2019 Squirrel Camp wrap-up, and perhaps last 2019 rockfishing?

Background: I still hunt (and fish) with my college buddies, some of whom lived on my dorm floor freshman year at WVU.  If you look back a few months in my blog, I had them down to Deal Island to fish this past summer.  Anyway, one of these guys (Pat) has a small primitive cabin deep in the mountains of southwestern Virginia (Bath County).  The WVU guys have been squirrel hunting here each October for 36 consecutive years.  Basically, it kicks off the Fall hunting season for most of us, as we have historically done this in early October.  Due to climate change, we have now pushed this back, and this year we held it the final weekend of  October.  It's a super long drive for me (7+ hours), so there were many years a while back while I was raising kids where I was less a regular, and more of an infrequent drop-in.  The routine is that we arrive on Thursday and hang out + set up camp, Friday and Saturday we hunt squirrels, and Sunday we break camp and everyone scatters.  This year I took my Deal Island fishing buddy Peter with me, his inaugural Squirrel Camp. 

Day 1 came early, up by 5 to cook a bacon and egg breakfast and get our gear straight.  The forecast for the day was cool but sunny and calm winds- a perfect recipe for squirrel hunting.  Everybody goes to different spots that they like, and I keep it simple by hunting a ridge and piece of forest I am now well familiar with, located just over the border into West Virginia in the George Washington National Forest, 6 miles in off the nearest road, and just off of the maintained but unpaved forest road.  We were in the woods by 6:30, and we had to wait for enough daylight to see where we were going.  So, my hunting day started between 7-7:15 AM.  And, diving into a thick, steep, and dry terrain with my 16 gauge Remington 1100- got my limit of 6 squirrels by 930 am. 

Day 2 of Squirrel Camp was a completely different scene. It had rained the night before, with a warm front accompanying.  It was a tough hunt with far fewer squirrels out feeding, but I got my limit by noon. Like last year, one victim was eating dinner when I took him. This one has a hickory nut in its mouth, in contrast to the squirrel with an acorn last year.

Each day, we all clean our own squirrels to bring home.  Our meals consist of food that we bring in and prepare, and for the last 5 years I have put on a seafood feast for the fellas.   This year, it was fried oysters, fried soft crabs, and blackened rockfish.

Speaking of rockfish,... I got out on Dan's boat the following weekend (Nov 2).  We started early, launching at 6:45 AM and before the sun had come up.  The forecast was for <5mph winds, but that wasn't how it played out. In fact, we spent much of the morning looking for clean water.  And, due to the NW winds  blowing for days, there was almost no more tide left to go out.  Nonetheless, we caught fish on the west side of Smith Island, just off the rock jetties.  Pearl and green plastic did the trick in shallow water.  Water temp was 58F.  One keeper out of probably 30-40 fish, which we worked hard to catch.  No birds working fish were to be seen in the deeper water, so assuming that may come later.  And right now, it looks like we may not catch a break from the wind for the next 10 days, which really sucks.  Maybe something will change.  Until then, this is #dealislandrandy.

Great Fall Fishing for Rock, Oct 12, 2019

Launched from Wenona 1015 AM on Saturday, Oct 12 2019 amidst a freak flood caused by an offshore Nor'easter combined with full moon that pushed a ridiculous amount of water into the mid-Atlantic region.  The pier/walkway at the boat ramp was under 3 inches of water when we departed, 8 inches when we returned after high tide.  We didn't plan on this, or the lack of true tide changes associated with it.  In fact, we were counting on the regular and dramatic outgoing tide, which never really happened.  What we did receive as planned was a gorgeous sunny October day that started out rather cool but soon had us peeled down to our t-shirts and shorts.  Water temp was 67F.

We headed over to the west side of Smith Island, returning as we had vowed last Spring to cast lures along the numerous rock jetties that are now installed and protecting that side of the island.  What I like about these jetties is that they hold nice deep water (normally 6-7 ft) their entire length, and when I first scouted them, I know they would hold fish later in the year.  And so they did.

