Wednesday,
November 3
Small
Craft Warning has
caused Orem to cancel. (Damn! I wanted to see if he knows
where fish are!) Maybe it will be better for Bob and
me tomorrow!
World's
best & shortest concession speech:
"THE
PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN - THE BASTARDS!"
Remember
the song from "Wonderful Town"?
"Why oh, why oh,
why oh! --Why did I ever leave Ohio?"
The
music playing is "Beautiful Ohio" . Some parts of it
really are!
Tuesday,
November 2
AGAIN!
Only rough seas
too today! YUK!
Monday,
November 1
Woody
Wheeler and I started trolling out by HI at 1:00 this
afternoon, went over to #74, up to #76 and back across to #77,
and quit at 4:00 without so much as a pull-down. Went to
Bunky's for gas and saw the remains of one good size Striper
and a few small ones. I spoke to Capt. Bruno and he
caught a few in the 25" range today, which is sure better
than a skunk. I may go out in the morning, so check
back. The weather doesn't look too good for the
Wednesday Orem trip, but may be OK on Thursday when I hope to
go out with Bob Lerner.
Sunday,
October 31
While I
was watching the stupid Redskins lose again
today, Marty
Stuble went out
and got this nice 35" Striper, fresh in
from the ocean, by the HI Buoy! Looks like the BIG ONES
are arriving. Check back tomorrow!
Monday,
October 25 & Wednesday October 27
Two
days on the Patuxent River yielded two fish dinners. I
guess that's better than nothing! See Fishing reports
2004 for details of this and an up-to-date report on the BIG
ONES. (Hint: a
50" fish is involved in the report!)
GOOD
NEWS! Our friend and fishing buddy, John Fuchs, is doing
well
at St. Mary's hospital after five hours of back surgery on
Monday. I spoke to him today and he is understandably
feeling rough, but may be out of the hospital as soon as
Friday. We sure need him back fishing as soon as
possible to show us how to catch-em! He always
does.
Sunday,
October 24
Bob
Lerner and I trolled with 9 rods and 15 lures looking for the
BIG ONES today and never even had a pull-down or saw any other
boat catch a fish. But, it sure looked like a lot of
nice marks on the fish-finder. We trolled through birds over
lots of bait, but no fish there either. No
Gannets! Maybe next week!
Friday,
October 22
Up
at 5 a.m., but the wind chimes were clanging their ominous
tunes. I
was the first to arrive down at St. Jerome's Creek, and
Captain Orem greeted me where we park our cars. That
only meant one thing. No fishing today! So, back
to bed at 7:30 for an extra hour's sleep and now I may go
out Sunday. Lots of luck to the MSSA fishing tournament
participants tomorrow with the two foot waves! See why I
don't enter those things anymore. At the MSSA meeting I
attended last night the fishing reports were very bleak.
Nothing but an occasional small fish, if any. It's about
time though and somebody has to be the one to put two lights
in the bell tower and shout, "The big ones are
coming! The big ones are coming." Let
me know please!
Wednesday,
October 20
Drizzle
and small craft warnings caused Orem to delay today's fishing
until this Friday -- if that's any better. Check back
and see.
Wednesday,
October 13
A
great sunrise when we went out at 6:30. After trolling
north of Point No Point light for a couple of hours and only
getting throwbacks, we went south and did a bit better.
Check out Fishing reports 2004 to see how much better!
Thursday,
Friday, and Sunday, Oct. 6-10
No
day was worth it's own paragraph. Suffice to say that
trolling for a few hours in the Bay and Patuxent River was
next to zilch, with one 16" Striper. Bottom fishing
in the River will still get Perch and Spot, and I have heard
that there are Trout of keeper size, but you can't prove it by
me. You can jig stingsilvers to your heart's content at
the Rip and have fun hooking lots of mini-Rock, but if you get
a keeper in every 50, you are doing well! I'm having
trouble losing tails on sassy shads, so I guess the Blues have
headed south. I fish with Orem Wednesday, and if nothing
here on Thursday morning, you know we struck out too.
Off to Ohio for a few days, but plan to fish with Orem on the
20th too. Let's hope things improve. Tim Sartori
got a 27" Striper in the Potomac, but that was his total
catch in 15 hours of trolling over the weekend.
Sunday,
October 3, 2004
Today
Richard Everson and I went out and drift fished at the same
places Woody and I did yesterday. The wind caused us to
drift at one to one and a half miles per hour, but we did
about the same. Richard took home over 40 small filets,
but today they were 2 to 1 Spot over Perch, which is just the
opposite what they were yesterday. I probably won't fish
again until next weekend. Since I was taught that,
"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at
all!", I will not comment on the Redskins!
Saturday,
October 2, 2004
Woody
is having a family fish fry and needed a few more fish to make
it a success. What, where and how on Fishing 2004.
Go look!
Friday,
October 1, 2004
Jim
Pennington was the hero today by catching this nice fat
28" Striper. I wish the rest of us had decent fish
to bring home, but Bill Delashmutt's 22" one was the only
other keeper. Details at Fishing Reports 2004.
Myrtle
Point hit by major tornado on September 28th!
The picture on the
left was taken earlier this year.
The one on the right is after last Tuesday's tornado. Hundreds
of old oaks and other trees were decimated by the high
winds. Trees were blown over and uprooted on the whole
southwestern area of Myrtle Point.
Friday
& Saturday,
September 24 & 25, 2004
Woody
and I went out Friday afternoon and cast to breaking fish and
trolled out by the PR buoy. Lots of undersize Stripers
and some decent Blues. Richard Everson, his daughter's fiancé,
Mike, and I caught six species of fish while fishing by five
different methods in five different places. (And, used a
lot more than five gallons of gas!) To see what, how and
where see fishing reports 2004.
Wednesday,
September 22, 2004
Not
a cloud in the night sky or breath of breeze when we left the
dock at 6:00 a.m. Was this conducive to catching
fish? Check out Fishing Reports 2004. (Some new strange
and funny stuff there too!)
Tuesday,
September 21, 2004
I
snuck out by myself late this afternoon and trolled from the
PR to the HI and back with no results until I was pulling in
my lines and got a decent Bluefish. I then joined the
5:45 crowd at the Rip at Cedar point and cast to breaking
fish. I got about a half dozen 14-16" Stripers and
three nice Blues in about 20 minutes. Everyone was being
gentlemanly about jockeying for position to cast, and then
this jerk who runs the charter boat RUTH ANN came along
and went back and forth trolling right through the middle of
the breaking fish at about 5 mph. It was very tempting
to run over his lines. Be sure to be careful of him and
never book him for a charter.
Monday,
September 20, 2004
Tried
the Patuxent late this afternoon. Got four little
9" Stripers up near Sotterley and hooked up with two
Blues just north of Broomes Island and landed one of
them. It became crab bait! I am fishing spoons and
small Storm lures with a stinger hook. That's what got
the Bluefish. I'll be out with Orem on Wednesday and the
weather looks good this week. Check back and see what the
"pro" finds.
Friday,
September 17, 2004
My
neighbor, Jack Snyder, and I went out for a couple of hours
out by PR, HI and #74. We only had 7 hookups, landed
only two and one of the ones that jumped at the boat was a
small Striper.
Wednesday,
September 15, 2004
Up
at 4:30, breakfast, make sandwich, drive in rain and gloom of
night to Ridge and the Mary A. Arrive at 5:50 for
6:00 a.m. departure. NOT! The wind was blowing at 15-20 with
the wet flags standing out straight. Orem
cancelled. So, back in the car, pick up 3 newspapers,
back to bed and wake up wondering if I just dreamt about my
early morning adventure.
Tuesday,
September 14, 2004
Went
over to Solomon's for gas and couldn't resist trolling around
near Drum Point afterwards. It was too rough to go out
any further. In a little over an hour I picked up a half
dozen small Blues. I dropped them off at the Snyder's so
Jack can smoke them. I picked up some of the smoked
Blues that Phil did last weekend. Yummy! Out with
Orem tomorrow.
Saturday,
September 11, 2004
Phil
Shafer needed about a dozen more Blues so he would have a good
batch to filet and smoke. He, Woody and I went out this
morning. Were we successful? If so, where did we
find them? Fishing Reports 2004 has the answers.
Friday,
September 10, 2004
Woody
and I went out late this afternoon, and even if we didn't
catch fish, this sunset was worth the trip. But we did
catch a few. See Fishing Reports 2004 to see what, where and how!
Tuesday,
September 7, 2004
Since
the weather site said there were 2 foot waves, but my flag was
completely limp, I went out by myself at 5:00 this
afternoon. I dropped five trolling lines in the water at
5:20 just outside the PR buoy and headed for the HI. In
about 10 minutes the action started and, to my surprise, I
pulled in a nice 19" Striper. After that it was all
Bluefish. I landed 6, with a couple being pretty nice,
and a couple got away. By 6:20 I was worn out pulling
fish -- and working on one horrendous tangle -- so I pulled up
lines and came home. Hardly a ripple on the water today,
but we have cancelled our trip with Orem tomorrow. Heavy
rain and 15 to 25 mph winds predicted. I get to sleep
in! Yea!!! Check back as soon as the wind and rain
calm down.
Thursday,
September 2, 2004
I
had two great women and a really nice guy (even though he is
with the EPA) on the boat today and in spite of bumpy seas we
nailed the Bluefish big time! See how good looking the
fish and women are (not necessarily in that order) at Fishing
Reports 2004.
Wednesday,
September 1, 2004
Four
of us fished with Orem Hammett today on the Mary A, and
it took us a while to find them. But, we did! See
Fishing Reports to see what we got.
Monday,
August 30, 2004
Now,
wouldn't you think the fish would be happy to be caught by
three terrific kids like Tyler, Jordan and Cameron Kaihara?
