A change of pace (rockfish) Aug 23, 2013

Hustled down to Deal Island late morning in effort to make a 4:15 high tide.  The forecast had quickly deteroriated   (sp?) to almost certain rain, and the forecast did not disappoint.  The radar showed an ugly mass sliding in from the northwest which was supposed to be gone by 1:30 but which was still threatening as late as 3PM.  I spotted the mass of rain start to part and divide on the radar, and against the advice of some of the watermen with whom I was sharing a soda I launched my boat and headed to Tangier Sound.  As I approached the number 12 buoy, the wind was brisk and straight out of the east.  While this made the water simply choppy, the undesired effect was that it pushed the boat so quickly to the west that a reasonable drift was not possible.  Four ozs. of lead was not enough to hold the rig on bottom, especially with teh light tackle that I use.  I did manage to catch one small rock on the brief time I drifted here.

Off to a new location.  My target was shallow water on the south and east sides of Little Deal Island, as the MD DNR fishing report indicated that the shallow water fishing in the area was really heating up.  By the time I got to my destination, it was slack high tide- I had hoped to get here sooner but this was what happened.  Fishing with soft crabs exclusively,  I anchored off a small point in about 5 feet of water and threw to the bank.  There was a lot of grass here, and all I seemed to catch was a bunch of grass.  So, I moved to another spot that looked, well, simply fishy.  It was a nice tight point with a protected little cove to the south side.  Immediately I started catching rockfish, and this continued for about a steady 45 minutes.  They were small, ranging from about 12-16 inches but fought quite nicely and of course I did not keep any (LOL).  I caught 9 before it quit as quickly as it had started.  Among the flurry of rock was also the biggest croaker I had caught all year- 15 inches and what a nice battle it gave me in shallow water.  Fishing in overcast, drizzly, and cooler (72F) conditions had really turned on these fish.  I am absolutely aching to try this again, but unfortunately I am literally running out of time.  Next weekend is Labor Day and I suspect I will not have opportunity to get out and fish.  Following that, I leave for Guatemala on Sept 9.  Then a brief business trip, followed by 2 consecutive football game weekends.  October will likely be my next time down.

I did manage to finish building the boat trailer I have been working on since mid-July.  as soon as I can get the boat loaded on it, I should be ready for crabbing. !!!

Wrapping up The Summer of Kara- August 17, 2013

Well, I mentioned in one of my previous 2013 posts that this summer would be focused on my daughter Kara.  After starring in her high school musical, prom, graduation, and the college send-off (which we organized), we arrived at the grand finale: Kara's departure to college.  On 8/15 we left with a fully loaded mini-van for Morgantown, WV- home of West Virginia University.  Yes, Kara would be following her older brother and attending our alma mater. The morning of the 16th, we moved Kara in to Towers, same dorm I lived in 32 years ago.  Funny, it even smelled the same.  After Kara tweeted the Mountaineer mascot to come help, we were stunned when he actually showed up in full Mountaineer garb, including musket.  I managed to conclude the day without becoming emotional.  I think I'm saving up for a secret daddy cry-fest,....

Saturday August 17 I headed to Deal Island, as I had agreed to take my brother Ross and one of his young boys, 8 year old Owen, fishing.  After mowing grass and working on my boat trailer for a few hours, my brother showed up at about 4 pm, a bit late due to his 5 hour drive to the beach.  Our target was a 5:05pm low tide.  While we managed to dodge the previously forcasted rain, we couldn't avoid a pretty active NE wind.  Had we been without the young boy, we would have gone out into Tangier Sound.  Instead we played it safe and fished Laws Thorofare, a.k.a.- the gut.  Only able to catch the final 45 minutes of outgoing tide, we still managed to put 9 pretty decent fish into the cooler.  And, young Owen did a pretty good job- reminding me totally of his father when he was that age.  I'm glad we got to go.  Hadn't fished with my brother in years- we used to fish together all the time.  He had never been on my boat.  And I had also never fished with his son (Ross's older son Adam is not yet too fond of boats).

Well, the summer is truly winding down.  Labor Day is in two weeks, then all of September is wrapped up in a mission trip, a business trip, and two football games.  I hope to have the jon boat trailer rebuild completed just in time for crabbing.

