speckled trout | Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog

“Trout” Heating Up

14 06 2014

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

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Tags: Berklet Gulp!, Chesapeake Bay, Red Drum, redfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound, Virginia Eastern Shore
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF – Summer Highlights

28 09 2013

Summer is fast leaving us as nighttime temperatures dip to the mid-forties, cooling the sound’s shallows and triggering a feeding instinct in the bay’s migratory fish species. Speckled trout are as fat as I have seen them this year, bloated with silversides, juvenile spot and baby bunker. Redfish are schooling into tightly packed schools and moving towards deeper water in preparation for their long migration south to the Carolina’s. While it can be tough some days keeping up with the constant movements of both species as they prepare for their trek south, it’s that challenge or ‘hunt’ that actually makes fishing fun. (Though I’m sure there are days when my clients would say otherwise) Enjoy some summer highlights..

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Tags: redfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing – Specks and Reds

29 08 2013

Speck catches have slowed a bit of late but the size has been exceptional. We boated a 27-inch beauty yesterday that tail-walked right by the boat. What a sight! Throw in a mix of schoolie rockfish, reds, bluefish and flounder and we are catching plenty to keep anglers happy.

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Tags: redfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing – Li’l Jimy

18 08 2013

The Li’l Jimy bucktail jig is still going strong. Li’l Jimy creator George Lenard and friend Dave Gedra hammered home this point on a recent outing to Tangier Sound aboard my Jones Brothers Cape Fisherman.
Fishing nothing but Li’l Jimy custom bucktails, in mostly 3/8 ounce weights, George and Dave really put on a show. Specks, reds, rockfish, blues, croaker and even a juvenile cobia all succumbed to the tantalizing action of the Li’l Jimy. Checkout the complete line of Li’l Jimy and Li’l Bunker baits at www.specializedbaits.com

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Tags: Li'l Jimy, redfish, Specialized Baits, speckled trout, Tangier Sound
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing – July Newsletter

12 07 2013

The month of June has seen a stretch of windy weather unlike anything I have experienced since, well, May? In point of fact, the first half of 2013 has been the windiest six-month stretch of my 20-year guiding career. I am really glad I have my trusty Jones Brothers underfoot to soften the ride.

Regardless, we are experiencing yet another outstanding season with speckled trout. As anticipated, numbers are down slightly from 2012 but the average size is greater. To date, we have had many more specks of 23-inches and larger, with several in the 27-inch range. I look for a super fall with some really big fish!!

Redfish, or puppy drum as they are known hereabouts, are slowly increasing in numbers. These hard-fighting bulldogs have grown as well. Most that we have caught have been in the 19 to 22-inch size range. I can honestly say they’ll make you forget all about speckled trout. There’s no quit in a red.

Stripers and bluefish round out the usual daily catch, with even a few weakfish (grey trout) in the mix. Flounder have yet to make a showing, but then the breezy conditions have not really been conducive to good flounder fishing. Take a visual stroll through some of this past month’s action.

Steve Smith nailed this healthy rockfish in heavy grass

John Lupenitti with a fly caught speck

Mark Nichols enjoyed another great day

Phil Bangert hefts a 27-inch speck

Jack McKenna had fun with the long stick

Jack’s trout were caught on his son Kevin’s hand-tied pink Cactus Striper

Burt Anderson’s custom-tied flies are works of art

..and put to the test..

..this bluefish proves they’re not just pretty to look at

John McMinn fooled this colorful speck on a fly

Kevin Gladhill enjoyed an outstanding day with big specks

Kevin released all of his trout to be caught again

Bob Clark became a believer in plastic jigs

Bob with another beauty!