And then again, maybe they wouldn't! See Fishing Reports
2004 to get the answer.
Sunday,
August 29, 2004
Richard
Everson, his future son-in-law Mike and I went to the same
spot we were at on Friday (see below) with about the same
results. But, Richard ended the morning with a really
nice 22" Striper who bit a piece of peeler on a bottom
rig out about 40 to 45 feet. See Fishing Reports 2004
for a picture and more details.
Friday,
August 27, 2004
I
took John Fuchs and Woody Wheeler out today, and John showed
us his favorite spot right north of Green Buoys #9 & #11
in about 30-35 feet of water. We caught over 50 fish of
various species and sizes. See the final count and what
we used at Fishing Reports 2004.
See
a new "Curmudgeon Vents" on re-making
The Wizard of Oz
Wednesday,
August 25, 2004
Looky!
Looky! Spanish Mackerel for dinner tonight. Caught
these, plus Stripers and Blues, trolling with Orem
today. Where and how? Go to the usual place!
Monday,
August 23, 2004
Woody
and I went out at 9:00 a.m. this morning and were back at 4:00
this afternoon. We had a nice seven hour boat ride,
caught a few fish, but lost a couple big ones. See where
at Fishing Reports 2004.
Sunday,
August 22, 2004
So,
you think chumming is the answer? See Fishing Reports
2004 to see what my next-door neighbor, Marty Stuble, thinks!
Friday,
August 20, 2004
It
took me almost two weeks, but I finally went fishing again for
about 90 minutes yesterday. I stopped in at the Tackle
Box and Ken Lamb said that there were Stripers and Blues
showing up every afternoon between the Three-legged and green
#5 at the mouth of the Patuxent, so I gave it a try.
Were they there and did I catch any? See Fishing Reports
2004.
REDSKIN
TICKETS
Special
deal on pre-season games
The
tickets to the regular season games have been sold!
However, I still have the tickets for the Falcons game on
September 3. Two tickets and Parking pass cost me
$153. But, I will sell for $100. Call
me at 301-863-7419 if you are interested! (See Michael Vick
of the Falcons and find out who has won the Redskin quarterback
slot! Call now!)
Sunday,
August 8, 2004
Woody
Wheeler and I went out at 8:30 this morning and ran into so
much fun catching fish that we didn't get home until
4:00. See Fishing Reports 2004 to see where and what!
Wednesday,
August 4, 2004
Happy
Days are here again! Well, at least for one day
anyway. See where we finally caught some fish at Fishing
Reports 2004!
Friday,
July 30, 2004
MYSTERY
SOLVED!
To find
out what that strange fish was that Dick Schmachtenberg caught
yesterday, take a look at Fishing Reports 2004! (It's
neat!)
Thursday,
July 29, 2004
Six
fishermen went out with Orem to find Trout yesterday. If
you want another sad fishing story, check out Fishing
Reports 2004!
Tuesday,
July 27, 2004
I'll
be fishing with Orem tomorrow, but look at this "tale of
woe" from Ed Dorsch up in White Marsh, Maryland:
"I took my boat to Ocean City for
flounder all last week...actually fished Monday, Tuesday and
Friday. Caught 143 flounder total without a keeper...must
be some kind of a record for futility.
I usually
fish the Upper Bay (above the Bay Bridges) so its nice read
about your excursions where there are fish, rather than what
we've had up here over the past couple of seasons. Keep up the reports and the good
stories!! I can relate to more than a few (especially when
they include 'no fish ')."
Saturday,
July 24, 2004
Sam Stuber
shows his winning fish
in the MSSA Drift Fishing Contest.
See
Fishing Reports 2004
Friday,
July 23, 2004
Tomorrow
is the MSSA Drift Fishing Contest. I hope they do better
than I did today. In two-and-a-half hours of fishing I
was able to get one nice sized Croaker, a Toadfish and another
good hit that got away. Maybe tomorrow they will
bite. Check back and see.
Tuesday,
July 20, 2004
See
Fishing Reports 2004
Sunday,
July 18, 2004
Went
back to the same place I was on Friday with almost exactly the
same results! Got two Perch, five Spot, with one huge
one, and a nice 16" Croaker. Now, if they stay
until Tuesday, Ryan Philips (5) should have a good time!
Check Tuesday afternoon and see if he did.
Friday,
July 16, 2004
After
three days up in Alexandria, we were welcomed back yesterday
to a house that had been through the 75 mph winds and hail of
a mini-tornado. We had no power. But, we lucked
out! Only a few plants were messed up, no major damage,
and we got our power back within a couple of hours. And,
believe it or not, I bottom fished in the Patuxent for an hour
this afternoon with some success. See Fishing Reports
2004.
Sunday,
July 11, 2004
Crapola!
I'm gonna take a fishing vacation -- for a few days
anyway. This is too frustrating to go out and try three
different kinds of fishing for five hours and come home with
only one lousy 21" Rockfish. Details at Fishing
2004.
Friday,
July 9, 2004
Well,
what do you know? Woody got himself a nice 25"
Rockfish this morning. Marty's was a bit smaller
-- as a matter of fact, as small as you can get and still
keep! Mine was even smaller --- so we didn't! See
Fishing Reports 2004 for some more details!
Wednesday,
July 7, 2004
Look
how calm it was when we went out at 5:45 this morning. (We
missed
our
5:30 departure because
the boat's batteries were dead!)
But, we got to the fish in time to see them breaking the
surface. What did we get? See Fishing Reports
2004.
Tuesday,
July 6, 2004
My
friend Woody Wheeler says you never catch fish on a sunny day
after a thunderstorm and cold front the day before.
Today Bob Lerner and I proved he is right! See Fishing
Reports 2004.
Saturday,
July 3, 2004
I've
now fished four days in a row. Got skunked fishing for
Flounder, but had better luck with the Stripers. Here's
the box score:
9 hours of trolling --- 32 Stripers
caught --- 18 were keepers --- 13 were kept --- 10 tails
missing from lures --- only 1 fish was ugly with sores --- 6
other fishermen (not including me) went home with their
limit --- one Bluefish caught --- breaking fish
seen two of the four days
Not too bad for this time of year! Today's
report at Fishing 2004. I think
I'm fished out for a few days, but you never know!
Friday,
July 2, 2004
Woody's
son-in-law Scott and his brother Paul went out with me
today. Our "FPH" was under one, but we had a
good time anyway. See Fishing Reports 2004 for story and
picture. (Oh,
in case you didn't know, "FPH" is Fish-Per-Hour.)
Thursday,
July 1, 2004
Scott
and Jim went with me today and we found breaking fish.
That's the good news. There was bad news too! See
Fishing 2004!
Wednesday,
June 30, 2004
Look
what I got today!
(And, I
threw 5 other KEEPERS back!)
REALLY,
TRULY
(See
Fishing Reports 2004)
Sunday,
June 27, 2004
A
much better day today. Came in earlier than planned
because we limited out on Rockfish. See how we did it at
Fishing Reports 2004.
Saturday,
June 26, 2004
OK!
OK! I'll admit it! I went out alone for an hour and a
half of bottom fishing both yesterday and today and didn't
have so much as a bite either time. And, I didn't have
any bananas on board either. Oh, I did catch a couple
crabs (in a very sensual situation) when I brought up a branch
I had snagged while fishing, and I did catch a Perch in my
crab trap! So, now if I can start catching crabs in the
crab traps and fish on the hooks, I'll feel a lot better about
it!
Wednesday,
June 23, 2004
Everyone
went home with a Striper. Not bad, but not great!
Details at Fishing Reports 2004. May not fish
again until Sunday!
Tuesday,
June 22, 2004
Small
Craft Warnings, but it should be much calmer by 5:30 a.m.
tomorrow when we leave the pier with Orem down at St.
Leonard's Creek. Bob Lerner reports he chummed yesterday
south of Deale but within sight of the nuclear power
plant. They caught over 50 fish and were able to keep
13. I still much prefer trolling to tossing stinky
stuff! Check back tomorrow afternoon and see how we did.
Monday,
June 21, 2004
A
much better day fishing today. Went by myself. See
Fishing Reports 2004!
Sunday,
June 20, 2004
Here is one of my
favorite pictures of my Dad making a point to his friend, but
political opponent, President Lyndon Johnson. Those were
the days when politics were more civilized than they are
today. Johnson signed, "Frank, you are absolutely
correct!"
HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!
Saturday,
June 19, 2004
"A picture is
worth 1,000 words!"
(See
Fishing Reports 2004 for the sad details.)
Friday,
June 18, 2004
Orem
got some 30" Stripers on Wednesday and Bruno Vasta tells
me he's been getting some that big too. So tomorrow I'll
be out there to find out for myself. We may go for some
Flounder too. Check on Saturday evening to see what we
do.
Tuesday,
June 15, 2004
No
fishing for a few days. Garnett and I are up in
Alexandria to celebrate our 49th Wedding Anniversary. We
were married two days
after I graduated and became an Ensign in the Navy. Two
weeks later I shipped out for a six week cruise to Montreal
and Havana. My Dad was a Member of Congress, but, unlike
some who hold high office, he had ethics and would not do a
thing to get me an office job at the Pentagon. It was
not appreciated then, but is now. I'll be fishing again
on Thursday or Friday. I don't think we've changed much at
all!
Sunday,
June 13, 2004
Dick
Schmachtenberg, Richard Everson and I went after Flounder
today. We didn't get skunked, but came about as close as
you can get! See Fishing Reports 2004.
Friday,
June 11, 2004
No
fishing Friday in the wind and rain, and it looks like
Saturday might be bad too. Sunday for sure. I hope
the fish wait for us!
Wednesday, June
9, 2004
We
caught 25 Stripers on the "MARY A" today.
