Deal Island Fishing- June 24, 25: As the Wind Blows, and Blows, and Blows,...

June 24-25, 2011

June 24 was a true spur-of-the-moment venture.  Again the winds were blowing hard, this time as a cool front was moving in.  In fact the forecast was such that I had pretty much bagged the idea of fishing.  Well, I got off work at 11:30 am and set to work on my daughter’s car, thinking that the job would take all afternoon (I am not a great auto mechanic but I can just do enough to get me in trouble).  Good fortune prevailed and I found myself completed by 1:30.  Knowing that I had a 9:15 pm high tide and just past the summer solstice, I couldn’t resist the urge and bolted for Deal Island.  Unfortunately I couldn’t convince my son to drop everything as well, so I went solo.

True to for, the wind was blowing a gale when I got down there.  Well, at least 10-15 knots, with gusts to 20.  I watched the conditions closely throughout the afternoon and immediately prior to launch time I zipped down to the marina at the north end of the island, which is about ¼ mile from my place.  The water conditions looked fine, so I pulled the boat down to Wenona and launched around 6:30.  I knew things were going to be dicey as I exited the harbor and the waves began to smack into the bow of my boat.  Darn, I should have gone back into the thoroughfare instead.  Oh well, too late now so I pushed on, pretty much straight west and crossed the main channel.  Starting at about 25 ft depth, I noticed that this was the depth to fish at today.  More shallow than usual, not only was it slightly less turbulent than in deeper water but I also caught a fish or two right off the bat.  Used the drift sock which held be on my target depth pretty well.  Noticed the charter boat captains in the same area but deeper water, and I seemed to be catching more fish than them.  These guys, having bigger boats and with hydraulically retrieved anchors, are able to repeatedly anchor in spots in which it is not practical or sometimes even possible for me (I am no longer a fan of hoisting anchors by hand in depths greater than 40 feet).  Since the charter boat guys are trying to keep their customers happy, frequent moves and no tangled lines seem to be the name of the game.  I only have to please myself, and catching fish is a top priority, next to safety and comfort of course. At around 8:15 the water had settled enough that I chose to anchor at 25 ft, which I did until pulling out at around 9:15.  I motored back to dock just as it was getting difficult to see.  Calmer waters would have kept me in place into the dark and through the 1^st hour of the outgoing tide.  I think I kept 8 fish, released maybe 5 or 6.  The keepers were decent, again around 11-12 inch average.

Back to the camper, and assessed the weather for Saturday on the 11 pm news.  Forecast was for calmer waters, so early to bed and set the alarm of 0630.  Woke up, made a pot of coffee, grabbed my bait and headed back down to the ramp.  All looked great until I got out around the south end of the island, at which point the blustery northwest wind countered the incoming tide and played an entirely new set of havoc with me.  Wow, this was even more rough than the day before.  I am beginning to wonder if the wind will ever stop blowing in Tangier Sound in 2011.  Started drifting in 25-35 feet of water on the west side of the channel just north of Wenona, and caught a double header right off the bat.  So, this seemed encouraging !!  However, it turned out to be the highlight of the morning.  For whatever reason I had a really rough time getting the hook set on the bites I was getting, like surreal almost.  Endured the NW beating until the tide changed at about 0945.  Kept 6 fish, one of which was 14 inches.  With croaker, when you start dealing with fish 14 inches and larger, they fight REALLY well and are great fun to catch.  In fact last summer I had both a 14” and 16” fish on as a double header and felt something “pop” in my right elbow, leaving me with weakness and pain in the elbow that took until this spring to heal.  I had begun to believe the damage was permanent, especially since I had known of other people to damage their elbows fishing (Google it- there are a lot of these fishing injuries believe it or not).  Bait for both days was squid and shrimp.  May score some more soft crabs next trip down, which should be July 1 if all works out.

June 16-17 solo fishing, Deal Island

June 16, 2011:  Goal was to get in an evening fish to coincide with the tide change at around 9:15 pm.  The weather was particularly iffy upon arrival so I immediately opted to load up the smaller boat (14.5 ft jon boat) and fish the creek (Law’s Thorofare) behind Deal Island.  Wind blowing a steady 20-25 knts, and then the rain came.  Managed to catch 4 nice croaker (12-13) before having to flee for the dock.