Chris Harley proudly displays a nice four-pound trout

Spencer Schenking with one of several weakfish caught this day

Spencer’s dad Mike with a grey trout of his own

Spence doubles-up on trout with a fine speck

This good-sized croaker fell to Spence’s Clouser Minnow

Mike adds a speck of his own

Susan Kemp had the hot hand early with big specks

Susan’s 9 year old grandson Nick McIver was top dog for the day with his 24.5″ rockfish

Bo Hardesty and Steve Schad with a brace of specks

Steve had lots to smile about as he and Bo landed over 30 trout for the day

Howard Stinefelt braved windy conditions to land this fat speck

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Tags: bluefish, cobia, croaker, flounder, fly fishing, redfish, rockfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing – Speck Catches Ahead of Last Season

3 06 2013

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

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Tags: Bass Assassin, Chesapeake Bay, flounder, fly fishing, G.Loomis, Li'l Jimy, Red Drum, rockfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound, Virginia Eastern Shore
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ News & Notes

3 11 2012

Hello All – I hope and pray that you and your families made it through Hurricane Sandy unscathed. I appreciate all of the calls and emails expressing well wishes for me and my family. As for me and mine, we came through relatively untouched. I’m afraid that I can’t say the same for Crisfield. Floodwaters rose during the peak of the storm to levels not experienced since Hurricane Floyd in 1999, and some say since Hazel in ’54. The good news is, I traveled down there yesterday and found the clean-up is progressing nicely, with many of the stores, shops and restaurants already back to at least partial operational status. The Captain Tyler Motel, Waterman’s Inn and Circle Inn are all open for business. Allowing the town a full week to get back on its feet, I should be up and fishing again beginning Monday, November 5th. I expect the rockfish action to be terrific around the banks and creeks of Smith, Fox and Tangier Islands. I’ve included some of this fall’s speckled trout photo’s for your viewing pleasure, but first, some additional news & notes.

Tangier Sound Rockfish – While speckled trout are making a beeline for parts south, Tangier Sound striper fishing is just heating up! Right before the storm, rockfish catches had increased in both size and numbers while fishing the shallows and creeks of Smith, Fox and Tangier Islands. This is a great time of the year to fish the island marshes, catching stripers on light tackle, while enjoying the company of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. I have a handful of dates available during the next three weeks that I would like to fill, so come give it a try. You won’t be disappointed!!

CBBT – Due to the many requests that I have been receiving, I have decided to begin fishing the CBBT (Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel) near Cape Charles, VA beginning the week after Thanksgiving. I have a limited number of dates available, so if you are interested in a chance to catch a big striper on light tackle, please give me a call at 443-783-3271, or drop me an email at kjosenhans@aol.com This is cold-weather fishing, so proper fowl-weather gear is a must! Check-out my Web site for pricing and trip info at www.josenhansflyfishing.com

Walk-Ons– I have one or two anglers interested in sharing the cost of a trip with another angler. This will be for Tangier Sound fishing between now and Thanksgiving. Please contact me asap if you have an interest.

Chesapeake Women Anglers (CWA) Crisfield trip with Capt. Dan Harrison and your’s truly – http://www.chesapeakewomenanglers.org

LaJan Barnes (CWA) with a healthy redfish

Pati Nicholson (CWA) shows-off a beautiful speck

Lucia DiRado (CWA) joinined in on the great speckled trout action!

Gene Jones with a nice speck on the Big Annemessex River

George Jones hefts a fat speck

Scotty Bolles with his Annemessex River speck

The “Jones Brothers” George & Gene – Sorry, no relation to the boat builder

What a Day!! Dave Wilmoth with one of a pair at 6 pounds!

Rob McColligan boated this nice spotted trout

Ron Long proudly displays a big speck

Dave put’s the finishing touch on a 42 speck day with his second 6 pounder!

Dick Franyo with one of 23 specks he and Joe Evans caught on fly tackle

Terry Tubman landed this 5 pound beauty in lower Tangier Sound

Phil Todd and Terry having a great day catching big specks

Bobby Shenton, Phil Todd & Terry Tubman show off some of the days catch

Tom Stapf & John Plowman pulled 17 nice trout from a small stretch of clean water on a blustery October day

The pool winner? Beautiful speck John!!

Kevin Gladhill braved the wind and cold to pull a few nice specks from the shallows

Michael Rembold took top honors for specks on yet another wind-blown day

Maurice Klein enjoyed good success with specks, rock and redfish.

Keith Campbell arived during the transition from specks to stripers

Kevin Campbell proved the specks were still around

These pelicans should be heading south very soon

Matt King shows off a healthy shallow water striper

Bill Enos with a fine rockfish, and..

..a beautiful late-season speckled trout

Skip Powers with a colorful speck on his birthday. Happy Birthday Skip!

