PLO Rodeo Recap – 08/13/2011

We decided to hit PLO today to try our luck at some flounder. I wanted to make the M&G but waking up at 3:00am and hitting the road was not in my agenda today. We checked the weather before we left at 7:30AM and knew we were in for a rough day. We decided to give it a shot anyway and made our way there. When we got to the Tackle Box we could see and smell smoke. The smoke from fire down in the great Dismal swamp on the VA/NC border had made its way up here. Its crazy that smoke from a fire way down there can make its way up to these parts. It must be a massive fire now. Hopefully all the rain today dumped some relief on the blaze.

We puttered around and got on the water around 10:00 and made our way to the inlet. The winds were SE at 5 to 10 knots and the chop was starting to kick up. It was not too bad so we went out to the 14ft to 18ft ledge and started our first drift. I started with a Gulp swimming mullet on a fish finder rig and Codfish started with a flounder rig with a strip of squid and a Minnow.

I caught a 11” croaker right away so things looked good. Unfortunately it was a false alarm for me and I struggled the rest of the day. I spent the rest of the first drift flipping crabs 10 ft into the air. Its crazy how long crabs will hold onto the gulp when pulled out of the water. I have never had a crab hold on to a chicken neck when crabbing and allow me to spin it over my head like a lasso. These crabs were hungry today. After 5 crabs I decided to quarter one up and drop a chunk down. That ended my crab issues but for some reason the croakers did not want a fresh chunk of tasty crab.

We tried the second ledge in 23ft of water and Codfish immediately landed a 12” flounder. Great now were are in the right area. Wrong this drift ended the same as the first drift. Lots of crabs and no fish. At this time the wind and waves started to strengthen and combined with the incoming tide we were drifting at over 1 mph. I stuck with the gulp grub and managed 2 more croakers over the next several hours. We were having more fun playing in the waves than fishing at this point. There were some good sized rollers coming thru and I got a great workout paddling into the current, waves and wind.

We made our way back to the inlet and I nabbed a small needle fish by the jetty on a small gulp shrimp. I made several casts in the lake area against the grass in hopes of a game saving red fish or spec but it was a lost cause. We loaded up the yaks and split around 4:30 pm. I managed 3 croakers and a small needle fish. Codfish caught a small flounder, 15 nice spot and a croaker. He kicked my but today.

Video Recap
PLO Recap - 08/13/2011

[HokieDJ]

That's why I stop going there. There's just no keeper flounder there.

[jet]

thanks for the recap and vid. did you see any breaking fish at all?

[ictalurus]

Sorry to hear things were kind of slow. PLO hasn't be as good for me for the past two years. For some reason, I seldom see fish on my fishfinder there despite being able to see croaker and spot at Piney Point and in the Patuxent. Anyway, the Spaniards are in town according to the Buzz's Marina website, the Bay side at PLO was one of the places where I hooked up with one, so there's still hope that area can be productive for something.

[ILV2F5H]

I think PLO can be hit or miss, but tide is definitely a factor. I believe the fishing there during the day can be very slow.

I was actually kayaking by the lighthouse with two others Saturday from 10:30 to 2:30. I didnt catch a single fish. Two of my buddies managed a 19in striper and an 18in flounder. It was slow but I was glad they were able to catch fish especially with the luck i had there last wk. The waves were kickin our butts. We just drifted the river side most of the time with Gulps, no live bait at all. The only action I had was my tails kept getting bitten off on the swimming mullets.

[mmanolis2001]

thanks for the recap and vid. did you see any breaking fish at all?

I saw a pod of birds working in the distance but with the wind and swell i could not tell if there were breakers. And with the conditions paddling up current, into the waves and wind to get a closer look was not in my game plan that day.

[mmanolis2001]

I think PLO can be hit or miss, but tide is definitely a factor. I believe the fishing there during the day can be very slow.

I was actually kayaking by the lighthouse with two others Saturday from 10:30 to 2:30. I didnt catch a single fish. Two of my buddies managed a 19in striper and an 18in flounder. It was slow but I was glad they were able to catch fish especially with the luck i had there last wk. The waves were kickin our butts. We just drifted the river side most of the time with Gulps, no live bait at all. The only action I had was my tails kept getting bitten off on the swimming mullets.

I think i saw you guys out there by the lighthouse. Later in the day we were making drifts starting from just below the lighthouse to the inlet. We only made 3 of these drifts as it became more of a pain in the butt to paddle 25mins into the snot to drift for 10 mins. Where did you launch your Kayaks by the lighthouse?