June 17, 2011: Much nicer day, around 85F and with wind at 10-15 knots out of the SW.  Launched the bigger boat from Wenona, solo.  The new ramps at Wenona are awesome, and solo launching is so much easier.  Got out in the Sound at about 1pm to target a 3:45 pm high tide.  Crossed the main shipping channel to target the steep shoal on the other side, about 0.5 – 1.0 mile north of the Wenona harbor.  Bait was squid and shrimp, didn’t bother with softcrabs this time.  Started drifting starting 30 ft and ending at about 55 feet, trying out my new DRIFT SOCK.  I bought a medium sized sock just as an experiment, and ran it about 25 feet behind the boat.  Immediately started catching fish in shallow water, a bit unusual for a warm sunny day in June.  In fact, caught around 12 on my first few drifts, all in about 30-40 feet, and none in deeper water as the reports had indicated.  The sock worked reasonably well, as the wind and tide were both conspiring to push the drifting boat pretty quickly.  And then it all changed.  The wind dropped to about 5-10 and shifted to due South.  For about 2 or 3 drifts, I caught only a few small fish, quickly discarded.  Then I started catching them in 40-52 ft of water.  With the wind shift, I was able to hang on this depth for nice long drifts using the new sock.   I played this game until about 45 minutes after the tide changed, at which point I had reached my legal limit of 25 croakers.  Too tired to continue, I gladly called it a day.  The 25 fish ranged from 10.5 to 13 inches, with the average probably 11 – 12.  I threw back maybe 10 fish.  Was glad for the abundant catch but would have been happy for some bigger fish.  Hoping to get out for an evening fish sometime soon,..... The weird looking croaker above- I caught him and noticed he was missing half his dorsal fin, one of his pectoral fins, and had a lot of scarring.  Perhaps had been attacked by a bluefish earlier in life??

Late start to fishing; June 11 fishing report

Wow, FINALLY got going, much later than planned.  Initial delays focused around 1) traveling for work 3 out of 4 weeks , starting later April, and 2) replacing the 1984 camper with one from 1995.  The camper is working out well, it's bigger and nicer than the old one.  Not perfect but it will get me through a few more years (goal is 6 - 8 yrs). Sure would like to put up a permanent structure again someday.  Anyway, my son Blair and I finally launched the boat (17+ foot center console) on 1st of June only to have the motor quit 1/4 mile outside of the harbor.  To make a long story short, water had contaminated the fuel.  The story has a happy ending, no real damage and I fixed it myself.

Boat fixed, launched June 10 from Wenona.  Wow, the state of Maryland had closed the old ramp and replaced it with two really nice new ones.  Nice ramps, steep and long like they should be.  Needed to tilt the motor up more- note to self.  The wind was blowing a steady 20 knots out the east-southeast, which made for a churning mess in Tangier Sound.  So much for forecast of waves less than 1 ft.  Compounded with an incoming tide, holding a rig on bottom while drifting was nearly impossible.  My little center console was really overmatched with the chop, and on top of only catching two small fish, my son Blair and I got soaked coming back to Wenona after aborting the trip early.

June 11 was a little different.  Wind out of the due south resulted in waves about 2.5 feet but defined enough that it was workable.  Launched out of north end marine and diddled around on the 40-45 ft flat toward Sharkfin Shoal, which was a huge waste of time.  Finally took the plunge and barrelled toward the south end of the island.  Fished on the west side of the channel, holding pretty well in 40-60 foot of water.  The fish were there in about 45-55 ft, as expected for mid afternoon on a hot day.  Regret not making this move sooner, as we moderately-steadily caught croaker until the tide changed (about an hour) at which point it shut off (tide now coming in, along with the wind- pushed us hard).  We caught 17 fish, kept 11.  Most keepers were in 12-13 inch class, no monsters but nice fish.  Still hoping to get an evening fish in and catch them in more shallow water.  Final note- ordered a drift sock after this trip, which I had long thought about and am anxious to try.

