July 24, 2015 - Quick trip and still killing it

Got down to the island Friday for a quick trip.  It wasn’t on my regular every-other-week schedule, but the fishing has been so good lately I couldn’t resist. Launched right at peak low tide, intending to catch the first three hours of incoming tide.  Forecast was for winds 5mph out of the NW.  Yeah, it was more like 15-20 out of the NNW.  This made keeping on bottom incredibly difficult, and I had to really work my line, continuously letting more out.  This eased up about 2 hrs into it, and I was actually able to get a 2^nd line out.  The bite was slow at first but picked up nicely after an hour.  I put some really nice fish in the cooler, many in the 12 to 13 inch range this time.   I even caught a 13-inch double header which was quite a nice pull on the 6’6” Ugly Stik.  Almost all fish were caught in the 36-46 ft range, more shallow than usual for afternoon.  Most of these were 42-46 ft.  It might have been a function of not being able to hold bottom in the deeper water, I don’t know.  I put a total of 19 fish in the cooler and am confident I could have limited out had I pursued the back end of the incoming tide, but enough was enough.

Still no reports of trout or drum, so I’ll continue to work the hardhead while they are still available.  I’m expecting the bigger fish to go scarce at any time, so I’ll take them while I can.  

July 17, 2015 and it is pretty HOT (the weather AND the fishing)

Friday July 17- the beginning of a hot, humid, steamy , sultry (any other superlatives?) weekend.  The forecast for Friday afternoon and evening was windy, and becoming increasingly windier.  And that it was,…  My buddy Bruce Davis joined me for the evening fish.  Had been trying to get Bruce out on my boat for several years now, and it finally worked out.  We launched out of Wenona at 5:30 pm.  Unfortunately we had some minor motor issues, which I believe to be fuel-related so we returned to dock just after leaving the harbor, checked the prop, and then returned to Tangier Sound.  Turns out we had forgotten to pray before we left the dock, so once we addressed that we motored out into open water with confidence.

The wind was blowing a stiff 20+ mph out of the southeast, so out initial exit of the harbor was against the wind. Once we cleared the last channel marker we could turn and get up on plane and ride above the nasty 2 ft chop.  Slightly delayed, we began fishing around 6:15 pm in the same area I have been fishing lately, about a mile north of buoy 12 and on the west side of the channel.  Pretty quickly we began catching croaker in the 54-48 foot depth range.  These were nice fish, most being 10 ½-12 inches, but fat and strong.  Unfortunately, just as the engine issues had clipped our trip on the from end, the wind began blowing at about 30mph, and with 3-4 ft seas, I exercised by prerogative as captain to call the trip short due to deteriorating conditions.  Nonetheless we put 19 nice fish in the cooler prior to our slow and wet return trip. 

Later that evening, I went to visit my friends Ronnie and wife Selena in Wenona.  While sharing a few homebrews, Selena shared a story of how someone she knew in northern Virginia asked her if she knew “Deal Island Randy”.  Her response was that yes, she knew a guy that fished at Deal Island and his name was Randy.  The friend went on to explain tha they had seen a youtube video posted by a guy named DealIslandRandy on how to fillet and de-bone croaker.  After watching the video, Selena recognized that it was indeed me.  Small world, eh?  Before I forget, let me thrown in the link to that Youtube video, I think it has over 13,000 views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxu1y2TGSCQ

Fast forward to Saturday, hotter and forecasted breezier.  Since storms were expected to roll through late afternoon, I pushed up my next fishing adventure to a 2:15 pm launch.  Mercifully, it was partly to mostly cloudy so I didn’t fry under the sun.  I returned to the same spot, and on my way out boat suddenly stops running.  A little investigation and I discover the fuel line connection at the tank had come loose.  Fixed this and no more problems.  Had cleaned/emptied out the fuel filter the day before too.  Another choppy ride out, and wasn’t sure how long this would last as the forecast was for building winds.  Again, a SE wind but this time with the tide rather than against it as yesterday made for more pleasant conditions.  I put 23 hardhead in the cooler before calling it quits. Again, 46-54 feet was the hot ticket, and squid was the bait of choice.  Strangely, the winds died down to about 5-10 mph for the return trip and I was able to cruise quickly.  One final thought:  The MD DNR website had reported the following: “Unfortunately catches of croakers and spot in the Tangier Sound area have fallen off leaving local anglers scratching their heads as to why. ”.  I guess you can’t believe everything you read.   Anyway, I couldn’t resist frying up some of these fish that night- OMG nothing better than fresh fried croaker. YUM.

