2021 catch-up wrap-up

It has been since early August since my last update, and there is no way to adequately re-capture every adventure since then, so I will attempt a brief overview.

Let's start with fishing.  Soft crabs (my fav bait) continued to be scarce throughout the remainder of summer and into Fall, so every time I could get them it was game on.  September blew hard all month, so opportunities were few.  I was lucky enough to get my old skiff out into the marsh for some crabbing on the very last day of September (and last day for legal use of outboards in the Dames Quarter impoundment.  The catch was mostly female crabs, but I can promise you that Miss Pat and I dined on fat crabs that next afternoon.

October weather was much more cooperative, I was able to get on the water 3 weekends.  Two of those trips I had committed to throwing only lures, and I was surprised to find that my previously trusty strategies (1/2 oz jighead, 4 oz twisters of various colors) and previously productive locations were by and large disappointing.  My one red hot outing occurred mid-Oct, using bait (thanks Mark) and in the secret spot, end of outgoing tide. We caught a lot of keeper-size rock that day.  Fast forward to December 1 and a slick-cam day just outside of Wenona.  This entailed deeper water jigging (25-45 ft), and was seriously productive for one hour during the end of the incoming tide.  And, while the fishing was good and produced ~8 rock in the 19-22" range, I had to really search for the schools and locate them by electronics- no obvious schools of bait fish getting torn up.

And that is it for 2021 fishing, I winterized my center console the next day.  So, on to hunting.  Squirrel Camp was moved up 1 week to Oct 14th.  Scheduled far in advance, it was still near summer conditions and full green foliage.  As a result, although the WVU guys and I all had a great time, the squirrel harvest was a challenge in terms of numbers.  I have to admit, I am no longer as passionate as I was once about eating them, and my dedication to getting my limit has tracked accordingly.  Next up is deer season, and first stop is Ghent, WV.  Now, I had struck out in WV for 2 consecutive years and to be honest, if this were going to be a three-peat I may have to question returning.  Pat moved to Ghent last year, so he is still in the process of getting his land dialed-in.  My WV deer trips afford me only 2 full days of hunting before I must return home for Thanksgiving, so whatever weather we have is what I must deal with.  Day 1, and it is blowing 30mph plus, in addition to 25F at daybreak and high of low 40s.  Although Pat had moved my stand to a much better location, I saw no deer the first of my 2 days there.  Day 2:  Windy again, blowing 25-30 mph and a frigid 18F when we hot the woods, only to climb to about 34F later that day.  I have to admit, these were the coldest conditions I have ever hunted in, with the wind and low temps. Simply miserable.  After taking a one-hour break at mid-day, I resumed, determined to at least maximize my opportunity.  All day long and, nothing,... 5PM, nothing.  Then 5:15, a flash of white (tail) at the extreme edge of my sight, and 5 minutes later, I scope the coyote that had been chasing the seer I just caught a flash of.  At 5:17, that coyote's life ended.  I decided to stay put, just in case that chased deer did something stupid, and at about 5:30, it did.  I saw a shadow creeping at the bottom of the hill.  It was so dark and the shadow so faint, I struggled to even find it in my scope.  I finally scoped it as it slid behind a tree, so I waited.  Eventually, at 5:35 PM, I see enough of a shadow emerge from behind the tree that I take the shot.  I have never, ever taken a shot in such darkness, but realizing this is my final opportunity for WV rifle season, I squeeze off a 30-06 round and am happy to hear the deer thrash around for the next 5-6 seconds before it drops.  Spike buck (~4-inch spikes, nice young tasty deer).

