Author: Riley

To everyone concerned about my health, I wanted to share an update. It’s been a tough week. Today, I have tests scheduled, and it looks like I have at least one ruptured disc between my shoulder blades.

It all started Monday night when I sneezed while sitting in my chair. I felt a pop in my back, but there wasn’t any pain at first. By early Tuesday morning, the pain began and only got worse, becoming excruciating from Tuesday through Friday. I finally decided to seek help and planned to go to the ER in Kilmarnock, but the pain was too intense. I ended up calling the Rescue Squad to take me.

I spent several hours in the ER, receiving increasing doses of pain medication, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, at the highest dose they could give me, I was able to ride in the car to Richmond. I had an appointment at OrthoVirginia, but they couldn’t schedule an MRI until today, Monday. The MRI is set for this afternoon, and later this week, I have another appointment with OrthoVirginia to discuss the next steps.

Although my pain has significantly decreased from last week, it’s still debilitating, and I can hardly do anything. I’m incredibly grateful for the support from Angelique, Alyssa, and Dolan while in Richmond.A

Thank you all for your prayers, well wishes, and hopes for my recovery. I truly appreciate it. I now understand 2 Corinthians 12:9 in a new light: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Thanks again, and I hope to provide another update soon.

That’s just the way we do it. I had so much fun today with Scott, Bubba, and his son Cody. The waters were mean today. All the sites we looked at said one to two feet. I think they meant meters. It was much like a riding bronking bull. Cody was a champ all day and got to reel in some nice fish. He knew before us that we had one on and jumped into action as soon as he could get to the rod.

We headed out at first light and headed to 63A. As we went on, we kept seeing boat after boat heading south, but every bird in the air was heading north. I think the fleet thought they would be at either R62 or the cut channel. We decided we weren’t fishing for fishermen, but fish and the birds are much better fishers than anyone I know, so we followed the birds. 

Yes, we saw the birds in great numbers right where we were heading, and they were feeding. The only boat near us was a charter captain who looked to have left the dock late, so he ran into them as soon as we did. Mayhem is the best way to describe the action. Every rod we had was down and screaming. I told Scott we had about 30 minutes tops before the fleet showed up, which was an understatement. Soon, were 50 boats all around, so Scott could do nothing but drive. With the sea conditions, keeping the boat in line and the bait on the bottom was no easy feat. 

We landed a bunch of 23-inch fish and one 27. We left a slot open so we could keep fishing and catching about the same size fish repeatedly. All of the fish were as fat as pigs and cleanly caught. We kept putting them back. 

It took a while, but that set of birds settled down. We had Bubba on board; if you know him, he has the best eyesight on this side of the Mississippi. He saw many birds on the other side of the channel just north of the NNK reef. We headed over there and also caught a bunch. 

We put our last fish in the boat because it was just too rough to have a lot of fun, and there was a container ship in the distance. Had we stayed longer, we would have had to wait another hour before crossing. 

I get it, the big ones always get away but we had two that broke a 50# leader. Would have been nice to get those guys in the boat.

It’s a great way to end an excellent fishing season for me. I am always excited to be with such a good father and son as Bubba and Cody. You can tell Cody has good parents when you talk to someone who is very well-mannered and can talk to you like he wants to be a part of the conversation.

December 30, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	50.1 °F	34.7 °F	41.9 °F
Dew Point	39.5 °F	31.5 °F	34.9 °F
Humidity	95 %	50 %	77 %
Precipitation	0.01 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	10.1 mph	0.0 mph	1.2 mph
Wind Gust	13.2 mph	—	1.9 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	West
Pressure	30.64 in	30.36 in	—

Today, I caught and landed a once-in-a-lifetime fish story. Christmas Day 2023 will go down in my memory banks forever. I went out today because we had our family Christmas celebration on Saturday so that Alyssa could go with Dolan to his family.

I knew Vince and Dave were going in his boat, and I saw them leave. I knew the water would be calm, so I just said heck it, I’m going. I knew I could call them if I needed anything. We discussed that they were heading to Smith Point Lighthouse, and I was going to R62.

