LTJ ON THE REEL AFFLICTION w/pics

[brnzephish]

Fished on the Reel Affliction yesterday with Capt Tim Smith. My second time on his boat. First time was a trip of a lifetime in January so the pressure was on Tim to meet my expectations. He might of mentioned yesterday probably wouldn’t yield the same class of fish. Great Parker boat, great electronics, Tim does a great job of doing his homework and knowing where the fish are. His set up is great for experienced anglers as well as novices. If you are new to LTJ , or fishing on the Bay in general, Tim can shorten the learning curve for you. He’ll fish however the customer wants to. I fished with Steve F and a newbie to LTJ, a buddy of mine, Tom H. We wanted to try the catching method.

Same old Saturday story, meet Steve at his house at 3:30AM for the trip down to Chesapeake. On the water before the sun came up, wind was out of the west. A little more chop than we expected but nothing like last weekend for the CCA tourney! Beautiful morning, felt lucky to be where I was!

Mid Bay, fish are scattered everywhere. Finding some decent marks, we dropped our jigs a few times but no luck. After giving it a good effort Tim said “bring em up guys we movin”. He had a plan B.

After a 20 to 30 minute ride and another 20 to 30 minutes of looking around the screen lit up with some suspended fish with a few close to the bottom. We were in 30 to 35 feet of water.

While the new guy Tom H, received some on the spot instructions from Steve F and Tim on LTJ, I’m already jigging trying to figure out the depth. Bang! Fish on for the new guy! Tom reeled in a nice first time LTJ rock. Less than 5 minutes later, bang he hooked up on his second! This time he had some drag screaming going on and at that point became addicted to LTJ! Two fish dang beginners luck! Of course he was using one of my custom Back Yard Custom Rods built by Steve F. He was kind enough to compliment me numerous times on how nice of a rod it is. By the end of the day he jigged up 8-10 fish.

At that point I’m asking Steve and Capt. Tim for some of that beginner’s instruction! The suspended fish were making it difficult!! On top of that, as fast as we found them they were gone! Tim moved around several times keeping us on fish. During the morning we boated 40 plus fish with Steve landing the biggest at 29-1/2” thanks to Uncle Phill for taking the Saturday off. Thanks Phill for taking a vacation and giving me a better chance too!

Steve had two leader break offs. One was peeling drag with some good head shaking going on when it snapped. I’d like to have seen that fish, it acted a little odd, racing directly away from the boating. Story of a fisherman’s life, “you shoulda saw the one that got away”.

On another note I got to break in a new bait caster rod and reel. Steve built me the most beautiful stick I could imagine in memory of a friend that passed this year. I chose a quality MH, fast action Batson blank and added a woven graphite handle and fore grip. Different feel for sure, I love it. Steve added some titanium guides and an Alps aluminum reel seat with thread color wrap to match the ABU Revo Inshore, Coach23 recommended to me. Caught some nice fish on it yesterday. Always a good feeling.

Wish I didn’t live so far away. Can’t wait til next week.

Bill M

[Steve F]

WOW what a difference a week makes. Last week we had 3 and 4 footers this week just a chop or a little more. As Bill said Tim knows his stuff and one hell of nice guy to boot. I was trying to help the newbie out and Tom caught on quick. He just had hard time trying to hold bottom but with all the suspended fish we had he didn’t have to worry about that. With Phill on vactaion it gave Bill and I a chance to catch something big and it paided off. I would had like to seen what was on the other end of the line before it broke TWICE and I know it was not a ray, to much head shakening going for that. Thanks again Tim for and outstanding day on your boat that is one sweet ride for sure. Bill make sue you tell Tom he’s invatited on my boat when ever Phill goes back on another vaction he was a lot of fun.

This is Tim’s web site and check out the viedo at the bottom of the home page that is our trip from January that will go down as the best 2 hours of fishing I have ever had. Thaks again Tim and as always we had a blast…

http://reel-affliction.com/

[jig monster]

Nice going Bill . Not the class you got spoiled on but still some nice fish for the area this time of year. Don't you hate it when the rookie is catching more then everyone else ? You got to blame it on something. Must have been the rod Congrats to you and your crew....... Nice write up

[one fish]

thx for rpt and info.

[smells like fish]

[skipperwork]

What, a picture of Dave!!!! I even lost 25 pounds and still can never make a picture.

Here's some more video of Reel Afliction in action.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWqu5RnZoVQ

[jumbo1]

Great looking fish guys!.....Steve you been working out?...arms look bigger and you look trim..
That Lowrance screen shot is sweet..

- - - Updated - - -

Rod combo looks really nice as well..

[Shawn Kimbro]

Tim don't miss! Is that a pink glitter BKD?

[brnzephish]

Thanks John- Last January the stars lined up and the fish Gods were kind to us. I need to make sure we know when you and your crew is down there next January so we can make everything line up again! I'd like a repeat!

one fish- your welcome.

smells like fish- thanks!

skipperwork- Dave?... anyway thanks for the great video, you guys were on fire!

Jamie- steve's arms, it all that jiggin and catching he does! Plus the guy never eats!

Shawn- good eyes! that is a pink glitter BKD. Steve's new favorite.

[done workin]

NIce report. HMMM, with all that running and searching now I don't feel bad.

One thing I have noticed with the guys who really know the LTJ craft, is that there needs to be alot of miles put on when the fish don't cooperate. This is the one thing I haven't been able to get straight in my head yet.

Chris