tangier Sound

Monday, September 12 – Today I had the pleasure to fish with The Frederick News-Post Outdoors Editor Jim Heim. Jim writes the Casts and Shots column for the paper and I was hoping upon hope that the fishing this day would be worthy of a small article. Boy, did the fish ever hold up their end of the bargain. We started the day near Tangier Island casting Storm Chug Bug and Stillwater Smack-it! poppers to ravenous rockfish in four feet of water. Most of the rock were in the 18″ to 24″ range, and they really put on a topwater show in that skinny-water. After two to three hours of nonstop action, we traveled across Tangier Sound to find hungry two to five pound bluefish ready for an encore. Only difference here was that there’s no quit in bluefish. Same lures, same surface explosions, but each fight lasted several minutes longer. I think Jim’s arms were sore at the end of the day. That’s a good thing if you’re a guide… See Jim’s article at the link for Casts and Shots.

 

Lew completes the 'slam'

Tuesday, September 13– Lew Armistead and Donny McDougall brought their fly rods and were greeted with ‘slick cam’ conditions on Tangier Sound. We started off the day catching a few rockfish on sinking lines, but it didn’t come close to the top-water action that we had enjoyed the day before. With bluefish waiting to please, I pointed the bow east and told the guys to hang on. Upon arrival at a spot near Watts Island the guys were hooked up almost immediately. While Clousers and sinking lines worked well, both Lew and Donny quickly switched to floating lines and Gurglers for some of the most exciting top-water fly action that I have witnessed in a long time. Two to five-pound blues slashed, crashed and dove on top of the popping Gurgler, until both flies needed the occasional field repair. A simple piece of 15# monofilament was all that was required to restore the Gurgler to “nearly new” condition. Lew asked me what type of knot I had used to make the repair and I replied “lots of knots!” There’s no time for perfection during the heat of battle, therefore, I believe it was Lew who coined the name “Triage Knot.” I wonder if I should get a patent?? We even saved an hour at the end of the day to catch four gorgeous specks to 20″ up near Fox Island, thus, both Lew and Donny were able to accomplish the ‘Tangier Slam!’ Nice going guys.

Donny with a nice blue on fly

 

Not to be outdone - Lew with an average-sized bluefish

 

Donny 'hooked-up!'


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ Breakers!!

31 08 2011

Time for Spanish!

Irene Update: My family, house, vehicles and boat came through unscathed. Thanks to all who called, or sent emails and text messages wishing us well, both before and after the storm. Your thoughts and prayers were most appreciated. I hope  you all came through it safe and sound as well. Crisfield was flooded for a couple of days, but that is a hardy bunch down there and things should be getting back to normal in short order.

Today (Wednesday, August 31) will be my first day fishing since the storm and I hear the breaking rock and blues are just waiting for us. I don’t think the fishing will be affected one bit. I have an evening fly fishing trip so stay tuned for an updated report.

David Pacy showing off his big croaker

While my last two trips for flounder have dropped off a bit – in fact, we came up with a big ‘goose-egg’ on the last trip – I have been overjoyed to see the mid-bay area come alive with breaking rock, blues and spanish mackerel. But, I’ll get to that in a minute. It seems that the flounder have moved well north, into the upper reaches of Tangier Sound, and it took me a couple of trips to realize this. While it could just be a temporary lull – bad tides, lack of wind, too much wind, etc., etc. (guides have plenty of excuses) – I haven’t given up on the lower reaches of the sound just yet. In fact, the flounder fishing down near the mouth of the bay is still going strong, so I expect some great catches yet to come. If I get some interest, I’ll be following the fish north, but there is still plenty to do on the lower portion of Tangier Sound. There are some decent sized blues roaming the flats of Watts Island and these are great fun on light spinning or fly tackle. The speckled trout catches should improve after the shallows settle a bit from the effects of Irene. Rockfish will aggressively attack poppers during early morning hours and as the waters cool, will begin to feed in the shallows all during the day. In short, things are shaping up to look like we are in for a very good fall fishing season.

On a recent trip with Bert Massengale, his son Kyle, and Kyle’s friend David Pacy we tried our best to get some big flounder in the boat. I went to the exact spot where, just a few short days before, we slammed big flatties to 24 inches but we couldn’t draw a strike. The tide was perfect, with little wind but it just wasn’t meant to be. David did manage to perk us up with a very nice croaker. The fish really gave him a fight on his light spin tackle. We moved to another location and after a few drifts Bert managed the first keeper flounder. A short time later Bert pulled in the second flounder, a fish of perhaps 21 inches. That was it for the flounder. It was still a fun four-hours on the water, and Bert took home some beautiful fillets.

