Aug 5-6, 2016: Lots of wind = Few fish

Been on the computer far too much at work lately, so I'll make this brief.  As I've explained previously, when I plan on heading down to the camp for a couple of days of fishing, I really have a small window to get it done. And at this time of year, it almost has to coincide with it being late in the day.  As my luck would have it, both of these days had forecast of windy conditions.

Let's start with Friday the 5th.  Blowing 15+ out of the SW.  I managed to catch a total of 6 decent croaker drifting one mile south of buoy 12, on the east side of the channel.  The wind and incoming tide made for a really fast drift.  But not as fast as the southerly wind pushed me on the 6th.  This was ridiculous, and no fish (well except for one) was able to see the bait long enough to get hooked.  I worked it hard too, for 4 hours plus, and moving to several locations off of Wenona.  And of course, the wind was forecasted to increase with approaching dusk, only to actually do the exact opposite. So, I got to watch a nice sunset from a beach, with my toes dipped in calm water.

I had planned to turn it around and go again the following weekend, but forecast is for even windier conditions so that is not looking good.  This summer has been a real challenge at bottom fishing, more so than any in recent memory.  Of course, I'm always dreaming of that next time, when the fishing is sure to be better,....... So until then, here's a bit of video from the last trip.

Whacked them again, July 21, 2016

You know the old saying about "striking while the iron is hot"?  Well, that's exactly what I set out to do.  Heading into a "short weekend" (one where I needed to be home on Saturday), I jump started this thing by bailing out of work spur of the moment on a Thursday afternoon.  By 3:30 I was in the middle of Tangier Sound off Wenona, ready to coincide with the peak high tide.  With a steady light breeze (5-7 mph) out of the SW, I was pulling a nearly straight west-to-east drift with the remainder of the incoming tide, drifting slightly north too.

Going strictly with squid now, I picked up a few croaker in the first 2 hours.  What was immediately noticeable was the larger size, as these fish were falling in the 11-13-inch range, with one at 13.5".  And boy were they fat too, mostly females bulked up to spawn. At 6 pm, 2 full hours into the outgoing tide and finally a slight bit cooler than the 92F I was fighting earlier, the fish turned on like magic.  It was basically one right after the other until i hit my cooler limit of 25, at which point I had to stop.  Oddly once the bite really turned on I caught the fish at all depths, from 32-62 feet.  For the first two hours, I caught the first 8 fish exclusively in the 42-50 ft range.  Note to self,...

The next day held forecast of wind 12-15 all day, with forecasted increase after 5 PM to 20 mph.  So, despite the now 95F heat, I put out around 1:30-2 PM, ahead of the 4:30 PM high tide.  Wow, I found myself fighting 3-4 ft seas in my little 17ft center console.  I took quite a pounding too for several hours before I finally headed back to the creek behind the island and anchored in order to save my spine. Unfortunately this move did not bear fruit either. With one fish in the cooler, darn near heat exhausted, and with the prospect of increasing wind, I called it a day around 5:45.  At about 7:30 that evening I began to regret my last choice, as the wind and seas laid down to about 5-7 mph and 1ft, perfect conditions for an evening fish.  Oh well,... the forecast is often the best info you have to go off of for making key decisions, and I had no reason to doubt this one. My Windfinder App is usually pretty accurate. Not so today.  Looks like I'll spend the next 2 weeks dreaming about and planning for my next opportunity.

Oh, and by the way I've decided to begin referring to the much-maligned croaker as "Silver Drum".  I believe that will garnish a significantly higher level of respect for the fish, don't you?

The fish FINALLY show up, July 16-17, 2016

I have never EVER had to wait until mid-July to simply begin catching fish- but this was THAT year. Well, the croaker finally arrived and without any further delay let me tell you the details.

