2019 wrap-up and re-cap

I've been meaning for many weeks to plant myself in front of my computer and get this blog updated.  It's end of February, and the joy of last year's fishing and hunting has sorely faded, overcome by the feeling that this winter will never end.  I get that same feeling every year, and each year I also realize that Spring is not that too far away.

So, let's start with fishing.  Straight up- 2019 was downright magical.  It started a little late, but Memorial Day weekend my buddy Mark caught a 42" Red Drum aboard my boat- which I am proud to say I netted by hand.  He followed that up with a 24" Speckled Trout 45 minutes later, and I did not use the net for that.  Neither were my own personal catch, but I shared in the joy so much that it felt like it were.

I discovered a new fishing hole that is the most magical rockfish spot I've ever encountered. This spot produced rockfish all Spring, all Summer, and into the early Fall, as long as we had softcrab for bait.  We didn't pull any monsters out of this spot, but I knew I could always catch fish there.  We caught a fair number of Specs there, and I cannot WAIT to get back there again in 2020. 

I didn't get to do nearly as much Fall fishing for rock as I've done in the past or I would like to do.  It seems like every time I had opportunity, the weather conditions conspired to crap on my efforts.  I did get out 3rd week of November jigging (my last trip), when the rock should have been shredding the menhaden which typically school up in Tangier Sound, but I was unable to steadily connect.  We caught a few fish, but they were smaller and certainly scattered.  In fact, I don't know anyone that connected with them in this way.  Some of the charter captains I know connected with them steadily by trolling, but that's just not my scene.  I hope to have more success in 2020 catching rockfish on artificial lures.

Turning now to deer hunting, I drew an unusual total blank in 2 full days of hunting in West Virginia.  For whatever reason, my WV hunting buddies also stuggled this  past season, especially the first week of rifle season (which is when I hunted).  Upon returning to Maryland, I hunted rifle season at Deal Island and connected with an unremarkable yet appreciated button-buck on Day 4.  After 3 full days of seeing nothing, the button-buck was a welcome sight.  I saw this deer get spooked off to my right (I was sitting on the edge of a small cornfield) and I realized it had 3 choices- 1) turn right (which I knew was doubtful), 2) go straight (which I also doubted, as it was really thick, and 3) turn left and cut across in front of me on the way to the cornfield.  I prepared for scenario#3 and got my rifle barrel sitting on my tripod, looking through the scope and waiting for the deer to jump into my field of view.  Lucky for me (and unlucky for him), that's EXACTLY how it played, and I squeezed off a shot at a distance of 155 yards and dropped the young buck right in his tracks.  Unfortunately, I hot him a little more in the rear than I had intended, and some of the meat was ruined.  No worries, I sill had venison leftover from 2018 and I was also the benefactor of another deer earlier in the week.  

I cannot wait to get outdoors.  I'm hoping for an early opportunity with some perch, and I also to take a few days and turkey hunt in early May.  Until then, this is @Dealislandrandy, talk to you soon !!

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