Fast forward, Friday July 14. Surely, the croaker must arrived by now. No dice. My buddy Dan and I brave the 90F+ heat at 3 pm, frying in my boat in deep water. Oh, and its rough too, so options limited. Three hours of this fruitless effort, we head for protected water behind Deal Island to catch the fall of tide from peak high. We enter Laws Thorofare through the north end harbor, and I show Dan my historically favorite deep hole fishing spots back in "the Gut". We anchor in an absolutely spectacular place, deep water with a ripple from a cut-through feeding into it. We aren't there 5 minutes, and I grow concerned about the storm clods that have quickly mounted just to our west. Dan has cell signal, so I get him to pull up the radar of the area. When I see the radar image, I advise Dan that we have to leave RIGHT NOW! He heeds my caution and concern, and we motor as fast as possible back to the ramp at Wenona. Boat back on the trailer, it looks as though the storm has passed off to the north. Boat back to the yard, things looking scary again. We unload the essentials, I unhook, and prepare to meet Dan at his house for dinner. As I leave my fish camp, there is water blowing across Deal Island Road, being blown by the sudden 40-60 mph winds that came seemingly out nowhere. This water is from Tangier Sound, as it's not even raining yet. That's how quickly things can change . We watch the storm unfold from the safety of Dan's House, 10 feet away from Tangier Sound, in Chance. It was an amazing sight, and I am so glad we got off the water when we did.
Next day I take my daughter Kara and her boy friend TJ out. One of the local charter captains was kind enough to post pics of his coolers full of Spot. So, I know that if I can locate him, I stand a reasonably good chance of catching some or at least know where he has been catching them. West side of the channel, between bouys 12 and 14, and in 17 ft of water. We drift near where he is anchored. The wind and tide are opposed, so we are almost standing still. I don't have blood worms, but I have fish bites, soft crab, and squid. In three hours we manage to put 2 really nice kingfish (13.5-14") in the cooler, as well as one nice Spot. Just before the 1830 peak high tide, we move to a nice little pocket behind Little Deal Island, exactly where I had caught a nice rockfish earlier in the summer under almost the same conditions. We anchor and soon it is game on. I think we caught probably 8-10 nice but small rockfish in pretty short order, all on soft crab. The kids are happy we caught some fish, and so am I. I still would like to know where the hardhead are. The only plus about their absence is that it has really pushed my to get better at catching some other species. Until next time, probably in 2 weeks,....