How, where and how many we kept can be found at "Fishing Reports 2004."
Monday
& Tuesday, June 7 & 8, 2004
JOBONOGO!
FISHING TOMORROW (BRIGHT & EARLY) WITH OREM.
Sunday, June 6, 2004
It
took catching 20 Stripers to get six keepers, but we did
it! Photo and story at "Fishing Reports 2004."
Friday
& Saturday, June 4 & 5, 2004
JOBONOGO!
PROBABLY FISHING SUNDAY & MAYBE MONDAY- CHECK BACK!
I
was at Tackle Box yesterday and Ken Lamb showed me a photo of
two huge Stripers caught near #72 just the day before.
So, if you get lucky, there are still some hanging
around. I think you are wasting your time targeting them
though. He says Croaker are at First and Second
Beach. I may try tomorrow if this wind dies down.
Thursday,
June 3, 2004
Went
out by myself and caught five Stripers today! Well, I
landed four, threw back three and brought one home. See
fishing 2004!
Monday,
May 31, 2004
Fishing
cancelled -bad weather!
Sunday,
May 30, 2004
Richard and Mike show
off 5/6 of our limit.
(I gave one away to a
neighbor as we came in.)
If
you want to know how and where we got them, go to
"Fishing Reports 2004." We'll try again
tomorrow. Check back.
Thursday.
Friday
& Saturday, May 27, 28 & 29, 2004
JOBONOGO!
FISHING SUNDAY AND MAYBE MONDAY -- CHECK BACK!
Wednesday,
May 26, 2004
Finally,
fish for dinner! And, it's Striped Bass, which is even
better. See Fishing Reports 2004 for the details.
Monday
& Tuesday, May 24 & 25, 2004
JOBONOGO!
OUT WEDNESDAY WITH OREM -- CHECK BACK!
Sunday,
May 23, 2004
WE
SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED!
After
Thursday's good Croaker catch, I figured Woody Wheeler,
Richard Everson and I would really hit'em hard this morning!
See Fishing Reports 2004 for miserable details.
Friday
& Saturday, May 21 & 22, 2004
JOBONOGO!
SUNDAY CROAKER FISHING -- SO CHECK!
Thursday,
May 20, 2004
We
had a plan when we went out today, we followed it, and the two
fisherpersons went home happy and with fish for dinner.
Not Stripers though! See Fishing Reports 2004 for
details.
Wednesday,
May 19, 2004
See Fishing
Reports 2004 for the bad news.
Tuesday,
May 18, 2004
Monday,
May 17, 2004
I
only went out for an hour today, and there were baitfish
breaking all over the mirror-like surface. Not a
touch! A true skunk. But, my friend Bill Heaton
did OK in the MSSA tournament on Friday and Saturday while I
was catching only the small ones. See his story on
Fishing 2004. Out with Orem on Wednesday which will
confirm that the Spring Season is over if we do poorly!
Sunday,
May 16, 2004
No
fishing today. But, yesterday anyone who was
fishing couldn't miss the luxury mega-yacht that went up the
Bay. It was the Blue Moon.
It is 165 feet, but I could not find who owns it. Here
are a couple of pictures of it in case you missed it.
Saturday,
May 15, 2004
Today
Tom
Phillips, Woody and I went out for almost 6 hours and landed
one 23" fish all day. Heard of others caught, but
mostly heard either lousy reports or nothing at all, which is really
bad. So, don't bother going to "Fishing 2004"
because fishing, for the time being, officially stinks.
Friday,
May 14, 2004
The
Skunks are coming!
The Skunks are coming!
THEY'RE HERE!!!
Took
Beth Phillips and Lynn Rosseth out today and we DID catch
three fish. Unfortunately, we threw back three fish too.
See 2004!
Thursday,
May 13, 2004
I
was in the city last night and today, so I couldn't
fish. In ca
se
you didn't know it, Garnett and I have been on a modified
South Beach Diet since February. Garnett has lost almost
30 pounds and I dropped over twenty. It really
works! Just so you know why I needed to lose weight, I
submit this picture before I went on the diet. Oh, I've
cut my beard and lost some hair since this was taken!!!
Wednesday,
May 12, 2004
Orem
postponed today's trip until Friday. The bad news is
that I can't go Friday. The double-good news is that: a}
I don't have to get up at 4:20 a.m., and b} the reason I can't
go on Friday is that two lovely ladies with whom I used to work are
going fishing with me. I did get a fish today though.
See "Fishing
Reports 2004" for
the details.
Tuesday,
May 11, 2004
We
limited out today. Unfortunately, that was only two
fish, and we had two good hits that got away! See "Fishing
Reports 2004."
Monday,
May 10, 2004
It
took
Gary Kaihara and Bob Lerner almost two hours to get their
fish. I never got mine! See "Fishing
Reports 2004."
Sunday,
May 9, 2004
What
a difference a day makes! We had our two fish in about a
half hour today. Take a look at "Fishing
Reports 2004."
Saturday,
May 8, 2004
Dave Jones
got this beauty in the last of the 9th with two men out!
For details take a look at
"Fishing
Reports 2004"
Thursday,
May 6, 2004
Went
out for a couple of hours with Woody Wheeler this
afternoon. Same old, same old! See
"Fishing
Reports 2004" for
details.
Wednesday,
Cinco de Mayo, 2004
Orem got me the "BIG ONE"
See
"Fishing
Reports 2004" for
details.
Tuesday,
May 4, 2004
7:45
Left the dock
8:30 Lines in the water
9:00 Limited-out (3)
9:15 Started home
9:59 At the dock
See
"Fishing
Reports 2004" for
details.
Monday,
May 3, 2004
Wind,
rain and 3 footers necessitated the cancellation of today's
trip with Gary Kaihara, but he'll be back next Monday to get
even a bigger one -- we hope! Here is the lure that has
caught fish both times I've used it and caught BOTH fish we
landed yesterday. Boater's World carries
"Charlie," but NOT this 8" size for
trolling. You can send away for them, but they are
$12.99 each plus shipping. E-mail me if interested. I'll
sure be using it again!
Charlie Sr. 8"
Freshwater / Saltwater, Length 8" Weight 4.2oz,
The BIGGER cousin of the legendary Charlie Suspending Swimbait!
Soft body with PaddleTail, Hard inner shell with metal balls
for casting distance, swimming action, and fish attracting
sounds. Dual treble hooks.
Sunday,
May 2, 2004
Well,
Marty Stuble and I got off to a really bad start and almost
didn't limit-out, but we were saved at the last minute. See
"Fishing
Reports 2004."
Saturday,
May Day -- May Day!
Marty
Stuble nailed a 44 incher this morning and Jerry Gaff reports
on a 42 incher he got. Picture and stories at "Fishing
Reports 2004." So
now I guess I better go out and try to get mine over 40
inches.
Thursday,
April 29, 2004
Dick
Schmachtenberg informs me that (without me as a
"blocker") the crew on Orem Hammett's boat got all
their fish yesterday before 8 a.m. Check out "Fishing
Reports 2004" for
other details and a look at last Wednesday's (4/21) catch.
Wednesday,
April 28, 2004
Megabites
is sitting at my dock with four hours of break-in on the new
engine already and running perfectly. Jim Frank did a
great job and she should be completely in shape and ready to
fish by Sunday or Monday at the latest. So, Gary, Bob,
Gene, Dick, Jean, Mindy, Renee, John, Beth, Lynn and all
those who have won fishing trips at raffles --- come on
down. The fish are biting! Here's what happened:
Megabites was loaded from
Jim's yard about 11:30 this morning; seen headed off to the
ramp under the Rt #4 bridge; turned the corner at Rt #4 &
235; sat high on top of the bridge; and, now is safe at home
with 30 more horsepower ready to go catch some fish!
Tuesday,
April 27, 2004
All
the electronics, cushions, etc. are back on the boat, and the
boat-mover guy should be scheduled for tomorrow.
I hope! Look at "Fishing
Reports 2004" and
see the nice fat fish Bill Heaton caught on Sunday.
Check here tomorrow and find out if I have a boat yet.
Saturday,
April 24, 2004
Limited
out with Marty this morning. Details at "Fishing
Reports 2004."
Friday,
April 23, 2004
I
was up in town for a couple of days, so I didn't fish, but the
guys who did have been hitting them big-time. See "Fishing
Reports 2004."
Wednesday,
April 21, 2004
All
I have time to tell you (until Saturday) is that 7 of us
fished with Orem and 5 of us got fish. Caught one early,
then over a two hour wait, then 4 in about a half hour.
They feed and then stop. I won't say who got the biggest
and smallest of the fish from 31" to 35" because it
would look like I'm bragging and make Jim Pennington feel
badly!
Tuesday,
April 20, 2004
I'm
not fishing today, but go to "Fishing Reports 2004"
and see what Bill "Bucktail" Heaton did the
first two days of the season. Terrific!
Monday,
April 19, 2004
Yea! I got my first fish of the season with Orem today.
See the strange details at "Fishing
Reports 2004"
Sunday,
April 18, 2004
Marty Stuble
got another one today while I sat
on the dock! See "Fishing
Reports 2004"
Saturday,
April 17, 2004
Opening
Day Report
See "Fishing
Reports 2004"
Monday,
April 12, 2004
"Yep
Sonney, that's a keeper! But, toss her
back."
Boy,
did I get a lesson today. I had the rare privilege of
going out with the top Captain and Mate on the Bay!
Sonney Forrest, Bill Schooley and I headed out at 7:30 this
morning, took some time to stretch lines when we put them out,
and when we pulled them up at 10:30, we had caught a half
dozen, let a couple away and a "Bubba" had broken
the 80# test line on a lure on a dummy line. Not
bad! I'm off to town, but will have more details here on
Thursday or Friday. Needless to say --- they are definitely
out there waiting for us!
