Off the Hook: Rudee Inlet produces a rare catch

Just about everybody in the speckled trout fishing world knows that if you want really big fish, the overwhelming favorite place to go is the Hot Ditch area of the Elizabeth River.

Much of the Elizabeth River for stretches on either side of the Hot Ditch annually produces quality fish. And every now and then, albeit just for a few days at a time when things are just right, there is a run of huge trout around the second island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

But places such as Lynnhaven and Rudee inlets simply don't produce many fish topping 8 pounds.

Billy Cassity was more than a little happy to be in Rudee for one of those moments made rare by the location and time of year.

The Virginia Beach angler had a Rudee Inlet best of 7 pounds, 14 ounces last year - a fish most Rudee diehards would be quite pleased with.

But he topped that last week.

Fishing near the mouth of the inlet, the 44-year-old scored a 9-pound giant - the kind of fish usually only seen in the Elizabeth.

"My biggest ever," he said. "I know a few big ones are caught out of there, but I never expected this."

Cassity owes his luck to Rudee's fall popularity, when the place can be an absolute parking lot of boats.

"When I got to where I was going to fish, it was jammed," said Cassity, who works in The Virginian-Pilot's production plant. "So I was forced to explore a few other places and it turned out OK."

Where he set up shop - "near the entrance to the inlet" - Cassity quickly found success, pulling in three keeper-sized fish. The fourth was a different story.

"I thought it was a (puppy drum) at first because of how it was pulling drag," he said. "It had some head shake, and it wasn't pulling so much like a pup. Then I thought maybe a striper.

"Then I saw its tail fin out of the water and it was bigger than my hand spread wide open. I knew it was a big trout."

Unfortunately, that fish pulled off the hook and was gone.

Then four or five casts later, Cassity felt another take.

"It was pulling drag, too, but not quite like the one that got off," he said.

Cassity wonders if his 9-pounder could be the same one that got off, even though most hooked fish that fight for a while tend not to feed for as much as a day.

"It's doubtful, but there's a chance it was the same one," he said.

"There's also the chance that there were just two big fish roaming around together.

"Sure would have been nice to have gotten them both if it was two fish."

Now that would have been a rare feat, no matter where.

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com

Twitter @LeeTolliver