Fall Bulls

[RavensDfense]

It has been a busy spring and summer in my household with the birth of my first child (7 lb 14 oz. citation daughter). I totally missed the ESVA bull red run in the spring, so to say that I was eagerly awaiting the start of the fall run was an understatement. Yesterday evening, our eastern shore crew of Hemingway, Slobber Bob, and myself made the trip down to the ESVA. We fished in the evening in about 25-30 FOW, with cut bait (king fish, croaker, bluefish, bunker). It was an active evening with a big cobia hookup (and break off) and two bull reds. SlobberBob caught a SLOB and I didn't do too bad either. We lost a couple more that wouldn't stay buttoned and Hemingway had the misfortune of having his red dart under the boat and snap off after becoming tip wrapped. Awesome weather, company, and some hardcore pullage from some large reds made for a great evening on the water. These fish will be migrating outta the bay until the end of September and into October so go get yourself some! Hopefully SlobberBob includes his picture because it is a monster.

[tufnik]

Nice job on a nice fish. Looking forward when they're in numbers in the fall. They are so much fun to catch. Oh, and congrats on your first born!

[Slobber Bob]

It was a fun evening for sure! It's always fun fishing with you guys.

I've caught lots of bulls in the surf, but I finally got my first from the kayak - so needless to I was very happy that night. Lot's of action like Doug said. Sharks were constant through the evening, which is annoying, but at least they are better than rays! It was a bummer watching that cobia come unbuttoned though. The fish came shooting up to the surface all the way from the bottom when I could see it under the surface about 30 yards in front of me. It was speeding along and looked like it was getting ready to jump out of the water when it just popped off the hook



Thanks for the picture Gary! wish you had gotten one bud! Hopefully we can do it again before it's too late this year.

[RavensDfense]

Nice job on a nice fish. Looking forward when they're in numbers in the fall. They are so much fun to catch. Oh, and congrats on your first born!

Thanks. You're right about how much fun they are to catch. They pull unbelievable hard, especially in 30 FOW. They don't fight nearly as hard in shallower water from my experience. In deep water they can really get those shoulders behind them and pull drag. I hope to get back out again soon.

[AbuMasgouf]

Nice fish!! But more importantly congrats on your first born. Life becomes so much richer with kids. Enjoy the blessing every moment

[J.A. Veil]

Great work guys! Those are beautiful fish. I plan to fish in the lower eastern shore region next week from a small center console. I hope to run into some of those big fish.

[Fishinfool]

Thanks. You're right about how much fun they are to catch. They pull unbelievable hard, especially in 30 FOW. They don't fight nearly as hard in shallower water from my experience. In deep water they can really get those shoulders behind them and pull drag. I hope to get back out again soon.

Wow, great shots! I am camping at Janes Island the weekend of Oct 9. Maybe we could hook up if you're avail.
Steve

[RavensDfense]

Wow, great shots! I am camping at Janes Island the weekend of Oct 9. Maybe we could hook up if you're avail.
Steve

I am always up for fishing! I tend to trend more towards bow hunting after September, but I could easily be convinced to go.

[JohnE]

Awesome work on the fish. I have not gone after any reds at all this year. Hoping to catch some this fall at some point.

[Romo]

Sooooooooooo jealous

[jhoss]

Nice work guys! Your post is making me jones really bad....

[Slobber Bob]

So RavensDfense, Hemingway, and I decided to give it another try the other day to see if we could get in on some more big reds and hopefully a cobia. We launched and started the several mile trek out to the fishing grounds. It was a full moon, or darn near close, that day and the current was absolutely rolling compared to just a few days prior when we tried. Eventually we make it out to where we want to fish and get our anchors ready. I drop mine down and let out some line, attach my float, let out some more line and then cleat up.

I didn't like the way I was anchored so I went to switch from stern to bow and decided to just come off anchor and pick it back up once I got turned around. Wrong! The stinking current was so strong in sucked my anchor float (half a crab pot buoy) down into the depths and my only anchor disappeared. F' I was mad at myself . Luckily the tide was due to turn eventually in the next hour or so and I was hoping my float would pop back up at slack. In the meantime, drift fishing with the strong current wasn't really an option so I had to make my way to a channel marker and tie off of that with the little line I had left on me. It worked but it wasn't fun as the channel buoy would swing in the current creating slack in my line and then when it came taught it would snap me back. Eventually about an hour later my float popped back up right in front of RavensDefense, who obviously was trying to raid my spot! , and I was able to retrieve it back. I was happy then!

From there on out it was shark city! From little 20"ers to 4' ft ers - we found them all. They were hungry for any and all baits. Every time I caught a fresh bait and dropped it back down it was chomp, chomp, shark. After a few hours of this I finally connected to a good drag burner and I knew I had something good on. After a 15 minute or so tussle I was able to put the first red on the trip on the kayak. I was hoping it was a good sign that the bite was going to start, but after that it was more sharks. The sharks eventually won out and we called it a night.

We had higher hopes for the trip but at least we came back in with one under our belt...




I was going to paddle over to one of the guys for them to take a picture, but I was afraid of having my anchor float go under again and them vise versa Had to go with a quick lap picture before releasing.

[chimo]

Awesome fish!

[Salty Dog]

What a beauty, great job

[daolai]

Nice work you guys are dialed into the Reds! Still searching for my first redfish.