No bait on the boat today.  We cast various iterations of bass assassins and storm lures, 4-5 inches w/ and w/o paddle tails (I prefer the paddle tail), either pearl or chartreuse, or some combination of the two- and threaded onto either 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig head (white or chartreuse).  Dan had monofilament leaders with swivels rigged onto the ends of his braided line, while I use simple 30 lb braided line (I prefer Spiderwire).  I like Dan's rigs , but at the end of the day I don't think it mattered in catching fish.  We fished a good long while, catching probably 40-50 fish, all rock except for one keeper speckled trout (15 1/2").  Almost all of the rock were 15-18 1/2", except of course for the one keeper that got away (I swear I had this joker right up to the side of the boat before he shook his broad shoulders, spit the hook out, laughed, and swam away).  Had we had a good outgoing tide I think we would have done much better, but the tide was nearly still, even  1/2 hours after high tide.

Candy has designated next weekend as "No Fishing", and the following weekend is squirrel camp.  So, I'm hopeful to get out maybe one or two more times, provided the weather cooperates.  Until next time, #dealislandrandy

Almost too windy to fish. Almost,.... Oct 5, 2019

The wind was forecaster to be around 12-13 mph out of the NE.  I felt that if that held true, we could get out for some shoreline casting if we put some land between the boat and the wind.  To that extent, Artie and I launched out of Wenona right at high tide.  The wind had been howling for days, and I could see by the water level at the ramp that it had blown a lot of water out of the bay.  And the water that was left was a mess- completely dirtied up by the wind and waves.  And we quickly found that the true wind was more on the order of 20-25 mph, which didn't make for friendly casting conditions in shallow (3-5 ft) water.  Keeping the boat positioned was of course a never-ending task.  Water temps varied from 72 to 68F.

We stayed true to our commitment to cast lures and kept the bait in the cooler.  Tossing 4-5 paddletails, mostly white or green with a touch of pink, we were able to score some fish once the tide started rolling out.  We fished the jetty outside the harbor and picked up one, but most of the rock were around the protected side of Little Deal Island.  Crossing Tangier Sound was out of the question, so we were seriously limited.  

We didn't hook up with any of the specs we were hoping for, but we did catch a fair number of small rock.  The two nicest, around 16-17" were right near the end of our time at 12:15pm, but by that time I was beat and we called it a day.  Hoping to get out a few more times before it is all over.  The weather had been so unbelievably cooperative all summer long, and I'm really hoping for some similar cooperation into the Fall.  Until next time, #dealislandrandy.

End of Summer Rockfish Crush

So, fast-forward exactly 3 weeks from the last time I fished.  Friday, Sep 20, 2019- totally dedicated to Dan's birthday weekend.  We launched out of Wenona at 3pm, stocked heavily with soft-crabs, which can be especially tricky to find this late in the season and especially with a major tournament being held.  We headed to the islands, back to my new (2019) secret spot.  I stil can't exactly time the tide there, but I'm close enough.  All I know is that it goes slack very briefly, and then rushes the other way with quickly accelerating ferocity.  And you need to time it to catch the first 90 minutes of that newly moving tide- ebb tide works best.

We got Thundertruck in exactly the right position to provide for the 5-10 mph southerly breeze and the tide change.  Water temp was noted at about 74F, perfect.  We caught the last 10 minutes of incoming tide, then a very brief slack. Just enough time to get rods rigged, bait cut, and the tunes rolling.  And then, it happened.  We caught a few small fish at first, and then it was rockfish city like it was nobody's business.  Dan, Mark, and I had our collective 6 allowed keepers in less than 30 minutes, mixed in with a couple of keeper (15, 16") speckled trout (which I just fried up tonight for dinner- YUM!!).  We spent the next hour catching many, many rock, including probably an equal number of keepers which we of course released.  One noteworthy observation- a lot of skinny rockfish, not all but enough that we noticed.  I started to see this in early August, and I'm not sure why.

Saturday we fished various places throughout the day.  There was a lot more exploration of other places, including the Manokin where I caught a few nice perch, and Sharkfin Shoal where I caught a keeper rock as soon as we pulled up and anchored.  I'm looking forward to cooler weather and tossing lures at the rock fish.  So many new places I want to try.  Until next time, #dealislandrandy

Last day of August, 2019- Mid-day Rockfish bonanza

All summer long I have been catching rockfish in shallow at my new spot around one of the Tangier Sound islands.  All these trips, I've tended to go toward late afternoon since it is more comfortable than mid-day, and the tide has been favorable at that time.  This day, the tide was best starting just shy of 1pm.  This was the first opportunity I've had to fish with my oldest son Brooks in a couple of years, so I was really hoping to put him on some fish.  To seal the deal, I also invited my buddy Peter, who seems to be sort of a charm when it comes to putting fish on the line.

