June 30, back to the creek

O first of all, I am realizing that the summer is ripping by and  I have been remiss at maintaining this blog.  So, somewhere I neglected to update on mid-June and at this point  I cannot recall the details.  So, I will reach back and cover June 30, which I am able to recall.   Briefly, I was down intending to stay most of the week and fish.  My week started on June 30, and with great plans to return to South Marsh, the wind was blowing 25+ knots out of the south and I opted to fish the creek.  I got out there around 4pm armed with squid and shrimp.  And, I managed to put 14 croaker into the cooler, the majority at 11-12 inches, with a couple at 10 and one topping 14. With the extreme south wind and fishing high tide, the tide was really late in rolling back out, a phenomenon I see from time to time.

I returned the next day to catch the same time, also plagued with challenging winds and in addition threatening storms.  Around 4:30 I could see a large anvil cloud forming to the west, which I had the pleasure of staring at for the next 2 hours.  Finally, the accompanying thunder and approaching storm became more than I could safely tolerate and I called it a day.  No fish in the cooler this trip, but I did beat the storm in.  Storms can develop so fast on the Chesapeake in the summertime.

Unfortunately, my week of fishing ended here.  Sometimes there are other things in life that are more important.  Not many, but the ones that are trump everything when they demand your attention.  And I have a feeling that the rest of the season is apt to go this way as well.  But you know what, there will always be opportunities in the future to fish, and the fishing can wait if it needs to.   Did I just say that??

Friday June 6 2014- A near perfect evening.

Friday June 6 2014- A near perfect evening.  Launched out of Wenona at about 5:30 pm to catch the scheduled 9 PM high tide.  Wide was 5-10 out of the west, water temp was low 70’s.  My desire was to catch some rock and speckled trout in shallow water.  So, I started on the west side of the channel north of buoy 12, drifting different depths.  I found some croaker hook-ups in 23-25 ft of water, most around 10 inches but one at 14 (yay!).  They seemed to be non-existent anywhere else at this time.

At around 7:30 I motored over to the northern tip of South Marsh Island.  My thought was, place myself on the north edge of the island as near to shore as possible, where the bait fish might be seeking a reprieve from the incoming tide.  I had not fished this area before, so I cautiously approached but found 5 feet of water all the way up to 25-30 yards away from shore, which is where I anchored.  It was simply beautiful here, nothing but me and the birds.  I cast soft crab and squid at every angle from the boat.  My first fish was a nice 12” croaker, and then the rays showed up.  Not the smaller skate, these were the large cow-nosed rays and appeared to be here mating in shallow water.  So, I wasn’t surprised when the action remained somewhat sparse.  I did manage to avoid hanging one of these monsters, which would have been a real problem fishing solo and in shallow water.  I caught a few more decent hardhead, putting 7 total in the cooler.  Also, I caught one nice rockfish at about 16.5 inches.  Of course I released it,…… I called it a night at 9pm since dark was approaching, and I had to cross the crab pot infested sound solo.  I wish now I had stayed just a little bit longer, but then again I often feel like that after I have completed my fishing venture.

May 25 and "fish on" !

Finally I get to report in on catching some fish.  The month of May was pretty much a wash for as far as bottom fishing goes.  Everything started late due to the cold winter and spring.  And this coolness persisted all through April and May.  And then the wind blew, as usual.  Finally, on Sunday May 25 I got out mid-day (not my preferred time) for some bottom fishing.  Although I had received word of speckled trout being caught near the shore, my quest here was for the sure-thing, and middle of the day I nMay, that would be croaker.

I started out near Buoy 12, just out of Wenona.  And while marking fish on my depth finder at 30 feet, which is where I had been told by a party boat captain the fish were holding, I was not able to get any action.  About 2 hours before tide change, I was ready for a scenery change, and I motored across the channel to the west side, about a half mile farther north, and began drifting through different depths to see where I might hook-up.  It didn’t take long to figure out that 45-55 feet of water on the oncoming tide was the ticket.  The fish were plenty, and they were happy to be ripping off my softcrabs, shrimp, and peeler.  However, they were small.  I probably caught 40 fish but kept only 13.  And of those that I kept, most were around 10 inches, with a few at 12 being caught in clusters right at 50 ft. 