Fast forward to Maryland deer season the very next Monday (6 days later).  Day #1 (of 5), and I am in my stand as usual well before sunrise.  And, another cold and windy day- the kind that many hunters will forego in hopes of better conditions.  Also, I always like hunting more in the mornings than the evenings.  In the evenings, nature dictates my end time.  But mornings- I call the shots.  OK so check this out, 6:35 AM and it is just begging to crack daylight, I believe I am 1 maybe 2 minutes into legal hunting hours, which start 1/2 hour before sunrise.  A nice doe walk right out in front of me.  It is breezy and I am behind great cover from young cedar trees, so I never even say it approach or even where she came from.  Knowing that if I pass on this doe, it may possibly be the only deer I see this week.  She is less than 75 yards away, I take the easy kill and she runs 100 yards to my right.  Since it is so early and I suspect there are other hunters on this same public land, I stay put in my ground blind.  And don't you know it, exactly 10 minutes later a buck appears in the exact same spot I shot this doe 10 minutes earlier.  He had 4 points, and I didn't have to think about this long.  I didn't plan on taking three deer as we don't typically eat that much venison, but that's the opportunity I was given and that is what I did.  In 10 minutes, my Maryland deer season was over!  I had more than enough meat for my freezer, and I was done.

I wish I could say that in 2022 I would be more diligent about tracking all my fishing activity.  And maybe I will, but then again,... who knows.  Anyway, this is #dealislandrandy wishing you an awesome 2022 !! 

Summer catchup, 8/8/21

Well one thing is certain, I have become completely delinquent at maintaining this blog.  Which is to my own detriment, as this is really just a journal for my own benefit.

I guess that I could start offering to by just saying that fishing has been great all summer. Generally speaking, I have continued to catch keeper rock fish on every outing, as well as speckled trout on most. Notably, the specks are smaller than in May and June but that's ok, in fact I just fried up an awesome mess of 14-16 inch specks last night and omg they were so good!

Pat C. from WV came down to fish first part of July, and although we battled some winds, we still had 2 good days of fishing. Day 2 even brought me a keeper slot red drum at 20".  Spring Island and the secret magic spot continue to deliver, especially when focusing efforts on the last 2 hours of the falling tide.  

Maryland closed rock fish season the 2nd half of July, so I had an opportunity to pursue a different species- cobia. Capt Derek put us on the spot, about 2 miles NW of the target ship. After immediately losing one, we soon scored a 43" and then a 33" short. And good eating, just like I remember. We have a cobia charter further south planned for later this month. 

In the meantime, i will continue my pursuit of rock and speckled trout, all of which will change soon enough as the days are growing noticeably shorter. Have not done much dock fishing this year, hoping to do some more perhaps at night. 

Until next time, #dealislandrandy signing off.

June 2021 Update- Always the Best !

 I'm starting to see a pattern where the best fishing for rockfish is June, with the fishing getting increasingly better as the month goes on.  Helped by recent cooler temps which kept water temp in the low 80's, the fish were fat, hungry, and aggressive.

As usual, I am weeks behind on this update, having been out twice prior to this weekend and not documenting it.  In general, first part of June I continued to catch speckled trout, although fewer fish.  The rockfish have not disappointed, and this weekend was amazing.  Three weeks ago I tried something different at the secret spot- targeting the last part of the outgoing tide.  And, Mark and I caught nice fish there, but only briefly as within minutes it went slack and so did the fishing.  This time (Fri 6/25, 5pm) we got out there nearly mid-tide to catch the full final 2+ hours of the falling tide.  Within 20 minutes of arrival, it turned on fast and furious.  We caught 21"-24" fish one after another, and then I started catching double-headers on my double bottom rig.  Finally after about 90 minutes and having caught a ridiculous number of fish, I called it game over, but we were still catching fish when we left.  I will come back to this method/time.

Derek and I attempted to get to mid-bay Saturday to fish for cobia (he caught one 53" last wk) but weather interrupted our plan.  As a consolation, we fished my fav spot at Spring Island and quickly put 2 keepers in the live well.  Score again !! 

Hoping to get out next weekend.  Until next time, this is Deal Island Randy

#dealislandrandy

Long absence, but great fishing (21-22 May, 2021)

 My GOSH it has been a long time since I posted.  It was a long, cold, and windy spring- resulting in little to no fishing opportunities for me.  Nearly June and I finally got my boat off the trailer and out on the water.  Enjoyed 3 days of turkey hunting in May, 2 of them deep in the public land woods of Black Road and only one which featured a lot of gobbler noise (and starting at 530 AM).

