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.

Randy and family began their trip at the Onancock, VA Town Wharf

Julie holding a beautiful spotted trout

Randy’s daughter Kylie loves to fish and her smile shows it

Somers Cove Marina at sunrise – Crisfield, MD

Scott shows-off a puppy drum – I think it’s going to be a fun fall with redfish

A first for my boat. At five-pounds, this Smooth Puffer put up quite a fight..

…not so much when swelled-up!

Troy with his largest speckled trout to date

Mary with an awesome speck

Michael with a nice speck of his own – what a morning this was!!

Troy with one of his six biggest specks to date – all caught on my boat this morning

After 28 specks to 23″ in just four hours, Terry T. and Bobby S. enjoyed the view on the ride home (No, it wasn’t quite that close)

Rodney Sunday with his first fly-caught speckled trout

and, while he’s at it…

..his first fly-caught bluefish! I think he’s hooked!!

Not to be outdone, Rodney’s dad Corey landed this pretty trout

Let’s not forget there are some nice flounder out there!

George Lenard of http://www.specializedbaits.com fame fooled this fat 22-incher with his Blue Crab pattern

Dave Gedra with a nice flatty on a Specialized Baits Li’l Jimy

Redfish like Li’l Jimy’s, too

 

 

 


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Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ “There’s No Place Like Home”

9 05 2012

After a whirlwind tour of the Chesapeake Bay I am finally back home, casting to speckled trout on the crystal clear flats of Tangier Sound. On my first trip back I was greeted with some beautiful specks to 21-inches, along with a smattering of schoolie rockfish. It’s my feeling that the specks will provide us with some great fishing until their departure in late October.

Nathan Holsey shows-off a beautiful Tangier Sound speck

Not to be outdone by his son, Greg Holsey lands a fine speck

Casting to the pristine shorelines of Tangier Sound

Right before I returned to Tangier  – and just three days since the completion of a fantastic Susquehanna Flats C & R season – I made a short four-day stopover to Fisherman’s Island, VA. Here we sight-cast to schools of monster red drum and big stripers. While this fishing is not for everyone – with long periods of watching and waiting – we did manage to bag a couple of trophies. For Ray Wasdyke his persistance paid off with a 46-inch bull red drum that would have pushed the scales to over 47-pounds. What made this catch so remarkable was that Ray landed the red on a 9-weight fly rod. A world-class catch by anyone’s standards. Congratulations Ray! A day earlier, Harvey Conard watched a school of big stripers cruise the nearby flats for perhaps fifteen minutes before coaxing one away from the pack with a bucktail/twister combination. After a game fight we slid the net under a gorgeous 40-inch rockfish. The stripers looked just like a school of cruising bonefish (big bonefish) on the clear, shallow flats surrounding Fisherman’s Island.

Ray Wasdyke with his trophy 46-inch red drum on fly – World Class Catch!!

Harvey Conard with his 40-inch striper

In the next issue I will take a brief step back, with highlights from a very good Susky Flats C & R season. Stay tuned!! 


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Josenhans FF ~ Flats Update

7 04 2012

A quick update from the Susky Flats.  Wednesday – Arrival date. By the time I got the boat launched and tied in the slip it was almost 6:00 p.m. Didn’t have anything else to do, so I decided to spend the last two hours of daylight looking around the flats. Wound up with some schoolies to 25″ and a surprise 15-pound striper that hit a six-inch Chartreuse BKD. Nice evening, wish I had had some guests on board. Thursday – Phil Bangert joined me for a day trip and we fished hard to land maybe 35-40 rock to 25-inches. No big fish this trip. Phil did manage to break out the fly rod and he proceeded to out-fish the spinning outfit! Fun morning. Took my Dad out for the evening trip and we hit a nice stack of fish east of the battery, most falling in the 16″ to 22″ range. Then I hit a drag-screamer that put the Stradic’s teflon washers to the test. I slowly pumped it back in and quickly measured a 36-inch, 22-pound beauty (sorry, no photo – didn’t want to keep her out of the water after such a game fight). With a healthy swat of the tail she was on her way, no worse for wear. That’s the appeal of the flats; one cast can be a 20-inch schoolie (don’t like the word dink, doesn’t do these fish justice) while the very next retrieve can bring on a drag-burning twenty-pounder. Friday – Bill Enos and his friend (also Bill) were the unfortunate recipients of a strong northerly blow which turned the flats the color of chocolate milk. There were two or three really big fish caught but not on my boat. A few schoolies around also, but many skunks to report as well.  We elected to call our trip at noon. There are some really nice fish around and I think things will pick up once the waters settle a bit. Home for Easter with the family and will be back at it bright and early Monday morning. Happy Easter everyone!

