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Left my house around 7pm on Friday night with visions of fishing the HRBT that night, but it was not to be. On the way down around Spotsylvania, Va on 95, I hit a large piece of some sort of debris. This gave me a flat tire and also screwed up my front bumper pretty bad. Four other cars hit the same debris and received damage, but no one knew what it was or where it came from... I changed my tire, a VA state trooper came to see if everyone was alright and filled out an incident report. An hour and a half later I was back on my way and finally got to my hotel close to 1 am.
CBBT 11/9
Met Chexone around 8 am and launched from the beach to fish the CBBT, and later caught up with Tufnik and HokieDJ. Made my way out trying pilings here and there for Tog, but only found a few Toads (some rather large) to fall for my bluecrab or shrimp. Finally around 10:30, I had a strong pull and had a fish rip drag for about 4 seconds before it came off. I poked around the same piling in the SBC for the next 30 minutes until I finally got another strong pull and drag ripping run. This time the fish stayed on and made it in the yak after a few other drag ripping pulls. The fish ended up being a nice male Tog at just over 18", my biggest ever! I poked around the same set of pilings for a while longer and caught my first Black Drum (although only 8.5"), some Seabass and more Toads. I also witnessed a large Tog feeding on the piling at the surface, which I'd never seen before. Unfortunately, I spooked her and she quickly went back down to the depths and didn't bite. After this action, it was Toads and more Toads and a couple more Seabass out to the 1st island and more of the same on the way back. Landed back on the beach, just as the sun was setting.
Went back to my hotel, recharged my batteries a little bit, called my insurance finally and munched on some leftover pizza.
HRBT 11/9
Met Chexone at Old Point Comfort Marina on Ft. Monroe around 8:30 pm to fish the North side of the HRBT. We stopped at a lighted dock on the way out and I hooked into my first Cutlassfish at 34", crazy looking fish! We made our way out to the Bridge into some stiff chop, but it wasn't unfishable. I patrolled the light line in the shadows and quickly hooked into a fiestly 16" Striper. Went up and down the bridge for a couple hours and hooked into 5 more Striper, with 2 just over 20". I also caught a couple flounder and the cutest little Toadfish at about 3"! We called it quits around 11pm, I wished Chexone a safe trip home and went back to my hotel to pass out for a few hours.
Kipto 11/10
I arrived at Kipto around 8 am to find strong winds and absolutely no one around, it was quite ominous... The chop was pretty rough looking between the ships and the ramp, but it looked ok just inside the ships. Despite a voice in the back of my head telling me I was crazy to attempt fishing in these conditions, I loaded up and made my way out. Yea, it was rough, but I took my time and only had a couple waves crash over the front on the way to the ships. When I finally did make it to the ships, with the exception of rolling waves, it was not too bad.
I worked along the inside of the South ships and the first few holes, yielded no bites from anything. Eventually, I caught a giant Toad and was relieved to catch something. Worked the same hole for a while longer and finally caught a short male Tog at about 13", not long after that I found his girlfriend at about the same size. The next two holes also yielded more Toads and a pair of Tog each. Out of 6 total Tog, two of them were keepers at 17.5" and 16.25". I also lost two other nice sized Togs, one just came off and the other pulled my line into a snag and eventually broke me off. At the south end of the ships I had another strong tug, but it ended up being a 30" eel, my biggest ever! I took a peek around the outside of the ships and quickly said, no thank you, turned around and decided to head to the beach to see if any drum were still around.
Started off jigging gulp and it didn't take long before I hooked a nice sized drum, but unfortunately he quickly came off. I tryed jigging a little longer, but couldn't get another bite, so I decided to try bait. I dropped my tog rig baited with bluecrab and shrimp to the bottom, set it in the rod holder and began jigging. A few seconds later my rod was bowed up and I reeled in a strong 22" Red Drum. Repeated the same process a couple more times and even had a double with a fish on the jig and bait at the same time and somehow managed to land both. In total, I caught 6 drum with 4 of them around 22"-23" and the other two about 16"
Overall, most of the drum and tog bit the shrimp, and the vast majority of the catches on the bluecrab were Toads.
