Great Day on the Bay

I had a great day fishing with Mark Moreland, his step son Connor, son Mathew, his girlfriend Loren, Nephew Hunter and Brother Michael today.  Mathew is an active duty Marine and is set to be deployed to Japan for the next four years, and his Dad wanted to take this opportunity to spend the day fishing with his family.  I was honored that they decided to make the trip with me.
Unfortunately I hadn't fished since last week so I didn't have a solid game plan in place.  When we got out in the bay, the weather looked a little questionable, but within a couple hours it cleared up and turned into a beautiful day.

We stopped and looked at a few places that have produced fish over the past couple weeks, but they didn't show many signs of life, so we went out a little further to a spot that has produced fish for me in the past.  When we got set up we started catching nice size bluefish quickly, but pretty soon we hooked into something much larger.

After a long fight on light tackle, we finally got the fish to the boat and we saw that we had snagged a cobia.  This fish was followed by three more.  This type of action is not normally seen this far north in the Chesapeake bay, but thankfully the stars aligned and gave us a great opportunity.  The rest of the day was much the same in that we caught and released many fish all day long, and managed to take a good number home with us.  

Thank you for fishing with Nathan and I today Mark!  I had a great time, and I hope you did as well.  I can't wait to do it again soon!

Royal Pains

So, Dawn and the boys gave me Apple TV for Father's Day (thank you again!).  I was watching past episodes of the TV series Royal Pains on Netflix this evening after work, and take a look at what I saw.

As it turns out, the ONE DAY (now TREE SONS) was used in the episode Hank and the Deep Blue Sea while she was in Montauk, NY.  Pretty neat I think.

Come fish on the 39 Tiffany Yacht, Three Sons as seen on the TV series Royal Pains!

McCubbins Trip

My Mate Nathan & I had the opportunity to fish with Ralph McCubbins and 3 of his friends over the past two days.  Saturday was a particularly tough day dealing with 20 knots of northerly wind and 3'-4' seas.  We ran out to an artificial reef early, and while the conditions deteriorated, we managed to land a dozen or so rock fish.  When conditions got bad enough that we could no longer fish we headed into the river and finished the day bottom fishing.  Sunday morning we went back to the same spot that we started in yesterday, but conditions were much better this time.  Shortly after we got set up we started catching fish, and we managed to throw a few in the fish box to take home.

When the tide dropped out, the striped bass quit biting, but at the same time, large schools of menhaden popped up all around us.  Within a few minutes, the unmistakeable "whips" of bluefish appeared also.

We managed to make a few passes through these huge schools of bait and pick up several blues before the group requested that we go back to our bottom fishing spot where we finished our day. 

Unfortunately, today marks the end of Virginia's Striped Bass season, however all signs point to a good upcoming summer season of catching bluefish, Spanish mackerel and striped bass in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay.

Thank you guys for a good weekend of fishing!  We look forward to doing it again!

Fields Trip

I had the opportunity to fish with Charles Fields and his crew from Luray, Va on Friday.  The day started out a little rough, but as the day went on, the wind calmed down and turned out beautiful.

We had to try a few areas before we found what we were looking for, but once we found the right spot, the bass really turned on for us.
Thanks for making the trip with us guys!  I look forward to fishing with you next year.

Article Published in the Fredericksburg Freelance Star

http://www.freelancestar.com/2014-05-25/articles/36864/fishing-derby-ends-with-record-catch/

This was published in the Fredericksburg Freelance Star recently.  This article pertains to the decision to end the Reedville Fishing Derby after 31 years.  Our Fishing Derby sure did have a good run, and I really hate to see it end.  Hopefully, another group will pick up where the Smith Point Sea Rescue left off and make it a success again. 

Seigler Trip

On Friday, Terry Seigler and his group fished with my Mate, Nathan and I.  When we left the dock, we had a strong NW wind, but the area that I planned to fish was pretty well protected.  On the way out we had massive and numerous waves, but as we got closer to where we were going it calmed down, and by 10:00 it was nearly calm.
After running for 1.5 hours we got our trolling spread out, and quickly found the fish.  We caught a lot of fish, and had to send a many back because they were undersize, but we did manage to take home a limit of  Striped Bass between 18" and 25".
Thank you guys for coming down to fish with us!  I look forward to doing it again soon.

One To Check Off Of My Bucket List

It has taken me a couple days to wrap my head around everything that has happened over the past few days.  Ever since I was a young man, I have dreamed of winning the Annual Fishing Derby that is held in Reedville every spring.

