Fat Boy's Outdoors Apology and Blog Resurrection

Every year on this day, I think about my Brother, Kyle, who passed away in 2007.  I can't believe it was 13 years ago today that this tragic event happened.  And when I think about him, I think about why I started this blog in the first place, to dedicate and document my outdoor experiences and share what I've learned over the years.  

The last time that I posted was a year ago today.  I've been negligent about keeping this blog up to date, and for that, I apologize to my brother to those of you that follow my blog.  I also vow to regularly post and keep this blog up to date.  I appreciate the following and hope to keep it up, not for my sake, but to honor my brother.

So, with tears in my eyes, I'm going to move on and write this next post.  Kyle, if you're reading this from heaven, this is for you.

My outdoors experiences have evolved once again.  I have many new topics to cover.  Probably the biggest direction with my fishing has been targeting rockfish (a.k.a. striped bass or stripers) and other fish species in the Chesapeake Bay.  

Kyle loved fishing the Chesapeake Bay from my Dad's sailboat.  He mostly trolled surgical eels for bluefish.  He caught quite a few "slammers and choppers" off that boat.  Slammers are medium sized bluefish in the five to ten pound range, while choppers are bigger bluefish in the ten to fifteen pound range.  

Kyle loved fishing the Chesapeake Bay out of my Dad's sailboat.  The area around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (pictured above) was his stomping ground.  The Chesapeake Bay has become one of my favorite fishing spots too.  (photo by Captain Steve Kelley)

While trolling for bluefish, Kyle would occasionally catch a nice rockfish.  Back then, all rockfish had to be released, because there was a moratorium on them.  Since then, the striped bass fishery has rebounded nicely, and they are once again, the most prevalent predator in the Bay.  Blues still show up, but not in the numbers found back in Kyle's day.  Kyle would have loved fishing the Bay for rockfish.

I promise to post more about fishing the Chesapeake Bay, my experiences and other topics surrounding fishing for stripers and other Bay species.  I've learned so much and have so much to share.  But, for this post, I'm going to keep it to a few pictures of some of the rockfish that I caught this year and dedicate those fish to Kyle.   

I'll post more on how I caught these fish among other adventures on the Bay in future posts.  I'll keep the blabbering to a minimum, so I'm going to stop here.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

This was my biggest rockfish of 2020, a 41 inch fat brute of a striper, caught and released back in March.  It's not my personal best, but might be the fattest one that I've ever caught.  You can see my personal best pictured in a prior blog post about that day.

This is the same fish pictured above, a 41 inch rockfish.  This picture gives you a good idea of the girth of this fish.  Notice the large soft plastic lure used, a ten inch Bass Kandy Delight (BKD) on a 2 ounce jighead.  Big lures catch big fish!

We caught a good many keeper sized rockfish this year on topwater lures.  What a blast.  Kyle would have loved doing that.

Here's a nice rockfish that I jigged up using a skirted one ounce jig with a soft plastic fluke style lure. 

Here's another nice striper caught on a skirted jig/soft plastic combo.  I'll cover topics about jigging for rockfish with light tackle in future blog posts.

Another thick rockfish.  You can see why fishing for these can be addictive.  We caught quality fish like this throughout the year, but there is nothing like fishing for this species in the fall.

This was a summer time rockfish caught jigging bridge pilings.  As you can see, I've come to rely on sun protective clothing.  For fair skinned folks like me, these types of clothing are a must.

Catching fish like these are a blast on top.  I get pumped when I see schools of fish like this breaking.  Then, after tossing a topwater lure nearby and seeing fish like this blow up on it...what a thrill, let me tell you!

I owe a debt of gratitude to my good friend and fishing/hunting buddy, Steve Kelley (shown here with a nice rockfish that he jigged up), who put me on the fish pictured above.  In addition, I caught my personal best striper off of his boat.  Meet Captain Steve Kelley.  He's not a charter boat captain, but he's every bit as good as one...  I've mentioned him in past blog posts, but you'll read more about him in future blog posts.

The Walleye Fisherman That I'll never forget...

...my brother.  His influences on me are a huge part of my success in the outdoors world, probably about as much influence as I had on him as his older brother.  Not only did this influence me, but also some of my fishing friends, especially when it came to walleye fishing locally.  Kyle figured it out, and we took advantage of that.

