Still looking for that great bottom fishing- looks like it is not happening this year. And it isn't just me. As I launched my boat on a beautiful Friday afternoon (8/11), there were only 3 other boats on the parking lot at Wenona, and none of the charter boats out fishing. That speaks volumes. Anyway, TJ and I launched at 2pm and headed to the west side of the channel north of Wenona, armed with bloodworms ($15/dozen foe the big ones) and softcrabs. I was marking a lot of fish at the interface between 25 and 15 feet, so we set up a drift starting in about 17 ft. After making a few depth adjustments, I had caught total of 4 nice Spot and one nice 13.5" kingfish, but it was slow going as this took 1.5 hrs plus. The drift was fast as tide was racing in and the south was blasting 15+ mph straight out of the south.
The plan was to relocate back behind Deal Island for the peak high tide and the first 2 hours of falling tide at 5pm. This has produced nice rock fish several times this summer, although the last time all fish were undersized. Sure enough, just after high tide we started whacking rock fish. We stuck with this and exhausted our entire dozen of soft crabs. I don't know what the final catch was, I would estimate 20 rock, the largest were in the 15-17" range.
I'm convinced that there is no rock fish shortage in the Chesapeake Bay as the state of MD would like for you to believe. In fact, I'm catching more rockfish than ever before. And, I'm wondering whether this in fact doesn't have something to do with the disappearance of the Croaker. Are they connected? Where are the Croaker? Are they being caught elsewhere? The MD DNR fishing report indicates they are being caught near the mouth of the Potomac. Is that true, and of so why not on the eastern shore? Hoping to get back out soon, I have so many different things I want to try. Also hoping for some calmer waters, as the wind has limited my options most of the summer.
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