 

The Reedville Fishing Derby is the the longest running fishing tournament held in Virginia, in fact, 2014 was the 31st time that the tournament was held.  In its heyday, the tournament was limited to 500 boats, and I understand that the sponsor, Smith Point Sea Rescue had a waiting list for boats to enter.  Back then, the Chesapeake Bay was FULL of BIG Bluefish and this tournament was focused strictly on that species.  Unfortunately, in the late 80's the large Bluefish that we had been used to catching, did not migrate up into the bay, and as a result, this tournament added Striped Bass and Croaker prizes to their list.  This was an event that everyone looked forward to all year, and during the weekend that this tournament was held, the small town of Reedville swelled to the point that there were traffic jams on Main Street. Recently, this tournament has taken on different characteristics in that it is now strictly a Striped Bass tournament, and held in May rather than June. In addition, the number of boats that participate has shrunken significantly, this year there were fewer than 50 boats participating. I'm hopeful the Smith Point Sea Rescue can breathe new life into this tournament and bring it back to its former glory.

 

My Father, Capt. Fred Biddlecomb has fished in this tournament every year with the exception of 2013and 2014.  During his long history of fishing this tournament, one thing has remained constant every year for my Dad, and that is that our family friend Jerry Moreland, his family and friends have fished with him. Unfortunately, we lost Jerry several years ago, but his sons and grandsons have kept the tradition of fishing this tournament alive.  This year, Michael and Jerry Moreland  Jr., their sons, Cody and Hunter, and two other friends, David Sisk and Scott Arbogast, fished the tournament with me on my new boat, Three Sons and started a new family tradition.

 

 On Friday morning, we headed out early, ran for about 1.5 hours and found some good looking bait and a few nice looking marks which I was pretty sure were Rockfish.

 

 

 

My Mate Joe Lucas and I got our spread out as fast as we could, with the exception of a couple planer board malfunctions, we had a good looking spread. Within 30 minutes we landed a 42" bass which was good enough for the second place youth award for Hunter. 

 

 

Unfortunately, the rest of the day was spent straining water looking for a follow up fish, but no such luck.

 

 

Saturday morning, I ran to another location based on some fishing reports that I got Friday evening.  On my way there, I ran into some of the best looking marks that I have seen in the past 12 months, and with the exception of one other boat, I had it all to myself.  Again, Joe & I got our spread out, without the planer board issues that we had on Friday.  In short order, we had 3 bites and managed to land one fish.

 

 

  Within an hour, I made another pass through the same area and we hooked up again.  This time, Cody was up for battle.  This was a LARGE fish based on the fight that it put up, however, it came unhooked before we could get the net under it.  I made another pass through the area when all the sudden, one of the rods went down in a BIG way!  David grabbed the rod & the battle was on.  After nearly 20 minutes of give and take, I finally got my hands on the leader and brought the fish up to the surface.  When that fish came into view, I could tell that we had an exceptional fish on our hands.  Joe got the net under the fish, and it took both of us to get her into the boat. 

 

 

Once in the boat we attempted to measure the fish, but it was longer than my measuring tape, so we estimated the length to be around 49".  With that fish in the box we covered some different water and managed to get 2 more bites and land one more fish. 

 

 

Knowing that we had a contender for the tournament, we packed up at 1:30 and headed to Reedville where we were to weigh in.

 

 

 

 

When we got to the dock, we sent the fish up to the weigh station where the officials recorded the official length and weight which turned out to be 50.5" and 49.25 lbs.,a full 4 pounds ahead of the next largest fish. Needless to say, we were all more than happy with the results!
*(view more pictures from this trip and like our facebook page here: www.facebook.com/southertideguideservice )

 

 

As of 6:00 Sat evening, there were no other fish weighed in that were larger than ours, and it was official!  I had finally won the Reedville Fishing Derby with the largest Striped Bass that has ever been weighed during the 31 year history of that tournament!  Needless to say, I have been on cloud 9 ever since. 

 

I really appreciate all of the calls, emails and texts that I have received over the past couple days offering me congratulations.  They mean more than any of you will ever know.

As I mentioned, this whole tradition started with my dad and Jerry Moreland MANY moons ago.  Jerry is gone now, but I know that he was with us that day, and my father Captain Fred Biddlecomb has been nothing but supportive of my new endeavor.  I would like to dedicate this tournament win to them.