Here's a nice 'eye that Kyle caught while night fishing from shore at one of his favorite spots.  

Kyle was an extremely intelligent and analytical person.  When he set is mind to do something, he was all in, one hundred percent, and he always seemed to succeed.  In this post, I'll detail one goal that he mastered, and what it taught my friends and I.

When our Mom began her battle with cancer, my Brother moved back to Maryland from Mississippi to help take care of her.  He coached a competitive swim team and had everything going his way.  He gave up everything to come back to Maryland and take care of my Mom.  But, he made the most of the situation with some of his free time by doing some fishing.

During his time in Maryland, Kyle read in the newspaper fishing reports that people were catching walleyes, and decided that he wanted to figure out how to catch them also.  We all knew that they were there, as we'd caught them now and then while fishing for smallmouth bass.  But, this was different...he only wanted to target walleyes and catch them consistently.  He wanted to catch a lot of them, and he was driven to be good at it.  That was his way, always strove to be the best.

Kyle became obsessed with walleyes.  He researched the web, read books, and watched fishing TV shows on how to catch walleyes.  In developing his strategy, the first thing that he did was to check out maps, both paper and on-line, and look for river structures that would hold walleyes, similar to the types of places that you'd see on fishing shows when they fished for river walleyes.  In 2004, Google Maps and Mapquest came out with satellite map imaging.  He used that to find specific spots to fish.

After researching, Kyle set out to catch them.  It took him a couple of trips to figure out which of the spots that he scouted held fish.  One afternoon, while at work, he emailed me a report after one of his trips and a picture of the fish that he caught.  He was so excited.  He had my attention.  At this point, none of my fishing buddies or I had really thought about doing this.

Here's what Kyle emailed me after his first successful trip. "I caught a walleye!  In fact I caught 3 and kept the two biggest, 18 and 18 1/2 inches.  There is a slot limit right now from 15-20".  These were filleted right after this horrid picture..."

Naturally, that night he had to call me and tell me all about it.  He was back at it two days later.  The picture and report are below.

"The water was like chocolate milk, but I found fish.  I fished where a small, clear creek flowed into the river.  The first fish I caught was 23" and dwarfed these.  I'd estimate around 4 pounds.  I had to throw it back because it exceeded the 20" limit.  Unfortunately I didn't have the camera.  These are 17", 18", and 19".  Targeting walleye has been challenging, but every bit as fun as I thought it could be."

The very next day, he was at it again.

"Caught several eyes in about 1 1/2 hours.  I left to clean a couple and I'm going to scout out another spot.  I'm confident I can catch more in that hole...I'm pretty psyched, this was my largest Maryland walleye (24") yet and today I brought my camera!  I released it right after the picture per MD regulations.  I kept the two 20 inchers in the other picture.  I've now caught 11 walleye and kept 7.  I'm going to start taking pictures and releasing them, the freezer is beginning to fill up."

Not a bad start, right?  One thing that I should mention, is that, after that trip, he consistently practiced catch and release.  He kept a few fish early on, mainly to help my Mother out and give her another healthy option for food.  Once he got the hang of it, I believe that he released all of the walleyes that he caught.

Just five days later, he really was dialing them in:
"I was fishing for walleye today and caught a 41" musky on a a 5" Rapala husky jerk, using a medium action rod with 12 lb test.  I'm estimating the fish weighed about 22 lbs.  At first I thought he was a little longer, but the measurement I made using my rod came out to 41 inches.  What a great way to end the day!  After this fish, I called it quits, 11 walleye and a monster."

After that, he consistently caught walleyes mixed in with a musky here and there.  Kyle eventually used his kayak for all day trips to gain access to more spots, mixed in by shore fishing for quick short trips.  After a little more than two weeks of fishing, he stated, "I've now caught 69 walleye and 2 musky since 1st of last month, and 107 walleyes to finish the spring.”

Below are a few pics.

I had the pleasure of shooting the picture of this nice walleye after one of our walleye trips.

Kyle caught this musky on a 5 inch twister tail jig while jigging for walleye.

