8/15/15- Launch of Skipjack Kathryn, and the close of Croakerfest 2015

I began volunteering to help restore Skipjack Kathryn in January 2013 as a father-son project.  The details of my lifelong passion for skipjacks, the last sail-powered commercial fishing fleet in the U.S., and my connection specifically to Kathryn are described in earlier blog posts.  Briefly- we were right next to her when she almost sank during the 2011 Labor Day Skipjack races at Deal Island, so when the opportunity to be part of the group restoring her became available, we just had to do it.  And now, 2.5 years after we joined in on this project, Kathryn is finally returned to the water where she belongs.  I would like to thank Kathryn owner Stoney Whitelock for inviting the public to be part of this.  And I would also like to thank master shipwright Michael Vlahovich for patiently teaching us the skills necessary to contribute to Kathryn’s rebirth.  I’m estimating to have put in between 5-6 weeks (40 hour weeks) of time on Kathryn over this journey.  It was the most backbreaking uncomfortable work I have ever done, much or most of it lying on the ground underneath of Kathryn.   I lost the tip of my right index finger, but hey- I have 9 other fingers, right?  My reward has been the education of how skipjacks are built from the bones-up, as Kathryn’s re-work was total and comprehensive.  I know understand how skipjacks are planked, how they are framed, and exactly what a knee, rib, and worm-toe are.  I learned skills of planing, fair lines, how to thicken epoxy just right, how to make a butt-board, and a million other things that I can apply to other areas of my life.  And I also experienced the joy of working alongside inmates- glad to have the opportunity to emerge from beyond the confines of their prison walls for short periods of time.  So, seeing Kathryn float again for me was huge, and it was emotional.

Summer of 2015 has been rather spectacular in terms of bottom fishing in Tangier Sound.  From middle of June on, I caught a LOT of fish and never had to work really hard doing it.  And, the fish were sustained better quality than in the last 5 years or so.  As I vacuum-sealed my filets at the end of this last weekend and shoe-horned them into the freezer, I realized that my freezer was indeed full and enough was enough.  Also, the telltale signs of this particular style of fishing slowing down for the year were starting to appear.  This weekend, I fished Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in order to accommodate some family members that joined me.  First up was oldest son (now 24) Brooks.  We had not fished together in probably 10 years.  Brooks never really got the fishing bug, but rather seemed to tolerate it when he was younger.  I continued my exploit of the area ~one mile north of buoy 12 and on the west side of the channel- why mess with success.  The winds were light and blowing out of the WSW, and we were nearly smack in the middle of the outgoing tide.  Squid continued to be effective, and we picked up fish mostly from 40-50 ft depth, with one surprise fish at 67 ft just prior to moving.  I put 12 fish in the cooler, Brooks just 1, so I have to say that his little sister has the edge on him here, nearly matching me fish for fish a few weeks ago.  What was remarkable was the size- I caught the biggest fish of the year at 15 inches, and there were several others at 13, by far the nicest size fish in quite awhile.

The next day I repeated the effort, fishing solo and just a little bit later in the day.  Conditions were similar, maybe just a little bit hotter out at upper 80’s (water temp a steady 80F throughout the weekend).  The result was 9 fish in the boat including one Spot, with the largest at 14 inches and several at 13 again.  Sunday I took my brother Ross and his 9-year old son Owen.  This time, we were aligned with the beginning of the outgoing tide, but wind was straight out of the south and I never could get our drift going the way I wanted.  Unfortunately, the fish seemed to care less and we were plagued by lack of fish, crabs on the line, and toadfish.  In fact my brother seemed to be a master at hanging toads and crabs.  A hungry 9-year old ordained an early conclusion to our trip, and we returned with 5 fish in the cooler, including one small kingfish.  This was by far the least productive day on the water since early June, and perhaps the expected sign that the incredible bottom fishing off Deal Island in 2015 is running out of gas.  

Since it will be at least another 2 weeks before I return and my freezer is full, I will turn attention to the shallow water fishing surrounding the islands in quest for rockfish, speckled trout, and maybe a drum.  I am starting to hear rumblings of a few specks and rock being caught in these areas.  

July 31, 2015- Fishing with the Homecoming Queen

I came home from work on a Tuesday and found my daughter waiting for me in my family room.  The remarkable thing here was that I had not seen her in 5 months and she was supposed to be in Hawaii.  What a surprise- Kara snuck a trip home for a one week visit and kept it hidden from us.  So, aside from demanding to eat croaker while she was home, another thing at the top of her to-do list was to fish with dear old Dad.  Since I was already planning to fish, I was happy to oblige.

We launched at 4pm on a very sultry and clear afternoon, catching the last half of the outgoing tide.  Not one to counter what has been working since middle of June, I took us to the west side of the channel in Tangier Sound, about one mile north of buoy 12 off Wenona.  After a few drifts, we quickly found our groove.  The 10 mph SW wind pushed us just right across the 36-46 foot ledge that was working for us.  And another familiar sight- charter boats anchored near us in 60 feet, only to re-locate after the spotted us whacking the croaker.  We kept this up for a couple of hours until Kara’s arms hurt from reeling and the fishing finally slowed down.  These were probably the nicest fish of the summer, with many in the 12-13 inch range.  Kara was also quite proud of her doubleheader (see pic).

Next day was not really worth mentioning.  After putting 23 nice fish in the cooler the day before, the lack of wind and 93-degree temps conspired to drain me of energy and enthusiasm, and I called it quits after only a short time. As I was fishing solo, the decision was unanimous.

I don’t know when I’ll get to fish with my daughter again, but the time was priceless and easily the best day of the year so far,….. I hope she comes home soon.

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.