Anyone heading down to Virginia Monday thru Wednesday?

[<MIKE>]

I'm thinking about making a trip down to VA to take advantage of the weather. Thinking about hitting HRBT, Lynnhaven Inlet, Rudee and Kiptopeake for the first time. I'm going to look through old forum posts to find launch sites but if there is any recent changes to best places to launch please let me know. Also best places to get clams and crab.

[Pinch]

Oceans east, long bay pointe, and atlantic bait n' tackle are all great bait and tackle shops down there.

[<MIKE>]

Oceans east, long bay pointe, and atlantic bait n' tackle are all great bait and tackle shops down there.

Jack, thanks for the info.

[tufnik]

You already know about the south HRBT launch at Willoughby Spit, right? On the north side of HRBT on Ft Monroe, there's Old Point Comfort marina. Boat ramp or sand launch. Kayak launch fee is $2. The other locations for launching are straight-forward.

[chex]

I wish I could go, but I have to work.

Here's a link to some launch info: http://www.norfolk.gov/rpos/boatramp.asp

Good luck!

[<MIKE>]

Thanks for the info tuf and chex. I fished kiptopeake Monday for the first time. Very calm day. Water was amazingly clear. I arrived at slack tide so I tried to fish for tog while waiting for the tide to change.

My reflexes aren't as fast as the days I played Defender on the Atari 800 so tog fishing was very frustrating. I did manage a couple small ones. I kept at it for about four hours before switching to other species. Once the tide started coming in and as the sun was going down I hooked into three nice size specks, two puppy drum, and a blue.

I plan on checking out HRBT, Rudee, and Lynnhaven on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, somehow a little bit of water got into my GoPro housing and now it won't turn on. I have it sitting in a bag of rice to draw the water out. I hope it works in the morning.

I wish you guys could join me.

[chex]

Nice going!! Sorry about the GoPro... bummer.

Good luck on day 2...

[HokieDJ]

Keep those silicon packets next time when you buy electronic items. They are very useful in drying out things like rice can.

[<MIKE>]

Other than the GoPro issue my first kayak fishing trip to Virginia exceeded expectations.

Wednesday I fished Kiptopeake again before heading home and it was among one of the best days of fishing I have ever had. Weather was great. It was a bit windy in the morning which made fishing the far side of the ships challenging so I stayed on the inside till about noon. I finally connected with the tog consistently. I had the most success using the rig Rob Choi has diagramed on his blog and switching from green crab to clam. My best tog was about 19.5". I caught plenty of bait stealing sea bass.

In the shallows around the fish nets and all along the shore you could catch as many reds and specs as you wanted. Reds averaged 16-17" and specs were consistently around 20". My best spec was about 24". I caught my first slot red at almost 19" and then picked up another on the next cast. Picked up one blue at 17.75". All fish were nice and fat. All fish in the shallows were caught on 3" chartreuse swimming mullet gulp.

My kayak now has more scratches than a rap album from the 80's.

I'll post pics later.

[chex]

wow man, that sounds awesome! nice going!

[<MIKE>]

Blue had something going on on it's back.

[Fishinfool]

Beautiful, just gorgeous! The fish are great, so are pelicans off of that torn up bridge too.

I wonder if anyone in the forum has ever kayaked off of Cape Charles from the Virginia eastern shore side?

[tufnik]

You sure picked nice days to fish. Nice size speck and blue! And a keeper puppy?!?! That's almost icing on the cake.

[HokieDJ]

I know right. I haven't seen calm days like that in at kipto in a while. I still need to make some repairs from last time before i head back out 1 more time this season.

Nice job on the fishes.

[Cliff]

Awesome photos, you chose a great day to be on the water.