Kyle caught this carp one day while jigging for walleye, fair hooked on a 5 inch Kalin's grub on a 1/4 oz. jighead.  He told me that, when fighting it,  he thought he had hooked the mother of all walleyes!

Here's the account from one of his fishing reports about that carp catch, "I threw a cast along a current break and it was slammed!  The fish immediately started peeling line off my reel and I just sat back and thought, "relax, relax and play this fish right, it's probably another muskie."  It was exactly where a muskie would be, hanging in the slack side of an eddy.  When the fish came closer, I could see that it was a carp and I could also see that it was "fair hooked (you can see the grub lodged in the upper lip)."  It was strong at times and a lot of fun to fight.  Good practice for other, more desirable big fish, as Fat Boy noted.  It was 30" long and somewhere around 10-15 lbs.  It was fun, although it didn't fight as long as the muskies did."

Here's a musky that he caught while fishing from his kayak.  He hammered the walleyes that day, and picked up two muskies, all on Rapala Husky Jerks.  He learned that it's tough to get a good picture of a musky out of a kayak!

When Kyle caught the second one, he wanted a better picture, so this was the best that he could do.  He towed the fish to shore, climbed out of the kayak, and placed the fish carefully in the yak.  He didn't want to beach the fish and get it all muddy, or risk hurting the fish.  The fish was released quickly thereafter, unharmed, and took off like a shot out of his hand.

Here's a big fat 26 inch walleye that he caught while night fishing for them out of his kayak, also released.

Here's another fish he caught that night out of his kayak.  He caught a dozen that night, all on 5 inch Kalin's grubs.  This pic, and the last one, were his two biggest fish.

This nice walleye fell for a five inch grub while Kyle fished from the bank.

Kyle landed this 25 inch walleye that hammered a 6 inch Rapala Husky Jerk while bank fishing the same night.

Kyle loved fishing that Husky Jerk.  Here's a kayak walleye that took that jerkbait.

So, how did all this influence us?  It changed the way we thought about our fishing calendars, to bring our attention to a couple new species that we could target.  Kyle paved the way for us.  My close fishing friends and I benefited from Kyle's desire to master walleye fishing in the area.

As a result of what we've learned, I've caught several walleyes since above 27 inches long.  What they'll bite is pretty simple, when they're hungry, they'll hit just about anything that you'd toss for smallmouth bass in our rivers.  But, they seem to particularly like shallow suspending minnow jerkbaits, like Kyle's favorite Rapala Husky Jerks, and large twister style tail grubs.  Those were the staples of Kyle's fishing walleye tackle.

When the water is up, shoreline current breaks, eddies, or wing dams are favorite targets.  During lower water river levels, they can pretty much be anywhere, but ambush points where current meets deeper river runs are likely walleye hideouts, such as ledges and rock outcroppings that hold deep water behind them.

Because of Kyle's influence, walleye fishing has become one of our fishing passions between my fishing pals and me.  Here's my buddy that I've referred to on this blog as Captain Steve Kelley with a really nice walleye.

My good friend and fishing pal Bob Barber has also developed a passion for walleye fishing.  He's done quite well catching them over the years.  Kyle's efforts paid off for all of us.

This walleye is probably is my personal best.  A 29 inch beast that hammered a musky lure.  

Kyle got us all fired up to catch walleyes locally when we hadn't really done much of that before.  He wasn't a pioneer by any means, as there were many local anglers targeting walleye successfully for years.  But, his efforts to learn about walleye fishing, and that fact that he figured them out so successfully and quickly, inspired us to get into that game.

However, from all of this arose another passion of mine.  It all started on one of our walleye fishing trips that got me hooked on something else, as told by an excerpt out of one of Kyle's fishing reports below:

"I recently witnessed the usually restrained, well mannered 'Fat Boy' go into an intense fit of rage!  We were walleye fishing in the river, and it had been a pretty slow day.  A roughly 30" muskie hit Fat Boy's grub and the battle was on.  The fish made a run along the bank around a pretty good sized sapling.  I quickly positioned myself to grab Fat Boy's rod if he wanted me to, so that I could hand it back to him and he could continue to fight the fish.  Fat Boy wanted to maintain control, so I grabbed the sapling and pulled it down to make it easier for him to get around.  Unfortunately, the line wrapped around a branch, giving the muskie a little slack in the line, which proved to be all it needed to release the lure.  