Saturday,
April 10, 2004
THEY'RE
HERE!
THEY'RE HERE!
2003 photo of "Mary A" crew
u aSEE
"FISHING REPORTS 2004"
Friday,
April 9, 2004
(See
Susquehanna Flats report in left column)
A
SAD NOTICE
It is my
unpleasant duty to advise you that Megabites
will
NOT
be ready on April 17th for opening day. The new engine
is now scheduled to go in the boat next week. Then,
there must be
several days dedicated to "breaking in" the engine
before it can be used for extensive trolling at 3 mph.
Jim and I have agreed that we want to get it "right"
instead of "fast". My apologies to those who
were scheduled to fish with me. I will do all I can to
make it up to you in both fishing days and Trophy
Stripers! I will be fishing with Marty Stuble on the
17th and getting fishing reports from other boats. So check back here for the latest info every couple of
days from 4/17/04 to 12/15/04! Sorry!
Monday,
April 5, 2004
I
brought back some kind of virus from Williamsburg, so have
been laying low. Got the 17' Carolina Skiff back on
Saturday, thanks to Dick Schmachtenberg's help, but the motor
still needs a little tweaking before I'd be comfortable taking
it out. Megabites is another story. Through no fault of Jim
Frank, we've had to hold up putting the new engine in.
However, this should be the week, and by opening day on the
17th, she should be ready to catch lots of fish.
Speaking of catching fish, I got this from my friend Clay
Langston today.
"Caught my first fish of the year. 16 inch
rock in about 35 feet of water off the beach on Saturday
night. He hit right after dark on bloodworm.
Bloodworms cost me my left testicle at Tackle Box. Also, spoke
to my neighbor Sunday to brag and he said that earlier that
morning, he was at Rod & Reel in Dameron and some Koreans
who had fished at Point Lookout all night had a cooler full of
nice croaker."
Friday,
April 2, 2004
Just
got back from a short trip down to Williamsburg. While
in the area we drove over to the shore of the Chesapeake just
north of Hampton Roads. Boy, did Isabel ever hit there,
and they have just started to recover. Every front yard
has a pile of crap in it that used to be parts of a home and
furnishings. What they are doing to many of the houses
is lifting them off the foundations, raising them 10 to 15
feet off the ground and then putting cinder block under
them. Here is a picture of one of the houses being
lifted. The other picture is of the fancy Boat Pier at
Kingsmill near Busch Gardens, which they have not even started
to repair. We got off easily compared to down
there. There were acres of clear land where there used
to be woods full of old oaks. We don't need another
Isabel this year!
Saturday,
March 27, 2004
Finally,
some fishing news.
I
was over at the Fishing Fair this morning and Capt. Bob Reed
said he was out in Virginia waters Hook and Lining last
Wednesday and they got over 350 pounds of Stripers. Big
ones! So, my friends, they are on their way and should
be ready for us on April 17th, weather permitting. I'll
be up at the Susquehanna Flats fishing with my friend Bob
Lerner and Brady Bounds on Thursday, April 8th. Check
back on the 9th to see if we finally made it on to the water,
and, if so, how we did. Megabites had
a lot of problems once Jim Frank got the engine out, and they
are a lot easier to remedy before the new engine goes
in. Jim has them pretty well solved and we may have a
boat in the water about this time next week or shortly
thereafter. The dock looks lonely without any boats
there, but should have both back and in top shape for the
season soon. I hope! I need to use all that
fishing stuff I bought this morning!
Wednesday,
March 24, 2004
Sunday,
March 21, 2004
Here
are some other things I made at pottery this Winter. More (and
better) later. If you've never "thrown" a pot
--do it! Not too hard, but very satisfying. By the
way, fishing starts four weeks from yesterday! Can't
wait!
Thursday,
March 18, 2004
OK, they looked
awful, but they won 86-83!
Monday,
March 15, 2004
Clay
Langston caught these minnows yesterday down by his house just
South of the Base. A good sign of Spring!
Sunday,
March 14, 2004
Jim
Frank got the engine out of Megabites
last week, and here's the mess that's left inside the
engine box. It had a couple of leaks we never knew
about!
Today
he is cleaning this mess and then he has to do a couple of
modifications to get this new engine to conform with the old
out-drive. This means another few days until the shiny
new engine gets installed in the pristine clean engine
box. Still hoping for an April Fool launch. I
guess that's appropriate! The Carolina Skiff should be
back sometime this week, so with light breezes, some fishing
is not far off.
Sunday,
March 7, 2004
Thursday,
March 4, 2004
There
is a terrific young (19) female singer I found out
about. Her name is Nellie McKay and her web site is www.nelliemckay.com
. What else? Go there and click on
"News", then scroll down to "Tell a
Friend" (or something like that) and click on "The
Dog Song". It takes a minute or so to download, but
is worth it. She writes all her songs, plays the piano
and does everything from rap to Cole Porter standards.
She will be on Regis and Kelly tomorrow morning (Friday 3/5)
at 9:00 a.m. Only good reason to watch that show, but
take a look. She's a fantastic new star.
Wednesday,
November 10
We
caught them near #70 & #72 in 55 to 75 feet of water on white and chartreuse
bucktails behind umbrellas and on a white MOJO rig. We lost the
first fish on at 7:15, and it was a really big one. Everyone got
to take home a big fish and they bit better later in the day with an
ebb tide. Orem says this has been the case all year. We quit
about noon.
1st
row: Sam 42"+, Marv 40"+, Jim 38"
2nd row: Sam's 37", Marv's 36", Ken Ranta's 33"
3rd row: (The
good looking guys) Joe
27", Frank 23"
Monday,
Oct 25 & Wednesday, Oct 27
Ok,
now that I have you excited about the BIG ONES, here's the
story. About a week ago the Charter boats caught a few up to
36", but they are not getting any this week. A 50"
fish was caught on 10/23. I saw a picture of it at the Tackle Box
today. I get my info there and from Woody, who I fished with
today, checks out the charters as they come in every day. I'll
let you know as soon as I hear that they are here in any
numbers. I fished for two hours on Monday and three today and
each day we caught one 19" keeper on the same lure -- a four
4" white shad umbrella with a 4" chartreuse Storm lure
attached. I heard through the grapevine that some unknown
fishermen caught lots and lots of Stripers in the river over the
weekend. I will not be fishing again until next Monday.
Wednesday,
October 13
There
were five of us fishing today and taking turns. When we got
south of the lighthouse we started catching again and each fish,
starting with a 14" one, was larger and larger until Dick
Schmachtenberg
finally got a 22 inch keeper. Then John Fuchs
landed a real nice 25" fish. I was after John and
broke the string of bigger and bigger fish with a puny 12"
one. We got a few more of these little ones until it was John's
turn again. Sure enough, he pulled in the day's winner which was
slightly over 28 inches. It had a state tag in it, so John will
win a hat too. But, that was it. Three keepers all
day. We figured that you have to catch at least five throw-backs
to get a keeper. Oh, we did pick up a couple of Blues and lost a
tail or to to some others. I'll be back next week!
Saturday,
October 2
Woody's
grandson couldn't come with us today, so just the two of us left at
8:00 a.m. and just went out to "Hawk's Nest" right out in
the Patuxent directly out from Clarke's landing. Here, in 30
feet of water we used bloodworms and some crab to catch a dozen really
nice big Perch and eight small Spot. Also pulled up the obligatory
Bardog and a nice 10" Black Bass and a small Trout. These
guys went back. We were back shortly after 11:00. I may go out again
tomorrow with Richard Everson if weather is OK.
Friday,
October 1
Jeanne
didn't let us fish on Wednesday, so we went out today. Left the
dock at 6:00 and by 7:15 Bill had caught his 22" fish. It
was 3 hours before Jim got the 28" one. We got two other
throwbacks and a couple little Blues, but 6 fish total for 6 fishermen
in 5 hours isn't too great. The problem was that just after we
located the fish, the Navy, for the second week in a row, kicked us
out of the area. So, we can't blame Orem. He caught
several decent Stripers in this area last week and one was 35"
and a couple others over 30". We were fishing Pet #17
spoons behind small umbrellas trimmed with silver or John Teunnisen's
little white strips of aluminum with a silver sparkle in the
middle. I'll be out tomorrow for a short time with Woody, his
son-in-law Paul and his 3 year old grandson, who is already an avid
fisherman. Check back for pictures.
Saturday,
September 25
We
cast and jigged at the Rip, and both methods were successful for small
Stripers only. We then trolled below the Targets where Orem
found them on Wednesday and picked up a decent Blue or two. We
trolled again right next to the Targets and picked up another
Blue. Then, east to 72B buoy where we drifted minnows and squid
for flounder and caught several of the little ones. We then
bottom fished for a while and got tiny Flounder, a couple Spot a
small Black Bass and a neat Robin fish with huge
"wings". Then up to #76 where we drifted again with
more small Flounder and a Blue. So, in 6 hours we covered a lot
of territory with catches everywhere, but nothing to get real excited
about. Beats being skunked! I'm not planning to fish
again until next Wednesday, if Jeanne lets me!
Wednesday,
September 23
We
marked some Trout on the way out, but jigged to no avail. Then
we trolled up a 17 3/4" Striper right by Point-No-Point
Lighthouse, but others were not too anxious to bite. Orem has a
close connection with the Navy Range Boats and one of them called him
to let him know there were breaking fish just a mile or two north of
us. We found several piles of them, and chased them for a while
and got a bunch of undersized Stripers and a half dozen decent
Blues. Then Orem went south to look for Trout again. But,
the Navy had some kind of hush-hush type project going on right where
the Trout would be and told us to keep a half mile from it. So,
we trolled a bit more and came home. All I know is that I caught
about half as many fish by myself yesterday in 90 minutes as six of us
did today in 5 hours. Nice day for a boat ride though.