Deal Island Fishing, 2004 --> present

So as promised, I will get into the importance (or relevance) of fishing while drifting vs fishing anchored.  First, let's consider any potential advantages of fishing anchored.   If you find a hot spot that is holding a large number of fish, anchoring up will obviously put you in a position to catch more of these fish.  That's about it.  What I have observed is that anchoring worked well in this area of Tangier Sound for bottom fishing in years past, but not so much recently.  If I had to venture a guess, it would be that there is a lot more oxygen-depleted water, particularly later in the summer, and fish seem to be more mobile than stationary.  This trend may change, but truthfully I expect it to continue and be more of an issue, particularly in years of below average rainfall.   Disadvantages of fishing anchored are for the most part the converse of advantages of drifting.  One notable disadvantage is the physical aspect of having to get your anchor set and then having to free it up when you decide to move, and then having to hoist anchor.  This is less of an issue in 20-30 feet of water, but becomes obviously more problematic in 40-60 feet of water.  Speaking of which, I have noticed a trend in the last 5 years of the croaker being caught in increasingly deeper water (more on this later).  Also, the older I get (I am 47) the less fond I am of dealing with the anchor in water deeper than 30 feet.  Last disadvantage is that when fishing from a smaller boat (which I do) and in rough water due to wind and tide (commonplace in the Tangier Sound), anchoring up can really beat the snot out of you as your vessel is so at the mercy of the wave action, and I don't hesitate to fish in 3-4 foot seas, even in my 17 ft boat.  I do take notice that the charterboat captains bottom-fishing in Tangier Sound anchor up exclusively.  I'm guessing that this is mostly to minimize the entanglement of their customers' fishing lines, which is of exponentially greater risk when drifting.  Their use of mechanical anchor hoists eliminates the physical disadvantages of having to manually hoist anchor, and they are quick to hoist and move when a new spot doesn't produce (and to keep everyone onboard happy).

OK, on to drifting, which I have obviously become a big fan of in recent years.  The greatest advantage of drifting is that you can rapidly cover more territory and discover where the fish are biting.  On any given day, and even within a day or even a particular tide, things can change.  So the mobility is a huge advantage, and especially so when your optimal fishing time may only last 2 - 3 hours or shorter.  In fact, what I have seen in the last 3 or 4 years is that even when drifting, a good bite may only last 30-45 minutes at best.  Since croaker often seem to be inclined to feed in areas of rapid drop-off or slope, drifting can give you an opportunity to move over these drop off areas, catch a fish, then circle back for another run.  This works well for me, although I often need to resign myself to frequently pulling my lines in and returning back over the area.  Sometimes I find that the fish are holding at a certain depth and biting for a mile-long section at that specific depth.  An example would be areas north and south of the #10 buoy, just off Wenona.  Often I will find that fish are biting in this zone at either 35-40 feet, or at 40-45 feet, and if the wind is generally out of the south, I can usually hug that zone without much effort on an incoming tide.  On the flip side, sometimes the wind and tide will move you east and west rather than north and south.  This makes drifting more difficult but not impossible.  I prefer a north-south drift, since you tend to be able to stabilize the boat over a particular depth for a longer period.  So, the bottom line here is that with drifting, I can usually discover a depth, location, or pattern in which I will catch some fish and then exploit this until the conditions change or the fish stop biting, and this is how I now work it greater than 90% of the time.

In 2004 I finally bought my own boat big enough to be capable of navigation in the frequently rough waters of Tangier Sound.  This boat, a 1968 18 foot Thunderbird with the original 85 hp Johnson, was quite a heap.  Actually, as a high-sided tri-hull it was very seaworthy.  Bot rotten floors and a worn-out engine made it a temporary vessel at best.  Nonetheless, I held onto it for a few years and caught hundreds, perhaps over a thousand fish from it, despite the fact that it left me stranded more than once.  Had it not been for blowing a head gasket I probably would have kept this boat longer.  My next boat was not much better, an 18 foot bowrider, an early '80's boat with a late '70's version of a Johnson 115.  Plenty of power, but this boat too was unreliable and although  I caught quite a few fish in it I was glad to see it go after only 2 years.  It nearly sunk on its last voyage.  In a fitting last bit of drama, the guy I sold it to later sued me over title issues, I case I easily won in court.  In 2009 I bought a 1999 SeaSwirl Striper 17'3" center console with a 2001 Johnson (Suzuki) 70 hp 4-stroke.  This was the first boat I actually confident in bringing me back to the pier, and I can say that as a result I will never own another 2-stroke engine.  The engine starts right up every time and is so quiet that you almost can't hear it run.  Although a little smaller boat then I would have liked and more of a bay type hull, it is solid, seaworthy, and easy to launch and trailer for one person.  And since I usually fish alone or with one other person, it works well.  And with a bimini top, I can fish mid-day if I need to and not burn up.

