Late September can bring really unpredictable weather. Anywhere from cold to stinking hot, dry to humid, and raining when it's supposed to be sunny, and sunny when it's supposed to be raining.
Mark and I left the dock at 0800 9/26/20, unusually early for a guy like myself who prefers fishing in the afternoons and evenings, but I had a small window of opportunity (as usual) and that's just how this worked out. I checked the radar at 0755, and there storms in the Richmond and Norfolk areas, but no precipitation showing anywhere near Tangier Sound. Yeah right. Headed across the sound to a destination over 10 miles away, it began raining precisely at 0805. The rain was gentle at first, but rapidly progressed from a mist to a gentle but driving rain, which seems like much more in a small center console cruising at 25 mph. After we finally got to the destination, I was SOAKED, oh and did I mention COLD too (it was mid-60's that morning. I could continue to cry about being wet and cold, except I won't. Oh did I mention it rained for another 2 hours straight?
We caught a few small rock in our usual (secret) spot, feeling lucky just to have found soft crabs at end of September. As the tide really started rolling out with force, we relocated more toward the mouth of the creek, where we connected with a few more fish, including one keeper rock and one speckled trout. This dried up after a while, and with the skies clearing, the sun appearing- we began to dry out. What better time to jet off toward the north end of South Marsh Island. We anchored at Gunbarrel (sp?) Point, noting that the little tiny island on the left side of the point had now vanished. We managed to catch many decent rock here, and some nice kingfish and puppy red drum. It was critical that we throw our lines to the east of the point, as 20 feet to the west resulted in zilch. Don't ask me to explain, but it can sometimes be important to notice and adjust to such trends.
Looking for a change of scenery while the tide was still falling, we moved over to Spring Island, to the west side of the cut between the island. This also resulted in the same type of experience as on South Marsh, actually, we probably caught more fish. And by this time, it had become an abolutely gorgeous and sunny September afternoon, defying the overcast forecast. All told, we encountered 5 keeper size rock, mostly 19-21", and countless (50+?) smaller rock.
I'm expecting that this may be the last time this year I have the opportunity to fish with bait, but you never know. Actually, I'm looking forward to testing my skill casting jigs and jigging. Until then, this is #dealislandrandy
