Pacemaker Fishing Forum

One Fish, Two Fish, Redfish, But no Bluefish!

Since I haven’t written a report for a while I deiced to write the novel below

Cliff notes:
Rudee
White gulp on white jigs (1/4 and 1/2 oz)
Raw shrimp!
2014 Redfish Goal achieved!

Went to VA Beach with a good friend, April 25-26, hoping to land some Redfish and possibly Tog if the winds cooperated. Redfish is my main 2014 goal and I really wanted to make that happen.

4/25

We reached Rudee around 2:30pm on Friday and got on the water around 3pm. We headed to the grass lines hoping to find the Reds. The winds were strong on Friday with the coming evening storm and it was tough to stay positioned. I left my anchor in the car and regretted it dearly. I was using raw shrimp on an 1/8 oz jig and then switched to a ¼ oz to try to feel the bottom. We didn’t have any bites and decided to go in the shallow channel thinking the fish might do the same to avoid the winds. On the way there I met a friendly yaker named T who had just limited out on Reds from the grass line we were trying. White gulp was the ticket, he said, and with the winds anchoring really helped him out. He had luck with a ½ oz white jig head. I didn’t bring any ½ oz with me thinking that it would be overkill for Rudee. But with the winds it was a little harder feeling the bottom with the ¼ oz I had. He kindly gave me one of his ½ oz jig and I went back to the ramp to get my anchor from the car.

Armed with new info and my anchor, I headed over to the grass lines again to try my luck. Of course mother nature had a different plan and the winds picked up considerably more. I never thought I’d see 1.5 ft wakes at Rudee but sure enough it got messy quick. My friend was able to get hooked up and landed a 21.75” and it was a nice one! But that was it for the day. With no bites after trying the shoreline for another hour, I decided to troll the shallow creek with paddle tails and a 1/8 oz jig. Three quarters of the way in, my rod starts to dance and to my disappointment I had a 14” striped bass. Well I guess I didn’t skunk!

We started to hear thunder sporadically and then became a little more consistent. Since lightning may have soon followed we decided to get off the water much to the disappointment to my headlamp and light rod. Night fishing was going to have to wait for another time…

The good luck of the day came with dinner. We found a nice little mom/pop restaurant named Cilantro Bangladeshi Bistro. I’ve never had Bengali food but do have a taste for Indian food, so we decided to try it and it was a great find! Not your typical run of the mill Indian food. This place had thought and passion for cooking and others seemed to agree with 4.5 stars from 75 reviews on Yelp. This will be my go to spot every time I go to VA Beach!

4/26

The winds were stronger Saturday than the day before, so Togging at CBBT was out. We decided to head back to Rudee around 7am. When we got on the water the local HOW chapter apparently had an event going on. 30+ Yakers were out that day. With that many people I was a little worried for my Redfish Goal.

Knowing that white gulp seemed to be the ticket the day before, I started off going opposite to where all the kayakers were headed. I found another shoreline where a single kayaker was hooking up. I anchored up down stream from him and after about 20 minutes he start to head out. We greeted and he asked if the limit was 2 or 3 for Reds. I told him 3 and he said well that’s good, I’m done for the day. He tells me White gulp on a ¼ oz white jig head was the ticket and points to where I should anchor up. I of course follow his advice but it seemed yet again that the bite stops as I get into position.

After working the grass line for about an hour, I decided to try to increase my chances and cast out raw shrimp on the side and let it soak as I continued to work the shoreline. 20 minutes later the dead stick starts to dance, and the raw shrimp produced my first keeper Red from a kayak at 20.75”!



Not sure if it was dumb luck or shrimp was the ticket, I decided to soak another shrimp in the same location. Another 30 minutes and I get another Red with the shrimp! A nice 21.75”



So it seems that Shrimp was working so I abandon working the shore and put shrimp on both rods to soak. In the next hour I had 2 hookups and both spit the hook 1 ft from the boat. I decided to move and started reeling in my shrimp slowly to avoid it coming apart. All of a sudden, fish on! This fish pulled so much drag and I fought it through a couple of long runs and all of a sudden it came off  and I let out a loud frustrated yell (sans profanity). It was soo close! Unabated, I soaked two more shrimp and waited for a long time as low tide had set it. I closed my eyes a bit and dozed off for a couple of minutes only to be awaken by screaming drag and I mean SCREAMING! This one felt stronger than the one I lost and my heart was pounding not to loose it again. I kept as much pressure as I could by keeping the rod tip up and not letting it drop. After about 4-5 loong runs I managed to land it at a new personal best of 24.75”! I can now go home I thought!



I set out to catch one Redfish to achieve my main 2014 goal and I limited out. Needless to say I was ecstatic!  Thinking about the Dr. Seuss’s title I smiled and decided to see if I could complete the line with a bluefish. I put on two crank baits and trolled the inlet to the bridge and back. Alas it wasn’t meant to be.

The moral of my story… always bring raw shrimp!