Although it is possible to catch croaker most any time of day or night, they generally seem to bite better later in the day or even at night, when the sun has relented to heat their waters.  In fact, night time fishing for them can at times be spectacular.  Night fishing in Chesapeake Bay can be tricky for a number of reasons.  One is that the weather can change so quickly, and calm waters can turn rough within 10-15 minutes.  Also, dodging thunderstorms, a feasible activity by day, is at night down right suicidal.  Another tricky component to night fishing that Tangier Sound is thickly populated with crab pots, and the waterman will not hesitate to lay them in the navigation channels, so a spotlight is critical to return.  Careful, if the water gets rough, using a spotlight is nearly impossible.  I have 2 spotlights- one runs off 12V and the other is a rechargeable.  Both work well, but the rechargeable doesn't last long after a couple of years.  Another necessity for night fishing is a battery-powered lantern, unless your boat is equipped with enough deck lighting.  I have a simple Coleman rechargeable that works great and will run for hours off of a single charge.  Last thought- I wouldn't recommend fishing at night alone, it just seems like a good idea to have a companion to assist with whatever on the boat.  My favorite time to fish is probably the last 3 hours of daylight.  Enough natural light to function, the day has cooled off, and this fish will bite well if you get the right tide.  Speaking of fishing tides, I can't emphasized enough the importance of fishing the right time of the tides.  By that, I mean the last 2 hours of an incoming or outgoing tide, and the first 2 hours of an outgoing or incoming tide.  So, 2 hours on either side of peak tide.  Outside of this, the fish tend to feed very little.

Every year fishing in Tangier Sound has been different fro the year before.  What worked one year does not necessarily work the next.  And this has applied to fishing high tide vs low tide, fishing location, where to drift, and at times even which bait works best.  Weather patterns are part of this equation, I am sure.  For example, last year I never could connect with a night fishing opportunities where the wind was not blowing 20 mph plus. Last year, squid seemed to work better than in the previous 3-4 years.  On a yearly basis, for the last 4 years I have increasingly caught fewer fish.  That's not to say I am bringing fewer fish back home, its just that I have had to work harder for them (not only do I fish for fun, I also fish to put meat on the table).  In 2010, croaker did not show up in earnest until July, while in tears past I have begun catching good numbers the 3rd week of May.  Every year is different, and unless you spend time trying to figure it out, you are taking a pig-in-a-poke.  What I intend to do with this blog is to chronicle my individual efforts beginning in 2011.  Hopefully, they can be of use to myself and to others.  Please feel free to comment or contribute.

Deal Island Fishing, 2000 - 2004

By year 2000 I had gotten pretty good at spanking fish back in The Gut.  I had also begun to notice a steady decline in fish other than croaker, concurrent with a steady increase in the mighty croaker.  Since all things fishing seem to be dynamic, ever-changing, and sometimes even cyclical, I didn't think too much about it.  At least for the next few years I was regularly catching a lot of fish, and getting my limit of 25 croaker was not uncommon.  Early on I even managed to find a couple of spots where I could catch some rock and big white perch earlier in the season.  I was pulling my 13 ft aluminum V-hull down there, sometimes fishing 2 or 3 people out of it.  The catch made it worth it.