July 2015, return of the CroakerSlayer; Importance of Weather

So, now that my laptop rebooted in the midst of my attempted blog update, I'll tell this story a 2nd time.  However my enthusiasm is now fading.  Hoping to pickup where I left off in June, I planned to fish July 2 and 3 despite a less than stellar weather forecast.  July 2 rolled in with a rainy forecast, and light winds out of the NE.  I waited until 5:30 pm to launch, targeting only the final 2-3 hours of the outgoing tide.  Also,  I returned to the site of my last success, just north of Wenona and on the west side of the fishing channel.  Focusing on the 60-30 foot slope, I immediately started to throw fish in the cooler.  And these were the overall nicest quality fish I had caught in quite sometime, all males in the 11- 12 1/2 inch range.  The fish began biting in the 50-60 foot range, but by 7:30 pm were up to 30-35 feet.  20 fat Croaker made their way into my cooler.

Next day brought sunny skies and breezier winds out of the SE, with rain not forecasted to start until night.  I had my friend David and his young son on board, so showing them a good time was priority #1.  Again, squid was the hot ticket, so my soft crabs went home with me to be eaten.  The fish were slightly smaller at 10 1/2 - 11 1/2 and all females, but we put 24 nice fish in the cooler and had a great time doing it.  Most fish were caught in the 40-45 foot range.  By 5:45 pm winds had picked up to >20 mph, so we called it quits.  The rough ride back in was worth the 24 fat croaker we put in the cooler.

Just want to take a minute and emphasize the importance of weather in my fishing plan.  I begin my weather survey a week in advance by using the Weather Channel website (weather.com), which frequently helps me choose what days might be available for me to choose from.  As the week draws on and at about 4-5 days out, my focus shifts to looking at the wind forecast.  When fishing the open waters of Tangier Sound in a 17 foot boat, wind is absolutely my biggest concern.  I will plan everything around the wind.  My two sources for getting a good wind forecast are NOAA (http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecasts/FZUS51.KLWX.html) and Windfinder.com.  The NOAA site gives me some good general info about the conditions, including wave height, on a daily basis.  Windfinder gives me a nearly bullet-proof forecast for wind speed and direction and breaks it down to every three hours.  Within a 2-day window, these are extremely accurate.  Since my cell phone frequently does not have a signal while out on the water, I have got to have this info nailed down in advance.  On more think I check before leaving the dock is the radar picture.  MyRadar is my favorite radar app, and I can zoom in or out to whatever resolution suits my needs.  

Hoping to get back out soon, and now that I've got some croaker in the freezer, I'd like to connect with some trout and rock.  We'll see,...

June 2015 Update- bad and great

June has historically been a really good month fishing at Deal Island.  The larger croakers are usually on-hand and the weather is typically pretty decent.  June 12 brought very hot (95F+) and extremely windy, so I thought that taking the jon-boat back into the Thorofare would be a good idea.  Never mind the apocalyptic profusion of biting green-headed flies.  Motored back to me favorite deep hole and managed to catch one eel and plenty of skates.  Seeking a change of venue, I motored back to the Manokin and anchored, Another bust, so I headed back to my original spot.  I had noticed the outboard running a little rough but chalked it up to it not having been run in a year.  As I pushed on I became aware that the outboard was losing power.  Suddenly, the outboard rapidly lost power, started smoking, and promptly quit, never to start again.  And as has happened all too many times in the past, I was forced to beg for a tow back to the ramp.  I've got a picture, but in the interest of maintaining my dignity will refrain from posting.  

OK, certainly the next day my luck would change, right?  WRONG !!  Launched the center console out of Wenona and headed toward Buoy 12, where most of the charter boats were anchored.  Fished the swing low tide, expected magic.  So, teh nice breeze that I had enjoyed when launching died, completely.  To nothing.  And it was >95F, again.  and the flies were biting.  and the largest croaker I could land, except for two outliers, was 9 inches.  After about 2 hours of this nonsense and feeling particularly miserable and discouraged, I called it quits and returned to port.  At least the boat ran well.  I seriously considered whether I would ever fish again,....

