Report on an Awesome day of kayak fishing 8-14-12 Cape Charles, Va.

[Hemingway]

I started out solo this morning around 7 on the oceanside. This turnout to be one of my best all-time fishing days. I paddled out a mile or so, and anchored up to catch some bait for live lining. The croaker were thick, several doubles, and some had good size (11-12"). I then caught a 6" spot, which I put on my new G Loomis 844 Bluewater rod, and let him swim while I continued with the croaker. I was approaching 30+ croaker (I don't eat them), when the Shimano 8000D on the 844 started to sing. I was down 100 yds. of 50 lb. braid in the blink of an eye, and at this point I was thinking CNR. But, it was pulling different than any ray, and the runs continued. I did not have time to get the anchor rope out of the carabiner, and the fish wrap the rope twice (lucky I was able to clear it each time). He continued to go under the kayak at least another 10 times without getting the anchor, finally after around 20 minutes I get him on the top and see that it is a black tip reef shark around 5-6 ft. I get a few photos and some video, and then flip the bale and cut him loose. A very beautiful fish, with tremendous power and stamina. I move on to get away from the croaker, and pick up a few small flounder, and a nice 15" red drum. Then I get a 14" black drum, and a small black bass. I have release everything up to this point, and I finally picked up a nice 19.5 in. flat boy to take home around 2:30. I caught seven different species, and probably around 40-45 in total, plus my first shark out of a kayak! I tried to attach some .jpgs earlier, but it did not work, and I lost everything. So here is the story of my day. I will try and and figure out the photo attachment issue.

[ictalurus]

That is an awesome day indeed. Congrats on the nice variety of fish.

[tufnik]

Congrats! That's a very good day of fishing. I heard that place has good flounder grounds. MemoryMaker promotes that place often, so one of these days I've got to go down there for a try at flatties. Thanks for the report.

[jsquare]

Nice report and congratulations on the awesome day of fishing! Loomis really hit the jackpot with those rods. They are sweet.

[Hemingway]

Nice report and congratulations on the awesome day of fishing! Loomis really hit the jackpot with those rods. They are sweet.

After yesterday, I am a G Loomis fan for life. One of the passes under the boat had the tip in the water, and the rod may have even slapped the rail of the kayak. In the end, I feel that both the 844 & the Baitrunner 8000D could handle even more fish. It was my largest fish ever, and it was a great learning experience.

[Grady-Black]

Those are the type of days we live for.
WTG!
GB

[chex]

Wow, nice going! You didn't try to land the shark?? jk

That flounder should be tasty.

[Hemingway]

Wow, nice going! You didn't try to land the shark?? jk

That flounder should be tasty.

The flounder was great (credit both my wife and the flounder). The shark and I reached an agreement, he would not try and eat me if I would give him my rig. Win/Win
Gary

[jffoley]

The shark and I reached an agreement, he would not try and eat me if I would give him my rig. Win/Win Gary

That is a good deal! Especially on a kayak. Congrats on a great day!

[loupa5]

Big ups on the black tip, that's a nice size shark and caught on a kayak.....woohoo. NICE!