With this great weather, I'll be going out again soon, so check back.
Saturday,
September 11
Left
the dock at 7:30 and stopped by the Rip for a few minutes to join the
fleet chasing a bunch of breaking Blues. No hits and very
frustrating! I thought the fish may still be down by #72B, where
we got them a week ago Thursday. Wrong! So, we trolled
back up to HI Buoy and wasted about an hour and a half in this
process. But, when we approached HI we had our first hit and in
the next hour and a half we got Phil his dozen Blues plus one.
We were back at the dock before noon. Out at HI we were in the
middle of two Coast Guard boats, three ocean going tugs and a Pilot
Boat meeting a Liquid Natural Gas tanker coming in from Saudi
Arabia. Quite a production, but I didn't take my camera with
me. Sorry! Maybe next time. I'm fishing with Orem
next Wednesday if Ivan stays south, and may be out before that, so
check back.
Friday,
September 10
We
trolled around the HI buoy with birds flying all over the place over
bait, but no breaking fish. We hooked up with a half dozen small
Blues and landed half of them. We gave this up after a couple of
hours and went in to the Cedar Point Rip where there were breaking
fish. We brought 3 more on board, and dropped off all 6 at Phil
Shafer's dock. I'll be going out with Phil tomorrow morning to
see if we can get a few more Blues for him to smoke. (I'll be at the Redskins
game Sunday.)
Thursday,
September 2
Chris, Amy &
Jean with the Catch!
We
didn't leave the dock until the civilized hour of 8:00 a.m. and found
nothing at the Cedar Point Rip, so I headed over to #72B right off of
Hooper Island Light. That was a good decision. We trolled
spoons back and forth right outside the buoy in 40 to 100 feet of
water and had consistent action for about three hours. We
probably hooked up with about 50 fish, but our bringing-on-board
batting average was probably down about .333, so we only brought home
16 fish. Most hit on spoons trolled deep behind a jingle bells
umbrella. Never had a Striper or Spanish. We all had a
great time and the filets will be soaking tonight and in Chris's
smoker tomorrow.
Wednesday,
September 1
We
left the dock at 6:00 a.m. and started searching for fish by going
north past Pt. No Pt. light and on up south of the Targets --
nothing! Then we crossed the Bay to buoy #72A and circled around
in that area. We stopped and jigged for possible Trout a couple
of times, but -- nothing! 
Headed
south on the Eastern shelf to #72, and guess what?
Nothing! So, about 10:00 a.m. we headed back to the Western side
and finally got a radio call that they were breaking just north of
us. We saw birds, headed to them and put out 7 lines. The
birds disappeared quickly, but in the next hour or so we were able to
get four keeper Stripers to 22" and about 8 or 9 nice
Blues. No sign of Mackerel. Fish dinners for all
tonight! I'm out again tomorrow on Megabites so check
back Thursday night. (I
won't be out on Friday or Saturday.)
Monday,
August 30
For
the third time in four days I went back to the same spot in the
Patuxent River with Gary Kaihara, his wife and three great kids.
But, unfortunately, the results were entirely different. Yes, we
caught a nice Croaker, a nice Spot, our quota of Toadfish, a little
Bluefish and a small Flounder, but that adds up to two keepers, not 40
or 50 like last Friday and yesterday. The wind made us drift
fast and it was hard to stay on one spot. So, they voted to do
some crabbing. We anchored at two places near Clarks Landing and
there were sufficient crabs to keep up everyone's interest, and Tyler
was happy as a clam fishing in 6 feet of water and pulling in 6"
Perch and Spot one after the other. So, even if the fishing
stunk, we all had a good time and that's what counts. I hope
Orem finds fish for us Wednesday. Check back and see.
Sunday,
August 29
We
got a 6:30 start today and it paid off with steady catching until
about 9:30. We got all 32 Spot (to 12"), 4 Blues, 2 Croaker
and the 22" Rockfish on
bloodworms and peeler crab, with the worms being the main choice of
the Spot and the other species preferring the crab. By the way,
a 12" Spot will earn you a Maryland Citation. We did catch
some other throwback Stripers, a small Flounder and lots of those ugly
Toads. I'll take Gary Kaihara and his gang to the same spot
tomorrow morning armed with a dozen of the Tackle Box's best jumbo
bloodworms. Check back and see how we do.
Friday,
August 27
After
dropping off two huge Croaker, 2 Spot and two Perch at the Snyder's,
Woody cleaned 20 big Spot, 15 real nice Perch, 5 Snapper Blues, a
couple of Croakers and one barely legal Trout. We threw back
lots of smaller Spot and Perch plus a half dozen or so little
Stripers, a Flounder and more huge Toadfish than I've seen
before. I've been using the $1 a piece huge bloodworms that you
get by the 1/2 dozen at the Tackle Box. You actually get more
baits than from a dozen regular ones that cost $8 or more. My
neighbor, Phil Shafer, dropped off a few peelers for me last night,
and they worked too. There also is a nice deep hole (40 to 50
feet) just north of the Navy recreation pier. If you
fish the edges of this, about 30 to 35 feet, there are some nice big
Spot around there. Call or e-mail me for more details.
Better get there before 7:00, because they tend to shut off at
9:00! I'm fishing with Richard Everson on Sunday and Gary
Kaihara, his wife and three rapidly growing kids on Monday, then out
with Orem next Wednesday, so there will be lots of news here if the
weather holds.
Wednesday,
August 25
Pulled
out at 5:45 this morning and went over to the Eastern side of the
Bay. Orem put out a half dozen Pet spoons (Sizes #15 & #17)
and trolled them on mono back at 100 and 150 feet. At 7:30 I
threw back a 16" Striper, then another smaller one came
aboard. Bill Hanford finally got our first fish in the box at
7:45 -- a 20" Striper. We moved South after an hour of no
action, saw breaking fish and were joined by about 5 other Charter
Boats and another half dozen private ones. When we finished at
11:30, we had 5 nice Spanish, three keeper Rock and about a dozen
Blues. One of the Blues was pretty good size for a change.
Sometimes we would go over breaking fish and not a hit. Other
times two or three rods would go down. A bunch of Blues got away
near the
boat. If you don't keep a tight line on them you can kiss them
goodbye! To find out exactly where we were, call me or
send me an e-mail! I stopped by The Tackle Box and one of the
guys there said that yesterday they loaded up on Blues and Spanish way
down at buoy #62. I'll be fishing the Patuxent on Friday, so check
back.
Monday,
August 23
We
passed up the charter boats that were bottom fishing at the mouth of
the river, and proceeded out towards Hooper Light to look for breaking
fish with birds over them. We trolled seven lines with mostly
spoons, but I trimmed a couple of small bucktails with the Josh's Pork
Rind that has a hook built in. We picked up a snapper Blue as we
approached 72A. I lost one Blue when it crossed another line
near the boat. We hung out near Hooper Light for about an hour
and caught about a half dozen more Blues, but only boated one
other. Two of the ones we lost were pretty big, but both bit 30#
test wire coated line in half and we lost them. Next time I'll
only fish 5 lines so there is not as much chance to
tangle these darn
Blues when they come in. We went over by the Targets looking for
breaking fish. There are Menhaden all over the middle of the
Bay, but no birds around and no breaking fish. We ended up up by
Yellow marker "D" bottom fishing for Spot. We put a
half dozen decent ones on the box, but they were not jumping in the
boat. We did catch a couple small Trout, which is a good sign --
I guess! That's about it. No big deal, but not skunked by a long
shot!
Sunday,
August 22
Some folks from work chartered a boat out of Durry's
to go chumming and
asked me to go along.
At 6:30 we left the pier and joined up with the chum fleet (20+ boats)
out on the Middle Grounds about 07:00 a.m.. We set up shop and
ground a bushel + of fresh chum into the water over the next 3 hours. Not
a hit.
I was able to observe the action on about 4 boats behind us and 4 in front of us, in the lineup.
Not a hit on those boats either. We picked up and headed back to Point No Point lighthouse and set up shop again,
and continued chumming right next to the lighthouse. Here we
managed to land a nice Blue and a 22" Rock and lost another Blue.
But that
was it
for the day. No skunk but fishing still sucks.
In
spite of this, I'm planning to go out on Monday or Tuesday and will
fish with Orem Hammett on Wednesday. So, check back and see if
things get better.
Friday,
August 20
I
left the dock at 5:00 p.m., when Ken Lamb said the fish would be
surfacing near the mouth of the Patuxent, and was on station by
5:20. I saw nothing happening, so put 4 rods over with an
assortment of lures and depths and started trolling. I went out
to and past the Three-legged buoy and my fish-finder alarm was telling
me that there were plenty of fish swimming under the boat, but I guess
it wasn't their dinner time yet. I tried speeds between 3 and
5.5 mph, and finally saw one rod acting suspicious, pulled it tin and
had a 10" Blue was hooked in the eye on a small spoon. I
guess he looked too closely at the bait. Well, my friends, that
was it. At 6:45 I pulled in lines, took another look around with
the binoculars and headed home with my 10" trophy and put it in a
crab pot as bait. Never saw a fish break the surface! I'll
try again this weekend and promise better results. Might even go
for a Flounder or two.