Bert Massengale with a brace of flounder

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you my earthquake story. I was waiting at the Madison boat ramp around 2:30 P.M. for my afternoon party when I received a cell call. It was my client, who asked if I had heard about the earthquake south of DC. I had. (I didn’t feel a thing, as I was on the road on my way to Madison for a half-day trip chasing breakers) . To make a long story short, my client was in a bind, as he is in the alarm business and the earthquake had wrecked havoc with his systems – not to mention cell service. Not a problem, we rescheduled for the following week. Being a thinking man, I had the boat, I was at the ramp and I had four hours to kill. I called my wife to give her the scoop, got the okay and off I went to do a little fishing. I never even made it to the False Channel (my intended starting point). Just off the mouth of the Little Choptank the water was whipped to a froth by ravenous schools of rock, blues and mackerel. The macks were a nice surprise. They were feeding on small bay anchovies and the smaller the lure the better. I stayed with the fish for about and hour and left them biting to explore a little. Not seeing much up north, I returned a bit later to find the fish were still on top. Looking at my books from last season, September was terrific for breaking fish off the mouth of the Big and Little Choptank rivers. It looks like this year will provide us with a repeat performance. This is a fly fishers dream, so break-out that long stick and give me a call for some fast-paced action.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ Topwater Hanging On

13 07 2011

Tyler with his 22" flounder

On Tuesday, July 5 I met Mel(Skip) Bertrand and his grandson Tyler Wheeler at the Somers Cove Marina boat ramp for a six-hour trip for some rockfish and flounder. Conditions for an early topwater bite were good and I was hoping the fish would put on a show, since Skip and Tyler don’t often fish for rock this way. The first fish came out of nowhere and exploded on Skip’s Storm Chug Bug about halfway back to the boat. When a 26-inch striper hit’s a popper in four-feet of water much of the fight is on top, and this fish didn’t stray from the norm. After a game fight Skip landed and promptly released the fat, healthy rockfish. It wasn’t long before an explosion of water caused Tyler’s popper to disappear and Tyler was hanging on for dear life with his G. Loomis IMX rod bent double. Tyler did a super job of keeping the mid-twenties fish out of some nearby structure and boated the striper in short order. Game on! For about thirty minutes blow-ups were coming on a regular basis and then it just quit! 

Though short-lived, the explosive strikes and tough battles more than justified the early wake-up call. Now it was flounder time. I eased the Jones Brothers into position for our first drift and briefly explained the jigging technique to Skip and Tyler. It wasn’t long before the first rod was doubled-over with a heavy fish. Using Li’l Jimy bucktails by Specialized Baits, or simply a plain 3/4 oz. jig-head with a Berkley Gulp! Swimming Mullet we boated several nice flounder to 22-inches before the action shut down. While we didn’t get our limit this day, it was fun watching Skip and Tyler perfect a new (for them) flounder technique that they can try elsewhere.

Justin with a nice topwater rock

Saturday, July 9 was practically an encore performance of Tuesday’s trip. Only this day it was Justin Matoska and Colin Maxfield who were at the working end of the G. Loomis spinning rods. The rest of the cast was the same. Rockfish from 22″ to 27″ crashed the topwater offerings of Justin and Colin for the better part of an hour until the action subsided. Once again, Storm Rattlin’ Saltwater Chug Bugs were the hot popper. A couple of things that I like about the Chug Bug is they pop easily (and throw a lot of spray in the process), cast like a bullet, and the Perma steel hooks are super-sharp and resist rust. After the topwater bite died, Justin and Colin broke-out the fly outfits and began to cast chartreuse and white Clouser Minnows over some shallow structure. Both are fairly new to saltwater fly fishing but after a few tips Justin and Colin were easily reaching the fifty foot range with their casts.

Colin with a hog on a Storm Chug Bug

The wind was a definite liability this day and the guys did well casting the sink-tips into a stiff 15 K breeze. While the stripers didn’t cooperate, Colin managed his very first saltwater fish on fly, a colorful speckled trout! When the wind let-up enough to drift for flounder we took a short run and fell in line with several other boats already on site. While the catching was less than stellar, Justin and Colin did manage two keepers of 18 and 21 inches. All-in-all, another pleasant day on the bay with, I believe, two new converts to the world of saltwater fly fishing. Keep at it guys!

Colin showing off his first speck

 

Justin jigged up a nice flounder


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Fishing Reports

« Previous Entries Next Entries »