As I write this, I am planning my next adventure.  This upcoming weekend, the weather and wind are forecasted to cooperate both Friday and Saturday.  Furthermore, I’ve got a 9pm high tide on Friday, and a 9:49pm high tide on Saturday.  Stay tuned,… I’m going to shift some of my focus toward sunset fishing for trout and rock.

end of a long, cold winter- 2014.

It was a long, long winter and the coldest I recall in a while.  Heck, we had snow 2^nd week of April, and at least every week before that from late January on (or so it seemed).  The net effect was that everything was thrown out of synch.  As I am writing this (May 13), the bottom fishing is non-existent except for some white perch.  And while the trophy rockfish season seems to have flourished in Tangier Sound, you can’t even buy a peeler or a softcrab.  The few hard crabs are pricey and being shipped off.  This is an inconvenience to the recreational fishermen like myself, it is nearly devastating to the watermen.

Let me catch you up on what little outdoor activities I have been involved in so far for 2014.  First off was winter deer season, January 10-11.  I hunted both days, and finally got a distant shot in the rain my 2^nd day.  Well, impatience led to inaccurate, and that doe is still running free.  Fast forward to turkey season.  I managed to get some time in the woods both in mid-April (4/18) and early May (5/9).  On both trips to the woods, I was not even able to solicit a gobble, cluck or otherwise using my turkey call.  The year before these woods had been loaded with turkey.  And for that matter, I have not been seeing turkey in the usual area locations throughout the spring.  I’m not sure whether their breeding is delayed or what.  Lastly, I have had my boat out twice (4/28 and 5/9).  The first trip was mid-day, tide was high and I was targeting shore-line rockfish before it turned rough and I quit.  The 2^nd trip, I tried bottom fishing with my daughter Kara in the afternoon on a low tide, then the shorelines of both South Marsh Island and also Deal Island in Wenona.  Used bloodworms (and frozen peeler 2^nd trip), but not a single hit either trip.  The water temp is still cold (surface temp of 65F on May 9).  I can recall years like this where a long cold winter delayed the advent of decent fishing.  But, I have no idea at this point how this one is going to play out, but I plan to try again Memorial Day weekend which is early this year.

The one bright so far this year is having worked on skipjack Kathryn on 5 separate occasions.  Most have been working with the ECI inmates, which has been a lot of fun.  These are minimum security guys who are anxious to get outside of the walls of the prison, are hard-working, and eager to make a difference.  I’m looking forward to completing enough hours of service to get the operating organization (Coastal Heritage Alliance) another $500 grant from the company I work for.  I’m anxious to see the boat come together through to completion and hope that I have the opportunity to sail on her come Labor Day.

Deer hunting 2013

I love to deer hunt.  Its something I learned how to do and fell in love with while in college at WVU.  I have shot a fair number of deer over the years, and some of them fairly nice size.  I can now field dress, skin, and butcher my own deer.  I then take the meat and process most into jerky.  Unline some hunters, I'm not into spending my entire Fall chasing deer.  As a result, I haven't gotten into bow hunting, and I don't own a muzzleloader.  Maybe some day, when I have more time.  So, I focus my effort on rifle season in Maryland.  The season lasts a total of 15 days, and make that 13 days for hunting public land (no Sundays).  My wife gives me the grace to disappear for 6 consecutive days, 5 of which I spend out in the field.  I stay at the camper, and my goal is to take at least one deer, and to put meat in the freezer.  I'm no longer particular like I used to be when it comes to my choice of deer.  I can't put up a permanent tree stand and I don't do climbers, so I am now hunting on the ground.  I will happily take a doe, and I'll gladly take a small one. That said,..

