Playing Pit Crew on a Holiday Weekend

Over the last ten years, I have literally put a half a million miles on my vehicles, including over 235,000 on my current one.  Going to dog shows everywhere east of the Mississippi and from New York to Florida almost every weekend during the warm months and field training with my dogs every weekend in Pennsylvania and Maryland during the cold months will do that.  In all of those travels, I had never blown a tire, that is until this past weekend on 64 eastbound as my family and I headed towards the peninsula for a morning of kayak fishing.

Needless to say, I was a little surprised, but I took it in stride and was fortunate enough to get my family off the road safely amidst the holiday traffic.  After a quick phone call to my awaiting friends letting them know I would be a tad late, I began assessing the best way to change the tire safely and quickly.  I took a mental inventory of my gear and deployed my son's milkcrate with my YakAttack VisiCarbon Pro safety light and a couple of custom SOLAS hi-visibility flags about 50 feet behind the vehicle and hung one of the VISICarbon Pro  accessory lights from the rear tailgate to provide some measure of safety.

After what I consider a reasonably fast tire change, we set off yet again only this time to find a quick stop to wash up before making our way towards our destination.  We finally arrived albeit an hour and a half later than planned, but nevertheless we made it.  My good friend Mark Lozier of 1st Landing Kayak Fishing Services was kind enough to bring a spare kayak and paddle for my wife to use on this outing.  After about 15 minutes of prep time, we were on the water and moving out of the Crab Creek launch to hopefully get on some fish for the remaining couple hours of the incoming tide.

After slowly drifting along the main stem, we veered left at one of the deeper confluences and worked our way around to the backside of one of the grass islands.  I had rigged up my wife and son with one of my Marsh Works 1/8oz jig heads and paired it with a Gulp! swimming mullet to increase their chances of getting on some fish today.  I started working the deeper cuts that run parallel to the grass islands, and it wasn't long before I felt the tell-tale bite of a redfish.  A short fight with a couple runs and a chunky little 12" red made it's way into the kayak.

A short while later, I hear my wife call out telling me she had a fish.  "What is it?" I asked only to be quickly quipped back at with "I don't know, it's a fish!".....I paddle over the shallow flat and noticed she had a rather surprisingly large Spot for that area - a healthy 7" one.  My son came over to see as well and decided it was more fun to play on the shallow flat instead.  (Bad angle on the photo, sorry.)

Here's a better shot of her fish......

A short while later, she had on what looked to be a 12-14" speckled trout when she held it up, but when she attempted to place the trout back in the water to let it breathe until I could come over to get a photo, it shook the hook loose.  We kept working the edges, current seams and deeper cuts separating the sandy flats and the grass islands, and I found a few more eager feeders.  The first was a slender 10" speckled trout......

......followed by a healthy 14" red........

.....a pinfish who had great expectations in life.......

....even had a croaker no larger than the pinfish but he was a little camera shy and was so small that holding him to get a photo for laughs was too difficult without risking injury to him, so he was let loose quickly.

As we drifted along and explored a few of the creeks that cut through the grass islands, we came upon one of my favorite spots in Lynnhaven.  It is a nice deep hole with two different creeks feeding into it creating a prime ambush point.  I drifted past the hole and maneuvered so that I was facing the current while pinned against the grass but still far enough out of the current flow to avoid being pushed off the spot.  I made my first cast past the hole and let the lure drift into the strike zone and was quickly rewarded with a hard take but the hook came unbuttoned.  I made another cast to the same spot and was rewarded with another solid bite, but this time I got a better hookset and quickly realized I had a larger fish on.  The hard runs left and right with some drag pullage were all the clues I needed to know I had a redfish on the end of the line, and he was not happy about it.  After a minute long fight, the battle was over and the largest fish of the day was boated - a 16 1/4" fat red.

My wife paddled over and snapped off a few photos as well, including a sweet photo of the blueish tint from the tail of the red.......

.....and a few "hero" shots of the large fish for the day.......

A great day on the water with the family - 10 fish total for me today......6 reds, 2 specks, a pinfish and a croaker.  The wife caught two - a spot and a speckled trout and lost several, and my son.....well let's just say we could have gone fishing for him as much as he spent in the water :).  When he wasn't in the water, he was more interested in showing off his skills standing in his kayak.....

I hope to be able to add another Hobie to the household soon, so that we can all get on the water more together.  Days like today are what makes family time so special......the time together, the experiences shared and add to that being out and about in nature.......

......no flat tire could ever quell or extinguish the feelings of pride and joy I had this past weekend as I shared time on the water with the family I love and try to provide for.

Tight lines, be safe!!