CHSP May 2nd Report - Big Blues, Many togs, and a Flounder

[ComeOnFish]

Shady,
Yes, we are very tired because we caught too many fish.

Thanks to CostalDan, I brought bluefish lures, and my new cobia rod and reel combo (for bluefish) to get used to it.

When I arrived at the parking lot, CostalDan came back with a large bluefish. He gave us the location of the bluefish. I didn't want my lure swallowed by big bluefish, so I used a Bomber, 6-7" surface plastic crank-bait. I mainly trolled in 4-6' of water. I couldn't land few large bluefish. Large bluefish were fierce when they were close to the kayak. I fished bluefish early in the morning and in the evening after togging. I landed 5 bluefish at 24, 28, 31, 32, 34".

I got punctures and cuts on my hands due to the treble hooks on the crank-bait. Next time I will bring 6-7 inch casting spoons with single large hook that is bolted on the spoon for the safety.

I caught 5 togs at 15, 15, 17, 17, and 23". All on fresh shrimp. The 23 incher was caught at the same hole (I call it Smiling Face) where we, I, Grilled and another member caught many large togs on May 6, 2014). At the hole I landed a 17 incher and lost 2 rigs by large togs. I anticipated a big one, and finally I pulled the 23 incher out of a deep narrow hole.

FYI - regarding recording video (we sometimes talk about making kayak fishing video while fishing)
I operated 3 cameras, and I brought extra memory cards and batteries. However I used all freshwater and pieces of soft fabric to clean camera lenses often because of the flapping bluefish. I didn't want to open the camera to change memory cards and batteries because my hands and cameras were wet, salty and slimy. Then I hooked the 23 inch tog. Dang, I couldn't capture the moment. So next week I will bring more fresh water and small towels.

It took me whole Sunday to load and edit 2.5 hours of videos to make fishing log video while working.

Fishing Log for the future reference:

Joe

[Shady]

Very nice! The big blue and tog were probably both citation?

[JohnE]

It was great fishing with you guys as always. I wish I had started earlier so I could have spent more time trying to catch one of those giant blues. The campground was all booked up, so I decided to head back early though I really wanted to stay and fish another day. I think I may try to head back next weekend for more tog. The drive to chsp is so much nicer than the drive to cbbt...I hate 95 traffic, they have to be some the worst drivers in the world on that road.

-Did anybody else catch tog or just Joe and myself? Man, I went through a lot of shrimp (at least 25 in just a couple hours or so). Had to keep the jigs real light to feel them in the tricky current and it was a lot of work to pull up the three keepers. There were definitely more in there. Hoping to get a monster citation sized tog like Joe's next time (my personal best is still only 20").

20150502_195902.jpg
chsp6.jpg
chsp1.jpg
chsp3.jpg

[YakCapn]

Scenic pics! That first one is a c-tugs worst nightmare.

[tufnik]

CHSP Sat, 5-2-15

Yeah, it was good to see a lot of familiar faces on a pretty good fishing day. I met Woonana, Khoa, ComeOnFish, coastal dan, JohnE, Dson, and others. There were probably a dozen or so yakers fishing throughout the day.

The blues were really chomping out there. Joe caught several while trolling. Woonana caught a half dozen. I saw Khoa with a bunch of come-offs, but he caught a half dozen as well. Coastal Dan had a couple. I saw a bunch of other yakers pull up blues. When I saw Woonana and Khoa get several hits on blues while casting plastics, they invited me to "the spot." Good thing; I caught my first big blue (a personal best at 29" while casting a white bucktail). Man, those things are feisty fighters.

The afternoon water looked pretty good. I was almost tempted to go to the Outer Wall, but I opted to jig for more flounder near the pier.

A lot of guys caught togs too. Many limited out. I spent most of my time jigging for flounder; I think I was the only one to catch flounder (a keeper at 17 1/2").

Shorefisherman were also doing well on blues. I saw one guy put a stringer of big blues in his cooler.

Wx was better than predicted. Man, I hope to go again next weekend. Maybe the blues will still be around.

[AbuMasgouf]

Beautiful fish Gents! I couldn't go on Saturday but planning to go this coming Friday

[JohnE]

Scenic pics! That first one is a c-tugs worst nightmare.

The first pic was not where we launched, but the ctug definitely does not like the sand where I did end up launching. Depends on the beach, but I think I may end up building a wheeleez cart after all. I do like the ctug, but it would have actually been easier to drag my outback without a cart. Ctug with wheeleez would make a sweet cart though.

[Slap]

Well I showed up with plenty of tog bait but there was no way I was passing up those blues. I landed 20 up to 34". Nonstop action for 5 hrs. The top water bite was insane as well.

The green crabs lucked out, I released them all.

[tufnik]

Well I showed up with plenty of tog bait but there was no way I was passing up those blues. I landed 20 up to 34". Nonstop action for 5 hrs. The top water bite was insane as well.

The green crabs lucked out, I released them all.

What time did you fish? I didn't see you there. The water was so calm late afternoon. I wanted to fish more, but I was tired and was off the water at 6:30 pm.

[Slap]

I was there from 10ish til 4. I was right off the beach all day.

[JohnE]

I saw an ivory dune colored kayak out near the point in close when I launched at 12:30. I guess a lot of the blues were caught in some really shallow water. Were you guys carrying something to knock them out? I have never caught blues like that in a kayak. We used to catch them in the bay pretty big when I was a kid, but I have never caught any in the kayak in VA much over 20".

[Slap]

They were thick in close. I've never seen so many big fish packed into 2' of water. I threw top water and hooked two blues on one lure, each 30"ish blue had a treble. Hundreds of them just cruising around pushing bait up on the sand bars.

As for putting them in the boat, I was just grabbing the tail in the water and flinging them in the boat, head away from you. The big ones don't freak out nearly as much as the little guys. I have a bunch of gopro footage, I'll throw a video up when I get time to edit.

[willf650]

It was nice fishing with the guys I met up with today and thanks for the tips. I've never really saltwater fished, I've always been a die hard bass fisherman. I went a little last year surf fishing and took my boat out and fished the wall 3 times. That pretty much sums up my saltwater fishing aside from 4 head boat trips in my life.

Today was a totally new experience for me. I've never hooked a fish that would burn the drag like that, I probably pulled in about 8 blues today and lost more than that. My fishing buddy did a little better. The list of firsts for me were a straightened hook, a broken hook and snapping every steel leader I had with me.











I think I'm hooked on saltwater fishing. Today was the first time I've ever had a concern of how I was going to land a fish and deal with it in the boat.

[Slobber Bob]

Awesome work on the blues!! It looks like it was a blast out there this weekend!

[Cowpokey]

Those are great looking blues!