Around 2002, my buddy Eric had bought a 19 ft jon boat and started bringing it down to Deal Island.  Not only were we fishing The Gut in this, but it also re-opened the frontier of fishing out in Tangier Sound.  If you read my previous blogs, you will understand that it had been well over a decade since I had fished much out in Tangier Sound.  Well, in that time, things had changed enough that it was really like learning all over again.  For starters, the trout were now about 95% gone and the croaker were the main bottom fish.  And, I came to realize that all of my old spots, my old patterns, my old gear etc were no longer relevant.  Not only had the sea trout left, but the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay had declined so dramatically that everything changed.  What was once easy fishing was now more of a challenge.  But no problem, I am a good student and I enjoy learning anything about fishing.

By this time I had already made a transition from the short stubby rods and open Penn reels to longer, less stiff rods and spinning reels.  I started using really flexible rods, too flexible in fact.  These gave way to the 6' -  6'6" Ugly Sticks I use today, of which I keep 6 - 7 around.  ONE-PIECE ONLY!!!  The medium-heavy (MH) action SPL-1100 series are my favorite, as they have the right feel for these fish.  Also, the rods are tough, and with the threat of a 20 lb skate or ray on the end of your line you had better have a rod that can handle such an assault.  The only weak link on these rods is that some of the tips and eyelets will fail with heavy use.  As for reels, I was using Penn 103 spinning reels, sort of an old clunky classic.  And while these reels are good for this type of fishing, they tend to fall apart with time and also they don't stand up well to braided line.  Speaking of which, by 2000 I had completely ditched monofilament and gone exclusively with braided line, my favorite being good ol' Spider Wire, the 30 lb test version.  Only a big ray will ever break your line and it can last 4-5 years, not bad.  For reels I have been using off-the-shelf cheap Quantums, yes I am talking about the kind you buy in Kmart for $18-22.  They do the job just fine, last years and when they finally fail you thrown them away, no tears shed.  Lately I have started going with the Quantum Optix OP30 and OP40 reels.  They are the perfect basic reel and you can grab them on Ebay for $15.  With bottom fishing, it's not about your fancy gear.  It simply requires the right basic gear, everything else is about position, timing, and sometimes bait, all of which I will get to later.  Last the bottom rigs, hooks, and sinkers.  I buy all of this stuff at Rose's, a cheapo department store which we have here in town.  The rigs are your basic bottom rigs which split the main line for two hooks and a weight.  The rigs can get bent with after catching some hefty or contrary fish, but more often you will lose the entire rig before it becomes un-serviceable.  My buddy Eric makes his own rigs totally out of mono, but I think mine work better.  Hooks, I tend to use a variety but my preference is for a 2/0 steel hook, and it must be sharp.   The salt water takes a quick toll on these, so when they start to rust up, I change them out.  The same size circle hooks work well, but I find them more difficult when removing the fish and for baiting, and since I frequently fish alone or at night (or both), keeping it simple works well.  For sinkers, I use lead bank-type sinkers (when they start casting them out of steel I will buy them).  The 2, 3, and 4 ounce sinkers are all that are necessary.  If you need more than 4 ozs of weight to hold bottom, the tide is moving too fast for the fish to bite anyway.  Back in The Gut, its usually 2-3 ozs, and in Tangier Sound its usually 3-4, and I always use as little weight as is necessary.

With the decline in health of the Chesapeake came a corresponding increase in prices of soft crabs.  What once cost $3-4 dozen had now ballooned to $10-15.  And since soft crabs don't stay on the hook very well, not only was it inconvenient but it had become terribly expensive.  Enter, the squid.  Eric had introduced me to frozen squid and I must say that I was rather impressed with it as a bait. Sure it smelled terrible, but it was (and still is) cheap, it works pretty well, and it stays on the hook better than anything else I have ever tried.  For a number of years I went with nothing but squid, but I have to realize that even the voracious croaker can at times get picky.  As a result, I tend to carry at least 2 different baits, sometimes three. In addition to squid, I always have shrimp on-hand, the small cooked shrimp that you would put on a salad and can buy in the grocery store.  Third bait I might carry is soft crab, mainly because it ALWAYS works and also because I love to eat them and will freeze whatever I don't use for a later meal.

The other major thing that I learned from my buddy Eric is about drifting vs. fishing anchored. For me, this really changed everything, and I will discuss this further in my next post.

