Farewell Tarpon Springs, FL

This post is backdated to Dec 2013. I finally got the photos from a trip I made last year with a colleague. I was lucky to get out on David's flats boat for some inshore bay fishing.

We didn't even make it out of the canal before the action started. We stopped at a nice eddy pool right off the canal on our way out to the bay and I landed a small amberjack on my first cast. We landed 20 or so before moving on to the open bay including a few David landed on his fly rod.

We buzzed around targeting islands and oyster bars in search of redfish and trout. We found both.





As the sun was setting we rolled back into the canal and starting fishing the narrow islands just off the canal hoping the jack were still around. The bite was on fire. Those jack were like piranhas! We were catching them on almost every cast, often two at a time on topwater plugs. We each caught 30 or so in 45 minutes. David even caught a few on a topwater popper using his flyrod.





It was nearly pitch black before we docked the boat and went for a bite to eat. It was a fond farewell at the end of my temporary professional stint in Tarpon Springs. Until next time Florida!

Crappie Day

My son and I got out on a local flow today in search of dinner. I was a little concerned it would be too chilly for him, but the weather was absolutely awesome. In fact, he had to lose the sweatshirt around noon. Water temp was 53 to start and 57 when we left.



We launched around 10 am. Things started slow as we made our way through the seas of leaves. My son's rod got hit first trolling a big white curly tail. This was the only largemouth caught and was the best fish of the day.   I think he enjoyed the fight :)



We passed one spot off the main channel and all the rods got hit. We fished this area for a few hours and caught about 10 crappie and 2 nice gills. All crappie were caught on 1" chartreuse flake curly tail jigs with 1/4 oz white heads.




We kept 5 of the larger crappie and both gills. They all found hot peanut oil that night. My 2 yr old daughter also enjoyed the fish.

The Mohawk performed very well.  This was also my fish attempt at using sonar in the canoe.  I'll showcase that gear on a later post.  Now, if I can just get back out on the water by year end. 

River with Many Bends

My family has been driving up to the Frederick, MD area for the last 8 years to visit with my wife's family.  Over the last few, I've started taking fishing tackle and canoes to explore the areas rivers and creeks.  With healthy populations of smallmouth, it reminds me of my childhood trips on the James river with my father, while visiting his in-laws.  My son isn't quite ready for these flows, but within a few years, I'll be taking my best fishing bud along during these trips.

The Potomac river runs in a southerly direction from Harper's Ferry just west of Frederick with several nice tributaries just to the east, even closer to Frederick.  One of the largest tributaries, the Monocacy, has proven to be a great river for both fishing and scenery.  With headwaters originating in Gettysburg, PA, just ~40 miles to the north, I classify the Monocacy as a "medium flow".  However, it can often surge to ~20,000 cfs in periods of heavy rain!  Normal summer/fall lows are near 150-300 cfs, making for slow-to-medium paced floats and minimal portages or dragging. 

The name Monocacy originates from an indian name for "river with many bends".  This flow cuts through rolling hills of farmland with small mountains in the distance.  The lower sections of the river are peppered with rock outcroppings and various hardwoods.  The bottom is a mix of granite boulders and sandy river pebble bottom.  Despite the infrequent developed land near the banks and urban settings nearby, wildlife is plentiful, and humans are not.  I often see no one on these floats, something I cherish in a canoe outing. 

Access is very good.  A managed paddle trail extends some 40 miles above the confluence with the Potomac with boat ramps and established canoe launches along the way.  See more here -->  http://md-frederickcounty.civicplus.com/documents/7/229/Monocacy%20River%20Water%20Trail%20Map%20%20Guide.pdf

Smallmouth fishing is good, not exceptional.  Depending on conditions, my numbers are decent, typically averaging 2-4 fish every hour.  I've caught a few good sized fish (14+") in this flow, but nothing like the warmer, larger, and more fertile foothills flows of NC or SC.  One big plus is that the state of Maryland manages the Monocacy as a catch and release fishery for black bass year round from Buckeystown dam down to the Potomac.  I usually fish the lower stretches, but want to explore further upstream.  I've read there are musky in this flow, a fish I've yet to catch.

This weekend we're on our annual fall trip to the area, visiting with family and catching a fall festival with the kids.  Weather has been overcast and upper 60s.  Leaves are turning and dropping.  Colder weather is moving in with nights in the low 40s. 

Yesterday I floated from MD 80 to Mouth of Monocacy (access points 16 and 20 on the map, almost 10 miles).  River flow was just under 500 cfs, which is about twice my preference.  The river hit flood stage about 1 week prior and has just settled down to a reasonable fishable flow.  Water conditions were murky (stained) for this flow, with visibility around 2-2.5'.  Water temps were 62-64 deg F.

I launched at 8:30 am and reached my takeout at 3:45 pm, even with an upstream breeze most of the day and a few brief stops to stretch and/or fish a particular area.

