I've been trying to get my wife to go fishing with me for,... at least the last 25 years. Or so it seems. I think she became jaded so many years ago when we went out on my boat and it was rough out, and I kept the hammer down on the throttle. And I laughed each time she got sick. Ok no wonder it took her so long to come back around.
Candy arrived mid-afternoon at the camper. The forecast was for one of the nicest days of the summer, and the forecast did not disappoint. Temps in the upper 70s, winds about 5 mph, and waves less than one foot- we don't see this often in August on the Chesapeake. We launched at around 3:30 pm in anticipation of the 6:20 high tide. Our first stop was a couple of swipes in the area between Wenona and north tip of South Marsh. I think we managed to boat one fish here, and it was Candy's catch, then it was time to anchor off South Marsh. We tried a couple of spots, first on the north shore, then on the north tip of the east side. It was calm, and nothing was biting. The lack of wind made it feel warmer than it actually was too. And then the bugs decided to join us. I knew then we needed to retreat to deeper water. And so we headed southeast to the bouy 12 area. We drifted over 38-45 ft target areas. It was slow drifting with no wind. And Candy landed her 4th keeper before I hooked up. We ended up at 7pm with 9 total fish in the cooler, and I'm pretty sure she had caught 6 of them. I gladly conceded defeat and paid her my $3. Frankly, it was the greatest day of the summer having my wife finally fish with me. I was THRILLED!! I know it was a stretch for her but it meant so much to me. I hope she goes with me again.
The following day my brother and his youngest son Owen, joined me for day 2 in Tangier Sound. They were staying the week in OC, and weren't able to get down to the island until 5:15 pm. So, I met them at the dock in Wenona, boat already in the water and ready to fish. Due to limited daylight, I took us straight to bouy 12 and we commenced target the same depth and area. The magic depth was 42 ft, and we worked it with almost zero wind. I'm talking slick cam, something we rarely see here. It was an awesome time, I mostly played guide and helped Owen, but stepped in when he wanted a break. All said, we put 16 fish in the cooler, including one blue. The croaker were 10-12 mostly, same as most of the summer. Owen kept wanting to look at the bounty in the cooler. We called it a day just at sunset. The following day they came over and enjoyed my culinary work, as I put on a pretty good fish fry for both of our families.
My next trip down will likely be Labor Day weekend. I am hoping to get at least one day in over that weekend. It figures to be a shorter weekend there than in years past. And, summer is just about over.
No comments:
Post a Comment