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Tags: Big Annemessex river, CBBT, Chesapeake Bay, fly fishing, G.Loomis, Red Drum, rockfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound, Virginia Eastern Shore
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ Specks Hanging On!

14 10 2012

As you can probably guess by my lack of blog posts, it has been a very busy fall fishing season. Since Labor Day, I have been on the water just about every day that the weather has allowed me to fish. While business is booming, I’m afraid it does not leave me a lot of time for writing updates. I apologize for this and will try to be more current with future fishing reports. Now, on to the current fishing situation. Speckled trout catches have slowed a bit during this recent cold snap, but I look for things to pick back up once the weather stabilizes. Last season, we had some of the year’s highest catch totals during the second and third weeks of October. Keeping my fingers crossed! The flip-side of cooler water temp’s is rockfish action has really taken-off! Yesterday, we enjoyed my best day with stripers since early June. Rock to 26-inches are keeping clients happy while searching for the sometimes finicky specks. Redfish are still around, as well. Enjoy some snapshots of this fall’s successes!!

Kyrie Perdue hefts a beautiful fall speck!

Jay Burkholder landed this nice rockfish on a very windy day fishing out of Onancock, VA

Jay added this very nice speck!!

Todd Allen shows off a fat speck

Gary Beard got in on a little redfish action

Gary’s son Randy with a gorgeous puppy drum

Diane Hurley fooled this colorful speck

Ray Shelesky with his six-pound speck

Steve Shelesky caught his on the fly

Steve and his dad Ray had a great day catching specks

Norm Bayer proudly shows-off a fat speck. Norm is a sales rep for Teeny Fly Lines and Shu-Fly fly rods

Bob Hedrick with a fly caught speck

Joe Lundin joined Norm and Bob in the hot action!

Lew Armistead with a nice fly-caught spotted trout

John Holton with a beauty of a trout!!

Mark Nichols had a day to write home about!!

Mark Symmes with one of 42 specks between him and Mark N.

Mark S. with this season’s 1000th speckled trout

Mark N. with a nice spottail

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Tags: Chesapeake Bay, fly fishing, G.Loomis, Red Drum, rockfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound, Virginia Eastern Shore
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ Tangier Slam!!

4 09 2012

Tangier Slam – In the world of flats fishing, a ‘slam’ is oftentimes considered three, maybe four different species of fish, caught by a single angler, with a specific type of gear during a given day. Well, how about six species! That’s just what has occured several times during the past couple of week’s on board my Jones Brothers while fishing here on Tangier Sound. In fact, five species seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Stripers, bluefish, speckled trout, flounder, redfish and croaker are common catches while casting artificial lures on light spinning tackle or fly gear. On a recent outing with Don Harrison, his friend Doug Portner and Doug’s son Connor, while we didn’t quite reach six-species, sheer numbers made up for the species count. We began the day casting to breaking bluefish in the 12 to 17-inch range, enjoying action in which triple hook-ups were common for perhaps ninety minutes. We switched gears to look for specks, managing close to a dozen for the day up to 21-inches. Mixed-in with the trout were perhaps fifteen nice rockfish to 24-inches. The day ended on a hot note as the guys simply tore-up the puppy drum, landing maybe 50 in the 12 to 17-inch range, with a couple just shy of the legal 18-inch limit. All told, over one-hundred fish were boated giving the three anglers a day to remember. And to make his “slam” something really special, young Connor also accomplished several “firsts.” As is first striper, first bluefish, first speckled trout and first redfish! Way to break-out on the saltwater scene Connor!! Tangier Sound has always held a nice variety of game fish during the summer months and six or more species in a days fishing is not unusual. I look for this fantastic shallow water angling to continue right through the fall months.

Speckled trout continue to grab most of the attention here on the sound. Daily catches averaging ten-specks-per-angler have been the norm rather than the exception. Now that September is here, I look for the speckled trout top-water bite to really take-off! Last season, our top fish was an eight-pound beauty that exploded on a Stillwater Smack-it! popper.

Share a Trip – Once again, I am in need of several anglers to share the cost of a guided trip. The details are as follows:

Trip 1 – I need a fly fishing angler to share a full day (8 hour) trip with another fly angler. Cost per angler will be $225, all-inclusive.