We launched Wenona on a hot and sunny day around 12:30 and got to our spot around 1pm.  The tide was still coming in around arrival, but just barely.  I was hoping to catch it a little earlier but this is how it played out.  Using soft crab, 2/0 hooks and 1 oz of weight- we quickly caught 6 small fish- each one a different species: Spot, Kingfish, Sea bass, flounder, Croaker, and Rockfish.  The tide slacked and it was nothing for about 15 minutes, which is typical for this place.  Then everything changed, and fast.  As the tide went out, the rockfish turned on with a fury, and in about 90 minutes time we caught no less than 75 fish.  I've never caught so many 17-18 inch rockfish in all my life (legal limit is 19")- it was fun and frustrating all at the same time.  And just like that, it was all over.  A final observation is that the water temp, which had been 86.5F two weeks prior, had cooled down to about 80.5F.

I'll wrap this up with a couple of pics I took during the 2019 Deal Island Skipjack Races.  I was blessed to be aboard The Kathryn, the most awesome skipjack of the fleet- thanks Dawn and David.  Until next time, 

#dealislandrandy

Aug 17- dog days of August Videoblog

I decided to try something different and make this update a video blog.  Welcome any feedback.
#dealislandrandy

Still catching fish- August 9-10, 2019

Got two fishing trips in over the weekend, but neither turned out as planned.  Sometimes you just have to roll with it.

Friday 8/9 we were supposed to take a charter to the Target Ship and night fish.  Unfortunately, the captain cancelled at 3PM due to weather.  Not to be dissuaded, we launched out of Scott's Cove in Dan's boat (Mark and Artie included). Storms were indeed popping up everywhere upon launch, and we made a safe play straight up to catch the first part of the incoming tide on the east side of South Marsh Island.  The little creek exiting the island and flowing south to north produced rockfish, but they were indeed small, not what we were after.

After the immediate local threat of thunderstorms had passed (we were checking radar, comparing it to the skies), we made a major move to Holland Island to fish some really shallow water.  Not my choice of locales, but as a passenger I went with it just the same.  Our next and final major move brought us back to the south side of Spring Island, which lies just ENE of Holland Island.  There is a cut which divides the island in half, and we focused on the south sides of this cut.  And here is where we picked up 3 keeper rockfish, and one keeper speckled trout.  I've gotta come back here again, I need to explore it deeper, especially to see if that cut has any depth to it.

Saturday was another day full of surprises.  I had to be back at the ramp at 530 in order to meet my wife- we were attending a birthday party at 6pm.  Mark, Dana, and I intended to launch Wenona at 2PM sharp, head to my secret hotspot, load up on rock, and roll out.  Well, we encountered an obstacle which I'm not going to go into, except that it delayed our launch a painful 45 minutes, which likely cost us the sweet part of the outgoing tide.  When we finally got there (my boat), the tide was barely moving, hadn't flipped yet.  If you've been following my blog this summer, this place is completely tide-dependent, and sometimes the bite only lasts 30 minutes.  So, we missed that part.  On the other end, I had already declared that we had a hard stop at 5PM, and not wanting to break my promise to wifey, held to it.  And as you probably could guess, the bite was just turning on as we packed up to leave.  Heartbroken, I pulled anchor while the fish were full-on biting.  We caught a lot of fish in our short time there, but no keepers EXCEPT for 5 10" croakers, which I know will make my daughter happy (croaker is the only fish she will eat).  

Until next time, this is #dealislandrandy

August 3 and 4, 2019: Fishing still hot !

I know this is starting to sound old, but I don't care: this is the best year of fishing I've had in awhile.  With the decline and eventual departure of bottom fishing culminating in 2015, I had to re-invent my game.  I've had some good outings for rock and speckled trout the last 3-4 years, but this year I am absolutely on it.  Meaning, every time out since early June I am catching loads of rock, and sometimes speckled trout.  Last year I used mostly artificial and swore I was done with bait.  This year, it's been all soft crab.  It makes a mess, but it is can't miss so far.

