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Fishing the Light Line

Freshwater saltwater Lakes, Ponds, Rivers, Streams talk about the ones that got away. Show us the ones that didn't.
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BrokenolMarine
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Fishing the Light Line

Post by BrokenolMarine » Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:29 pm

If you hunger for adventure, there is one that is waiting in the Tidewater Area of Virginia. It waits year round, and they call it "Fishing the Light Line" You can do it from a power boat, but real men and women call that cheating. Those with "brass ones" do it, from Kayaks. The Light Line is the shadow line cast by the lights from the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, and you launch from the parking lot at the far end of the bridge. There is a paddle of about a mile involved to paddle around the point, and then, there in all it's glory, is the bridge itself, and you fish for Striper, Bluefish, flounder, and ... whatever else bites. :P

Back in the old days, when I still got around without too much pain, I'd load the kayaks on the little trailer and make the drive down quite often to fish the bridge, and often take friends down for their first trip... act as a guide so to speak. It was worth it. The pay off came in the look on their faces when they turned the corner at the point and saw the bridge at night, and when they saw the torpedo shapes of the big striper ambushing bait fish from the shadows into the light under the bride. On a good night, we'd hit 'em hard. On a slow night, we'd still catch blues all night long. In the kayaks you could get right under the bridge, the $50,000 power boats would never get that close. :P

We were safe, we dressed for the weather, and made sure we could be seen. Here is a shot of my kayak as I was approaching the bridge one summer night. Note the SOLAS tape reflecting, the lantern marking my kayak, and the Life Jacket, we didn't take chances. We also had strobes and radios.
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Here is a shot of my buddy in my wake, we never fished the line alone either. A risk I never took. You can see the lights of the bridge in the background.
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Here is a picture of the view.... I never got used to the AWE as you turned the corner.
me three.jpg
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I took Miss Tina down one night to fish the line and she hooked a monster. It started dragging her Hobie Backwards. I could see the concern on her face... actual fear she would capsize... :o Pedal, I yelled to her! Pedal. She started to pedal and then SHE was in charge. Turn to the bank. She took control then, she rarely loses control, but it was 2am, dark, and she was unfamiliar with the environment. She got the kayak to the beach beside the bridge and I hopped out and took a pic of her Striper... a good one.
Tinas striper crop.jpg
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** if you had to guess, would you say it was COLD that night? :lol:

She had a handle on the process then, and enjoyed the rest of the night... but it was the last time she went. The current under the bridge, and the various aspects you have to deal with were not for her. She'll night fish on the lakes... but passes on the ocean at night.

I took a young firefighter down one weekend, and had explained the game to him. You cast back up into the current and reel slowly back. If we are lucky I said, You might see a big striper jump clean out of the water chasing a bait fish. About the time I said Jump... a two foot striper nearly jumped into Scott's kayak. I thought he would fall out of his kayak trying to get his rod out of the rodholder behind his seat.

Calm Down Son, I told him. We have all night. I was laughing so hard, I nearly fell out of my kayak. We caught about 30 fish each that night, before we got tired and headed back to the Richmond area. We both had commitments for the rest of the weekend. The funny thing is the young firefighter called me later in the week and share a quip. His LT had been down fishing that weekend as well and whining that he had spent about $400 for the weekend and caught three fish. We spent about $25 on gas and snacks and caught more than 60 between us, Catch and release.

His LT said they spent $100 on the hotel, $150 on fuel for his boat, and the rest on bait, and goodies for the trip, bait and extras.
Jim's Subaru gets great Gas Mileage, and we spent $10 on a couple burger deals at Hardees. We took snacks from home and the kayaks don't need fuel.

and you caught 60 Fish in three hours.... between the two of you.
Yup, most were schoolies... (12 to 18 inches) ... but there were some good ones... I have pics.
Big Cold Weather Striper.jpg
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His LT didn't talk about fishing for about two weeks.

Real Adventure? Kiptopeake Cows... stripers 40 to 50 inches long in the dead of winter... caught by fishing the concrete ships... but that's another story. (seriously... ;) )
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clovishound
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Re: Fishing the Light Line

Post by clovishound » Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:01 pm

I've wanted to kayak for a while. Never wanted to bad enough to spend the time or money to start yet another hobby. I've spent a lot of time on top of, and on the bottom of most of the rivers and creeks around here, and know a lot of beautiful places to yak.

Maybe one of these days.
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BrokenolMarine
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It's a blast.

Post by BrokenolMarine » Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:15 pm

If you have a bad fishing day, it's still a great day of kayaking...
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Stuckeysflat
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Re: Fishing the Light Line

Post by Stuckeysflat » Sun Nov 26, 2017 9:43 pm

Good stuff. I spent a bunch of years fishing the light line at Kent Narrows about 100 miles north of you, especially in the spring when the stripers were passing through on their way to and from the spawning grounds in the northern part of the Bay. We'd typically launch around 10 pm and fish until 1or 2 in the morning depending on the tides and presence of fish. A buddy and I hit it one night with 6 wt fly rods and took countless schoolies when a pod of 20 pounders moved in and pretty much wore us out. Good memories, but a long haul from Annapolis, wish your area was a bit closer.
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Fishing the Light Line

Post by BrokenolMarine » Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:26 pm

We often fished for both Redfish and Blues with our fly rods during the daylight hours at both Rudee Inlet and Lynnehaven. The kayaks allowed us to get back into the grassy areas power boats were too wide to navigate, and also to work the shallows. A blast.

It was about two and a half hours for us, without tunnel traffic backups. We made the trip as often as possible for years, and took a week long vacation in the cabins at First Landing State Park there in VA Beach every year, just for the fishing. Sadly, that long drive eventually became too much and we focused on local fresh water targets. We have both citation sized large and small mouth bass a half hour away.
:lol:
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Fishing the Light Line

Post by BrokenolMarine » Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:34 pm

Oh, we can choose from small farm ponds, reservoirs, or rivers... so plenty of variety.
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