Stinky fish- August 11, 2013

For the first time this summer I was able to get my youngest son Blair out on the boat with me.  He passed up numerous opportunities early on, before he got a summer job.  Now, as summer is quickly fading, he realized that he may not get a chance, so I scheduled a vacation day from work and we headed down to the camper after church. 

Overcast skies provided much needed relief from the August heat, but with them came the threat of rain.  We persevered and launched anyhow at 3pm targeting a 6pm high tide.  Winds were 5-10 mph out of the SSE, darn near perfect.  We tried several spots just south of buoy 14, on the west side of the channel- mostly because the rain appeared to be off to our south.  We managed to dodge that bullet as well as several passing showers, feeling only a few sprinkles.  However, although conditions looked great the fish were not biting here.  So, we moved back down by buoy 12 and this is where we found some decent croaker.  Our drifts carried us almost perfectly NW, and this worked well for targeting the biting depth of 38-44 feet.  Anything outside of that was dead (dead zones?).  Blair seemed to have lost his touch from last year, and only put one in the cooler.  I was happy to catch many while he simply watched, and I ended up putting in an additional 12.  The biggest was 13”, and the ratio of throwbacks to keeper was about 2:1.  Succumbing to our hunger, we called it quits right around slack tide and went in for some dinner.  I’ll give Blair this- he continued to fish the entire time, in contrast to last year in which he would frequently quit after an hour.

Next morning (Monday) I got up early and cleaned the fish.  It was an insufferable morning dominated by relentless 95% humidity which made it feel like 100F.  I then proceeded to cut grass, clean my boat, and then continue working on my boat trailer- about 4 hours worth of work (I thought I came down here to relax?).  When Blair finally awoke around 9am I gave him one job to do: pack the contents of the refrigerator into the cooler.  Simple. Probably took him 5 minutes. Fast forward to Tuesday.  I get home from work and am ready to vacuum seal my fish prior to freezing.  Well, no fish anywhere to be found.  And if they weren’t in my house. There was only one place they could be,…. Ughhh.  Yep, Blair had left the fish at Deal Island, in the refrigerator, in the camper closed up and with power on.  Instantly I knew that this had to be dealt with  ASAP, and any delay increased the likelihood of disaster.  One time 25 years ago, we had a fridge fail down there (in the shack), in which we had loaded the freezer with crab bait.  After two weeks, the fridge had become so rancid that we had to haul the entire unit out of the shack immediately and without opening the door. Back to the present, due to a prior commitment I was not able to go down to find the forgotten fish.  Luckily Candy bailed me out and made the trip.  And while what she found wasn’t pretty, it was caught in time before it became catastrophic.  Note to self: next time, double check when Blair empties the fridge and packs the cooler.

Finally, good weather, good fishing- Aug 2-3, 2013

Friday August 2- it was warm and sunny, but a nice 5-10 mph SW breeze made for nice calm 1 ft waves.  Launched at 3PM to catch the 5:15 low tide.  Based on reports from the week before, targeted deeper water than I usually fish.  And, that's where they were.  Used both squid and soft crabs at the same time.  In 2 hours time, I put 25 hardhead in the cooler, reaching my legal limit.  By 6 I had the boat on th trailer headed back to the camper.  The fish were caught just WSW of buoy 12, in 56-64 ft of water.  Outside of these depths, the fish quit.  The throwback ratio was much less than the rest of the summer, with probably 5 keepers to each throwback.  However, upon filleting them, I had to ask my self why I had kept a few of those fish.  Maybe I was hungry,...

Next day, I launched at 4PM with one of my Deal Island neighbors, Mark.  We were targeting the 6:15 tide change.  The direct sun and heat of the day had just given way to overcast and a welcome cold front.  and fortunately, the accompanying wind didn't show up until the next day.  We went to the same general area but took the lead of one of the party boats and stayed more shallow.  Cooler air and water temps (80.5F) suggested this to be a good idea.  And right away, I started catching some nicer fish (10-13").  Bait was soft crabs only.  We didn't fish too long, and I put 8 in the cooler, while Mark added two.  Things tailed off as the tide slacked.  I always enjoy schooling my fishing partners.  I think the difference is attributable in part to the sensitivity of the 6ft Ugly Stick strung with 30 lb Spider Wire.  I also like the 2/0 top hook with the #2 flounder hook on the bottom.  But, what do I know??  Anyway, finally starting to put some fish in the freezer. But without my croaker eating partner daughter Kara around this year (going to WVU), who is going to help me eat these fish.