Janes Island, Md: First Annual Birthday extravaganza!, By Alexi

   

     Janes Island State Park, is pretty much at the southernmost point of Md. on what's known as the the DelMarVa peninsula on the Chesapeake bay.

We've been there before, and written about it extensively already on this blog.    (AND HERE)

So really what needs to be said that hasn't been said before?  This trip was different for a number of reasons:

       I love this place so much that I really wanted to share it's beauty and tranquility (once out in the creeks) with close friends and family.  And so it evolved into a kind-of birthday weekend camping extravaganza.  My Dad, my brother in law, his two sons, Steve and Janessa, my wife and my kid and my (dumb) dog were all showing up at different campsites at different times.  I arrived as host and guide with three kayaks strapped precariously to the top of my truck on Friday morning.

Home for three nights

 I fished Friday daytime before anyone arrived.  Between 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. I caught 24 fish.  Mostly short stripers, HOWEVER, I did get a few Spec's in the mix, one being a keeper but not very big,

and THE real treat, a 17" Redfish.

most northern red I've ever caught!

 That night Steve and Janessa showed up, we caught some fish and ate them at the fire.  Then Jon Ari Elias and my Dad all showed up and the party really started!



Another difference between this and past trips: I  looked at this trip as if I was somewhat of a guide, so the next morning I took my 11 year old nephew out on a real kayak fishing adventure "a la" fishing in the dark.

Ari at the Launch

 I set him up with a small jig head and a bass assassin and told him to troll it in my Prowler Ocean Kayak.

paddle paddle paddle

 It didn't take long before he was hooked up.

Ari hooked up!

We met up with Steve who wasn't too far ahead of us and fished through the hot afternoon.

breaktime for the team

Ari unhooking a fish

We really put Ari to the test paddling against the wind and the current in the final stretch, but he powered through it!

 We ate more fish and sat by the fire and had a great big feast that night.  We had exhausted Ari so much he fell asleep in the tent before dinner!


That night I took out John and my Dad.  They were in floaty boat  (the tandem.)  My dad had just turned 78.  Jon was generous with the paddling.  They trolled and caught some shorts.  I had hooked into a keeper on topwater. Then Jon noticed some action by a bank just around sunset.  He cast to it and was hooked into a VERY decent fish for that area.

Hooked up in floaty boat

It was a nice 25" Striper.  The biggest fish Jon has caught to date.  Not until afterwards did I remember that he was using an old fresh water reel I had that only had 8lb mono on it.  Luckily he tried legging it in as I had advised, and the line didn't break until they had control the fish.

The next morning (Sunday morning) everyone left and I was planning on having  relaxing Sunday evening/ possibly Monday morning solo fishing trips.

I sat and meditated on the clouds, and the tops of the trees, and bark of the trees.  I thought about what a wonderful weekend it had been, and how I was really ready to relax, when I got a text from Janessa  "Our truck broke down...."

SOOO they arrive back at my campsite in the back of a Police Cruiser...(HA)

That night we fished, but didn't get into anything but shorts.

We headed out the next morning to a specific grass flat on some advice/ rumors.  

I caught a very decent Spec, my biggest in this area, at 19".

19" spec

That's the end of my story, but there are other stories as well:  Someone always falls off their boat, someone eats too much candy, someone loses their phone and their sunglasses, someone has a pet Ferret, someone picks up a crab, and so on and so on until next year!

CBKA 2016, by Alexi

   

 I participated in the Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers tournament on Kent Island in Md. this past weekend.    The last time I did it was in 2013.  I had one plan; I was going to fish the Bay Bridge with live spot.  Bear in mind, this is a new type of fishing for me.

      I pre-fished Friday.

      I went to buy spot and a battery bait bucket at Anglers Sports Center across the bridge.  They didn't have Spot so I bought bloodworms to catch spot.


      I launched at Terrapin Beach Park just north of the bridge.  I would never do this again, or suggest to anyone that this is a good kayak launch.  It is really about a half mile or more walk with your kayak from the parking lot to the beach.  If I were to try to do this again I would go to Hemingway's restaurant early in the morning and launch right there, wether they like it or not.  (It's right at the bridge, and NOT a long walk!)

terrapin beach launch

I made it to the bridge in good time...

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

...and started fishing for spot.

Spot spot

Which were readily available mixed in with the Perch.

Striper Food

So I went to deeper water, towards the middle of the bridge to drift the Spot I had caught.

I didn't catch any Bass.



It was getting late, and I needed to go buy more bloodworms before the captains meeting, so drove across the bridge back to the Anglers Sports Center.  (They also had beer and chips.)

I had half of a plan and wasn't feeling too confident about it, but still, I had to stick to it.

camp

the next morning....

Sunglasses AND headlamp!  

I caught a bass on the troll on the way to the bridge.

troll bass

I caught a Perch while fishing for Spot.

Perch

And so, for the calcutta all I needed was to catch a Bluefish.  How hard can that be...

...well, they weren't around.  I think only 4 were caught the entire tournament.  I had decided I was going to wait to target blues until all of my 5 Spot were dead.  The last one didn't want to die, so it took a while.  The wind picked up, and I decided to start to troll a small bass assassin back to the camp hoping to snag a blue in the jaw.


I didn't catch a bluefish.  I didn't win anything in the raffle.  I did get a shirt, and I have a pretty solid new technique for targeting big bass in the bay.

Here's a link to the results:  Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers

Tournament headquarters.

A Quick Post on a Short Trip, by Alexi

     I had to buy a mount for my Humminbird 385ci so that I could use it on my Revo as well as my Ocean Kayak, so I went to the Kayak Fishing Store in N. Wildwood last week.   My plan was to fish through sunset on the flats in Jenkins Sound.   I Just missed the store hours, so I went to Sterling Harbor Bait and Tackle and got what I needed.

I had one very small bass lost at the side of the boat early on, on a bass assassin.  Sunset was nice:

sunset

my crate

Then nothing for a while.  It was slack high and a new moon so I figured all of the fish were up on the grass.   I went through some creeks but could not find the fish.  I was fishing ahead of last weekends storm, and the wind was beginning to pick up through the night.  I went on the troll with a weedless soft plastic across the flat.

always a short bass on the troll

the end