Friday July 16 was hotter than the hinges of hell.  One of those 92-95F July days with stifling humidity. So how that I actually used my bimini top.  Along with me was my cousin Darko. Well, he's not actually my cousin but I'll claim him as such.  Darko had never fished with me, and also had never caught hardhead. We launched around 330PM, it was calm waters and oh did I mention it was HOT.  We started on the west side of the channel out of Wenona, where I had so much success last year.  We picked up a couple of fish right away.  The falling tide was pulling us straight down Tangier Sound (north to south), and it was quick drifting, to just 1/4-1/2 mile north of buoy 12.  We caught almost all the fish in 34-40 ft of water. The water temp was 85F, a full 7 degrees warmer than a few weeks prior. Squid was the bait of the day, and we used almost a whole box. We fished until nearly sunset, and put 50 fish in the cooler- 49 croaker (one shy of our collective limit) and one kingfish.  The croaker were all in the 10.5-12 inch range and nice and plump.  Only tossed one fish back in the water. Darko seemed to have a blast. I had mounted my Chinese GoPro clone on the center console and captured some cool video of Darko catching his first croaker.  If you have an extra 5 minutes, have a look.

Saturday was a different animal- overcast and breezy out of the south.  Because the temps were cooler and thunderstorms were forecasted for later in the day, I opted to fish starting at high noon. Launched and tried the same spot as the day before.  Caught 3 right away, then nothing.  Moved down to buoy 12, nothing.  Noticed there was a charter boat about 3/4 mile south of buoy 12, so headed down there and began drifting.  With the outgoing tide and a southerly wind.  I drifted perfectly due east, which was fine.  Caught fish starting in 50 ft and they continued down to 42 ft, at which point I had to move for a new drift. This went on for quite awhile and I ended up putting 22 croaker on the cooler (one kingfish too).  Same as yesterday, only one throwback but these fish were a slightly smaller class, 10-11 inches period. Here's a weird twist- caught a pretty decent size shark (sandbar shark?), about 2 1/2 feet.  Not sure what to do with these, if they're good to eat or what or even if you're allowed to keep them.  Anyway, he had a mouth full of teeth and I wanted no part so I cut the hook and said "adios". Wind picked up  and it got rough as snot.  Finally left at 5:30 PM because it was so rough I was no longer able to set the hook, despite still having frequent bites.  I can say that next day (Sunday) my elbow actually hurt from catching so many fish and holding a rod so long.  Hoping to sneak back next weekend for a Friday fish, but have to return Saturday due to a commitment : (

Nothing's Happening, June 2016

I've had a number of people ask me why I haven't updated the blog in a while.  Actually the reason is quite simple- I haven't been catching any fish.  It's prett ymuch been a perfect storm of mother nature (weather) and absence of fish.  Let's start with the weather, that will lead into the fish. We had a mild March, but an unusually cool/cold April, May, and persisting into June.  There was even an unprecedented late freeze 2nd week of May which conspired to kill all of my pears, cherries, and about 2/3 of my grapes. Some of the local orchards lost their entire crop of peaches, etc.  

As for the Chesapeake, this translated into a total no-show of most of the species which normally arrive late April to early May, including my beloved croaker.  In fact, as of my last trip out on June 18 I still had not caught a hardhead, trout, drum or otherwise.  The charter captains had not either, except for an occasional red or black drum.  Rockfish did show up well this spring, but as I've already explained I'm not really equipped to go out and chase the big ones, although I did make some unsuccessful attempts at fishing for them shallow water with soft crab.   The other part of the weather issue has been ongoing high winds, mostly out of the north/northeast.  I have had great difficulty finding a day where I was ready to fish where it wasn't blowing 25+.  This is the exact opposite of last year, where the fish and wind cooperated nicely beginning mid-June.  So, I'll stop making excuses and wrap this up.  I am planning to fish this coming weekend, beginning July 1.  The first pic below is my oldest son Brooks and his fiance Antoinette- we had a great time but only caught one small rock.  Below that is the lone white perch I put in the cooler last time out- haha.

