Deal Island Fishing- July 14/15 2011

So, I have realized that I have an interesting dilemma with respect to this blog.  And my problem is- I am actually fishing frequently enough this year that is difficult to keep up with chronicling my ventures here in this blog.  Oh well, not a bad dilemma to have I guess.

Embarked on a 2-day fishing adventure starting on a Thursday, 7/14/11, with both my son Blair (14) and buddy Loran fishing with me this time.  An unusual mid-July cool front passing through coincided with our fishing plans, the result being extremely windy (and rough) conditions for the front end of our trip.  Every single attempt to catch a late evening tide change (this one at 8pm) this year has been accompanied by big winds.  Nonetheless, braving persistent 4 ft swells (actually 1 – 2 ft when we first went out), we managed to dangle enough squid, shrimp, and soft crab on the bottom to put 16 fish in the cooler, largest being around 13-14 inches.  The fishing pattern was much the same as it has been the last month, drifting to find where the fish were biting, and in this case it was again around 35-45 feet of water, on the ledge of the west side of eth shipping channel, just north of Wenona.  This has pretty much been my hot spot this year, with some occasional action near the #12 buoy just south of Wenona.  Would like to explore some more distant areas soon, and also try and target some other species, but need better converging conditions (time, tide, and wind).

Friday, 7/15/11 unfolded with completely different wind, while maintaining a northerly direction from yesterday it had subsided to about 5 knots, which was qwuite comfortable with temps in the low 80’s and partly cloudy.   After another trip to the Hideaway in Rumbley for lunch (thanks Loran for the crab cake), we set out to catch the 3pm high tide. 

 On the way back from Rumbley, we stopped in the 25-30 ft hole not far west from the 1^st Rumbley channel marker.  Not much doing here with what we were offering, but I could tell that it was a soft bottom.  Returned to our aforementioned spots and enjoyed a simply glorious day, again catching lots of hard head, releasing most, and keeping 9- largest was 14”.  Have yet to catch any fish exceeding 14 inches.  Plan to return next Friday for one day of evening fishing, with a 7:30 pm high tide.  Bought a new water heater for the camper and hope that it arrives in time for me to bring it and install it.  Until next time,...