My pattern continues to be later in the day (launch ~330pm), catch last hour or so of previous tide, and /or the first part of the next one.  The catch starts with the slack- as soon as water starts moving, and continues with the moving tide (coming in or going out) until the water is simply moving too fast.  This past weekend, the tide was early and it was blazing hot, so we got the outgoing tide only.  And Saturday, I had to wait on my WVU buddies traveling in southern WV so we got there after the tide was rolling out.  Sunday, we timed it right and got there just at slack.  Note to self: the tide charts for this spot tend to be trending a little later than actual.

Saturday we put only one keeper in the cooler, and one 18-inch speckled trout.  But, we caught a lot of nice fish and of course released all those under 19".  Sunday, we put 3 nice keepers in the cooler and caught a ton of total fish.  I'll include a couple of video clips of TJ, Pat, and Jack from my gopro- unfortunately didn't have it running while catching the bigger fish.

Headed to the Target Ship Friday on a charter, and maybe back to this spot on my boat Saturday for a quick fish. #dealislandrandy

July 25/26, 2019: burning up rockfish and speckled trout

I was just talking to my wife about what a great year fishing this has been so far, especially compared to last year.  And this past weekend totally reinforced that notion.  I am absolutely in a fish groove, and I hope it doesn't end any time soon.

Having success at fishing is easy, really.  You just need to be in the right place, at the right time, and do the right things.  OK, so figuring out the first two of those essentials can sometimes be a challenge.  I found a spot back in May that has been absolute money.  It's so good, I'm not even going to identify it here, since I know there are fellow fishermen that read this that would love to have a piece of this action.  But, they didn't work for it, so no-go. I will say- it is around one of the islands in the middle of Tangier Sound and it is in shallow water.

Thursday, July 25- I played hookie from work and launched solo out of Wenona at 3:30 pm.  Before I go further, I just wanted to mention that the new trim tabs I installed on THUNDERSTRUCK performed amazingly.  It was exactly what I was looking for to level out the boat- she buzzed through a 3-4 foot chop on the way back like it was butter.  Anyway, I'm in position and fishing the incoming tide by 4:15, and it was ripping quite fast.  I catch the requisite skate right away, and promptly disembowel it with my new ceramic bait knife.  After that, it was a quality fish with every cast, lasting about 30 minutes.  By 5pm, I had caught my limit of 2 keeper rock (one 19.5, the other 20.5 inches), and three of the 4 speckled trout I am allowed to keep (14.5, 16, and 18 inches).  There were a few more 16-18" rock mixed in.  Then, I spent the next hour and a half trying (without success) to catch that dang 4th speck.  I did manage to catch many more rock, including two more keeper size.  I pulled anchor at 6:30 pm with an approaching thunderstorm and zoomed back to port, getting a little wet in the process.

Friday July 26, we took Dan's boat to the same exact spot.  On board also were Mark, his son Derek, and Derek's buddy, so 5 head.  We caught a lot of fish, but I was the only one to put keeper rock (2) in the cooler.  The best fish of the night was on my line right before we left at 7:30 pm, he was a brute of a rock (guessing 24") but managed to spit the hook out 2 feet from the boat.  So, maybe I was just lucky, I don't know.

So, fishing solo Thursday, I have no photos.  And Friday, the crew was too focused on having fun and I don't believe any photos were taken.  So, I leave you with pics of the crabs I bought from my waterman friend David W. - they were AWESOME !!  Hoping to fish next Saturday.  #dealislandrandy

#rockfish
#stripedbass
#speckledtrout
#tangiersound

July 5, 12 = Rockfish

Returned to the same island spot as I fished end of June.  The first outing was with my brother, on a breezy but sunny hot Friday afternoon.  The tide was falling for this trip.  Casting where we had caught the fish the week prior was fruitless, so we moved further up the creek into the marsh. The 17 foot deep hole ran up to a 6 ft deep lump and then deep again as we progressed in.  We decided to fish the inside of that lump.  And that's where we caught a ton of rock.  All but one were throwbacks, and the fish were a little on the smaller side, but caught a LOT of fish.  And best of all, no skates or rays.