Trip 2 – I need two spining anglers to share a full day (8 hour) or 3/4 day (6 hour) trip with a third spin fisherman. Cost will be $150 each for the full day, or $135 each for the 3/4 day trip. There is a catch (no pun intended) – My first available date is October 20. Speckled trout should still be around, along with stripers, bluefish, flounder and redfish. In addition to the 20th, I have open October 22, 23, 25, 27, 30 and 31. If interested, please email, or call me at your earliest convenience. My contact info is kjosenhans@aol.com or 443-783-3271. Thanks and good fishing!!

Nick Weber drove a long way to catch a speckled trout, and succeeded

Nick’s son Matt with a nice flounder

Not to be outdone by Matt, John Crowley bags a big flounder of his own

Matt LaFleur with an over-stuffed speck

Jerry Price adds a puppy drum (redfish)

Toby Godwin with a pretty speck

Darren Short found this big speck at the end of his line

Chris Mitchell surprised us with a 26-inch striper

Tom Phillips got in on the speck action

Chris adds a nice speck to his rockfish catch

Andrew Lepczyk caught this fine striper under working birds near Sharps Island

Pete Rolph has been trying to make this speck trip for two years – it paid-off!

Mike Johnson has his arms full with this hefty spotted trout

Elliott Pochettino can barely hold up his big speck

Owen Pochettino shows off his big fly-caught speckled trout

Don Harrison with a speck on his way to a Tangier Slam

..Likewise for Doug Portner..

..and Doug’s son Connor!

Doug boats a nice rockfish

Connor adds his own big striper

Connor with one of his many redfish

Terry Tubman with a fine Tangier Sound speck

Keith McGuire ran his boat over from the western shore to catch specks

Scott McGuire shows-off a specks canines

Scott with a nice spot tail

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Tags: Big Annemessex river, bluefish, Chesapeake Bay, croaker, flounder, fly fishing, Fox Island, Little Choptank, Red Drum, rockfish, speckled trout, Tangier Sound, topwater, Virginia Eastern Shore
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans FF ~ Hot August Fishing, News

4 08 2012

What a summer of fishing this has been! Hot weather and even hotter fishing, especially for speckled trout. Right after my last blog entry, I took a planned two-week mini-vacation for some much need R & R. I had been running full-steam since the beginning of flats season. It was time for a break. In addition, my Yamaha made a trip to the doctor to have her fuel injectors cleaned. Seems they only do this in Florida. After a few extra day’s wait for shipping, I am happy to report the prognosis is excellent; as the 150 HPDI once again purrs like a kitten. Now back to the fishing report…

The last trip before my break Dave Elvin, Mike Nolan, John Scott and his son Troy enjoyed a banner day catching 30 specks ranging from sixteen to twenty-one inches. Thrown in was an assortment of rock, blues and croaker and, needless to say, it was very hard to take time off. It didn’t help matters when my first day back I was greeted with 15-20 Kt winds that roiled the shallows, yielding but a brace of specks. The next day I traveled to the quaint township of Onancock, Virginia. My clients for the day had rented a private home just on the edge of town, so I agreed to meet them at the town dock. The fifteen-minute run to the bay down Onancock Creek provided a picturesque cruise past a mix of stately old Eastern Shore homes, smaller shore dwellings and miles of unspoiled shoreline. I think I could retire happy living on Onancock Creek. In addition to the beautiful scenery, fishing’s not bad either. Final tally for the day was 23 specks to twenty-two inches, a baker’s dozen of feisty bluefish and a handful of rockfish. Once again, all was right with the world. During the past two weeks, speckled trout catches have been as high as 35 per day, with a handful of days in the 20’s. Flounder catches are still well off last years pace, but the few times we have tried has yielded some nice fish to 24-inches.

Late-Summer and Fall Bookings are running way ahead of last season’s pace, so if you want to enjoy some of this fabulous speckled trout fishing please don’t wait to reserve a date. I have been blessed with many new clients this season and for that I am truly grateful. And to my long-time friends, words alone cannot express my gratitude for your continued support.

Share a Trip – I occasionally receive requests to find a fishing partner(s) in order to share expenses. This way, you get the full trip at half, or even a third the cost. I will act as your booking agent and make all the arrangements, in advance. If this trip arrangement interests you, please let me know. Enjoy some photos from the past two weeks.