November Wenona Rockfish Madness 11/12/17

I haven't been fishing as much in the last month as I would have liked.  In fact, I haven't been at all in over 2 weeks.  Sad because it can be so so good this time of year.  And today was one of those days.

My fishing buddy Dan and I launched off Wenona around 1115 AM . It was cold- in the '40's all day but the 54F water was nearly as smooth as glass, a.k.a. slick cam as they say on Deal Island.  We started off doing what I had been successful with just a few weeks prior- casting bass assassins off Little Deal Island and also off the jetty outside Wenona.  We caught a couple but soon conceded that things had changed.  The next plan was to troll swim shads around South Marsh Island, so we jetted off NW.  About half way out we noticed that birds were working small pockets of areas in the deeper water, and upon closer inspection noticed balls of bait fish with fish breaking the water.  Perfect- just what we were looking for. Low tide was at 3:15 pm, and we thought we'd now catch some rock while the tide continued to roll out.  So, mostly keeping the motor idling, we maneuvered from place to place chasing the birds who in turn were chasing the bait fish being demolished by the rockfish.  We picked our way among quite a few spot- there was not really any pattern. We caught some in 70 ft of water, some in 30, using metal jigs with and up & down motion, as I had learned from Capt. Larry Tawes. One thing for sure- we had to chase and we had to work hard for the fish we caught, maybe 30.  

This eventually slowed down by 1:45, so we decided to finish our journey to South Marsh and troll.  This proved to be a frustrating venture, as first the grass (which I had thought would be gone by now) fouled our rigs repeatedly, and then we lost a 4$ swim shad to a stump.  Since this did not bear any fish, I made the call to return to the jigging ground near Buoy 12.  Actually, we ended up stopping about 1/2 mile north of there.  The tide had slacked and fish were jumping everywhere.  Now it was really game on.  This went on in a fury for the next hour, and it just kept getting better. We probably boated 80 fish total, the majority in that last hour.  Many fish in the 17-19" range, even more 15-16" or smaller, and only one keeper at 21".  I had not pounded rock fish like that, ever.  Unfortunately, just after 4pm I knew I had to return to harbor and head home.  I'm hoping I get at least one more day like that on the water this year- maybe during Maryland deer season (rifle).  Thanks for reading.  This is #DealIslandRandy.