Candy suggested later that next week that I try fishing again.  Well, we had plans for early Sunday so  I knew that this would be a one day venture.  I don't do these one day trips much anymore, it is enough of an effort to pack up, head down, clean up, pack up and head home that it makes more sense to cluster days together.  But, the weather looked to be good s off I went to see if I could change my luck.  Launched out of Wenona later than I usually do, reaching Tangier Sound only 1/2 hour preceding peak high tide.  Picking a few small few fish around buoy 12, it was time to head for the other side of the channel, and about 1/2 mile north.  I have fished this particular shelf many times, often with good results.  It is a particularly steep shelf too, with rapid drop from 30 to 80 feet. I chose a spot mid-way between two party boats.   I wanted to see where they were anchored anyway, which looked to be about 50 feet.  I pushed west to about 35 feet, and used the west wind to push me across the shelf and into deeper water.  I caught a few small fish at first.  And then suddenly, everything changed.  At once, the fish started flying in the cooler.  I'm trying to manage 2 rods, and it was difficult.  Squid was doing the trick too, so the soft crabs stayed in the cooler, so I could eat them another day.  I continued to repeat these drifts, knowing full well that things could change at any moment, while picking up 2 - 4 fish each drift.  Finally, I knew I had to pause and take count, not wanting to exceed my limit of 25.  Wow, I had 13 in the cooler.  Onward ho!!  One interesting thing was that every time I drifted across the 60 foot mark and quickly headed to too deep of water, I would catch a really nice fish (12-13 inches these days).  In short order, I was up to 23 fish in the cooler.  The tide was really starting to roll out fast, and I began to wonder if I would hit that magic limit.  Suddenly. a hard tug on the line.  and when I got it in- double header!!   I had my 25-fish legal limit and was done.  Did a little bit of trolling for rock around Little Deal Island on my way in, but no dice.  time to call it a day, and now I was again excited for the next opportunity to fish.

2015 and a new year on Tangier Sound

Wow, I am seriously fallen behind on keeping this blog up to date.  It will be best for me to fast-forward over the winter months.   It was another brutally cold and long winter and I am so glad it is in the past.  I did engage in deer and turkey hunting to keep the insanity at bay, but have nothing remarkable to share from those ventures.

That said, I'll back-track and briefly recap my first Tangier Sound fishing of the year, weekend of May 8-9 2015.  I only got out once, and spent my time at the north end of South Marsh Island.  A gorgeous May evening, caught the peak high tide.  Water temp 68F.  I started trolling on the west side of the island and toward the north end.  I picked up a nice small rock on a SwimShad just rounding the north tip, and this would be the last fish I would catch.  I trolled all the way across the northend, then motored over to Holland Island for some drifting with bait.  I had wanted to come over here for awhile.  There are some other small islands in the area as well as Bloodsworth, and I really need to learn the area better.  Note to self- lots of shallow water. I know there must be some deeper bank areas, as I am told by so many about these Holland Straits.

Just wrapped a gorgeous Memorial Day weekend, although a bit breezy  for much of it. Water temp still only up to 70-70.5F, we have had a lot of cold nights with the heat kicking on.  Friday the 22nd I tried bottom fishing near buoy 12, but the wind out of the west at 15-20 mph made this unbearable.  I put one hardhead into the cooler then took the plunge and ran over to South Marsh to escape the wind.  Well, at least that part worked.  I threw soft crab and squid to bottom while anchored in 4.5 ft.  Finally got a bite by a nice rockfish- he put up a good fight and then went into the cooler.   And as I had been warned, the skates and rays had also made an appearance.  I caught 4 or 5, lost a couple of rigs, and oh man he cownosed ray I caught was humongous.  I was hoping for speckled trout or drum , but no go.  Saturday the 23rd I though that I would just stick with bottom fishing, as the wind had laid down nicely.  I fished just south of buoy 12, drifting north just to or past the buoy.  The fishing was non-stop, I caught countless croaker and each seemed to be a 9-9 1/2 inch clone of each other.  After several hours, I was able to put only 8 in the cooler, and half of those I later wished I had released.  Sunday while preparing to launch I noticed that I had lost a roller off my trailer.  Not wanting to gouge my boat bottom upon re-trailering, I aborted the trip.  Off to Short's Marine to get replacement roller(s).   I've had 3 fail so far, and I can see the others are on borrowed time. AT $12.50 apiece, I'll try to just replace a couple at a time.   

