by Bryant Franklin
January 2018 is upon us already. I hope that everyone got a new kayak or a new accessory for the favorite piece of floating Tupperware for Christmas. Most of us have been fishing our favorite inlet. Rudee and Lynnhaven will keep us out of the wind and the specks are biting good. I have seen the decent size fish on social media. A few of us crazy diehards are braving the cold and wind chasing stripers. I personally have not caught anything above 17 inches. Look for birds hitting the water in the bay, and reel them in as fast as you can. I think a lot of us have experienced this and man what a blast. Congratulations to Brian Tsai for bringing in the first decent fish I have seen at the lightline of the HRBT with a 4 inch zman on a zman 1/4 redfish eye jighead. Hopefully in early January we will see some big fish coming in. I am ready to pick up my bucket of eels and hit the CBBT. This is probably the best place for a kayaker to bring in a really nice rockfish but as most of us know there are really small windows that we have between the current and winds. Just remember to do your homework and check out the forecast (Fish Weather is a great app) before you venture out there, remember to dress for the weather and wear your PFD and it would be smart to fish with a partner and let someone know where you are going. If you’re out here and have no luck remember to bring some fiddler crabs. The tog are always hanging around the first island. Yak Hard or stay on the beach.