I was upset for Fat Boy, I know the fish would have eased the frustration substantially, but all I could do was sit in awe at the next serious of events.  After a brief silence, Fat Boy began to look like the Tasmanian Devil and a torrent of obscenities came out of his mouth for about the next 15 seconds.  After another brief pause, Fat Boy eyed his nemesis, the sapling.  Then, he lashed out at the tree, ripping off branches and bending the trunk!

This was the result of his tirade:

I've been told that you can cruise the shores and banks of lakes and rivers in Maryland and Pennsylvania and actually see Fat Boy signs where frustration reared it's ugly head.  This picture is evidence of a confirmed Fat Boy rub.  We're not sure if he scrapes, but considering recent events, it is very likely..."

Yes, that was embarrassing and a bit funny, but, it was out of character for me.  I guess that's why it was funny.  I haven't had those fits of rage since, keeping in mind that embarrassing fallout could result.  From the next few years until his passing, he never let me hear the end of it.

But, it was that story along with his success at walleye fishing, and especially his musky catches, that sparked my passion and obsession for musky fishing.  Because of Kyle, my personal best walleye, pictured above, and every musky caught since he passed away has been because of his desire to learn and master walleye fishing.  That musky, that caused all the rage, as mad as I was, really intrigued me, and lead to my intense desire to catch them.  They're such a challenging fish to catch.  So, I just took the next logical step, to upgrade my tackle and lure selection to target them, and learn to fish for them.  After all, they eat walleyes!!!

I've learned a lot about musky fishing from my musky fishing pals from present to recent past.  But my passion for fishing for them was sparked by Kyle's passion for walleye fishing, his musky by catches, and from that fateful raged tree incident.

Kyle's passion was walleye fishing at the time.  Eventually, after my Mom passed away, he moved back to Mississippi, and then, on to Southwest Virginia.  While in Mississippi, he became obsessed with catching flathead catfish.  He did fairly well at that too, even catching flatheads in Virginia.

With regard to muskies, this statement from him pretty much summed up where he was at the time.  "All the muskies I caught in the river were naturals, all while targeting walleye.  I thought about switching over to targeting muskies but I was already into a solid pattern."  

I'm certain that if Kyle was alive today, he'd be right at my side targeting muskies and the many other species of trophy fish that we target today.  I think that was a species that he meant to chase, but, simply ran out of time.

So, why write about this today?   This date of the year is the one that I dread most, the anniversary of his passing, 12 years ago today.  I miss him greatly.  You can read more about what happened to him on my tribute page, here:  Tribute to my Brother Kyle

I miss you Brother!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Another year has passed and I miss my brother, Kyle, just as much as when he left us in 2007.  I can't believe it has been that long.  Kyle's birthday was yesterday, and he would be 47 years old this year.  I don't have much to say today, other than I get choked up on his birthday.  I guess you never get used to something like this.

To find out what happened to him, please visit my tribute page to him here:

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few to share:

Once I introduced Kyle to icefishing, he was hooked.  I was delighted because it was another way that we could share the outdoors together.

Kyle released this crappie that he caught through the ice, but not before faking a crappie sushi meal!  He always had a sense of humor.  He was a Monty Python fan.  Need I say more?

He loved catching big fish, but it was this perch that gave him the idea for his Iceshanty user name, Perch Jerker.

Kyle (right) and my friend Mark goofing around during a windy day on the ice.

Kyle (left) and I posing over some of the fish that we kept after a productive ice fishing evening bite.

Kyle posing with a big archery season buck.  He was a very skilled archer and hunter.  I think it was his true passion, other than coaching swimming.

Kyle loved fishing for walleye.  Here he poses with a nice marble eye.  

Even when Kyle was a youngster, he had a knack for catching fish.  Here he poses with a smallmouth bass, sporting his favorite Bengals hat.

Anyway, thanks for checking back in and I'm sorry that I haven't posted more often than I have.  I plan to remedy that situation though.

And to my Brother in Heaven, Happy Birthday Bro!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

For those of you that don't know, my brother, Kyle, passed away in 2007 but it seems like only yesterday.  I miss him dearly, and I miss the great times we had outdoors and those that we shared with our family.  We all miss him.

