Tupperware Navy

We've got the Kayak Fishing Symposium here in VB this weekend. My club, the Tidewater Kayak Angler's Assoc (TKAA) is sponsoring it. I'm presenting a seminar on Cold Weather Gear today. So needless to say I've got kayaking on the brain--my wife would tell you this is not uncommon.

I thought I'd try to post some pictures:

I mentioned a beehive in the last entry. This is what one looks like. The disturbance in the water are menhaden, a bait fish about the size of your hand. They're forced to the surface by striped bass ( aka striper or rockfish) who feed in schools from underneath. The birds take advantage of chunks of menhaden that float to the surface and any fish small enough to carry. This beehive extended about two miles and maybe 200 feet in the air--thousands upon thousands of birds.


This is me that same day. The fish I'm holding was about 34 1/2 inches. It had a sore from a bacterial infection on his tail and I wasn't wearing gloves, so it's in my lap instead of up in the air. This is the biggest fish I've ever landed.


This is Cory, the guy who got me into kayakfishing. He was my roommate for a while right out of college, and I stumbled back across him while reading some fishing webboards about two years ago. I bought a kayak six weeks later. This was taken off of Kiptopeke on the Eastern Shore of VA about a month ago. His fish is 43 inches, I believe.

This is Aaron, also a member of TKAA. I don't know him well at all, but that is just a hog of a fish. The structures behind him are the Concrete Ships at Kiptopeke. They were cargo vessels in World War One (I think), and after they outlived their usefulness they used them as breakwaters for a new pier and boat ramp they were building. As they deteriorate, the hulls break into huge chunks, creating passageways and protection that fish just love.



All these fish were released; mine because of the infection (I'm not eating a sick fish), the others because the season was closed. Cory took all the pictures except the one he's in, I guess.