That said, I'll back-track and briefly recap my first Tangier Sound fishing of the year, weekend of May 8-9 2015. I only got out once, and spent my time at the north end of South Marsh Island. A gorgeous May evening, caught the peak high tide. Water temp 68F. I started trolling on the west side of the island and toward the north end. I picked up a nice small rock on a SwimShad just rounding the north tip, and this would be the last fish I would catch. I trolled all the way across the northend, then motored over to Holland Island for some drifting with bait. I had wanted to come over here for awhile. There are some other small islands in the area as well as Bloodsworth, and I really need to learn the area better. Note to self- lots of shallow water. I know there must be some deeper bank areas, as I am told by so many about these Holland Straits.
Just wrapped a gorgeous Memorial Day weekend, although a bit breezy for much of it. Water temp still only up to 70-70.5F, we have had a lot of cold nights with the heat kicking on. Friday the 22nd I tried bottom fishing near buoy 12, but the wind out of the west at 15-20 mph made this unbearable. I put one hardhead into the cooler then took the plunge and ran over to South Marsh to escape the wind. Well, at least that part worked. I threw soft crab and squid to bottom while anchored in 4.5 ft. Finally got a bite by a nice rockfish- he put up a good fight and then went into the cooler. And as I had been warned, the skates and rays had also made an appearance. I caught 4 or 5, lost a couple of rigs, and oh man he cownosed ray I caught was humongous. I was hoping for speckled trout or drum , but no go. Saturday the 23rd I though that I would just stick with bottom fishing, as the wind had laid down nicely. I fished just south of buoy 12, drifting north just to or past the buoy. The fishing was non-stop, I caught countless croaker and each seemed to be a 9-9 1/2 inch clone of each other. After several hours, I was able to put only 8 in the cooler, and half of those I later wished I had released. Sunday while preparing to launch I noticed that I had lost a roller off my trailer. Not wanting to gouge my boat bottom upon re-trailering, I aborted the trip. Off to Short's Marine to get replacement roller(s). I've had 3 fail so far, and I can see the others are on borrowed time. AT $12.50 apiece, I'll try to just replace a couple at a time.
