A change of pace (rockfish) Aug 23, 2013

Hustled down to Deal Island late morning in effort to make a 4:15 high tide.  The forecast had quickly deteroriated   (sp?) to almost certain rain, and the forecast did not disappoint.  The radar showed an ugly mass sliding in from the northwest which was supposed to be gone by 1:30 but which was still threatening as late as 3PM.  I spotted the mass of rain start to part and divide on the radar, and against the advice of some of the watermen with whom I was sharing a soda I launched my boat and headed to Tangier Sound.  As I approached the number 12 buoy, the wind was brisk and straight out of the east.  While this made the water simply choppy, the undesired effect was that it pushed the boat so quickly to the west that a reasonable drift was not possible.  Four ozs. of lead was not enough to hold the rig on bottom, especially with teh light tackle that I use.  I did manage to catch one small rock on the brief time I drifted here.

Off to a new location.  My target was shallow water on the south and east sides of Little Deal Island, as the MD DNR fishing report indicated that the shallow water fishing in the area was really heating up.  By the time I got to my destination, it was slack high tide- I had hoped to get here sooner but this was what happened.  Fishing with soft crabs exclusively,  I anchored off a small point in about 5 feet of water and threw to the bank.  There was a lot of grass here, and all I seemed to catch was a bunch of grass.  So, I moved to another spot that looked, well, simply fishy.  It was a nice tight point with a protected little cove to the south side.  Immediately I started catching rockfish, and this continued for about a steady 45 minutes.  They were small, ranging from about 12-16 inches but fought quite nicely and of course I did not keep any (LOL).  I caught 9 before it quit as quickly as it had started.  Among the flurry of rock was also the biggest croaker I had caught all year- 15 inches and what a nice battle it gave me in shallow water.  Fishing in overcast, drizzly, and cooler (72F) conditions had really turned on these fish.  I am absolutely aching to try this again, but unfortunately I am literally running out of time.  Next weekend is Labor Day and I suspect I will not have opportunity to get out and fish.  Following that, I leave for Guatemala on Sept 9.  Then a brief business trip, followed by 2 consecutive football game weekends.  October will likely be my next time down.

I did manage to finish building the boat trailer I have been working on since mid-July.  as soon as I can get the boat loaded on it, I should be ready for crabbing. !!!