End of 2015 crabbing, fishing, and hunting report

Nov 6, one more opportunity to crab.  Well, maybe more but you never know how many 70 degree days you’ll get the rest of the year. Used my electric motor to putt-putt the big jon boat out into the Dames Quarter marsh.  I really dislike this electric motor regulation.  However, I can see how progressed the silting-in of the place has become, as the water level seemed normal and the DNR came out with gas outboard and almost was swamped in the mud.  Anyway, gorgeous day and I caught 3 dozen nice sized male crabs, although it took me about 3 ½ hours.  No worries, I had all day. Crabs were tasty, although some a bit light, and lost about 6 by the next day. 

Nov 23, deer season arrives.  My buddy Pat, whom I met many moons ago freshman year at WVU invited me up to his very nice spread in south-central West Virginia.  He had been trying to get me to come up there for years, sorry now I had waited so long.  Actually got up there the afternoon prior, in time to get a tour of the property and an opportunity to choose my stand for the next day.  Are you kidding me?? Well, Pat had acquired a total of 160 acres adjoining his house, and what he had done with the property was nothing short of amazing.  4-wheeler trails were developed to allow access to all of it, but in a very non-intrusive way.  There were food plots planted at various places, in addition to automatic corn feeders placed along with them.  And to complete the picture, each one of these tailored deer attracting areas had multiple stands overlooking them, in well-designed drop positions. 

So, I chose a stand and was escorted back there by 4-wheeler next morning at 0630.  After just enough daylight to see for shooting at 0645, I had three deer down on the ground by 0745.  By 0815, I had all three field dressed and was back in my stand.  And at 0830 I capped it off by shooting a coyote.  Magic, pure magic.  Did I mention that Pat had also developed a shooting range, which I used to true up the scope on my 30-06 at 100 yards.  Back to the deer,… I saw the first doe on the food plot below at about 0640.  She was small and I watched as the 2^nd followed her within 5 minutes.  This second one was a good size doe, and I chose to take the 100 yard shot.  After the rifle crack, both deer scurried off out of view.  I would have to wait until later to check this out.  Since I saw both actually running, I assumed that I had missed.  When the small deer came back around closer to me about 20 minutes later, I shot her in my desperation to at least take home some meat.  This was a quick kill, one shot and down, the 180-grain core-lock doing its job.  Well, another 30 minutes pass and a really nice buck comes across and down the gentle hill above me.  I could see that this one was sporting 8 points and had a nice size body, so I put this deer in my cross-hairs and ended his life.  Now here is when things started to get interesting.  I left my stand with my field knife and went to skin the small doe which had circled back.  I was met with two surprises:  1) The small doe was actually a young button-buck (darn), and  2) looking down the hill, I could the downed body of the first deer I had shot at, the one I thought I had missed. So, here we have it, 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.  No going back now.  I proceeded to field dress all 3, then returned to my stand (to call my wife, etc) and wait for Pat to finish his hunt.  About 20 minutes into this wait, I spotted a coyote, hot on the trail of the entrails of the deer I had just taken.  Pat had given my clear instructions to shoot any coyote I saw (they are at nuisance levels there, and season is open 365).  I took a 100-yrd shot at the coyote down at the first kill site, and it took off after firing.  Well, dang if it didn’t circle around back to me, taking the same path as that small button buck.  This time, a 40-yard shot was effective.

Nov 27- a 75 degree day and I am taking the boat out onto Tangier Sound on slick calm seas.  Unfortunately, completely unable to coax a rockfish out of the water, either by trolling (swim-shads) or jigging in various depth waters. The boat would get winterized and covered days later.