The pictures below remind me of those good times.  Some were serious, some were fun, some were funny, but all were great memories.  I hope that you all enjoy them as I still do.

Thanks for the wonderful times, brother, and I hope that in heaven you're having a blast on your birthday!

You can read about his passing and the tribute that I wrote here.

A Special Day...

I want to take this time to say special kind of thanks and pay tribute to someone near and dear to me.  I'm thankful for many things from this person, and here is a very short list that are relevant to this blog.

As a bowhunter, scent control is very important.  Whitetail deer have a keen sense of smell that can detect odors that are strange to them from great distances, putting them on alert or worse, send them scurrying away tails up while ruining your hunt.  Being anal about scent control improves your odds and your hunting experience.  Wearing Scent Lok or similar gear, controlling your laundry and showering with scent free soaps and shampoos, spraying down your equipment with scent elimination products, are all keys to doing this.  My Brother Kyle taught me that.  Thank you Kyle.

Kyle consistently shot bucks like this with his bow.  I got him started in hunting at a young age, but it was he who taught me how to hunt, sharing his secrets for success.

Catching walleye has always been a cool thing as a bass angler.  Most over time I've caught while fishing for bass, as accidents and surprises.  Each one was a bonus.  Later in my angling life, someone taught me how to target them, when my odds were best, and what lures and techniques worked the best.  I was able to target them and catch these special fish consistently afterwards.  My Brother taught me that.  Thank you Kyle.

Kyle figured out how to catch walleye on a consistent basis, and caught some very nice ones.  He fished from shore and also from his kayak.  His determination to learn how to pattern them paid off, and it was he who taught me his secrets.  My friends and I benefit to this day from his research and success.

As a bowhunter, finding ideal locations to place your stand are critical to success.  I learned to use 3D on-line maps and GPS to find and locate ideal stand locations on properties that I hunt.  Since then, my odds have improved and I've bagged more whitetails.  My Brother taught me that.  Thank you Kyle.

Using suspending stick baits or jerk baits, like Husky Jerks and Rattlin' Rogues for walleye and smallmouth are deadly.  One technique that is extremely effective is to basically cast it out to a likely fish holding river eddy, crank it down a bit, and let it sit motionless with only the current moving it ever so slightly, and almost dead stick it.  Sometimes the bass, walleye or other predators just can't stand it any longer and hammer it, and usually these are bigger fish.  It's quite a thrill.  My Brother taught me that.  Thank you Kyle.

Jerkbaits like these Rattlin' Rogues are deadly when cast into a river eddy and dead sticked for big walleye and bass.  And I don't mean let 'em sit for a minute, I mean a lot longer.  And when you work them back, work them "painfully slow".  This is a very effective coldwater technique that my brother taught me years ago.

The same suspending jerk baits work extremely well for sea trout, flounder, bluefish and rockfish along our coast.  I learned that working these baits along rip rap eddies during tide changes would draw savage strikes from these tasty saltwater species, and put up quite a fight at the same time.  My Brother taught me that.  Thank you Kyle.

These are just a few things that I learned from my Little Brother.  He was a man that worked extremely hard to achieve high levels of success at everything he did, whether it was coaching a swim team, honing his hunting skills, fishing a river, saltwater body of water, or out of a kayak on a lake.  He passed away in 2007 at the young age of 36 years old, and I miss him greatly each and every day.  His story can be found linked as one of the pages on this site, a tribute to him.  But it's not enough, so here I am today wishing him thanks and a Happy Birthday.

At twelve years old, Kyle was catching fish, and learned to be extremely successful as he grew up in just about everything he did.  I may have given him his start in fishing, and inspired him to take up bowhunting later on, but it was Kyle that taught me a thing or two later in life.  And I greatly appreciate it and miss him every day.

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

For those of you that haven't read about my brother, my inspiration for starting this blog and to keep it going, and for helping to put my life in better perspective, along with the help of my wife, daughter, and sisters, I certainly recommend that you check out his story, linked here:

Tribute to my Brother Kyle

It's his birthday today.  This post, and the wonderful article below by Jim Cumming, are a very fitting way to honor my brother on his day.

I love and miss you Kyle.