OK, well time to talk about fishing.  The cool windy spring resulted in great fishing when the weather finally yielded.  Water temps were ~72-73F, water was clear and this made for a hot bite.  I don't think it even would have mattered what time of day, as I didn't launch until 2PM Friday and at high noon on Saturday, both days featuring abundant sunshine and temps in the low 70s.  Even the tides were not optimal, so either the fish were aggressively hungry or I was simply lucky, or maybe a little of both. 

I basically fished three same locations both days, and in the same order: South Marsh Island (by now, you know where), Spring Island (what's left of it, and facing Holland), and south tip of Little Deal Island.  I caught speckled trout and rockfish at every stop.  Five of the 6 trout were 19-21" (the "smallest" was 17"), while three rock were 19-22", with many 15"-18".  Best part is that I didn't have to work too hard for them, although all of the rock at Spring required a precise and powerful hook-set.  That said, the key takeaway from this trip is that the specks are more plentiful than in years past, AND they are decidedly bigger.  I can't wait to do this again and am sad that it may not be this week.  Until next time, this is #dealislandrandy.

2020 Recap and Closeout: Nothing turned out like I planned

When I flipped the calendar over to January 2020 11 months ago, I could not have forecasted much of anything for the new year.  Certainly Covid-19 changed a lot, and when it first started to grip our country in March I knew it was going to burn at least for the remainder of the year.  Everything else outdoors-wise turned out to be collectively different than I expected. And that's how I am going to approach this recap.  Let me start with,...

FISHING RECAP:  

ROCKFISH:  2020 greeted us with tightened rockfish regulations, with a new creel limit of ONE stinking fish per day.  Well, all I can say is that I caught more rockfish this year than in other year in recent memory.  And by and large they were healthy fish, not the skinny sore-laiden fish I had caught the year before.

CATFISH:  The year actually started for me in April with blue catfish, and I was able to load up on them in the Wicomico River.  They were not prolific in Tangier Sound as they had been the before, but then again we didn't have all that heavy spring rain in the region as in 2019.

SPECKLED TROUT:  This species was the show-stopper for 2020.  I caught more speckled trout in 2020 than in the prior 5 years combined.  Some outings were indeed dominated by speckled trout, hitting the 4 fish limit many times.

DRUM (RED and BLACK):  I caught one legal (and tasty) 25 lb legal black drum in May, my first in the Chesapeake.  My buddies caught many more, and also larger specimens.  Starting in August I caught many puppy red drum, but such a shame they didn't make the 18" minimum slot size.  Still, more drum than ever before, and completely unexpected.

OCTOBER and NOVEMBER FISHING:  I didn't get out nearly as many times as I had hoped (and expected), and even when I did, the unexpected happened.  One trip with JB in early November, the fog was so thick we could not see 100 yards.  And the fog persisted that day until our conclusion at 2pm.  Another outing with Brooks resulted in arms tired from casting, but only 4 caught fish.  There were 2 other decent trips in this time, with Spring Island unexpectedly being one of my most productive spots.  I never did get in on any of the late season jigging action, as time and weather conspired to eliminate most opportunities.  CRABBING:  I got out one time in the impoundment, on Nov 7th.  Like clockwork- I expected to fill at least a bushel basket with big heavy crabs.  And as my unexpected fate would have it, I ended up dumping the 4 keeper crabs at the end of 3 1/2 hours.  Note to self:  the water level was low, and the silting-in of the impoundment toward the dike is progressing at a rapid pace. 

