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Monday, June 27, 2011

Deal Island Fishing- June 24, 25: As the Wind Blows, and Blows, and Blows,...

June 24-25, 2011

June 24 was a true spur-of-the-moment venture.  Again the winds were blowing hard, this time as a cool front was moving in.  In fact the forecast was such that I had pretty much bagged the idea of fishing.  Well, I got off work at 11:30 am and set to work on my daughter’s car, thinking that the job would take all afternoon (I am not a great auto mechanic but I can just do enough to get me in trouble).  Good fortune prevailed and I found myself completed by 1:30.  Knowing that I had a 9:15 pm high tide and just past the summer solstice, I couldn’t resist the urge and bolted for Deal Island.  Unfortunately I couldn’t convince my son to drop everything as well, so I went solo.

True to for, the wind was blowing a gale when I got down there.  Well, at least 10-15 knots, with gusts to 20.  I watched the conditions closely throughout the afternoon and immediately prior to launch time I zipped down to the marina at the north end of the island, which is about ¼ mile from my place.  The water conditions looked fine, so I pulled the boat down to Wenona and launched around 6:30.  I knew things were going to be dicey as I exited the harbor and the waves began to smack into the bow of my boat.  Darn, I should have gone back into the thoroughfare instead.  Oh well, too late now so I pushed on, pretty much straight west and crossed the main channel.  Starting at about 25 ft depth, I noticed that this was the depth to fish at today.  More shallow than usual, not only was it slightly less turbulent than in deeper water but I also caught a fish or two right off the bat.  Used the drift sock which held be on my target depth pretty well.  Noticed the charter boat captains in the same area but deeper water, and I seemed to be catching more fish than them.  These guys, having bigger boats and with hydraulically retrieved anchors, are able to repeatedly anchor in spots in which it is not practical or sometimes even possible for me (I am no longer a fan of hoisting anchors by hand in depths greater than 40 feet).  Since the charter boat guys are trying to keep their customers happy, frequent moves and no tangled lines seem to be the name of the game.  I only have to please myself, and catching fish is a top priority, next to safety and comfort of course. At around 8:15 the water had settled enough that I chose to anchor at 25 ft, which I did until pulling out at around 9:15.  I motored back to dock just as it was getting difficult to see.  Calmer waters would have kept me in place into the dark and through the 1st hour of the outgoing tide.  I think I kept 8 fish, released maybe 5 or 6.  The keepers were decent, again around 11-12 inch average.

Back to the camper, and assessed the weather for Saturday on the 11 pm news.  Forecast was for calmer waters, so early to bed and set the alarm of 0630.  Woke up, made a pot of coffee, grabbed my bait and headed back down to the ramp.  All looked great until I got out around the south end of the island, at which point the blustery northwest wind countered the incoming tide and played an entirely new set of havoc with me.  Wow, this was even more rough than the day before.  I am beginning to wonder if the wind will ever stop blowing in Tangier Sound in 2011.  Started drifting in 25-35 feet of water on the west side of the channel just north of Wenona, and caught a double header right off the bat.  So, this seemed encouraging !!  However, it turned out to be the highlight of the morning.  For whatever reason I had a really rough time getting the hook set on the bites I was getting, like surreal almost.  Endured the NW beating until the tide changed at about 0945.  Kept 6 fish, one of which was 14 inches.  With croaker, when you start dealing with fish 14 inches and larger, they fight REALLY well and are great fun to catch.  In fact last summer I had both a 14” and 16” fish on as a double header and felt something “pop” in my right elbow, leaving me with weakness and pain in the elbow that took until this spring to heal.  I had begun to believe the damage was permanent, especially since I had known of other people to damage their elbows fishing (Google it- there are a lot of these fishing injuries believe it or not).  Bait for both days was squid and shrimp.  May score some more soft crabs next trip down, which should be July 1 if all works out.

Monday, June 20, 2011

June 16-17 solo fishing, Deal Island

June 16, 2011:  Goal was to get in an evening fish to coincide with the tide change at around 9:15 pm.  The weather was particularly iffy upon arrival so I immediately opted to load up the smaller boat (14.5 ft jon boat) and fish the creek (Law’s Thorofare) behind Deal Island.  Wind blowing a steady 20-25 knts, and then the rain came.  Managed to catch 4 nice croaker (12-13) before having to flee for the dock.

