I've spent much of the spring making tweaks to it, the most important (to me) being installation of an electric winch. The boat now ready, as expected the wind has blown steadily on the weekends, only letting up during the week while I'm at work. And I guess this would be a good opportunity to share that I put a fairly substantial efforts this spring toward turkey hunting, having gotten very close to some nice turkeys but not able to close the deal.
Although the maiden voyage on my new boat was a few weeks back, it wasn't until yesterday that I seriously took it out fishing. Even then I braved 15-20 mph + winds. Since it was blowing directly out of the south, I knew I could find decent shelter on the north end of South Marsh Island. I caught the beginning of the outgoing tide around 1:30 pm and stopped at my first point, dropping soft crab on 8/0 hooks in hopes of catching a red drum, but only hooking two 16-inch rock. After a while of losing baits I decided to take a cruise, and I entered Holland Straights in attempt to get in near to Adam's Island, but all I found was shallow water. Retracing the route I had followed seemed like a good idea, with the rapidly falling tide. I don't like traveling in 1.4 feet of water.
I settled in on Gunbarrel Point, which sits near the NW corner of South Marsh. At about 3:30, it was suddenly game-on. I started catching rockfish on my absolute crappies reel on my oldest rod, ironic since I replaced a lot of my gear over the winter. The first one up was 22-inches, well over the 19-inch state limit, recently reduced from 20". The next was about 17", and with a skate hooked on the 2nd hook of the double bottom rig. This was in 6 feet of water, which was still stirred up from all the recent rain. Water temp was 78F. The next 3-4 were between 16-18 inches, all nice fish that battled well. Then another big one, that managed to shake loose 10 feet from the edge of the boat. And lastly, a 21-inch rock that also brought along a skate as a companion. This fulfilled my allowed quota of two fish. I had spent time during and after this casting various 4-inch plastics on jig heads hoping for not only a rock but also a speckled trout, but no dice. Final tally- 7 rock, two of which were keepers.
I'm super anxious to get the new boat out again. I don't think it will be long,...