On this trip, the smallmouth were only caught in areas of swift water.  They were scattered and active, yet very hesitant.  Over the course of the day, I tried many lures to zero in on their preferences.  In the end, a jerk-pause presentation of the rapala x-rap in a orange/black color caught the most fish.  I also landed fish on the following: torpedo, rebel craw, fluke jr, white curly tail, yellow curly tail, black spinnerbait, cordell spot.  Often, I'd see the fish chasing the lure and turning away near the boat.  The x-rap seemed to entice the bite more than any other. 

No big smallmouth on this trip.  The surprise today was hooking and landing the biggest creek chub I've ever caught.  Normally, they are good fighters, but this one was a slouch.  I saw lots of wildlife on this trip, including: a pair of female turkeys, muskrat, a large buck (8 or 10 pointer), a few does like the one pictured, probably 50 wood ducks, herons, and a hawk that was munching on a large red tailed squirrel up in a sycamore overhanging the river. 

This was a very relaxing trip and a great way to spend a vacation day.  Folks reading this may think I'm trying to avoid my mother-in-law, but I assure you that's not the case.  She's happy to entertain the kiddos with my wife, while I spend time alone on the water.  Plus, there's always a good meal waiting when I return.  Can't beat that!

Mohawk 16 - Rod Stage & Holders

I had some scrap cedar leftover from a planter project a few years ago.  I've been saving the pieces specifically for this type of thing.  Along with the cedar, I had some 1-1/4" PVC in the garage as well, which is a great fit for the rod butts when making holders. 

I stacked, glued, and screwed the scrap cedar and drilled/coped a spot for the PVC to mount.  I notched the mount area to angle the PVC outboard a bit.  This should help with trolling by keeping the lines off the rear of the canoe yet not interfere with paddling (similar to a kayak flush mount). With a good sanding, coat of poly, and a few wood screws; these puppies are good to go!





The front thwart is also scrap cedar.  The RAM mount holders were a Christmas gift from last year. 
Again, a good sanding, coat of poly, and a few screws later ... I have an area to stage rods and two holders up front. 





Technically, I could troll 4 rods at the same time, but that gets a little messy when landing a decent fish or turning around to deal with a snag.

All the parts and fasteners were laying around, so this little project involved no trips to the hardware store and no cost, other than my time.

Next up is a simple anchor setup.  Stay tuned ...

Spreadin' the Love

It's such a joy to witness a father passing on a love for the outdoors, particularly when the child has an exceptional day. 

 

Fished Sunday with Steve and his son Nathaniel, age 9.  I arrived at daybreak and got a few hours in before they showed up. Water temp was 68 F to start.  Around 8 am I found this hawg in 6" of water on the bank with my black buzzbait. I saw the fish move as soon as my lure hit the water, ~6 lbs on the grips. Great way to start the day. I landed several small bass trolling a blue x-rap as well as a few decent crappie. 

 

 

 

Nathaniel was eager to out-do me and he scored big with 2 bass pushing 5 lbs, both caught on a jitterbug.  Here's one ... 

 

 

After noon, Steve and I both landed 5 or so each to finish out the day. I got a few on a balsa Rapala SSR 6 (silver/black, floating, shallow runner) including this guy, Steve's were on a buzzbait. 

 

Other highlights included more small bass, blow-up missed strikes from large river bass, as well as a very aggressive pickerel that slammed my swimbait like a freight train. It went airborne twice and ultimately shook the hook. 

We pulled out the canoes around 3 pm. All in all, a great day on the water. Beautiful weather and big bass. I'm pretty confident that Nathaniel will be asking for a return trip, and I'll be buying a few jitterbugs! 

Mohawk 16 RX Test Run

 

I got my son up at 6 am to get out on a local flow for a 1/2 day in the recently modified Mohawk tandem.

The canoe performed well and is a very stable platform for the two of us. It's also not so heavy that I can't handle it myself. Bought used and slightly modified, it's also under 1/3 the cost of a new fishing kayak.  With superb stability and a few additional features, the Mohawk will also likely become my winter trawler.

We launched around 7:30 or so with clear skies and clear water. Things started a little slow. I was throwing a weightless super fluke in albino color and couldn't buy a bite in the first 30 min. We hit a little honey hole and I switched over to a Zoom clear/flake fat albert grub with a gammy jig head. I proceeded to land 4 crappie in 10 minutes and my son picked up a nice gill on an earth worm.



We made our way downstream and I landed several bass on the fluke, grub, and black buzzbait. I also caught 3 bullhead catfish on the Zoom grub, all within 100 yards or so on the same bank.

Got a few more crappie on the way back as well as a few more bass. My son brought in this small bass near the end of the day. I still have to cast for him to get it in the right place, but he does fairly well after that. I'm just stoked that he likes to go!





I think I missed 5 pickerel, one was absolutely huge, just missing my buzzbait about 10' from the canoe. I had another ~3 lber hooked with the buzzer and he came off near the boat. Landing a pickerel today just wasn't in the cards.

Lastly, nothing like a cool dip when the sun is high. He jumped in twice to cool off.