Sunday,
August 8
I
read in the weekend papers that there were fish up by the Power Plant,
so we headed there first. Cast some stuff at the warm water
outlet with no results, so we went further north to #77A and put out 6
trolling rods. No luck, but we saw fish on the bottom, so put
away trolling and tried some soft crab on bottom rigs. No luck
there either. Headed back to the Power Plant outlet and got some
small (10") Stripers and Woody got a nice big Perch with a bottom
rig. After a few more small Stripers we
headed towards deeper
water. There we saw birds over breaking fish, worked them for
about two hours with various rigs, and found that trolling spinning
rigs with spoons was most successful. We pulled in about 35 to
40 Stripers and one nice Blue. Problem was that the Stripers
only got up to 17", so none in the box. It was fun
though. This was straight out from the Power Plant in about 38
to 44 feet of water. They really stayed up for a long time and I
hope to go back, try them again and maybe find a big one or two in the
pile.
Wednesday,
August 4
Captain
Orem and four fishermen left the dock at 5:30 this morning and headed
directly for the Eastern side of the Bay. Bad decision! We
bottom fished for a couple of hours with only three small Flounder for
our efforts. We then trolled down by the chummers at #72 with
not a hit. Orem disgustedly came back across the Bay to the
Western side a mile or so below Point-No-Point light and we bottom
fished there. We immediately started getting some nice medium size
Croaker and some good Bluefish. After a couple of hours of
drifting, moving, jigging, moving, fishing with squid, shrimp and crab
we had about 25 Bluefish, 20 Croaker, one nice 18" Trout and I
even had to throw back a 17.5" Striped Bass. Nothing ever
broke the surface, except for a couple of Blues when we got into them,
and I did see one or two jumping Spanish Mackerel. So,
it's fresh Bluefish for dinner tonight and the neighbors have Croaker
or Bluefish too! Nice to be able to tell you good news for a
change.
Friday,
July 30
Here
it is --- A "Striped Burrfish"! Thanks to Scott
McGuire, who sent me pictures of some possibilities, and Clay
Langston, who nailed it -- right on! An article that
Clay also sent me says: "The
northern puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus, is one of two puffer or 'swell
fish' species that occur in the Chesapeake Bay. The other,
the Striped Burrfish, Chilomycterus
schoepfi,
resembles a toadfish with long spines. Puffers occur in warm coastal
waters throughout the world, and 12 species exist in North American
waters. Most puffers tend to grow to an adult length of only 20 inches."
I
wish we had been able to take a picture of this guy or even bring him
on board to measure, but no such luck. At least you'll
now know what you have if you ever see one of these. They say
they are not poisonous, like some puffers, but I think I'll pass on
eating one and just throw it back.
Wednesday,
July 28
Left
the dock at 5:30 this morning in search of the elusive Trout in the
Bay. The scope picked up a small pile of them and we jigged for
a while with no luck. Looked and looked and never saw them
again. Headed across the Bay, baited up with squid, crab and
shrimp. Well, in three hours we did get a half
dozen nice
Croaker, but that's less than 1/3 fish per man per hour.
Sucks! Came back across to the Western side, saw some fish and
got a couple nice (12"+) Blues. Dick Schmachtenberg was the
fisherman-of-the-day with a couple nice Croaker, some Blues, a
small flounder and another fish that
looked like a big Toadfish, but
it had very distinct dark brown and pale yellow stripes. Anyone
know what that was? Let me know if you have any ideas. (I'd show
you a picture, but he spit the hook as we brought him aboard.)
Unfortunately, my cove is coffee color again and there is little
oxygen below 30 feet in the River and the Bay. This is not good
news for future fishing this year -- and, for years to come.
Saturday,
July 24
Only
three boats with a dozen hardy fishermen braved the rain to
participate in MSSA's Drift Fishing Contest today. Sam Stuber
was the Super-Winner with two first place and a second place
entry. His 17.5" Flounder was the biggest fish caught all
day. I had the only other winning entry -- a puny 9" Blue -- but
heck, a win is a win! Sam and I were each awarded two tickets to
the MSSA Holiday Party. The whole group stayed for lunch a
Bowen's Inn and had a very enjoyable day. Too bad more members
did not take advantage of this event. Jerry Gaff did a fine job
of organizing the Contest. I may fish tomorrow, but this weather has
to get lots better to get me out there again!
Tuesday,
July 20
Tom
and Beth Philips brought Ryan, who is 4 -- not 5, down to fish with me
today. 
He drove us up to just above #13 in the Patuxent where I've been
scouting for fish the past few days. They were not jumping in
the boat, but in about four drifts we got a bunch of Spot, a nice
Croaker and three or four Perch. We then moved across the river
just above Helen's Bar 
and
in one drift we got another Croaker, a double Spot and a couple more
Perch. Ryan was hungry for lunch about 10:45, but we stayed a half
hour more. Ryan then drove us under the bridge and back before
he took us home. We all had a great time!
Friday,
July 16
Went
out and got 83 gallons of gas (ugh!) in the boat at 4:00 this
afternoon. Then, I looked around for fish with not much
success. Spotted 8 or 9 boats up above Helen's Bar, checked them
out, marked the spot, then got away from the crowd and went across the
river inside of green #13. I drifted for less than an hour and picked
up about seven Perch (2 or 3 were nice big ones), a good Spot, a
little Striper and a really big 17-18" Croaker. Dropped
them by a neighbor who likes these critters. A better trip than
any other bottom fishing I've had this year. I'm getting ready
to take 5 year old Ryan Philips fishing next Tuesday. I hope
these fishies hang around so Ryan can land a few of them. Check
back to see!
Sunday,
July 11
Here
is Richard Everson's son-in-law-to-be, Mike, with the 21"
Striper we got in 47 feet of water right straight out from the mouth
of the Patuxent. We threw poppers around the Ba
se
and at the "stick" but not a hit. Then we went to #74
and drifted some minnow/Bluefish strips for a while.
Nothing! So, we went back to trolling and had this one
hit. One, except for the Drum we must have hooked that stripped
line from one rig, tangled another and then broke a 45# wire holding a
lure. Exciting, but no fish! I'll be back fishing on the
20th for sure and maybe before that.
Friday,
July 9
We
were trolling by 7:00 this morning out by #77 and went up to Cove
Point and back all the way down to HI. There were small schools
of bait and some fish scattered out all around, but in four hours we
only got three of them to bite. (25", 18", 16")
Not great, but not a skunk. I'll try again Sunday. Check
back.
Wednesday,
July 7
Jim
Pennington didn't even get the first rig in up to the sinker when a
keeper Rockfish hit. And, for about an hour we kept bringing in
a fish every five minutes or so. We ended up with seven keepers
(over 18") up to 24". Here is the catch! 
I had a 23" one that was so messed up with sores that we threw it
right back and it immediately went belly up. I blame this too on
those bastards at Omega Protein down at Reedville, Virginia who are
raping the Bay of Bunker and causing some fish to be
undernourished. We then tried bottom fishing when they stopped
biting about 8:00 and did get two medium Croakers, but it was bad, so
we came home early.
Tuesday,
July 6
Bob
and I went out at 7:00 and for once, unfortunately, the weatherman was
right. There were two foot waves -- and higher. So,
we bounced our way from #77 to Cove point where I've been getting
fish. But, even though we were marking some fish, nothing was
biting. About 10:00 a nice little 17" Striper bit and saved
us from being skunked. But, that was it! We trolled about
12 miles and went up and down about 50! Out with Orem very early
tomorrow. Check back and see if we do better.
Saturday,
July 3
My
neighbor, Marty Stuble, reports: "Went
out this
morning & caught 6 Rockfish in less than an hour.
Kept a 26" and 19" threw back some 18"s and smaller.
All in breaking fish right near #77. No sign of Blues and no shads bitten off."
Richard
Everson and I didn't do quite as well. We were skunked Flounder
fishing around Cove point for about two hours, then switched to
trolling for
Rockfish for an hour or so. We got two keepers, 22" and
19", threw back one and I had a knot slip on a lure on
another that looked pretty big. (All
the ones that get away are big!)
Who
else do you know who is honest enough to admit they tied a knot that
gave way? It seems they are starting to prefer chartreuse Storm
lures.
Friday,
July 2
Here
is Woody with Paul and Scott about to filet the five Stripers we
caught today in six hours of Trolling. 
There were no breaking fish or schools of bait up by HI buoy, so we
trolled up to #76 where we caught our first keeper about noon.
Then headed for #77 and ran across a couple more keepers and Capt.
Bruno Vasta. A cell phone call to him confirmed that they were
spread out near Cove Point in 42 to 60 feet of water. We must
have thrown back about ten 17" fish. But, we had a good
time working hard for our bounty! Out tomorrow, so check
back!
Thursday,
July 1
We
found the breaking fish out by HI and bagged three keepers and threw
back four or five others.
But, the damn Bluefish tore the tails off of at least eight of my
Storm lures. Scott
caught another keeper over by buoy #74 and
then we got skunked trying for the Flounder. My friend John
Fuchs had broken down over by #76, so we towed him all the way back to
the bridge at 7 mph. All in all a good day with nice guys.
Wednesday,
June 30
I
was in town for doctor's appointment yesterday, so didn't go out with
Orem this morning, but just had to get out today and see if those fish
that were there Sunday were still around. They were! I
went by myself and it took me almost an hour to find them today.
I marked the fish on the meter and no hits, so I circled back on
them. My long line went off and I pulled in a little 12"
Bluefish caught on the stinger hook I put on a few of the Storm
lures. I was just putting the long line back when -- bang -- one
of the deep lines had a big hit. I reached for it and then all
Hell broke loose. ALL SIX LINES WENT OFF AT ONCE! Yes,
six fish on! I ran to each line and tightened up on the drags so
they didn't pull all my line out. Then the fun began. By
the time it was over I had kept a 22" and a 24" Striper and
thrown back five others. Two lines had doubles on them.
ALL WERE KEEPERS! I think one or two probably got away while I
was waiting to get to them. You should have seen the mess on the
deck.
