7/20/18- Fishing with Kara

In my last blog entry, I promised I would be trying a new spot next time out.  Being true to my word, I tried a new spot.  I had been researching my maps, trying to predict a good new spot.  What I came up with was a creek outlet just above Brant Hole Point, on the east side of South Marsh.  I chose this spot for two reasons- 1) depths were average 5 ft right up to the shoreline, and 2) The creek ran into the island and drained it from a point further south.  That meant that with an incoming tide, the water in the narrow creek would be exiting where I was anchored.  

Kara and I launched at 3:30 pm, with a decent wind blowing out of the SE and a low tide.  On the way to the ramp from the camper, we passed a WBOC film crew with their camera rolling.  As we waved to the camera and reporter, I told Kara to watch the news the next day, and sure enough, we made a 1-2 second appearance driving down the road.  

Anyway,...We tried drifting the deep water first, hoping to find croaker (which had been reported to have been caught in the area) and spot.  After two drifts I realized this was a waste of time and headed over to the scouted spot at Brant Hole Creek.  After a half hour or so there and zero action, I began to consider the effect of the stiff wind and how it was churning up the water where we were.  So, we relocated in an effort to dodge the effects of the wind and hopefully to also start catching fish.  We anchored off Gunbarrel Point right around 5pm, and for the first 30-45 minutes caught nothing (casting softcrab).  Then, as if someone flipped a switch, the rockfish started biting.  This continued until 6:30pm, at which point we had caught 7 nice rock.  Only a skate and two cownose rays (one being the biggest I may have ever seen) interrupted the action.  By 6:45, the wind had picked up to steady 25mph + and seemed to be increasing, so I called it.  And since the wind had also shifted to straight out of the east, we had a pretty bumpy ride back to the ramp.  Unfortunately, since the action was so steady for so brief we neglected to get any pictures.  Oh well, I guess we'll have ot go again soon !!   #dealislandrandy