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.

9/25/14- last chance for 2014 to crab using a gas motor

With September predictably buzzing past me at an alarming rate, I decided to carve out a little 2-day break and head down to Deal Island.  Plan A was to crab on Day 1 (Thursday), and to fish on Day 2. Having scheduled this weeks in advance, I had little choice but to brave the mild nor'easter that welcomed me on Thursday.  After October 1, gas-powered outboards were not to be allowed in my favorite spot, the Deal Island Impoundment in Dames Quarter.  This is year 2 of this draconian restriction, intended to improve the experiences of the waterfowl hunter, despite my objections to the state of Maryland.  Oh well.  With the impoundment having been closed much of the summer due to littering and "vandelism", I expected there to be an abundance of crabs.  And, I was not disappointed.  
Having launched my jon boat (for the first time this summer) and navigated to the 2nd dyke, I began a slow but steady capture of crabs from my turkey neck handlines at around 11:30.  Then as 1pm approached, all hell broke loose.  The crabs began to hit my 10 lines so aggressively I had little time to move from one to the next.  Soon, they were either crossing all of my lines, or ripping the baits right off the strings.  This continued for another 45 minutes, at which point my bushel basket was completely full off some of the nicest crabs I had seen or caught in quite some time.  Had I wanted to fill a 2nd bushel, I'm certain I could have done so in short order.  By 2pm I was back in the truck, boat back on the trailer.

Day 2 broke bright and beautiful, a complete antithesis to the day prior.  After cutting the grass (which had not been mowed in 3 weeks), I prepared the center console for some rockfishing, including securing some difficult-to-find soft crabs.  Just then my buddy Capt. Danny Benton stopped by with a gift- a nice mess of white perch fillets.  YUM!  So, I stuffed those into the fridge and talked Danny into going fishing with me that afternoon.  Danny had never been aboard my boat, nor had we really ever caught any fish together. I was so excited that he was going to join me.  Fishing alone is nice, but its also great to have a buddy sometimes.

So, at around 2 pm I towed the boat down to Wenona for an incoming tide launch on this gorgeous sunny 78F autumn day.  I stopped in at Arbys and bought a bag of ice.  Everything was set!!!  We lauched the boat, and I allowed Danny to play fishing guide.  Oddly enough, he took me through the cut between Wenona and Little Deal ISland, into the Manokin, and all the way back into my favorite deep hole in Laws Thorofare, where I sometimes fish for hardhead.  I was glad for the guided tour, as I had never approached this spot from Wenona but had often thought about it.  So, we anchored, and as usual my next move was to get the tunes set up (I carry a DeWalt boombox for playing music while I fish).  Got the rods rigged, music playing, and then I open the cooler to pull out some soft crabs to cut for bait.  But wait- oh CRAP, the cooler is empty. No soft crabs.  At which point I realize I had left them in the other cooler, which is identical to the one I packed, minus the seat cushion on top.  Next thing I realize is that I also don't have the bag of ice I bought.  You gotta be kidding me???  I guess I was so excited about Danny fishing with me, that I picked up the wrong cooler AND left the bag of ice which I paid for sitting in the icebox at Arbys. Epic fail. Well, we had a good laugh about this.  This is SO not like me, I'm usually very thorough when prepping for going out on the water. Any way, we try spot after spot after spot, with the squid and shrimp I had brought.  No dice.  Either the rock did not want what we were offering, or we were in the wrong spot.  Going back out into Tangier Sound with our croaker bait probably would have been a good idea, but we were focused on trying to catch a rockfish.  So, as a consolation, I offered to cook up all the white perch Danny had brought me.  And that's exactly what I did.  I fried up probably 50 small white perch fillets at the camper, and we gorged on every single one of them as the sun was going down.

Saturday, I had to return home, so no chance to redeem myself on this trip.  A pretty crazy October has me tied up until end of the month.  I'm hoping to return 10/24 for more crabbing and fishing.  Only this trip, I'll have to use an electric motor crabbing.  And, the fishing will have to be either trolling near the shore or using some frozen peeler as bait.