On my way out, I saw a set of birds on the radar about 3 miles south, near the Asphalt pile area but relatively near the channel in about 50 feet of water. I turned and headed directly at them. I landed a few 20 – 23 inch fish but threw them back. I was hunting for bigger fish as I have caught plenty this year. I fished that area for about 15 min before the birds broke up. 

All the birds must have seen the same thing because they gathered up maybe ¾ north of where I was. I rolled everything up and moved out. I usually stop several hundred feet short of bird activity. I got my port side up and running. Thankfully, I never got the starboard side out. The back rod went off first with about a 23-inch fish. As I landed that one, the other one in the front went off like I had hit a crab pot. It was just ripping line out (thankfully, I had just set the reels up yesterday to release a bit if I got a big one). There was no stopping that guy down, so I cut the throttle on the boat.

The amount of line those guys took off was ridiculous. I finally started making some progress. Of course, I did not have the net fully out and ready, so I had one hand on the rod and one gyrating the net to lock it in position. Finally, I was getting the fish to the boat. You know it will be nice when you can see the currents the fishtail is making but can’t see the fish. I got it close to the boat and realized it was two massive fish. I quickly grabbed the line to get to the weight and dipped up the first and second. As I moved to lift the net, the first one got out of the net. I grabbed him again and finally got them both in the boat. 

I was so out of breath that I could hardly talk to Vince and the team to come here. They came in about 15 minutes, and I know they caught their limit. I finally kept a 24-inch fish and came home. 

Wow, what an adventure.

December 25, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	55.7 °F	36.9 °F	46.6 °F
Dew Point	48.6 °F	36.4 °F	43.4 °F
Humidity	99 %	71 %	89 %
Precipitation	0.00 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	8.9 mph	0.0 mph	1.4 mph
Wind Gust	10.3 mph	—	1.9 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	ESE
Pressure	31.04 in	30.96 in	—

Quite the title I know but it was a lot going on yesterday. Scott came over because we were going fishing. We left my dock at sunrise. We headed out to Smith Point Lighthouse to get back to where the fish were recently. Based on tides for fishing the day was not going to be stellar. But the weather was going to be great, and we were going to have calm seas.

We did catch a few small stripers early, but it was dramatically slower than Saturday. Got some scoop from Dave to head to the Potomac. We headed north and in just a few miles we saw lots of birds and two boats. Bang, bang, bang, we got our limit in just a few minutes. Well as the title states we had a mission, so we headed back home.

Scott was having his boat serviced so we went to the shop got his boat and dropped it off it in the water for a test ride. Well, if you are testing you can be fishing so we headed back north. Our intention was to grab a big mule. We did catch a few keepers that we released but never got the big one. A good day so we headed back home.

While we were out there, we got two texts from our friend Tim. He and a friend had joined us in the Potomac as we were leaving. He stayed there most of the day and got two giant fish. First and 40″ then later a 42″. Very good work Tim. After seeing these two giants I really questions the logic of our mission 🙂 It was the best thing to do but we certainly would have loved to pull in alongside his two big dogs.

You’ve seen Tim star in a previous post where he didn’t get the big fish but not today, he definitely got the big one (s) today.

I did not think striper season could pick up from yesterday but wrong again. My friend Rick came over on what turned out to be a very low tide. It took 45 minutes to get my boat off the lift, but we had plenty of time for fishing.

Of course, I head north again. No need to change locations based on how many I caught yesterday. Today, with Rick on the rods we caught so many I got tired of counting. They were not huge but plentiful. We were actually south of where I was at yesterday, maybe about 3 miles south of Smith Point Light House on the shore side of the shipping channel.

The birds were out in full force but really anywhere in a 5 square mile I went we saw fish. We saw them heading into the boat. We both finally got tired, and my dogs needed to go out, so we headed back.

The lures of choice remain to the purple and white.

You can probably see I only pushed half an update. I was working on this Saturday morning and Scott came early so I pushed what I had and vowed to come back to the story.

This has not been a stellar year for me. One, I have not been able to get out as much as I would like but also the times, I have gotten out I have not caught in good numbers. Today was different. Today is one of those days that you dream about.

Got a text from my friend Dave. He told me he was near Smith Point Lighthouse and was doing pretty good. Well why should work get in the way. I had a call I needed to take but I work remote anyway so on the boat counts.