Nov 30 and I’m down to Deal Island for Maryland deer rifle season.  The weather is not optimal, warm in the mid-50s, light rain and fog.  But, I suck it up and at least do evening hunts.  With the passing years, I am less and less a fan of being wet and cold.  Wednesday is all of the above, plus windy.  Finally, Thursday rolls around, it is clear, sunny and windy and I can at least get the boat wintered.  Since I finish up at 3PM, I decided to finish the day hunting, and I drive right the street to the public hunting area on the island.  At 4:30, A decent doe emerges into the field, but guessing it is about a 250-yard shot, I pause and consider.  Glad I paused, another nice doe emerges right in front of me, about a 60-70 yard shot.  Fortunate to have the wind covering me (and blowing in my face and away from the deer), I manage to get my shooting stick into position and put deer #4 down with one shot.  Before I get up, I look back to where deer# 1 had emerged, and see that it has been joined by a friend.  Deciding to pass, I go and begin field dressing the one I had shot.  Again, two surprises await me:  1) the doe I shot is actually a spike buck, with one antler broken off and the other about 8 inches long;  2) Another doe pops out of the woods at about 75 yards away, which I also passed on.  Four deer was more than enough, as I gave the final one away to someone who could use it more than me.

And that’s the final story for 2015.  I’m not sure where 2016 is going, but I can say that 2015 was overall an awesome year.  I am thankful that my wife gives me ample opportunity to pursue some of the things that I love to do and which had very little time for while we were busy raising kids.  This is a season of life I have been forward to for a while.  I’m also thankful for my good health, for allowing me to be physically able to do the things I love.  I’m thankful to have a job that provides me enough time off to pursue these interests.  Can’t wait to do something else blog-worthy.  It might be springtime,… although 2-day winter deer season is just around the corner hahahahaha.

Playing catch-up on this post

Looking back at my last post I'm ashamed to see that it's been almost 2 months ago.  Truth be told, there hasn't been much to write about, although it's been an exciting two months.  I'll attempt to re-cap and stick to outdoors stuff,...

First up was Labor Day.  I went out fishing once and drew a blank, which seemed to match the current experience of everyone else fishing the area, including the charterboat captains.  Apparently, some pretty heavy gill-netting in the area put a major whammy on most fish in Tangier Sound.  Oh well.  A last-minute invite to sail aboard skipjack Kathryn, the boat that I've been helping to restore the last 3 years was quite a surprise and I jumped at the opportunity.  It was a beautiful day for a skipjack race except for the fact that there was absolutely NO WIND, a real bummer in a sailboat race.  So, 2 1/2 hours into the race Captain Stoney Whitelock joined most of the other captains and called it a day.  

My next trip to Deal Island was the following weekend, but I only came to run in the 2nd annual Skipjack 5K, and of course mow the grass.  Proud to say I finished 2nd in my age class, and so what if there were only 3 of us. With a business trip the next week, the last week of September Candy and I got on a plane for our long-planned trip to Hawaii.  It was a great week seeing the island and visiting Kara, and I ended up putting all fishing on-hold for month of September.  We left Hawaii on a gorgeous Oct, with 86F and warm winds, only to land in Philly a day later with 50F and a Nor'easter blowing through.  Yuk,.... Finally, Oct 9 and I absolutely had to get down to the island and at least cut the grass.  Saturday was not so warm, about 63F and time to try crabbing.  The marsh level was high and the water felt chilly.  I caught two crabs in two hours, mirroring what everyone else out there was doing.  Pretty certain the nor-easter had put a temporary whammy on the crabs.  Sunday was a nice 73F day and I managed to get the boat out and do some trolling.  It was worth the effort after putting two 20-inch striper in the boat.  This was from trolling west and north side of South Marsh, near high tide, and using swimshad.  

The following weekend was squirrel camp. When I was younger and mostly before kids, every early October I would join some of my college buddies, the ones that taught me to hunt, in southern VA/WV at one fella's hunting camp near Warm Springs in Bath County VA.  It was always a fun time, roughing it (VERY remote, no running water), a great wilderness hunting experience, and lots of just having fun back at the campsite.  When I moved to Delmarva, the 6-7 hour drive became overwhelming during the years I was raising kids.  So, now that that season has for the most part passed, I was able to re-join the guys in Oct.  It was a clear but chilly weekend, waking up to temps of 22F the last morning.  I limited out on squirrels Day 1 using my 16 gauge Remington 1100, but not so well day 2 on a windy day.  The squirrels out there are wary, not the playful tame squirrels you see in your neighborhood.  And, as time goes by I realize I am not becoming a better shot, especially with the little to no practice that I get in.

