Looking for tips

[njdrt-rdr]

I've only been down to the chesapeake once many years ago. I'm heading down in a couple weeks to camp at sunset beach RV park which is about 1.5 miles north of the CBBT and maybe 2 miles South of the concrete ships. I'm hoping I can launch my kayak right from the campground to do some fishing. Last time down there years ago I was at Cherrystone campground and launched from a dock where the party boat docked. Just went out into the channel and floated around. I just fished a high/low rig with some squid and caught a bunch of croaker and one small flounder. My main fishing buddy is not going this year so I'm on my own.

Looking for tips on bait, when to fish, is incoming tide or outgoing better. Not a real issue of what I'm catching, I just like being out and catching some fish. What fish would be running that time of year, etc...Good places to fish,
Also if I can't launch from the campground, what's a good launch point.

I've already located Chris Bait and tackle as a shop to get my license and bait.
Thanks
Nick

[Jman]

Hi Nick,

Kiptopeke is a great place to fish from for most of the species in the area. It's also not that far of a paddle from the launch at Kiptopeke. Other launch points are Oyster and Wise Point boat ramp. Tide can be species dependent. If you're fishing for flounder, then the outgoing tide is generally preferred. Sheeps are at the top of high tide. You may find some slot-sized reds from Oyster and Wise point in grass beds if you choose to fish from there. Sheeps are usually caught with fiddler crabs and sand fleas. Flounder can be live lined with bait fish from the area or any type of soft plastic with a bucktail. A lot of people use a gulp mullet or a paddle tail with some procure on it. There's a bunch of other species that can be caught from those locations (shark, tarpoon, cobia, striper, triggerfish, spadefish, and etc.), which is what makes this area so much fun to fish.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

[njdrt-rdr]

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.
I had fished for redfish a few years ago down by myrtle beach, once on a kayak tour and got skunked, then a few days on a small boat charter. They were fun to catch, we were targetting oyster beds that day. .I may go over to Wise and try that too. Appears to be a lot of marsh and stuff over on the Wise boat ramp side. Is it more protected from wind over there? Also, is there a fee for launching a kayak at wise point?

[J.A. Veil]

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.
I had fished for redfish a few years ago down by myrtle beach, once on a kayak tour and got skunked, then a few days on a small boat charter. They were fun to catch, we were targetting oyster beds that day. .I may go over to Wise and try that too. Appears to be a lot of marsh and stuff over on the Wise boat ramp side. Is it more protected from wind over there? Also, is there a fee for launching a kayak at wise point?

The Wise Pt launch is located inside the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife refuge just north of the southbound toll plaza for the CBBT. There is a large paved double boat ramp leading into a canal. You have to pay a ramp fee to use it -- last summer the cost was $10. There is an unimproved kayak access point 1/4 back from the canal. You enter a twisty marsh channel and paddle out to the same canal. The tides can be strong there. Make sure you are back to the kayak launch before the tide level gets too low or you might not make it. Several years ago, I launched from there at high water and came back in near low tide. Part way along the marsh channel, I encountered a group of high school girls on an eco tour. They moved slowly back to the take out point and took a long time getting their kayaks out of the water. By the time it was my turn, the take out was mostly slippery mud with very little water.

There are several other ramps on both the ocean side and the bay side of the Virginia eastern shore. Depending on the wind direction, you can find a place that offers some shelter. Study Google maps to see the launch points and the types of habitats within paddling/pedaling distance.

[Hemingway]

i have launched several times at Sunset before the campground was bought out. I can not imagine that it would be a problem if you are staying there. It was a little bit steep and sand wheels are a must, but that may have changed after the recent construction. The fishing off Sunset Beach is excellent. Check the near by pound nets for Pups and Speckled. Great kingfish and croaker to the south. If you are feeling adventuresome, get some bunker or eels and some chum from Chris and head straight off the beach 3 miles to Latimer Shoals, and have all the pullage you can handle with sharks, Rays, and cobia.

[Romo]

Just to echo John's words, the tides can be STRONG. Like, so strong you have no hope of paddling or even pedaling against them, especially around full moons. I have a revo 13 with turbo fins and I could not move against the current last time I was there. It was running at 2.5-3 knots.

The Wise Pt launch is located inside the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife refuge just north of the southbound toll plaza for the CBBT. There is a large paved double boat ramp leading into a canal. You have to pay a ramp fee to use it -- last summer the cost was $10. There is an unimproved kayak access point 1/4 back from the canal. You enter a twisty marsh channel and paddle out to the same canal. The tides can be strong there. Make sure you are back to the kayak launch before the tide level gets too low or you might not make it. Several years ago, I launched from there at high water and came back in near low tide. Part way along the marsh channel, I encountered a group of high school girls on an eco tour. They moved slowly back to the take out point and took a long time getting their kayaks out of the water. By the time it was my turn, the take out was mostly slippery mud with very little water.

There are several other ramps on both the ocean side and the bay side of the Virginia eastern shore. Depending on the wind direction, you can find a place that offers some shelter. Study Google maps to see the launch points and the types of habitats within paddling/pedaling distance.

[njdrt-rdr]

Thanks folks. I'm down here now, been to Chris' for bait like 3 times already...LOL...I went to the channel by wise point on Sunday. We launched from the kayak launch on an incoming tide. The current and the wind were pretty good. We did one drift from the boat launch down to the channel marker at the southern end of the channel. I caught 3 croaker and a couple trout and a what I think was a sea robin. It was a tough paddle back to the kayak launch. Monday the whole gang did the miss jennifer party boat. We caught a bunch of croaker and some trout.
Yesterday went back to the wise point launch kayak launch and did two drifts from the southern marker to the boat launch. The current was moving again pretty good but we left at slack tide so getting back wasn't a problem. Caught some croaker and some really tiny what I think were blackfish. Real small and kept stealing out bait, but it was still fun. My thought on the current is if I couldn't paddle back, I'd just stop at the wise point boat launch and walk back to the kayak launch or if it was going the other way probably just wind up drifting down to the bridge and calling someone else from our crew to come get me. We are here with 5 families but only a couple of us fish.

We could launch from the beach here at Sunset point, but I have some mobility issues and walking in deep sand is hard as well as up hill is hard so trying to get my kayak back uphill in the sand I can't do by myself. We may bring them down there one morning and leave them there all day for all of our crew to use and then have the kids bring them back if we launch from down there.

Not sure what I'm doing next. The kids and wives want to crab so we may go over to kiptopeke pier and they can crab and me and a couple buddies go out by the concrete ship. Chris says some spades are running. I've never caught one of those so I need to find out what tackle I need. I'm currently running a 6.5 foot medium rod with 10lb test line and a high low rig for flounder.