Fly fishing the susky

Bill Enos with a Folly Creek flounder from earlier in the week


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Josenhans Fly Fishing ~ More Flounder, and Walk On Trip at the Susky Flats

31 03 2012

Chris with a good-size Metompkin Bay Flounder

The Susquehanna Flats has come alive while I’m off flounder fishing – but I don’t miss it! The wind has blown all week. Couple that with a few cold nights and the water in the back bays along the Virginia seaside has seen a marked drop in temperature. While it was 61 degrees before the blow, a friend fished all day Wednesday with the meter reading a cool 51 degrees. We were more fortunate yesterday, as my gauge read a steady 58 all afternoon. My fishing companions this day were Chris Cianci, Chuck Prahl and Jay Harford. While the action wasn’t off-the-charts hot, it was steady; and we ended the afternoon trip with ten legal flounder up to 20 1/2-inches.  Most were in the 18-inch range. Good weather, friends and great conversation made for a very pleasant way to spend a spring afternoon. Three more flounder excursions then it’s off to the flats. I’ll try to keep the reports coming, but I’ll need to bum a computer to do so. Fishing everyday at the flats might not give me much time to write, but I’ll at least try to send some photos – bear with me..

Jay had the hot hand, and finished the day with a flurry

We all thought Chuck had the pool winner, but this clearnose skate proved otherwise

Susquehanna Flats Walk On Notice – I have two spots available for a half-day evening trip on Thursday, April 12. I hope to be casting poppers to BIG rockfish!! The total cost per person is just $115.00, which includes fishing license, quality G. Loomis rods, Shimano Stradic spinning reels, tackle,  ice, drinks and light snacks. No hidden fees!! We’ll start at 3:00 PM and fish until dark. I’ll meet you at my slip at the Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin next to the Millard Tydings Memorial Park. There’s nothing like seeing a ten to twenty-pound striper smash a top-water lure as it skips across the calm surface of the flats. First two calls are in, so don’t delay! Email is kjosenhans@aol.com or call my cell at 443-783-3271.

 


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Josenhans FF ~ Eastern Shore Flounder

23 03 2012

The flounder bite is on along the Virginia eastern shore. Yesterday, after fooling around all morning with inside chores, the 75 degree outdoor temperature got the best of me, so I decided to hook the boat up and take a drive to Wachapreague, VA. Halfway there, I decided to choose a ramp closer to home – the clock was fast approaching  1:00 p.m. After picking up some fresh frozen shiners and big live minnows at Sea Hawk Sport Center in Pocomoke, I traveled a bit farther and launched at a sea-side county ramp. As I was tending to the boat a couple of folks were returning , with limits all! That was the good news. The bad news was that the bite had slowed due to high winds and muddy water. Naturally. I was there, so I finished loading my Jones Brothers and proceeded to the fishing grounds. The water was indeed murky, with the forecast 5 to 10  knot winds blowing at a comfortable 20 to 25. I looked around and found a patch of relatively clean water along the channel edge where I proceeded to catch six flounder within 45 minutes. Three were of legal size at 20″, 18.5″ and 17.”  “This is too easy,” I thought to myself. It turned out it was. No sooner had this revelation reached the ego portion of my small brain and the bite stopped. Cold turkey. With the tide approaching dead low, the conditions really deteriorated and the flounder shut right off. I looked around for a couple of hours but was only able to pick up one more short. Such is flounder fishing on the Eastern Shore. I’ve got a week or two to kill before the Susky Flats heats-up so I think I’ll run a couple of trips down this way while the flatfish are hungry. Anyway, I’ve got some fish to clean..

My first keeper flounder of the season - a fat 20-incher

Two-at-a-time legal flounder got my attention!!


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