A week later, July 12, Dan and I fished a calm and hot/humid late afternoon.  Same place.  Tide was opposite (low tide at 430pm), so slack when we first got there, then soon incoming.  As soon as the tide changed and started to run, we started to catch fish.  This was a larger grade of rockfish than the week before, and teh bite was very aggressive- tons of fun.  Water temp was 84F+, but these fish didn't seem to care.  I put 3 in the cooler, Dan 1, and they were 19, 20, 21, and 22".  We also caught some speckled trout, maybe 5 or 6, with one keeper at 15".

So, that's 3 consecutive weeks this spot has produced good fishing.  I'm goign to continue to work it until it lets me down.  Can't wait to try these waters in the fall.  Thanks for reading- #dealislandrandy

Here's a video of my chilling after we limited out:

A Hot June Afternoon, and lots of fish

After a 3-week hiatus from fishing to do some vacationing with my wife in Europe, I finally got back after at.  My buddies Mark and Peter joined me on my boat on a hot June 28, 2019 afternoon.  Mark had proposed a name for my boat the month prior, so I had the decals created and I just applied them today.  She is named "THUNDERSTRUCK" as you can see in the following pics.

We took advantage of a very calm sea and motored across Tangier Sound to the spot Mark and I had recently found on the NW side of Smith Island.  A small cut, edged in breaker rocks, drains the wide inner marsh of the Glenn L. Martin Wildlife Sanctuary, and serves as a perfect funnel for bait fish and awaiting rockfish.  We caught the tail end of the outgoing tide, and the first few hours of the incoming.  The action started almost immediately.  We caught a lot of rockfish, estimated 50 or so fish.  I put two legal rock in the main cooler, and we caught a number of heartbreakers in the 16-18" range.  Speckled trout also showed up, I think we caught 4, one of which landed on my line and being the legal minimum of 14 inches.  A few spot rounded out the picture. 

The fish seemed to be stacking up on the North bank (the cut runs East to West) opposing the incoming tide, and we caught 90% of our fish here.  There was never any need to move, as the action was steady.  Now, the part I haven't told yet is just how many skates and cownose rays we caught.  This has become the norm when fishing with softcrab, and we are now eviscerating most that we get to the side of the boat, since they proliferate so profoundly and with no predators.  Until next time,.... #dealislandrandy

May 31, 2019- quick rockfish update

Not much time to write tonight.  Fished with my new friend Peter.  Launched out of Wenona on a pretty calm afternoon.  Headed to Bloodsworth but unable to locate the spot I wanted, so we motored south to north side of South Marsh Island.  Same creek outlet we've been fishing.  Outgoing tide, lowq tid ewas 630pm.  Using soft crabs in 5 feet of water, we caught 10-12 rock in about 2 hours.  Four keepers in that time, ranging from 19-21". And yes, Peter out-fished me.  Friends, if you want to catch fish, come out with me.  Most everyone fishing on my boat lately has caught more than me.  Nice job Peter, hope we fish again soon.  

And a shout out to my buddy Dan- we launched his new 21 ft Parker center console on Saturday, honored to be part of that maiden voyage and looking forward to catching many fish on your boat!!  

Until next time, this is #dealislandrandy

Memorial Day Weekend 2019- a big red drum to remember

I had always been told that large red and black drum move into the shallows of Tangier Sound for a brief period right around Memorial Day.  And I've always been told that soft crab was the way to catch them. I've tried in years past to make this drum connection.  Last year I even bought and tried some super large hooks specifically for this purpose.

Saturday May 25, 2019- after a late night, I rendezvoused with my buddy Mark and our new friend Peter.  The plan was to launch out of Wenona on my boat, and try for a few hours to catch some rockfish.  Getting a late start, we launched out of Wenona into about a 10-152 mph SE wind, not too bad but a slightly bumpy ride across Tangier Sound.  The wind was forecasted to quickly increase, so I knew we had a limited window, and I also wanted to get us into an area somewhat protected from the wind.  The archipelago of South Marsh Island served this purpose well, and we anchored of the NW edge of the island.  We were not 5 minutes into fishing before we lost 2 rigs due to snags.  This would continue to plague us for the next several hours.  And when we weren't getting snagged, we were catching skate after skate after skate.  Mixed in were a few small rock and one small speckled trout.  And then Mark's line started to peel drag.  