 4 nice crappie and 3 bullheads came home with us and the crappie have already been consumed

Mohawk 16 RX

I picked up a lightly used royalex Mohawk 16' tandem this spring in hopes of making it a good tandem fishing platform for my son and me.  This is how I bought it ...

Although this canoe appeared to be setup for whitewater, it has very little rocker and had cane seat back kits installed.  The cane on the backs is in great shape, but on the seats themselves the cane was brittle and cracking, in need of repair.  There are relatively minor scratches on the bottom, with light wear on the keel front and rear.  A previous owner had also glued in closed cell foam in front of each stock seat, I presume for comfortable kneeling. 

Well, the foam was separating from the bottom and harboring various pests, including roaches.  I've removed the front as it was in worse shape, but now I'm left with this sticky residue.  More on that later. 

My objectives:

1. Install a center seat, preferably with an integrated yoke so I can still comfortably carry it on my shoulders for short distances.
2. Remove the cane seat back kits and sell them, recouping some of my investment
3. Fix the stock seats
4. Add a rod rack and possibly some rod holders for trolling
5. Figure out a convenient anchor arrangement
6. Take my son fishing in it!

Today, I finished up the seat install/refurb with positive results.  My brother made a center seat frame out of reclaimed oak, but it was a little heavy.  I trimmed it down and cut in the carrying yoke.  After sanding and test fitting, I hit it with a coat of poly.  I intended to strap all the seats with nylon webbing.  I bought 50 yards of 1" webbing from an online store for $30 shipped, enough to do 4 seats.  Basically, you staple one side, pull tight, staple other end, trim, and melt the frays with a lighter.  I used a basic bostitch T50 stapler with 5/16" staples.  I also cut out the old cane, sanded, poly'd, and strapped up the stockers.  They all turned out well.

The front cross-member of the center seat is in the stock yoke location, dead center.  With me just aft of center, this arrangement gives me enough room to reach my son, yet he's still far enough forward to avoid snagging me when he casts.  Also, the stock width was 35" at the gunwales (pronounced "gunnels").  I pinched it together slightly to 33.5" to allow better clearance for paddling with a kayak paddle.

This configuration should also be fairly well balanced, I suppose trimmed is a better term, so paddling is efficient and we're not weather cocking in windy conditions, something I despise when trying to fish in a canoe.  The third seat will also allow taking my daughter when she's old enough to tag along. 

Next up will be installing a rod rack and holders.  I have a few ideas on how best to do that with limited weight.  Looking forward to getting out in this boat, particularly this winter to troll for crappie.

New Friends, Good Float

I met Ken at a meet and greet last spring and was enthralled by his knowledge of the upper Tar and Neuse basin flows as we chatted by a campfire.  We've been trading messages for weeks planning to fish a small flow just outside the triangle during a trip back to his native lands. However, the targeted river wasn't in such great shape due to recent rains. We began discussing a float I'd done several times, that Ken had never seen. I think I got him siked up with visions of striped bass on a fly rod, so he agreed to try my plan instead.

The target was largemouth and striper. Ken, his 11 yr old son, and I launched on this large flow around 8 am in very nice ambient temps. High pressure was moving in, as well as some decent winds, but we made the most of it. Even though I encouraged Ken to take a spinning rod, Ken stuck to his guns and fly fished all day.

My 2nd fish of the day was my personal best striper taken on a Bomber walkie talkie (low pitch) in a gold/black color. Not sure if Bomber makes these anymore, but you can get them online.  These spook type lures are intended for saltwater, large, and a tad heavy (1 oz). I can chuck them a mile with my abu 4600 baitcaster. This bruiser (8 lbs) exploded on the lure after just two twitches, and it was on! Great fight.



A little later, Ken's son hooked a nice largemouth on a torpedo, only to have the line come unraveled. 30 seconds later, that same bass jumped and shook the lure out of it's mouth! I'd never seen this before. Since the torpedo is a floater, I quickly scooped it up and tied it back on for him. Ken's son had a few other strikes here and there, but couldn't put one in the boat. He did, however, manage all the rapids with considerable skill and ease. You can definitely tell Ken has trained him well on the NC footfills flows surrounding his current hometown of Elkin.

Ken landed several nice redbreast and a few small largemouth on the long rod as we made our way into some nice shoals. I was burning a black buzzbait over the swift/shallow water and hooked up with this healthy 4 pounder. It also put up a great fight.



After lunch, I stuck with the buzzer and landed several scrappy river largemouth, mostly in swift water eddies and shoals. This river has a fair amount of thick heavy grass in the summer, creating current breaks and terrific hiding places for fish. With so many places to hide, you can virtually catch them all over the river. Here are a few, there's Ken in the background ...




Ken did let me give fly fishing a go. I quickly learned that fly fishing from a canoe/kayak, particularly in swift water, is very difficult. I did land this colorful redbreast on a popping bug. I was contemplating a fly rod purchase prior to this trip ... I think I'll put that on the back burner, at least for now.



The weather was exceptional on this trip.  Cooler nights have arrived and great fall fishing is just around the corner.