There were lures, lines, umbrellas and leaders all over
the place and tangled in clusters! Can't have any more fun than
this. Now I'm off to the boat to re-rig the lines and finish
untangling them. I hope we do the same the next three days, but,
I assure you, I will have help
Sunday,
June 27
Woody
Wheeler and I went out at 2:00 this afternoon and decided to do some
trolling. Good decision! We started at the PR buoy and
headed for HI. Not much to be found and no hits. So we
decided to head 
north toward #77. We didn't just
as we were about to get too far and we had our first hit
and a nice 20" Striper on board. We stayed in the vicinity
of HI and in the next hour and a half had caught eight Stripers, kept
four, three were under size and one really nice one spit the hook net it. We were back in by 5:00. Now,
I feel a bit better about this whole fishing thing! I might not
be back out until Thursday. Check back then. Oh, all the
fish were caught on what I call "jingle bell" umbrellas with
dark colored Storm lures as single or double trailers. Two of
the throwbacks were my first double of the year. No red or white
Storms or bucktails caught a fish! We were in about 60 to 65
feet of water.
Wednesday,
June 23
Off
bright and early this morning and went directly to 
where I didn't
catch fish last Saturday. (See below) Orem's fish-finder confirmed
that the fish had left the area, so we headed East across the
Bay. About two miles out we started seeing fish, stopped, put
the lines in the water and began catching them. Not a lot, mind
you, but one every 20 minutes or so. Until they shut off about
10:00, we had caught eight Stripers from 15" to 23".
Six of them were keepers, which isn't a bad ratio this time of
year. By the way, Donnie Hammett hooked into a
Cow-nosed Ray
(Skate) and had a great time for about 15 minutes bringing it to the
boat where it happily broke the line and we didn't bring it
aboard. Jim Pennington and John Fuchs hooked a couple of those
yesterday while Perch fishing in the Potomac. They are
everywhere. I'll be out again in the next few days and hope for
better luck than we had today. At least it wasn't a skunk!
Monday,
June 21
Went
out alone a little after 7:00 this morning and decided to go to the
Cedar Point Rip and cast a 3 inch green Storm lure around the rocks
where the lighthouse was. After five hours with no bites
yesterday, I was amazed to catch an 18" Striper on the second
cast. I hung around there for a while, landed another 15"
fish and lost two lures on the rocks, so I decided to troll a
little. I headed out towards the HI buoy and before I had all my
lines in the water, I had my second fish on board. This was a
20" one and real clean! I called Bob Lerner on the Cell to
give him the good news. He was on a chumming trip up the
Bay. All they (13 of them) had caught was one 14"
fish. While he was on the phone two more of my lines hit and I
brought in two more throwbacks. Not a bad morning. It sure
makes me feel better about fishing.
Saturday,
June 19
I
can't even show you a Toadfish this week! Awful! Richard, Woody
and I went all the way down to where Orem got them earlier this week
and they had wagged their tails out of there! Took us a while to
figure that out, tried The Targets and nothing there either. So
we put away the 9 trolling rigs and headed back against high waves to
the mouth of the Patuxent where we didn't find any Flounder, Croaker,
or even a Bar-Dog that would bite our line. Tried at about six
locations (#3, #5, the Bridge, Hawk's Nest, #13, #15), but never had
so much as a touch. We were using good soft crab as bait with
minnows and squid strips too. Five hours and lots of fuel for
nothing. I've got to get that skunk off of me! By the way,
we never ever saw another boat catch a fish either. I'm sure
some did, but not when we were around. Does that tell you
something?
Sunday,
June 13
We
fought waves close to three feet high and made our way over to the
pound nets just below #74. (That waterman won't be happy
finding those dozen Bull-nosed Rays in his net.) We had a
good drift and made several passes there and at other spots all the
way up to #74. Nothing. So, we went up and drifted for
another hour or so behind #76 in depths from 45 feet all the way in to
16 feet. A possible hit or two, but still nothing. We gave
up and headed back across to the three-legged buoy. On the
second drift there Richard E. picked up a 14" Flounder, so at
least we know there are some around. On the third drift, he got
another fish -- a nice big Bar-dog! That was it all
morning. Five hours on the water and nothing on the table.
Hope I saved someone else the trouble of trying for another week or
so. Richard
and the Toadfish ^^^^^^
Wednesday,
June 9
I
sort of talked Orem in to going up to The Targets today and was
worried it would be a wild goose chase, but we did catch several fish
and got 5 keepers. We then tried bottom fishing, but only caught
one very small Croaker and two baby Stripers, so we gave up on
that. Luckily, Orem spotted some more Rockfish on the way home.
We stopped, and within an hour we had our limit of 13 keepers to
22.5". Not a bad day and all seven fishermen got to pull at
least three fish. No tails bitten off by Bluefish today, but
lots of Skate spotted. I might try for some Flounder in the next
few days, so check back about Friday or Saturday.
Sunday,
June 6
Marty took this
photo of Woody, the catch and me.
Marty
Stuble, Woody Wheeler and I went back down to The Targets for some
Stripers this morning, and, luckily, they were still there. It
took us over two hours to catch 20 fish so we could get six
keepers. Most were 16" to 17", but we did get a
22" and a 23" before we quit. We're still catching
them deep on Storm lures behind metal umbrellas. Had a half
dozen tails bitten off, so the baby Blues are on their way up the
Bay. I hope their parents and grandparents aren't far behind.
Thursday,
June 3
Not
a ripple on the water and beautiful weather this morning, so I had to
run out for a couple of hours. I thought maybe the Stripers
might be over around the HI buoy, but there was not a fish to be found
on the fish-finder, so I hightailed it down to the Targets, where we
got them last Sunday. They were there and so was the wind.
The 5-10 mph winds predicted quickly went up to over 20, but I still
was trailing 8 lines by myself. Over the next hour and a half I
did get 5 hookups, lost the first one which felt like a keeper, then
got two 17's and a 15 until I finally got one almost 19". I
couldn't get below 4.5 mph headed south and had to go 400 rpm over
normal to make 3 mph when going north. Four out of the five fish
were caught on an umbrella that had what I call "jingle
bells" and it had two dark colored Storm lures on it. I was
trolling two of these and both caught, but the one with 12 oz. of
weight and back 60 feet did best. No where near as good as last
Sunday, but they still are at the Targets. I'll be out over the
weekend.
Sunday,
May 30
We
were going to go all the way down to where Orem caught Stripers last
Wednesday. (See below.) But, I thought we better try by The
Targets as we went by. Good move! The minute we stopped
there were lots of fish on the fish finder, and it didn't lie.
We had two fish aboard before we got all the lines out. One was
just 18", so we released her. It only took a bit over an
hour to have our six keepers from 20 to 27 inches. We threw a
couple more back that were small keepers. I think we could have
kept getting them all morning, but we went after Croaker. We got
one more than last Sunday! Yep, only one, and we had crab, squid
and bloods as bait. We heard the charter Captains who target
Croaker bitching that the hadn't had a bite all day. So, we came
on in and will only target Stripers tomorrow morning. I may not
have time to post results until Wednesday night since Garnett and I
are headed north for a couple of days. Orem will have to go
without me on Wednesday. You know how much I will miss getting
up before 4:00 a.m. NOT!
Wednesday,
May 26
Up
at 3:45 a.m. (double-ugh!) and left the dock about 5:30 headed over
near #72 to troll for big Stripers. No, there were none
there! So, quite early we went for the Croakers with squid and
crab. They weren't too hungry, but we got about 50 of them to
16" in the next couple of hours. Some spots on the boat
seemed to do better than others. Right off the fantail seemed
best. They shut off about 11:00 and we headed to another area to
troll with smaller baits for smaller fish -- and, it worked. We
hooked up with 7 or 8 fish, but several got off and we ended up
landing three. My 18.5" fish was the smallest, and the
other two weren't much bigger. It will be a terrific dinner
tonight! If you want to know where we got them, call me!
But, there were lots of these smaller fish there and the Captain was
convinced we would have had our limit if we had started out there.
Sunday,
May 23
I
figured that, if the two women caught some nice fish on Thursday,
these experienced characters I went with today should slay them.
Well, if one Bar Dog on the last line brought in after five hours of
fishing means we didn't get skunked, I guess we weren't. We were
not alone though. We never saw a fish caught by any other boat
and heard rumors of maybe one or two Croakers landed. That
stinks. Where? Officers' Club, Green Holly, 3-legged, Drum
Point, the Bridge, Helen's Bar, etc., etc. Maybe you have to go
at sunset.
Thursday,
May 20
Here
are Jan Tierney and Jean Logan
with nine nice Croaker we got today!
Jean,
Jan and I went out around 9:00 a.m. this morning (a civilized time),
and the Bay was just plain nasty with 2 footers and up to 20 mph
winds. We fought our way out to near the PR Buoy, put 7 lines in
the water and said, "If we aren't getting any Stripers by
11:30, we're going for Croaker." Obviously, we were skunked
trolling, so went to the 30 foot level off the Officer's Club.
It didn't take long for Jan to pull in the first two Croaker and we
pulled on a regular basis until we had nine nice fish. We then
tried in by Drum Point, at Green Holly and a couple of my other spots,
but to no avail. We came in at 2:30 and I got to clean fish
(ugh!). But, how could I send these ladies home without
dinner? The squid worked a bit better than the bloods, and the
weather and seas steadily improved until it was actually quite nice.
Wednesday,
May 19
Seven
of us, plus Captain Orem Hammett, left before 6:00 a.m. this morning
and had lines in the water by 6:30. It was after 9:00 when we
had three hits within two minutes, but, believe it or not, lost all
three. Three more hours of trolling produced nothing, so we
brought in lines and came home skunked! There were fish there
(in the vicinity of #72), but they just aren't biting. I've
reduced the size of my lures and will give it a go tomorrow, but may
end up chopping up squid and bloodworms and going for Croaker.