Deal Island fishing, the 1990's

Basically, we didn't do much fishing at Deal Island for a few years.  Lots of crabbing but not too much fishing.  I was busy, had started a family, and was cash-strapped.  Mom had passed away in 1984 and Dad had hooked up with another woman about a year later, so he didn't take the time to obtain and maintain another big boat.  Things started to pick back up again for us fishing-wise in the mid 1990's.  Dad had discovered that there was some pretty good fishing in the creek back behind Deal Island, a body of water which separates the island from the main land and which leads out to the Manokin River.  There is a lot of shallow water back there, but a carefully followed path will lead you to a narrow creek which meanders through the marsh and which features some deep holes, some up to 20 feet deep.  And because the tide runs strong through this creek, the fish use it to travel, and you can catch them coming and going.  So, a 14 ft jon-boat, a 9.9 hp engine, an anchor and a depth finder is all you need.  After Dad introduced me to this new fishing hole, "The Gut" as we called it, it really became clear to me the importance of tides.  Specifically, I discovered that back in The Gut, the tide ran too hard about 75% of the time for the fish to slow down and feed.  It didn't seem to matter too much what time of day you fished, so mid-day was as good as morning or evening, but I realized that you needed to time fishing efforts with the tides.  Specifically, the time to fish was about 90-120 minutes before and after peak high or low tide.  And, this pattern persisted for quite awhile, really throughout the entire decade.  It was all about the tide.  And with the emergence of the internet, accurate tide charts became readily available.  Dad never understood how it timed it so well, but he came to accept that I knew the best times to fish, and so we used this information to our advantage.

As time went on, the sea trout became fewer and fewer, and the croaker became increasingly more numerous.  Rockfish were also a frequent visitor to The Gut, and at times we found white perch and spot on the ends of our lines.  By the end of the decade, sea trout had become uncommon, making up perhaps 10-20% of the catch, almost the inverse of the trout-croaker ratio of the decade before.  While this was distressing, I found the croaker also a fun fish to catch, and pretty enjoyable to eat as well.  My kids got into the act, and my daughter and oldest son would make the trip with me from Frederick to fish back behind Deal Island.  My daughter Kara developed a taste for croaker which persists to this day, and although she no longer enjoys going fishing, she will sit down with me and eat pounds of fried croaker fillets.  In 1998, I accepted a job in Millsboro, Delaware, at which I was particularly delighted since it was was only a 60-minute drive to Deal Island.  Now I could escape to my property on short notice, and return after only a short  time away fishing rather than an entire weekend.  This would be the beginning of where I am now in my fishing efforts.

The next major change came in 2000. The Shack had begun to deteriorate rather dramatically.  The really bad spots were the roof and floor at the rear of the building- they were literally falling to earth and weren't really even repairable.  A couple of years prior, my brother, sister, and Dad had bought a used camper and brought it down to the lot to stay in. Since I was of the mindset that The Shack was still serviceable, I declined to chip in and take part in the camper.  My family, yes my own flash and blood, locked me out of  the camper for a number of years.  However, my Dad, who had been obsessing about the condition of the camper for a number of years now, finally took it upon himself to have the fire department burn it down, so that we "wouldn't have to deal with it ourselves later".  I didn't agree but he prevailed. The Shack, which we had enjoyed for 20 years, was now gone.  My dear family finally softened and decided to let me stay in the camper which sat on my own property.  Actually, my Dad had to pay my brother and sister off, to "cover my share".  Whatever. I was now back in business, although I missed The Shack dearly.  I had some great times there, it would a book to tell you of all of them.  There were a number of parties there during college years, one of which I brought my entire ichthyology class (20+ people)  in for an overnighter.  There were many parties there with some of the locals, some of my friends from Bel Air, some from WVU.  I'll post some pics, but when you see those just remember that we were young and crazy.  The focus has evolved to fishing (and crabbing).