June 17, 2011: Much nicer day, around 85F and with wind at 10-15 knots out of the SW.  Launched the bigger boat from Wenona, solo.  The new ramps at Wenona are awesome, and solo launching is so much easier.  Got out in the Sound at about 1pm to target a 3:45 pm high tide.  Crossed the main shipping channel to target the steep shoal on the other side, about 0.5 – 1.0 mile north of the Wenona harbor.  Bait was squid and shrimp, didn’t bother with softcrabs this time.  Started drifting starting 30 ft and ending at about 55 feet, trying out my new DRIFT SOCK.  I bought a medium sized sock just as an experiment, and ran it about 25 feet behind the boat.  Immediately started catching fish in shallow water, a bit unusual for a warm sunny day in June.  In fact, caught around 12 on my first few drifts, all in about 30-40 feet, and none in deeper water as the reports had indicated.  The sock worked reasonably well, as the wind and tide were both conspiring to push the drifting boat pretty quickly.  And then it all changed.  The wind dropped to about 5-10 and shifted to due South.  For about 2 or 3 drifts, I caught only a few small fish, quickly discarded.  Then I started catching them in 40-52 ft of water.  With the wind shift, I was able to hang on this depth for nice long drifts using the new sock.   I played this game until about 45 minutes after the tide changed, at which point I had reached my legal limit of 25 croakers.  Too tired to continue, I gladly called it a day.  The 25 fish ranged from 10.5 to 13 inches, with the average probably 11 – 12.  I threw back maybe 10 fish.  Was glad for the abundant catch but would have been happy for some bigger fish.  Hoping to get out for an evening fish sometime soon,..... The weird looking croaker above- I caught him and noticed he was missing half his dorsal fin, one of his pectoral fins, and had a lot of scarring.  Perhaps had been attacked by a bluefish earlier in life??

Monday, June 13, 2011

Late start to fishing; June 11 fishing report

Wow, FINALLY got going, much later than planned.  Initial delays focused around 1) traveling for work 3 out of 4 weeks , starting later April, and 2) replacing the 1984 camper with one from 1995.  The camper is working out well, it's bigger and nicer than the old one.  Not perfect but it will get me through a few more years (goal is 6 - 8 yrs). Sure would like to put up a permanent structure again someday.  Anyway, my son Blair and I finally launched the boat (17+ foot center console) on 1st of June only to have the motor quit 1/4 mile outside of the harbor.  To make a long story short, water had contaminated the fuel.  The story has a happy ending, no real damage and I fixed it myself.

Boat fixed, launched June 10 from Wenona.  Wow, the state of Maryland had closed the old ramp and replaced it with two really nice new ones.  Nice ramps, steep and long like they should be.  Needed to tilt the motor up more- note to self.  The wind was blowing a steady 20 knots out the east-southeast, which made for a churning mess in Tangier Sound.  So much for forecast of waves less than 1 ft.  Compounded with an incoming tide, holding a rig on bottom while drifting was nearly impossible.  My little center console was really overmatched with the chop, and on top of only catching two small fish, my son Blair and I got soaked coming back to Wenona after aborting the trip early.

June 11 was a little different.  Wind out of the due south resulted in waves about 2.5 feet but defined enough that it was workable.  Launched out of north end marine and diddled around on the 40-45 ft flat toward Sharkfin Shoal, which was a huge waste of time.  Finally took the plunge and barrelled toward the south end of the island.  Fished on the west side of the channel, holding pretty well in 40-60 foot of water.  The fish were there in about 45-55 ft, as expected for mid afternoon on a hot day.  Regret not making this move sooner, as we moderately-steadily caught croaker until the tide changed (about an hour) at which point it shut off (tide now coming in, along with the wind- pushed us hard).  We caught 17 fish, kept 11.  Most keepers were in 12-13 inch class, no monsters but nice fish.  Still hoping to get an evening fish in and catch them in more shallow water.  Final note- ordered a drift sock after this trip, which I had long thought about and am anxious to try.