Cobia Fishing

There is usually reports of a Cobia being caught down in the lower Chesapeake bay area around Memorial day, and I am ready to once again try my hand at getting me one of these "Men in the Brown Suit" again this year. I have been going after them for the past 5 years but only one or two days at a year and that brings your chances of success down real low for a guy like me. There are a couple of ways to fish for these bad boys one is to anchor up, put out a chum bucket and or grind up some oily fish. Put out your baits in the tide and wait, changing bait every 10 min or so, or between beers if you want,this is some very slow fishing.
Now other people like to run to the many markers in the bay looking for fining Cobia in the slip of the marker and cast to them. This is a little more active than plan A above as you can imagine.
The next plan is to find someone who fishes for these fish on the regular and beg up a trip, which is my plan this year! Our friend the Web Foot Gangsta has informed me that he can hook us up with a trip with a man that collects Cobia citations like wall paper. I gotta run my ol lady is wanting me to cook!

Off road vehicle or VW thing?

I own a VW thing that I have had for some years now she runs good but is needing a carb now so I guess I gotta sell her or get her a new heart, she needs new shoes also now and her fuel supply is questionable, like everyone of us she is getting older. At 36 though she still is a sexy thing painted bright yellow she stands out in a crowd, but her seats are a little ragged but she keeps em covered with a fresh top. I am thinking of a Polaris Ranger side by side to use hunting as I get older it gets harder and harder to drag stuff around now, but the Thing is like a good hunting dog you just hate to lose her. I am going to work on her and get her some new fofraw, make her pretty and drive her this summer, I think she would like that, I know I would.

smoker pics

The shop project is coming along very well and I am most impressed with the enthusiasm that the boys have put into this project. In the course of progress there is the typical rework due to a design change, or brilliant ideal as is most often the case. This one is where we cut the hole for the heat to enter the smoking chamber from the bottom and now it comes from the front. taking advantage of the induced draft system we installed and dragging the heat under the meat as it passes thru the smoker itself.  Now we face the challenge of mounting it to the trailer the customer provided and getting it balanced, so that there is the necessary 50-75 lb tongue weight to keep it on the ball. AHHHH the old weight and balance except it doesn't fly!

Rock Fishing trip

The morning started at 4:30 am I am at the Web foot Gangstas house  getting a coffee and helping to get right before we head out for the morning. We are waiting on John Winn the turkey slayer and his Dad to arrive so we can travel together to the ramp. Finally everyone gets there and we get his boat hooked up, actually I just watched being a Veteran and all that. and off we go to the ramp with a stop for ice and another coffee okay doughnuts too. When we get to the ramp the sky is turning a rosy pink and the water is slick calm, in no time we are in the water. Now the gangsta has a Carolina skiff with a 25 fourstoke on the back and she is not fast but stable for the fishing we were doing. We get on point and I grab the hook throwing it out into the fast moving water we drift back and let it get a good bite. After it takes hold he kills the motor and in seconds we are baited up and in the bay with fresh bait on and positive mental attitudes. I do not want to get where I am going and have to rig up, I am ready when I cut the motor to get bait out and fish on! Within min. we had our first Rockfish, a 29 inch fatty that we quickly returned to the water we knew the bite was hot and practiced a little catch and release early on paying sacrifice to Poseidon with our return of the fish. In 5 min another fish on this one 20 inches perfect for baking in the oven and in the cooler, fish after fish followed and by 8 AM we had our limit of two fish each and had returned to the water seversal more that were too big or just over limit. Our friends moved into the slot and soon had their limit also, a few  hard heads thrown in for good measure made us have a great morning feed. having limited out for the day eqarly on left us lots of time to get a nap and clean the boat for our next trip out. That evening we returned and repeated the morning except this time we could not keep any rock fish having met our limit for the day early on, so we caught a few hardheads and a drum fish, a perch but no spot yet. Sun Am we went back out and got our limit of Rockfish again on the morning feed, knowing that we would have to fillet every fish we had caught in the past couple of days, we did not keep any hardheads or perch this trip out. Here are a couple of pics of the fish. keep in mind these fish are the combined efforts of several fishermen and not the total take from the Webfoot Gangsta and myself.

fishing in VA

Went fishing down in VA this weekend, Web foot gangsta invited some of us down for a guided fishing trip, 5 of us total. We fished two sessions over two days and all of us limited out on some really huge rockfish, We actually threw back many over the slot but none failed to meet the min. length. I will have pics soon. Keep in  mind that the pics show ALL the fish we caught, so don't go thinking we violated any game laws. Pics and story to follow this evening.

smoker is comming to the front

I have some pics of the smoker that the students are building for a customer. This project is keeping them VERY busy and focused here at the end of the year. It is also helping us stretch our budget as the customer is providing everything! This bad boy has got twin racks and a special air handling system that allows the heat to travel evenly down the entire length of the cooker keeping temps constant and helping to eliminate hot spots in the cooker. So far the customer has two events lined up and I am looking at June 11 as the turn over date wish us luck!

Where you been?

I have been away for away for a couple of weeks, my job gets very busy at this time of year and I love to Turkey hunt, so I have been slacking some here. But lets talk fishing for a min. Our friend the web foot gangsta lives like a stones throw from the Chesapeake bay proper and can fish the tunnels at Hampton Roads  or the bay bridge from his Carolina skiff, immediately after work, every night of the week the weather cooperates. He has been slaying bluefish rock and flounder on the regular using Yazorri plugs and the moving tide to his advantage. Fat bull minnows, spot. ells, squid strips in various combination have been effective. Soon I will have a report from the bay and sea side of the Eastern Shore of Virgina on the coming on hard heads and Flounder from Gargatha and Watchapregue. If you like fishing out of Kayaks check out this guy Kayak Kevin. I meet him once at the ramp down at the Kiptopeake state park in lower Virgina and he is one extreme fisherman and extremely successful for a variety of reasons, Google Kevin up and see what I mean. Tomorrow morning is ground hog time!

You kill it then you grill it!!

Here is a picture of a new smoker My students and I are building. They have about 15 school days left to finish it and all of them are working hard building it. I will keep you posted on it's progress. I can taste the bbq ribs and briskets now!!!

Turkey hunt

That rascle John Winn scored a nice turkey this season. He had gobblers all over him and his dad Danny Winn one the second Saturday. John loves to hunt and his Dad is a willing participant slaying many deer and fish, along with geese and turkey! In fact these guys slay more geese than anyone I know of, and are not shy to harvest a duck or two. John is an apprentice working on Nuclear powered aircraft carriers and is a leader in his class. Of course he also took second in the nation in the SKILLS welding competition last year. I am very proud of him  as you can see. So far I am without birds and am scratching my head as to why, They were just everywhere this winter on my property. I am seeing one fox on the regular, but I don't think he is hitting them that hard, maybe the Eagles are doing them in. I have, seen more deer than I have in a long time, and the old doe and monster buck made it through the winter. This will be the last year for them I am sure.