Mark knew immediately this was something different.  He said that he could feel the fish's tail hit the line.  Mark was using a small spinning reel, 6'6" Ugly Stik, and 30lb braided line, just like I use.  The game was on.  Mark fought this fish for 5 minutes before I thought to pull out my phone and start shooting video.  Here is that video.  The battle lasted another ~7 minutes, during which the fish circled the boat 4 times, all without getting caught in the anchor line (we were sitting among too many pots in shallow water to pull anchor and let the fish pull us.  The fish surfaced early during the video, revealing that Mark had a large red drum on the line.  The next challenge was figuring out how to land the fish without a net, as I tend to not carry one on my 18 ft center console since it takes up valuable real estate.  As you can see toward the end of the video, I grab the fish with my bare hands and swing it up onto the boat.  After measuring it at 42 inches and taking some photos, we quickly released the beautiful fish (slot limit is 18-27").

Not yet finished, about a half hour later Mark caught this beautiful 24" speckled trout.

The next day was just Mark and me on his boat.  Conditions were completely different- it was hot, and there was little wind.  This trip was mostly about Mark showing me some of his spots, and about discovering new ones.  I'll show you one new spot below on the south sid eof Bloodsworth Island that I will return to, since I caught a keeper rock there and tossed a few shorts back.

I'll continue to explore and report on these other spots throughout the summer.  Until next time, this is #dealislandrandy

2019- a new year

Oh man, it's been 5+ months since I've updated this blog.  There hasn't been much to write about except unfulfilled outings.  Well, let's start out with turkey hunting.  I did hunt 2 days during the winter turkey season in January. And while it was great to NOT be at work, I should have just stayed home- as I didn't see anything.  Moving on to Spring gobbler season, I got into the woods a few days in April, and this was more productive.  I hunted 4/25 and 4/26, saw turkeys both days.  Both encounters were in the woods, not in the field, which had been freshly plowed.  The first day I had two toms run past me, about 60-70 yards away, and I could not draw them any closer to save my life.  Second day was a closer encounter but a lone hen.   And then on 4/30, my Dad passed away.  Having just turned 85 on the 25th, I knew he would have wanted me to be out in the woods on his birthday in stead of at the nursing home.  I snuck out one more day on May 3 just before we buried Dad on the 4th, with full military honors.  There was a lot of gobbling at sunrise and again at 9:15, but no sighting.  I got one more shot on May 17, but this was a bluebird day and a total bust.  I did take my new hen decoy into the woods on the last day, suspecting I could have drawn in the huge tom using her on 4/25.  So bummed I will have to wait until next year to try again.  I also bought a mouth call, but that isn't going as well as I had hoped.

I finally got my boat in the water on 5/18.  The spring was dominated with never-ending chores, including my work trying to establish electric at the camp, which has been 3 steps forward, 2 steps back all the way.  I have the conduit buried and the pedestal built, now waiting on the electrician.  So, launched from Wenona on the 18th, first time fishing with my buddy Mark, while has become my catfish fillet hook-up.  Blue catfish have dominated the spring catch throughout the bay, as the bay has been inundated with an influx of fresh water.  Things seem to be just starting to return to normal.  Based on some local intel, we decided to try the rock piles lining the NW side of Smith Island, just north of Ewell.  We tried a number of areas along the rock pile casting lures and with soft crab, and nothing.  It was incoming tide and between 10AM-noon.  Next, we found a new spot to which I'll return-a small funnel creek which drains much of the wildlife preserve.  It is a neat little ditch running about 15 feet deep, and I know at the right time and tide must dump baitfish out into the sound.  Mark caught a nice 19-inch rock (using soft crab), while I caught a small one and a turtle at the same time (yay!). 

And then out of nowhere, the calm wind flipped to 20-25mph, so as the captain I decided to take us to Tylerton for lunch.  I've been dreaming about returning to Drum Point Market for quite sometime, as they make one of the best and freshest crabcakes I've ever had.  We had a great lunch, tried a few places on our way back home (out through the east end of the island), and called it a day.  Boat ran great, and I'd finally finished waxing it the day before.  Hoping to get back out onto the water soon.Until next time.  #dealislandrandy