I got down to Deal Island Sunday afternoon and it was really cold.  After putting up my ground blind, I went to evening church at Faith Independent in Wenona.  A small gathering of folks but most went out of there was to make me feel welcome, and I am certain that I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Monday 4:20 AM came early, and I had to scrape significant ice off my windshield before leaving the camper at 4:55.  By 5:25 I was in ground blind, which I had decided to use for some morning hunting.  My evening plan was to hunt the main field, sitting on my bucket.  Monday was a blank, as was Tuesday, which was slightly warmer.  The attached photo shows all of my hunt spots.  Fast forward to Wednesday morning, where I was hunting in the upper left corner of the field.  I had hunted here Monday night, and seen deer after 5:15, about 250-300 yrds down the field, too far and dark to take a shot.  Wed. was overcast and upper 40's.  No breeze, and it was actually quite pleasant.   It was a quiet morning, with nothing moving.  I had the entire area to myself, which was nice.  Just before 9AM, when I was considering to leave, I pulled out my phone to check messages, read email, and a quick look at facebook.  As soon as I put the phone away at 9:15, two young doe popped out of the entrance to the impoundment, 130 yards away.  I raised my M1903 onto my tripod and took aim on the larger of the two, then squeezed the trigger.  CLICK!  Apparently, I had neglected to chamber a round after loading the rifle.  So, I pulled back the bolt to find that the next round was jammed.  Oh crap!!  I quickly cleared the jam and got a bullet chambered.  The deer had somehow decided to ignore all of the noise I was sure to have been making and were still standing perpendicular to to me, providing a perfect shot.  This time it all went right, and hit the targeted deer at the beck of the neck, severing its spinal cord and dropping it right on the spot.  A PERFECT KILL.

Within 3 hours, I had the deer gutted, tagged, checked in, transported to the truck, back to the camper, hung up, skinned, butchered, processed, bagged and in the freezer.  Hey, time to hunt the afternoon.  Fast forward to Thursday, which was much warmer and rainy.  And foggy.  Nothing, hunting down at the far right corner of the field although I did see a deer come out there Wednesday evening for a brief second.  Friday was also a bust, although I ended my week hunting down at Pinky's, on Deal Island.  I will spend some more evenings at Pinky's,  I like the layout and it is 3 minutes from my camper.  Final thought:  These deer go almost totally nocturnal come December.  Delaware shotgun season captures more of the true rut, where the deer are roaming some during daylight.  I believe the deer are hunkered down in the daylight during rifle season and often dont move until later at night, particularly if the weather is warmer and they don't need to feed.  I'm thinking about how to adapt my strategies to this,....

There is a final two-day season in early January, and I may hunt it if it is not too cold.  So, until 2014,.... Merry Christmas  !!!!

Wrapping up November 2013

My last November trip to Deal Island did not exactly start as I had planned.  I had intended to burn a little vacation (crab and/or fish) and also work on Skipjack Kathryn.  Well, my oldest Deal Island friend Mellanie passed away earlier in the week (she was only 51, bit I had known her since I was 16), so things changed.  I'd like to talk more about Mellanie right now, but I think I will save that for a later post.  I came down mid-day Thursday Nov 7 and attended her memorial service.  I awoke Friday to a chilly and blustery (25-35 mph NW winds, or course) day.  Needing a mental health day, I didn’t make it over to Scott’s Cove and instead focused on some simple chores around the camper.  Crabbing was out of the question, as it was in the low 50’s and with the stiff wind my little electric motor would have been useless.  So, I rigged up the center console for one last 2013 trip and pushed out of Wenona harbor around 3 pm.  Since it was way too windy to navigate Tangier Sound, I used my newly learned cut-through and moved directly through Little Deal Island.  I’ll make this brief- I anchored, and braving the wind and cold in full coveralls, bottom fished with the last of my bait for nearly 2 hours.  Nada, nothing.  I had been told that trolling shallow water was the way to go, but I was not up to exploring this solo, in shallow water, and with the wind blowing as it was.  The next morning I pulled the boat back home to Millsboro, and of course Tangier Sound was slick and calm (slick cam) as I crossed the Deal Island bridge.  And it was even a nice warm day, but it was time to return to home and family.  I spent the remainder of the weekend preparing the boat for the winter, draining out some of the old fuel in the in-deck tank, winterizing the motor, and waxing the hull.  Lastly, after I secured the cover to her it was done, and so was my fishing for 2013- unless I venture out on someone else’s boat.

My next Deal Island adventure will be to deer hunt.  I plan to come down Sunday Dec 1, set up my blind and be out on the woods early on Mon Dec 2.  Plan A is to hunt all week and return Saturday.  I am hoping to have some success earlier, wrap things up and return before then.  Prior to this, we have had an unusually cold November, with frequent hard freezes.  I have guarded against my camper plumbing freezing by leaving the heater inside and a lamp in the well-pump box connected to electric with temperature-controlled switches.  However, on Nov 24 it was forecasted to bottom out at 22F, so I came down the Friday prior and winterized the lines.  My approach this year was different however, and I eschewed the typical application of anti-freeze for use of an air compressor to blow out the lines, with the intent of a quick re-hookup upon return.  I believe it will work, as I think I got all of the water out of the lines.  One area I forgot however was to our some anti-freeze into the drains.  Hopefully this will not be an issue when I return, but I guess I will have to deal with it if it is.  So, I’ll repot back sometime in December.