HUNTING:  Squirrel camp outcome was totally unexpected.  Apparently, a late spring heavy freeze had so damaged the buds on the hickory and oak trees that hey largely failed to produce nuts, thereby sending the squirrels to other areas in search of food.  Totally unexpected.  DEER HUNTING in WV:  Totally new and unfamiliar land, as Pat had moved an hour SW of his previous location.  Seeing only 2 deer in my new location in the 2 days I had available to hunt, it was unexpected (to me) when my shots on each failed to connect with their target.  I typically don't miss at 100 yard stationary targets.  No excuses, bottom line is I left WV empty handed, although I hope to exact some revenge on these deer next year.  DEER HUNTING in MD:  The week started unexpectedly with apocalyptic  rain and wind.  Before the weather set in, I had opportunity to join Mark on Sunday at his new lease outside of Pocomoke City, but in that one evening we saw no deer.   Monday blew in with 3 inches of rain and gale winds, so I did not get out until the evening.  Little did I know that the line of showers that passed through that evening would drop another 3 inches of rain right on my head- I have never ever sat in such an intense focused period of rain.  And yes, it was unexpected.  Tue and Wednesday both blew 20-30 mph, and hunting on the public resulted in zero deer seen.  Not to mention that unexpectedly, the state of MD has stopped planting corn or soybeans in the fields on these properties.  The deer have stopped showing up, and for the most part so have the hunters.  Thursday evening presented another (unexpected) opportunity to join Mark on some private land on Deal Island, where he had killed 2 the night before.  And just at 5:10pm, 2 deer showed up to feed on the corn Mark had set out for them.  Neither deer were big (one button-buck, the other a smaller doe), but my week was ending the next day so I quickly harvested them both.  Unexpected (as if on cue), each required a 2nd round to put them down on the ground.  I'm glad to have been provided this opportunity, but honestly- I'd like to write a different script for next year.  

Final thing to share- we got yet ANOTHER 3 inches of rain at Deal Island Friday night.  The already saturated ground could not absorb the water whatsoever- the picture below is of my camp, under about 10 inches of water in many places.

Looking forward to a great 2021, with more adventures and as always-hoping for more opportunities to fish, crab, and hunt.  Until 2021, this is #dealislandrandy

Late September and good fishing

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

Labor Day Rockfish Rumble

First, the front end of the weekend:  Finally had an opportunity to chase rockfish after the lifting of the 15-day moratorium by MD DNR (thanks a lot DNR!).  The water temps had cooled from 86-88 to 82-83, which makes a huge difference on the way the fish feed, in a positive way.  Also, was finally able to get my new son-in-law out on the boat with me.  I gave him a new Ugly Stick and Penn spinning reel wound with Spiderwire last Christmas, and he was finally able to break it in.  And break it in he did !

Sunday, Sept 6 we launched at 130pm, showing up early for an expected 4pm high tide after a 30 minute ride to the secret spot.  There were 2 other boats there when we got there, and we creeped past them and secured our own spot far enough away from them.  For the next hour and a half, we picked through countless small rock, and also managing to put two keepers in the boat.  One of the other boats caught nothing during this time, the other, a few small fish.  And then they both just left !!  And I knew when they left what a big mistake they were making, as the tide was just about to turn (start falling) and it was likely going to be the start of a short-lived bonanza. 

 

And then it started, just as the tide changed direction.  Boom !! Bam !!!  One nice rockfish right after another.  There were an additional 8 keepers (above 19”), all in the 19-21” range, and also a number 16-19, all great-fighting fat fish.  None of the skinny rocks like we saw last year.  So much for the rockfish shortage, DNR.  Mixed in were 2 nice speckled trout, which were quite tasty for dinner the following evening.  Also 1 small (14”) red drum, which we had also caught a bunch of two weeks prior at Spring Island.  Well, we left and the fish were still biting but it was best to leave them for another day.  I’m hoping to get another piece of this action before the bait gets scarce and we change up to throwing plastic. 

And now, the weekend grand finale, which deserves a little space on my otherwise fishing/hunting dominated blog.  I had the high honor and privilege of once again being a passenger on Skipjack Kathryn as she sailed and competed in the 61^st Annual Deal Island Skipjack Race!  I am a HUGE fan of these vanishing vessels, and my connection to Kathryn is quite personal.  In 2011 I witnessed her almost sink during the race.  And from 2013-2015, I was able to be part of the crew that fully restored the 1901-built wooden sail-powered oystering boat.  I am so very grateful to the current owners, David and Dawn Whitelock, for having my aboard!

Until next time, this is #dealislandrandy