Ok time to wrap up this entry with a quick overview of his past weekend.  Oct 23, got down to the island and had enough daylight left to do some switcharoo with the gasoline in my outboard (external tanks).  Boat had run rough the last time and it sure seemed like bad gas, hesitating, coughing especially when cold. I transferred the old fuel (probably 2+ months old now) to my truck and put 5 gallons fresh fuel in the tank.  Boat ran rough at first, probably until it burned the gas in the line, then smoothed out nicely.  This ethanol fuel really sucks. Anyway, at the suggestion of Capt Harry (Nauman), I decided to bottom fish in ~52 ft near buoy 12.  Drifting and within eyesight of Harry, I caught zip, zero using frozen soft crab.  I remember him telling me to get bloodworms, which is what he was using, but I didn't listen.  Instead, I watched as he caught a few sea trout, some perch, and many small kingfish.  This was quite a turn from the usual, and I was humbled at least for today. Next day (Sunday) went crabbing.  It was overcast and 62F, but not too breezy.  Water level was low in the Dames Quarter impoundment and I almost didn't go out.  Glad I did.  Caught 1/2 bushel (21 crabs) of really nice sized crabs, mostly 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches, all male, mostly heavy.  Didn't stay too long and was hungry, so steamed them up down there and that was dinner.  Even forgot to take any pictures- DARN.  

At this time of year, not sure of when I might go down again.  It won't be this coming weekend. Need to be ready to spring into action at the forecast of a heavy freeze so I can drain the plumbing on the camper.  Maybe Nov 8???

8/29/15, End of summer and a new fishing scene

As I mentioned in my last post, its been a great year bottom fishing and the freezer is full of croaker, so its time to tun attention to some other styles of fishing.  I love love love catching rockfish , they fight in a completely different way from their bottom-dwelling croaker brothers.  They are more of an ambush, attacking type fish.  And, they want to run as far as they can after getting hooked, different from the croaker that seem to want to refuse to come up off the bottom.

Friday 8/29, able to just get down for a quick fish and then back home so I didn't have much selection when it came to tide etc if I wanted to align with an evening fish, which I did.  So, launching at 4PM on a hot afternoon, I headed straight across Tangier Sound from Wenona to north end of South Marsh Island.  Actually, I stopped just shy of north end and started a troll around the edge of the island with swim shads.  Nothing biting and I managed to lose both rigs on something submerged.  Oh, did I mention it was middle of outgoing tide??  OK, enough of that so I moved to the center of the north end of the island, anchored in about 7 ft of water.  Surely something would find my soft crabs appealing.  I tossed one bottom rig out with no weight, sort of on a drift.   I like this approach and it seems to work best with some decent tide moving. Other rig weighted with 2 ozs.  It wasn't two minutes before the drifting rig started zooming away (I had left bail open) and I retrieved a small rock.  After another 10 minutes, another bite on same pole only this time it really started to run nicely.  Pulling it in I had a nice small keeper rock on one hook, big crab on the other.  In fact, it proved tough to keep the crabs off and they did serious damage to my bait.  This was the last of the action for today, save for an 11-inch croaker just before 7PM and a skate before that.

A co-worker of mine reported having gone out mid-day Sunday (2 days later) and caught a mess of rock.  This was on incoming tide, but what was remarkable was that it was middle of the day.  Note to self,....perhaps this time of year tide more important than time.  Planning to return next weekend but not sure of what the fishing opportunities will be- it will be Labor Day weekend after all and focus on the Skipjack Races.  More on that next week.  For now, hoping to get out on Friday (high tide 7PM) afternoon, also maybe Saturday depending on the weather but forecast now is windy and out of the East NE.