Get ready for a thrill ride
Virginia Beach guide introduces anglers to kayak fishing

by Lee Graves
for Virginia Business
September 2007

As much as Cory Routh loves catching fish himself, his eyes light up when he talks about helping others hook their dreams.
Like the time he went out with Dr. Ron McKechnie, a Virginia Beach cardiologist. “He’d always wanted to catch a redfish,” says Routh. They’d been out once together with disappointing results. On the second trip, Routh took him to a dock in Lynnhaven Inlet where the fish were hiding. “On the first cast, he caught a 29-inch redfish. He got a sleigh ride with that,” recalls Routh. “It was the only redfish he caught that day. Now, he’s got the picture framed and up in his office.”

The “sleigh ride” is one of the thrills of kayak fishing, Routh’s specialty. A fish doesn’t have to be a whale to give a kayak angler a ride reminiscent of the old Nantucket sleigh rides. And the saltwater stretches around Routh’s home in Virginia Beach provide plenty of “horses,” from feisty striped bass to formidable flounder. “Every single fish is fun in a kayak,” says Routh.

McKechnie has been out with Routh twice, including once last summer with his father, Bud. “He’d never been in a kayak,” McKechnie says of his father.
Routh made them feel at home in the boat, McKechnie says. “It was great. He met us at the pier. He has all the equipment. He’s a first-class businessman and a really nice guide to take you out fishing.”

A founder of the Tidewater Kayak Anglers Association, Routh is a leading voice among fishermen who choose paddle power to pursue the bounty of game fish in the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. “He’s always looking for new information,” says Lillie Gilbert, owner of Wild River Outfitters in Virginia Beach. “He’s as much interested in kayaking safety and kayaking education as he is in kayak fishing.”

Routh has written a magazine column on kayak fishing. He’s a regular at fly-fishing shows, and he’s developed a guide business that has grown steadily from a quick start about three years ago. “You usually show a loss your first year of business, and I didn’t,” says Routh, who is 34.

Still, it’s a part-time gig. His day job is working for the state Department of Environmental Quality, testing water in rivers and lakes in the region. He’s married and has a 2-year-old daughter and 13-year-old stepson.

A native of Greensboro, N.C., Routh remembers growing up with a dream of living at the beach. He graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in marine biology in 1997 and shortly afterward got a job on an electrofishing project with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. “That kind of sparked my interest in fishing,” says Routh.

A stint with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission fed that interest, and now he’s competing in kayak fishing tournaments locally and in Florida. In addition, he’s picked up sponsorships from rod and boat manufacturers. His seminars at fishing shows draw seasoned paddlers as well as those curious about the sport. “The majority of people come to these shows and say, ‘I want to learn how to do this,’” he noted during the recent Falmouth Flats Fly Fishing Show in Fredericksburg.

Routh gears his guided trips accordingly. Shallow water, such as at Lynnhaven Inlet, offers beginners plenty of fish and provides a learning environment buffered from roller-coaster waves. “It’s an educational thing. People who go on a trip with me, they’re a kayak angler when they’re done,” he says.

Much of his business is seasonal, coinciding with the influx of tourists to the beach area, and he offers half-day as well as full-day outings. Routh is catching the tide of interest not only in kayaking but also in fly fishing. His seminars include tips on flies — such as two thumbs up for a chartreuse Clouser minnow as an all-purpose fly — as well as where to find fish.

His kayaks carry the latest gear. A 15-foot sit-on-top at the Fredericksburg show had a fish finder, GPS unit, fore and aft rod holders, sophisticated anchor system, battery-powered beacon, orange signal flag, tackle box and more.

Despite the gear, there’s a primal quality to kayak fishing that has hooked Routh and others. You’re close to the water, in tune with the current, moving quietly, stealthily, seeking another primal connection between predator and prey.

And when a big fish bites, it can be a memory in the making. Such as when Routh cast a fly under a mangrove in Florida’s Cockroach Bay and hooked a 27-inch snook. In the fight that followed, the fish spun the kayak around and jumped across the boat twice, “To this day, that’s my favorite fight ever.”