Any weekend where you can go fishing is a good weekend. Catching fish is a bonus, and going more than once is wonderful. The weekend of August 9-11 was a wonderful weekend of fishing for me.
None of the trips were big fish catching days, but all were good. It started on Friday when I had to wait on my wife to get done with work because she was working late. So I hit up Newman Lake since it is on campus. Unfortunately, no fish were caught that day, but I had a ton of bites and even two hookups that spit it at the bank. It was frustrating, but how can you complain about fishing on a Friday afternoon? It was our last half-day Friday of the summer, but that didn’t get me down.
The next morning, I got up bright and early to go fishing and hit up the topwater bite. I pulled out the old Whopper Plopper at Lake Shenandoah. Second cast of the morning, I had a decent little largemouth at 1-7 smash it. I kept fishing for a while after that, but there was no luck for me and I had to call the day a bit early. I can’t remember what had to be done, but I know I had errands to do.
The next day, Sunday, was the big fishing day for me. My wife was putting in some extra hours at work, so I dropped her off and hit the lake. I was taking out a kayak for the day, and I was excited because I had recently acquired the Plano kayak soft crate thing. So this was my first time out with my new set up.
I have to say, this set up is phenomenal. Not only does it hold all the tackle I may need, plus some, it also holds three rods in place. Combined with the two rod holders built into the kayak itself, it leaves only one rod not locked in. This is absolutely fine, though, because this is the highest number of rods I would plan to take on the water and so it works out well. If need be, I can attach three more rod holders to the back, which may happen some day.
This fishing trip only produced one fish, but I spent a ton of time on the water. Too much time, in fact. I hadn’t brought anything with me to eat while out on the water. By the time I rounded by the dam and started on that bank, I was feeling very weak and needed to head in.
You can see from the map that I was trying to work the bank, but I just couldn’t do it. Combined with a lack of fish since pulling out the first one, my energy was waning. So I went to shore and the owner of Bait, Boats and Bobbers was gracious enough to supply me with an ice cream sandwich and a Gatorade. This sugar boost gave me enough energy to empty the yak and make my way down the road. I ended up with a hot dog or two from 7-Eleven to get some protein in my belly and a mental note to always have something to snack on while on the water.
Because my wife was still working away, I went over to Newman Lake. The fish weren’t biting the greatest, but as usual the swim jig got the job done for me.
I had some other bites, but the fishing was just slow for the most part. I made my way back to the car and went to pick up my wife shortly after this picture was taken.
Overall, you can’t complain too much about a weekend with this much fishing involved. Any time you don’t get skunked, that is a successful fishing trip. And if I’m being honest, when I get bites I am happy, as well, because that means that what I was doing was getting attention from the fish. That means I am learning more about their behavior.
Shenandoah Angling 