Crabs and Rockfish- October awesomeness 10/24/14

Sad to acknowledge that it had been almost a full month since I had fished or crabbed at Deal Island.  However, I had been planning this one for a while and was thrilled to see that the weather was going to cooperate, except for some heavy winds.  And even the wind cooperated when I needed it too.  

Friday 10/24/14 started out a little cool and very breezy, small craft advisory breezy.  Based on recent trends, I knew that the crabbing would get good right around 2pm.  This gave me ample time to cut my grass.  Launched the jon boat at 12:30, abiding by the regulations against using gas engines between October and March.  New electric trolling motor, new battery, I just hoped that it all worked.  and, it worked quite well.  The 38lbs thrust motor pushed the heavy jon boat just fine.  crabbing was slow at first, although the first crab I caught turned out to be one of the biggest I had ever caught at an exact 8.5 inches point to point.  This was in front of the first dike.  After about an hour it was time to move.  I went down the creek and just beyond the two 45-degree turns, as going to the 2nd dike was going to take too long and seemed unnecessary.  Good call, as the crabs turned on here pretty quickly. After about another hour I had amassed nearly a bushel of the biggest, heaviest male crabs I have ever caught in all my years.  Crabs for dinner.  

Saturday 10/25/14- the wind had laid down and it was another gorgeous blue sky 68 degree day.  High tide was at 3:15 pm and my plan was to fish the incoming tide. So, I launched at 12:15pm.  Based on information from the locals, the hot tip was to troll around the islands in shallow water. I had rigged all of my lines with either jigs and worms, or Storm Lures.  I ran across Tangier Sound to South Marsh Island, seas were relatively calm.  I began drifting and used two rods, placing both in rod holders.  Maintained my trolling speed by keeping the engine running at about 1100-1200 rpm, resulting in an indicated 2.5-2.8 mph troll.  On one rod, I had a bucktail and yellow worm, on the other a Storm Lure  The Storm Lure prevailed as the popular bait, as I caught 3 rockfish on that rod before also putting a Storm Lure on the other rod.  I caught two more rock for a total of 5.  Four were between 18-20 inches and went in the cooler.  Fresh rockfish for dinner that night!!

Hoping to get one more crabbing trip in before it gets too late.  Target is 11/14/14.