Deal Island fishing, 1980 --> 1990

Ahhh, my teenage years.  Dad, my brother Ross, and Uncle Rudy would travel down to Deal Island what seemed like nearly every weekend throughout the summer, and also occasionally in the late spring and early fall.  I was more interested in the pitfalls of being a teenager- fast cars, partying, and girls. Duh !!  However, it didn't take long for me to realize that I could escape the confines of home life and enjoy a lot of freedom at Deal Island, at least for a teenager.  I soon developed a passion for weekending at The Shack.  No, it wasn't air-conditioned, in fact it was hotter than Hades.  But, there were interesting people, I could come and go as I pleased, and the fishing was fantastic.

We removed the wall partitions of the Shack and filled the main "great-room" with double beds.  I believe once we were done the place would sleep at least 16, with floor space for even more.  Great-instant party place!  The kitchen was well equipped with 2 refrigerators (to hold more fish and bait), sink (fish cleaning station), water pump and hot water heater.  Bathroom held a functional shower and toilet.  What else could you possibly need?  The yard had plenty of room for boats, as we also had use of the empty lot behind us, since it was a drain field titled to both us and our neighbor.  OK, so now the scene is set, let the fishing and crabbing begin.  Actually I'll discuss the crabbing separately, but suffice it to say that we spent almost as much time crabbing as we did fishing, particularly since we could do it without a boat if need be.  On to the fishing.

Sea trout, sea trout, and more sea trout.  The seat trout were so plentiful in Tangier Sound through about the mid to late 1980's, there was no indication whatsoever that their population would soon flat-out crash.  We kept it pretty simple too.  Bottom fishing, which I am still a big fan of and do almost exclusively in these same waters, now for another species (croaker).  We always fished anchored up, and Dad and Rudy had a few distinct spots that they went to year in and year out, regardless of season, tide, time of day, or whatever.  There was "The Drain", located about mid-island, and exactly where the water dropped to 46 feet deep (they used a couple of landmarks to triangulate, namely a church steeple and some trees).  Then there were Boggs and Piney Island, both somewhere off the south end of the island.  Also, Kedges Straights (between South Marsh and Smith Islands), Hoopers Straights (between Bloodsworth and Hoopers Islands), and Sharkfin Shoal- off the north end of Deal Island.  Rudy had a 21 foot Thunderbird, so we covered a fair bit of territory.  But there was nothing fancy to it, no planning, no timing tides.  Just drop anchor and drop the lines, baited with nothing but soft crabs, now nearly cost prohibitive.  And we used these really short, stiff rods with these open-faced Penn baitcasting reels, which actually worked OK to muscle up the sea trout from 40-50 feet of water, and particularly since most of these fish were in 4-10 lb class (unheard of nowadays).  When the fish were biting, which was actually when we were lucky enough to stumble upon them, they would bite aggressively and constantly for an hour or so.  The result would typically be a completely full cooler after one of these bites, and if they bit any longer or we got into two of these bites, count that as two full coolers.  Honestly, I have no idea what we did with so many of these fish.  I never in my life saw my Dad clean a fish, and I later finally figured out that in fact he did not know how to fillet a fish.  After I went away to college, I learned how to fillet and I became really good at it.  Problem is, I became the designated fish cleaner since I was the only skilled fillet hand.  Not too bad of a position to be in, I loved to eat fish anyway and sea trout have soft skin and flesh and are super easy to fillet.

There's not too much more to tell about fishing during the '80's.  We caught 90% sea trout, with a few hardhead (croaker) mixed in, with an occaisional rock, flounder, and some spot later in the summer.  This went on pretty steady until about 1988, at which point I had relocated to Frederick, joined the Army, started a career, and was back in school working on a Masters degree.  My time became more limited and my fishing opportunities fewer, but it also became apparent that the sea trout were no longer as plentiful or as large as they had once been.  Little did I know then that this trend would continue steadily.  Also, in the late '80's, Rudy had a stroke and became largely disabled.  Since he was the boat owner, this changed everything.  We managed to keep it all going, for awhile, but as time went on his health began to fail.  Hence, we entered the next phase.  My brother and I bought Rudy's share of the Deal Island property.  Soon thereafter, he gave us the old boat and the old car used to pull it.  The engine on the boat was worn out and we were never able to use it.  The car I used for a couple of years, then unloaded for $300.  So for awhile, the focus turned toward  crabbing.