Sorry for the long read...
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CBBT 11/9
Met Chexone around 8 am and launched from the beach to fish the CBBT, and later caught up with Tufnik and HokieDJ. Made my way out trying pilings here and there for Tog, but only found a few Toads (some rather large) to fall for my bluecrab or shrimp. Finally around 10:30, I had a strong pull and had a fish rip drag for about 4 seconds before it came off. I poked around the same piling in the SBC for the next 30 minutes until I finally got another strong pull and drag ripping run. This time the fish stayed on and made it in the yak after a few other drag ripping pulls. The fish ended up being a nice male Tog at just over 18", my biggest ever! I poked around the same set of pilings for a while longer and caught my first Black Drum (although only 8.5"), some Seabass and more Toads. I also witnessed a large Tog feeding on the piling at the surface, which I'd never seen before. Unfortunately, I spooked her and she quickly went back down to the depths and didn't bite. After this action, it was Toads and more Toads and a couple more Seabass out to the 1st island and more of the same on the way back. Landed back on the beach, just as the sun was setting.
Went back to my hotel, recharged my batteries a little bit, called my insurance finally and munched on some leftover pizza.
HRBT 11/9
Met Chexone at Old Point Comfort Marina on Ft. Monroe around 8:30 pm to fish the North side of the HRBT. We stopped at a lighted dock on the way out and I hooked into my first Cutlassfish at 34", crazy looking fish! We made our way out to the Bridge into some stiff chop, but it wasn't unfishable. I patrolled the light line in the shadows and quickly hooked into a fiestly 16" Striper. Went up and down the bridge for a couple hours and hooked into 5 more Striper, with 2 just over 20". I also caught a couple flounder and the cutest little Toadfish at about 3"! We called it quits around 11pm, I wished Chexone a safe trip home and went back to my hotel to pass out for a few hours.
Kipto 11/10
I arrived at Kipto around 8 am to find strong winds and absolutely no one around, it was quite ominous... The chop was pretty rough looking between the ships and the ramp, but it looked ok just inside the ships. Despite a voice in the back of my head telling me I was crazy to attempt fishing in these conditions, I loaded up and made my way out. Yea, it was rough, but I took my time and only had a couple waves crash over the front on the way to the ships. When I finally did make it to the ships, with the exception of rolling waves, it was not too bad.
I worked along the inside of the South ships and the first few holes, yielded no bites from anything. Eventually, I caught a giant Toad and was relieved to catch something. Worked the same hole for a while longer and finally caught a short male Tog at about 13", not long after that I found his girlfriend at about the same size. The next two holes also yielded more Toads and a pair of Tog each. Out of 6 total Tog, two of them were keepers at 17.5" and 16.25". I also lost two other nice sized Togs, one just came off and the other pulled my line into a snag and eventually broke me off. At the south end of the ships I had another strong tug, but it ended up being a 30" eel, my biggest ever! I took a peek around the outside of the ships and quickly said, no thank you, turned around and decided to head to the beach to see if any drum were still around.
Started off jigging gulp and it didn't take long before I hooked a nice sized drum, but unfortunately he quickly came off. I tryed jigging a little longer, but couldn't get another bite, so I decided to try bait. I dropped my tog rig baited with bluecrab and shrimp to the bottom, set it in the rod holder and began jigging. A few seconds later my rod was bowed up and I reeled in a strong 22" Red Drum. Repeated the same process a couple more times and even had a double with a fish on the jig and bait at the same time and somehow managed to land both. In total, I caught 6 drum with 4 of them around 22"-23" and the other two about 16"
Overall, most of the drum and tog bit the shrimp, and the vast majority of the catches on the bluecrab were Toads.
Sorry for the long read...
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