Meet Jamie Johnson, the lone ranger of striper fishing, at least on this trip. Jamie headed out of Rudee Inlet at dark-thirty all by his lonesome in search of striper he heard were tearing it up along the Virginia Beach coast. He did what he usually does when he has a crew of 3 or 4 anglers on board, he dropped back a couple stretches, and a couple umbrella rigs and motored along the beach looking for any birds that were working or any other signs of fish. It didn't take long when he got the biggest sign of all that fish were in the area - He had three rods go down at once. Now this would normally be a great thing but when you are by your self 3 big striper hook ups at once can be a bit much. Not for Jamie though - he fought those fish in one by one to the boat and ended up keeping 1 of the three which was a nice 38 incher. The rest of the day Jamie says he just trolled 1 rod and before he finished for the day he had another nice striper in the boat - a fat 37 incher this time.
Jamie is also a distinguished freshwater angler. When the saltwater fishing is slow Jamie just heads inland a few miles where he catches citation catfish. These aren't little catfish you may have caught as a kid but these catfish are huge.
Why don't we let Jamie's own words tell the story this time:
"Left the house at O dark thirty and arrived on destination zero right on time. A talking dash mounted GPS took us right to Jorden Point Boat Ramp where we meet Chris Eberwien who walks up and says "I am your guide for today". We leave the dock and "ditch" the peepers to get to the secret bait hole where we caught 14 big fat shad. We ran up river to the spot and anchored - 4 minutes after dropping anchor and getting the lines set out SLAM!!! we reel in a 26 pounder. Cast right back out and as I am shooting the breeze... BAMM, there goes my pole, I jump up and wrestle in my first citation of 2006, a sweet 31 pounder I give a big hug and kiss to right on the mouth.
Next a 28 pounder, but it goes citation with length at 39 inches. Round 1 = 3 fish and 2 citations. then wham!! A cute little 20 pounder. Now Jamies turn again - I fight a 16 pounder I put in the boat with no net. then Chris says " just smallies in this hole, let's move. So off we go to another spot on the James. Next spot we fish and second weight citation at 39 pounds! Round 2 = 6 fish and 3 citations. An hour before sunset we stop for round 3 and another citation at 32 pounds. We pull anchor and head for the boat ramp.
Mr. Eberwien put me and two buddies on citation catfish all day. Definitely a trip of a lifetime!
Jamie has caught citations this year for both freshwater and saltwater species - Something that's just not done everyday.
Great fishing Jamie! And congratulations on being FinTalk.com's Angler of the Month!
| 
