Piankatank-gadank!

On a Sunday, I chose to commune with God through nature and that meant a day of fishing with my good friend David and with the expert Captain Chris Newsome of Bay Fly Fishing and Light Tackle Charters (www.bayflyfishing.com).   

Chris picked us up at the Cobbs Creek Marina for a day on the Piankatank River.




The sunrise greeted us as we left the docks at 6:30 am.

First order of business was to catch some peanut bunker (menhaden) that Chris uses to confirm predator fish are in the vicinity and also to whip them into a feeding frenzy.  Hunting bait as the sun rises...

Bingo !

"Chesapeake Gold"

The first dock we pulled up to yielded many schoolie stripers.  They charged, wheeled around, and slashed at the live bunker looking for an escape route.  Sadistic? Probably.  But it was fun watching the bunker go airborne to escape the marauding stripers.  Those that headed into open water instead of the stripers' lair under the dock were hunted by hungry specks.

Here's one of the nicer stripers fooled by one of David's flies.

David "representin" the local TU Chapter...

In addition to the stripers, we caught one pretty speck, a flounder, and bluefish.  Then it was time to restock the pantry.  

A school of hapless menhaden...

Chris is an expert with the cast net.

A good haul...

 Dead man walking...

On to a new dock and more hungry schoolies.  David caught the nice bluefish.  

We were hoping to find some redfish and Chris did not disappoint.  For his size, this red fought like a bulldog!  

Telling us the fish were not leader shy, Chris had us using 20 lb. tippet so we could horse the fish out of the pilings.  Good advice!  I lost at least one nice fish as it took me in to the pilings and tore off the thick leader on a razor sharp barnacle or oyster.

The highlight of the day came right at the end.  Little blues and schoolie stripers were busting all over this flat as Chris kept the action going with flights of bunker.  Amid the dinks, David tied into this trophy speckled trout.  Due to its size, at first we thought it was a striper or large blue, but Chris knew better!  This pig filled up the net and some!

WOW!  What a great day.  Thank you David!  Thank you Captain Chris!  The beautiful clear waters of the Piankatank River were a welcome respite from the murky Lynnhaven River (as much as I love my home water).  

Quality fish, quality friends. Done.