Friday July 18, 2014- The Stars Align

Every once in a while, as a fisherman I am lucky enough to have the forecasts for wind, temperature, rain, and tide all converge in a favorable light.  And such it was for this Friday, 7/18.  I had known the tide would be high at a perfect 7:45 pm.  And all week long the weather had been forecasted to be near perfect, with winds out of the east and waves at one feet, no chance of rain and temps in the mid-80’s.  As Thursday arrived, I couldn’t resist to pull the trigger and take the entire day Friday off, providing me needed time to cut grass, do a few other odd chores, ride my bicycle, etc.

I launched the boat at 4:30 pm and had opportunity to meet my new neighbors Lester and Kim at the boat ramp.  They had purchased Dennis’s house across the street and apparently were dedicated fishermen.  After grabbing a dozen soft crabs to supplement my squid and shrimp, I ventured out into Tangier sound from Wenona.  I was a bit nervous too, as last time out my boat engine had gone into limp mode after registering a HOT code, which I attributed to simply ingesting some grass or mud.  However, the boat ran flawlessly and I started my fishing by doing some drifting near the #12 buoy.  I wanted to first put some hardheads in the cooler before going to my final destination of the shoreline of South Marsh Island, and besides, I also wanted to wait and go to South Marsh a little later.  It didn’t take long to figure out that the Croaker were biting between 36 and 48 feet of water, and so I began drifting west-to-east with the unexpected westerly wind.  After putting 9 nice croaker in the cooler using only squid, it was time to go to South Marsh.

When I got to the northern tip of South Marsh, the wind was still blowing pretty good out of the WNW, so I anchored myself near to shore on the eastern side of the northern part of the island.  From this vantage point I could cast to shore, as well as parallel to shore.  My plan was to cast toward shore using a bottom rig and 2 oz of weight, and also to drift an identical rig with no weight along with the tide.  This was a great approach but I really needed two sets of hands to properly man both rigs, and as a result I missed a lot of fish.  I was especially excited to see the unweighted drifting line go peeling off, but was often too late to set the hook.  In the end, I caught 7 more pretty nice croaker (11-12 inch range, better than the 9-10 inchers I had been catching weeks before), one bluefish, one rockfish, and I believe the biggest white perch (13 inches) I have ever caught. 

Two of the croaker were caught as a double-header on the drifting line, which was quite exciting.  The white perch was caught on the drifting line too, as I had let it go for a long time and had to wrestle it through submerged junk on the way in only to find the perch parked at the end of it.  As the tide subsided, the drifting line no longer drifted so well.  I actually wish I had gotten there just a little bit earlier to catch more of this incoming tide with the drifting line (note to self).  Also, as the tide slacked I started picking up skate and rays, which of course played havoc with my gear.  And then suddenly, the wind switched nearly 180 degrees and started blowing out of the east as predicted, only a bit stronger- and this is when the fishing quit.  I probably could have relocated to avoid the wind, which was now pounding the nearby shore, but the tide was flipping, darkness was approaching, and I decided to call it a night.

No speckled trout or drum as I had hoped, but 19 fish in the cooler eased the pain.  I would have loved to return the following evening, but as I alluded to in my previous post the fishing has been pushed to lower priority for a season, and I don’t know the length of that season.  If nothing else, this makes me appreciate more the opportunities that I do get to fish.  And so, I dream of the next time, hopefully two weeks in the future.  But before I go, check out the 3 ½ lb bass I caught last night in Millsboro, Betts Pond on top water.