No time to waste so I headed out. Got to him around noon and he was absolutely right, they were hitting. I started with my standard four rod setup but honestly, I couldn’t keep up, so I finally dropped back to two. Thank God for autopilot, I can’t imagine being that busy on the rods and driving the boat at the same time.

Finally, no mas, I got a nice 24″ in the boat and headed home.

December 13, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	53.0 °F	33.8 °F	41.7 °F
Dew Point	37.5 °F	22.1 °F	30.4 °F
Humidity	90 %	42 %	66 %
Precipitation	0.00 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	9.8 mph	0.0 mph	1.2 mph
Wind Gust	12.5 mph	—	1.8 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	NNW
Pressure	31.32 in	31.10 in	—

A little late to the party, but after a successful morning with Captain Ryan on the Midnight Sun, we returned to the Potomac on my boat for an afternoon. I had the crew onboard what was a great afternoon of weather, fishing, and friends. 

We were in the middle of the Potomac in about 45 – 75 foot dropoff. The water temps have finally gotten down to what we are looking for. Some birds were sitting on the water, but enough of them to think something was coming and it may be a good day. We ran over some excellent fish marks, not just the bait we have seen for a while now but of actual fish.

The lures that caught most of the fish were the purple people eater, all white, and a crazy greenish speckle with a fire-red tail. All of the ones we caught were on umbrella rigs. The rigs I have are below.

December 5, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	49.4 °F	36.1 °F	43.4 °F
Dew Point	40.0 °F	33.3 °F	37.2 °F
Humidity	98 %	58 %	80 %
Precipitation	0.01 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	9.6 mph	0.0 mph	1.3 mph
Wind Gust	11.2 mph	—	1.7 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	NE
Pressure	30.74 in	30.56 in	—

My friend Scott had not caught a cobia all year and was dying to go. He had spoken with a friend that caught a few down at Windmill point recently so we decided to give it a go. We left out early Saturday morning and headed to Dividing Creek. Dividing has always been a good place for us because it has lots of places that transition from deep to shallow. For me that transition is maybe 10 ft of drop-off so don’t over think it.

We were early in my mind because I like the hours surrounding the tide change, but it is always fine for me to be early rather than late. We got everything setup and started our chunking.

Our first run came about an hour into the morning. We could tell it was not big enough to keep but was thinking we could get a cobia on board to get the day going. Even when this guy came up to the boat my first instinct was that it was a small cobia. Well, it was a surprise to us both. We got our hook back and sent him on his way. Look at the eel, looked like a surgeon cut, and under his fin is another cut. Amazing sharp set of teeth and jaws to match.

We got everything reset and about 30 minutes before tide change, we did hook a nice cobia. We fought this guy for about 15 min or more. He was never ready to come in the boat. Thankfully, we have gotten pretty good about understanding when the correct time is to try to land him. We only dipped the net in one time for him. For me, I want to see him turn his white belly up when he comes to the surface before trying to net him. That may not be best, but it has to be close because you rarely miss one after that occurs.

The day was not over, we caught one more shark and one more under cobia (no pic). It’s the last cobia because I am not sure I can get back out there before the season ends.

Scott and I got out Friday afternoon for a late Spanish run. We tried our local spots and caught one every so often. With little going on we decided to head off to R62. We saw a few Captain’s boats just further north than we had intended on going but we decided we were going to ole reliable R62. It rarely lets us down and didn’t today either.

We had to get back for dinner and needed time to clean up the boat and the fish before, so we came back to my dock. Each of these Spanish were about 18 – 20 inches.

I haven’t posted in a while, but I have been fishing regularly. I have been going on quick trips at the mouth of the Great Wicomico. There are plenty of Spanish Macs around this time of year.

I have not been on great adventures, but I get out for an hour or two. It is nothing like the calmness and the peaceful feeling of fishing. I get maybe 4 or 6, just enough to cook dinner for us and my lunch the next day.

There were many dolphins around, and today I caught a ribbon fish. I am not 100% sure how to target them, but he bit my clark spoon at 7 knots.

Hopefully, I will be heading out with my WyldLife kids sometime soon. I just spent a week in Rockbridge (check out the videos) with them, and other than completely exhausting, it was fantastic.