Deal Island Fishing, 2004 --> present

So as promised, I will get into the importance (or relevance) of fishing while drifting vs fishing anchored.  First, let's consider any potential advantages of fishing anchored.   If you find a hot spot that is holding a large number of fish, anchoring up will obviously put you in a position to catch more of these fish.  That's about it.  What I have observed is that anchoring worked well in this area of Tangier Sound for bottom fishing in years past, but not so much recently.  If I had to venture a guess, it would be that there is a lot more oxygen-depleted water, particularly later in the summer, and fish seem to be more mobile than stationary.  This trend may change, but truthfully I expect it to continue and be more of an issue, particularly in years of below average rainfall.   Disadvantages of fishing anchored are for the most part the converse of advantages of drifting.  One notable disadvantage is the physical aspect of having to get your anchor set and then having to free it up when you decide to move, and then having to hoist anchor.  This is less of an issue in 20-30 feet of water, but becomes obviously more problematic in 40-60 feet of water.  Speaking of which, I have noticed a trend in the last 5 years of the croaker being caught in increasingly deeper water (more on this later).  Also, the older I get (I am 47) the less fond I am of dealing with the anchor in water deeper than 30 feet.  Last disadvantage is that when fishing from a smaller boat (which I do) and in rough water due to wind and tide (commonplace in the Tangier Sound), anchoring up can really beat the snot out of you as your vessel is so at the mercy of the wave action, and I don't hesitate to fish in 3-4 foot seas, even in my 17 ft boat.  I do take notice that the charterboat captains bottom-fishing in Tangier Sound anchor up exclusively.  I'm guessing that this is mostly to minimize the entanglement of their customers' fishing lines, which is of exponentially greater risk when drifting.  Their use of mechanical anchor hoists eliminates the physical disadvantages of having to manually hoist anchor, and they are quick to hoist and move when a new spot doesn't produce (and to keep everyone onboard happy).

OK, on to drifting, which I have obviously become a big fan of in recent years.  The greatest advantage of drifting is that you can rapidly cover more territory and discover where the fish are biting.  On any given day, and even within a day or even a particular tide, things can change.  So the mobility is a huge advantage, and especially so when your optimal fishing time may only last 2 - 3 hours or shorter.  In fact, what I have seen in the last 3 or 4 years is that even when drifting, a good bite may only last 30-45 minutes at best.  Since croaker often seem to be inclined to feed in areas of rapid drop-off or slope, drifting can give you an opportunity to move over these drop off areas, catch a fish, then circle back for another run.  This works well for me, although I often need to resign myself to frequently pulling my lines in and returning back over the area.  Sometimes I find that the fish are holding at a certain depth and biting for a mile-long section at that specific depth.  An example would be areas north and south of the #10 buoy, just off Wenona.  Often I will find that fish are biting in this zone at either 35-40 feet, or at 40-45 feet, and if the wind is generally out of the south, I can usually hug that zone without much effort on an incoming tide.  On the flip side, sometimes the wind and tide will move you east and west rather than north and south.  This makes drifting more difficult but not impossible.  I prefer a north-south drift, since you tend to be able to stabilize the boat over a particular depth for a longer period.  So, the bottom line here is that with drifting, I can usually discover a depth, location, or pattern in which I will catch some fish and then exploit this until the conditions change or the fish stop biting, and this is how I now work it greater than 90% of the time.

In 2004 I finally bought my own boat big enough to be capable of navigation in the frequently rough waters of Tangier Sound.  This boat, a 1968 18 foot Thunderbird with the original 85 hp Johnson, was quite a heap.  Actually, as a high-sided tri-hull it was very seaworthy.  Bot rotten floors and a worn-out engine made it a temporary vessel at best.  Nonetheless, I held onto it for a few years and caught hundreds, perhaps over a thousand fish from it, despite the fact that it left me stranded more than once.  Had it not been for blowing a head gasket I probably would have kept this boat longer.  My next boat was not much better, an 18 foot bowrider, an early '80's boat with a late '70's version of a Johnson 115.  Plenty of power, but this boat too was unreliable and although  I caught quite a few fish in it I was glad to see it go after only 2 years.  It nearly sunk on its last voyage.  In a fitting last bit of drama, the guy I sold it to later sued me over title issues, I case I easily won in court.  In 2009 I bought a 1999 SeaSwirl Striper 17'3" center console with a 2001 Johnson (Suzuki) 70 hp 4-stroke.  This was the first boat I actually confident in bringing me back to the pier, and I can say that as a result I will never own another 2-stroke engine.  The engine starts right up every time and is so quiet that you almost can't hear it run.  Although a little smaller boat then I would have liked and more of a bay type hull, it is solid, seaworthy, and easy to launch and trailer for one person.  And since I usually fish alone or with one other person, it works well.  And with a bimini top, I can fish mid-day if I need to and not burn up.

Although it is possible to catch croaker most any time of day or night, they generally seem to bite better later in the day or even at night, when the sun has relented to heat their waters.  In fact, night time fishing for them can at times be spectacular.  Night fishing in Chesapeake Bay can be tricky for a number of reasons.  One is that the weather can change so quickly, and calm waters can turn rough within 10-15 minutes.  Also, dodging thunderstorms, a feasible activity by day, is at night down right suicidal.  Another tricky component to night fishing that Tangier Sound is thickly populated with crab pots, and the waterman will not hesitate to lay them in the navigation channels, so a spotlight is critical to return.  Careful, if the water gets rough, using a spotlight is nearly impossible.  I have 2 spotlights- one runs off 12V and the other is a rechargeable.  Both work well, but the rechargeable doesn't last long after a couple of years.  Another necessity for night fishing is a battery-powered lantern, unless your boat is equipped with enough deck lighting.  I have a simple Coleman rechargeable that works great and will run for hours off of a single charge.  Last thought- I wouldn't recommend fishing at night alone, it just seems like a good idea to have a companion to assist with whatever on the boat.  My favorite time to fish is probably the last 3 hours of daylight.  Enough natural light to function, the day has cooled off, and this fish will bite well if you get the right tide.  Speaking of fishing tides, I can't emphasized enough the importance of fishing the right time of the tides.  By that, I mean the last 2 hours of an incoming or outgoing tide, and the first 2 hours of an outgoing or incoming tide.  So, 2 hours on either side of peak tide.  Outside of this, the fish tend to feed very little.

Every year fishing in Tangier Sound has been different fro the year before.  What worked one year does not necessarily work the next.  And this has applied to fishing high tide vs low tide, fishing location, where to drift, and at times even which bait works best.  Weather patterns are part of this equation, I am sure.  For example, last year I never could connect with a night fishing opportunities where the wind was not blowing 20 mph plus. Last year, squid seemed to work better than in the previous 3-4 years.  On a yearly basis, for the last 4 years I have increasingly caught fewer fish.  That's not to say I am bringing fewer fish back home, its just that I have had to work harder for them (not only do I fish for fun, I also fish to put meat on the table).  In 2010, croaker did not show up in earnest until July, while in tears past I have begun catching good numbers the 3rd week of May.  Every year is different, and unless you spend time trying to figure it out, you are taking a pig-in-a-poke.  What I intend to do with this blog is to chronicle my individual efforts beginning in 2011.  Hopefully, they can be of use to myself and to others.  Please feel free to comment or contribute.