October 29, 2016- Rockfish

I finally found a spare day in between my business traveling and everything else going on in my life to get the boat out again on Tangier Sound.  This late in the year, you never know when it might be your last shot.  As I crossed the Deal Island bridge on a sunny and relatively warm Saturday morning, the winds were completely calm- a.k.a. "slick cam". Two and a half hours later at target launch time 1030, it was blowing 15-20 mph out of the southwest.  This was indeed forecasted, but it was supposed to be a little bit later and a little less intense.  As I exited Wenona harbor and had a look at Tangier Sound, I made a judgement call not to proceed across to South Marsh Island, where I had caught plenty of fish 2 weeks prior.  As it turned out, this was a very good decision which I'll get to in a bit.

Plan B was to cut back behind Little Deal Island (a.k.a. Lil' Island) and troll the endless banks around Lil' Island and the back of Deal Island.  With high tide at 1:45, there was at least plenty of water to troll my swim shads.  It wasn't until about an hour later and well into the troll on back side of Deal Island that I finally had my first fish.  I had a couple of hits before that, and was puzzled as to why they let go.  Anyway, fish# 1 was around 18".  Heading back toward my old croaker hole in Law's Thorofare, I hung another fish, the first keeper at 20", right at the mouth of the creek drawing out of the back end of Pinky's.  Focusing on this area for several more passes, I caught two more fish, the larger being about 19".  Heading back toward port, I hung the last fish not far from here, and this one was the largest at 21". 

I was astounded to find deep pockets in the trough that comes out of the Thorofare, and was equally surprised to see fish stacked up in them, suspended just above the bottom.  I got my jig rigs out and worked it for a few minutes, but the increasing winds and narrow channel to work in made this very difficult.  I'll try this again however.  I never did get to use my new top water popping cork rigs, but I've got these ready for future use.  Anyway, I was planning to troll all the way back to port.  However, winds had picked up by this time to 20-25 mph, and I was dealing with 3-4 foot seas in the shallow water of the Manokin River.  This was no fun, so I concluded fishing efforts and focused on just trying to stay dry the rest of the  way back in.  Once I got back behind Lil' Island, I was protected from the S-SW winds. I can't wait to do this some more.  I've never been a big fan of trolling, but there is something cathartic about it, something very relaxing.  All i need now is more time.  Time, precious time,....