The DNR totally fouls up my crabbing,... Nov 2, 2013

Time to talk about November, before it slips away.  The month started on Saturday 11/2 with a quick trip down with Blair to do some crabbing.  It was a decent warm (68F) day and we got out into the marsh at about 11 AM, only to discover that it had been nearly drained.  So now, I am restricted to using an electric motor, and also there is only about 1 1/2 feet of water tops in the impoundment- just GREAT!  Well, we launched and had no sooner set anchor in the canal (100 yrds away from the ramp) and the DNR pulls up along the road and engages us.  Here’s the deal- I had brought the gas motor also on back of the boat.  It turns out that a new drainage device had been installed, which had required them closing the marsh for two weeks and dropping the level 1-2 feet.  I was also informed that although the new motor restrictions did not specify such, it was not permitted to even have a gas motor onboard the boat.  Again- GREAT ! So, they let me slide since this had not been posted and we proceeded to crab.  After about hour and a half I had a half dozen, and we needed a change of venue.  So, I pushed the boat down the canal painfully slow with my 17 lb thrust motor (so glad I had just sold my 35 lb thrust motor, right!) all the way to the first dike.  And wow I was surprised to see just how badly this had silted in from water coming over the dike into the impoundment.  Anyway, we found a worthy spot on the point about 2 feet deep, and anchored.  Here we proceeded to round out our catch to just over 3 dozen decent crabs.  They were not quite the quality and size of the previous trip, but they would do.  And combined with some fresh oysters, fried of course, they made for quite the feast.

I am totally not pleased about these new motor restrictions, which now limit me from using a gas engine during my peak time of the year for crabbing.  I took the opportunity to communicate my position on this back to the DNR- they had a place online to submit comments on the Wildlife Management Area rules and restrictions.  And here is the text of my comments:

Hello,

I would like to comment on item 28.B. of the proposed WMA Regulations.  First, let me start by saying what a great overall job DNR has done at being a good steward of the Deal Island Wildlife Management Area.  I have enjoyed using this resource for the last 34 years.  My primary uses have been diverse- fishing, hunting, crabbing, biking, hiking, and waterfowl observation and photography.

I am strongly not in favor of the restriction on use of gasoline-powered outboard motors in the impoundment between October and March.  This time of year is historically an optimal time for recreational crabbing in the Deal Island WMA impoundment area.  It coincides with the various waterfowl hunting seasons, and has peacefully coincided with them in the 34 years I have used the impoundment.  The new guideline, which now only permits use of vessels propelled by electric motor, severely limits the range of vessels to a very short distance from the impoundment launching ramp at end of Riley Roberts Road.  My understanding is that this recent restriction was implemented to increase the overall waterfowl hunting experience and to improve waterfowl habitat.

In my many years in using the impoundment during the fall for recreational crabbing, there is minimal overlap between waterfowl hunters and recreational crabbers both geographically and temporally.  Particularly in the cooler weather of the fall, crabbing is only effective beginning late morning  or even early afternoon as the weather cools.  Also, while the waterfowl hunters usually seek more secluded areas where they can lay decoys, etc, the recreational crabber is typically using either the main channel or the area immediately surrounding one of the dikes.

In terms of waterfowl habitat, I do not believe the use of gas-powered outboard motors is dramatically affecting the silting-in or sedimentation of the impoundment salt marsh.  These processes are occurring both by natural growth and decay of marsh grasses and also by past use of the impoundment by waterfowl hunters using “mud-boats”. 

Lastly, the restriction on gas outboards seems unfair to the public at large, as the impoundment is public land managed for a variety of recreational uses and not solely waterfowl hunting.  If the Maryland Waterfowl Association has provided funding toward the Deal Island WMA, that should not buy their interest group preferential treatment in the designation of policies meant to manage this public resource.  Thank you in advance for consideration of my comments.