Check and see!
Friday,
May 14
Here
is Beth pulling in a 23" fish while Lynn does her thing!
We
got out there by 8:00 this morning and Beth was pulling in the
23" fish in less than half an hour. About an hour later
Lynn got one 24". The next one got off before we landed it,
and it was 1:45 before we got the 25" and last fish. And, I
think we did better than most. Neighbor Marty Stubel, who has
been doing great all season, was skunked today, and Orem's trip today
only yielded two keepers and some small throw-backs. So, boys
and girls, it could be a small pause in this terrific Spring Striper
Season or, perish the thought, it could be over. I'm going to
give it another try tomorrow with Beth's husband Tom and Woody
Wheeler. Check and see how we do. (Could
this bad fishing be because today through Sunday is the MSSA Spring
Tournament?)
Wednesday,
May 12
So,
I went out at 7:00 this morning by myself. I just couldn't NOT
go fishing! I put 5 rods out, three with no weight, one 4oz. and
one 6oz. and before I ever had to change course I had this 35"
fish on board. 
The same lure that caught both fish yesterday got her. A four
arm umbrella with four 6" white sassy shads and a 9" white
shad with a red stripe down it's back behind a 3oz white
parachute. It was 120 feet back with a 4 oz inline sinker.
Give it a try! I was in about 70 feet of water east of the HI buoy.
Tuesday,
May 11
My
friend of 45 years, Dick Charlton, holds up the 35" &
36" fish we got this morning. I had hoped that Gene Bond, (D'Judge),
would be down too, but a last minute malady kept him close to
home. We got lines in the water close to 9:00 and had the first
fish on "Charlie" which was fished high with only four
6" white sassy shads. (I am finding that only 4 shads seems to
work as well as 6 or 8, and sure is easier to pull in.) While landing
this one, we had another good hookup, but by the time we netted our
fish and got to the second one, she was gone. The second fish we
caught was about an hour later in 70 feet of water. This was a
little deeper than the first. Believe it or not, we had another
hookup while landing this one -- and the same thing happened -- part
way in, then gone. Oh well, it was a throwback anyway! I'm
fishing with Orem in the morning, and I'll be in Alexandria on
Thursday. I'll be out fishing again on Friday. I'm
sticking to circling HI buoy until it fails me! Bad
news! Had a big ugly brown jellyfish on one of my deep
lures when I brought it up.
Monday,
May 10
Bob
and a 36" and Gary with his 31"
All
lines out at 8:36 this morning and it took over an hour for the first
fish. Another hour and we had the second. Fished for 3 1/2
more hours with only one small pull-down, and gave up. Dick S.
called on the cell, had fished down south of us, got two a little
earlier than we did and never got his third either. They just
shut off in the middle of the day in the middle of a tide. Both
fish up high again and 250 & 300 feet back. So, you know these
guys got a good workout. Gene Bond and Dick Charlton are out
with me tomorrow. Check and see if we get all three!
Sunday,
May 9
We
left at 7:00 and headed towards the HI buoy, put our lines in the
water at 48 feet, had the fish alarm go crazy and got the first one
(33") on the long line with no weight at 7:40. I marked
where all the fish and bait were, headed back there and got our
(29") second fish about 15 minutes later. We would
have put the small fish back and tried for a better one, but she was
hooked so that she would not have lived, so we kept her. A
thunderstorm popped up from out of nowhere between the two fish, but
had little rain, no wind and no lightning strikes were close.
Now, I'm all fueled up and ready for Bob and Gary tomorrow. I'll
sure go back to the same area we got them today, which is where Woody
and I caught two on Thursday and the Jones family had the two hit at
the same time yesterday!
Saturday,
May 8
When
Dave, D.J. & Amanda Jones went out with me at 8:00 this morning
there were 35 mph gusts and four foot plus waves at Drum Point.
We tried our best to get out to the fish, but it was too, too
nasty. So, we trolled around Solomon's, saw fish on the meter,
but never had a hit. At 11:30, I decided to stick our nose out
in the Bay one more time before we called it quits. We heard Sam
Stuber on the radio. I called him and he said it had gotten a
bit better, so we headed to buoy #77. It kept getting better all
the time. We trolled over to #76 and headed South. Nothing in
the deep water, but at about 75 feet our long line hit. D.J. did
a good job of pulling in a barely legal 28 1/4" fish. Then,
two hours of nothing. We were almost ready to head home at 2:30
when --BANG -- two lines hit at once. Dave had a good one on a
deep line and Amanda was doing great pulling a bit smaller fish on
another long line. We got Dave's 36" fish aboard and then
Amada's 30" one followed. As you can see by the picture,
they were happy fisherpersons and they have some good eating ahead of
them. I'm out tomorrow with Richard Everson and I sure hope the
fish are more cooperative than they were today. We finally got
them in about 48 feet of water, as Woody and I did on Thursday.
Check and see how we do!
Thursday,
May 6
Woody
and I left the dock at 1:30, and 45 minutes later he was pulling in a
really fat 34" fish. He got another 31" about a half
hour later. We then caught and released a good 35" Striper
out by #74, and headed home at 4:30. They bit high and on white
today. Woody took home four very fat filets. Saw some baitfish
breaking for the first time and one radio report was that a guy saw
the bait, trolled through it and 3 lines went down. He landed
two and lost one! Seems to just get better.
Wednesday,
May 5
Everyone
got a nice fish today. Thanks Orem!
I
pulled lucky # 2 which was this 44" and 28 pound beauty.
Jim, Dick and Marv all had fish just shy of 40" and Sandy and
John's weren't much smaller. Again -- high and low, yellow and
white and in 42 to 60 feet of water. I'm out tomorrow afternoon
with Woody Wheeler and have space for two more -- call me, and come
along!
Tuesday,
May 4
Bob Lerner & Jay Martin display the
29", 32" & 34" fish!
Either
last year or the year before I kept the location on my GPS where
I caught them on May 5th. They were there a day early this
year. The weather was predicting 10-15 mph winds with one foot
waves. Wrong -- as usual! It was 22-32 winds with 4 foot
waves. We were glad we caught them so quickly. Both white
and yellow, up and down worked about 3 miles south of HI buoy in 50 to
55 feet of water.
Sunday,
May 2
These
twin 32's were both caught on an 8" white "Charlie"
behind a yellow 6 arm umbrella with 6" sassy shads. The
only other time I fished "Charlie" this year he also got a
fish for me. But, we started out by hooking a fish early, but MY
knot on the lure didn't hold! (This is the only fishing site where the
truth exists.) We went almost two hours until we got the first
fish and were going to quit at Noon. At 11:55 the other fish
hit. We only fished around HI buoy and fish seemed to be in
about 60 feet of water today. Tomorrow I'll be out with Gary
Kaihara. Check back and see how he does. By the way, Megabits is
running GREAT!
Saturday,
May 1
Now,
that's a nice fish Marty! I hope we get one bigger than that if
the wave Gods allow us to fish together tomorrow. Jerry Gaff
reports:
"Last
weekend was awesome. On Saturday, April 24, I took out two boys
from among the 35 high schoolers our Chapter 19 hosted. John got
the first fish, a 41",
25 # rock. After he finally discovered how to get him into the
cooler, David caught a 35" rock.
Sunday I paid my debt to the father of a neighbor who rebuilt my dock
after the Hurricane blew it away last year. He wanted to take
the doctor who had helped his daughter's illness and another friend.
Things were a a little tight on my 21' boat, but we managed. The
first one got a 39" rock reeled in by the 78 year-old doctor.
After two more 35" and 32", we tied into one that didn't
want to come in. It turned out to be a 43",
27.5 pound rock.
The trip took just 3 1/2 hours, including about 40 minutes playing the
largest fish.
We got them with no weight or very light weight trolling way back--
one of them was on a 10 oz weight, the heaviest I used. Both
white and green worked, but I think white was a little better."
Thursday,
April 29
Yesterday,
Orem's crew actually got four fish at once, and then had a good time
untangling lines. I'm glad I didn't have to hear what Orem had
to say about that! Here is what we got last week (4/21) in the
order they were caught:
Sandy
Dick
Marv
Jim
Joe
Sunday,
April 25
Bill
got this one on Sunday out by buoy #77. Nice!
Saturday,
April 24
Here
I am with across the cove neighbor Charlie Nester. Charlie's
very first Striped Bass catch weighed in at 21 lbs. and was
39", while mine was only 17.5 lbs. and 37", but both were
nice fish. Marty got a good-eating 29" fish to make our
limit by 10:45. All were caught in 65 to 90 feet of water
just east of the HI buoy on white umbrellas, One bit a white
Storm lure, another a big 6 oz. black-headed bucktail with a 9"
white shad and the third grabbed my new "Charlie"
white lure. We had 5 oz. to 28 oz of weights on. Check
back and see if I get Megabites in the water as scheduled on Monday!
Friday,
April 23
Here
is Marty and his gang who fished in a Pax River Tourney today.
Their 41" fish wasn't big enough to win, so we know some big ones
are out there. Others reported limiting out by 10 a.m. with
31" to 37" fish, which seem to be what the majority of fish
are running. I'll be out with Marty tomorrow and give you that
report tomorrow night.
Here
is Bill Heaton's 4/17 & 18 report:
What a great opening weekend. Went out by myself Saturday,
starting at B77 and working up to Cove Point Light. Ended up
boating three fish, 36" keeper, 34" throwback, 32"
throwback. Had one other pull down. Called it a day after
5 hrs. fishing.
good
we did, because at 9:15 Woody brought in a nice 34"
one. Then, about a half hour later Bob beat him by
landing a 36" fish. Oh! Oh! Guess who's turn it is
now? Well, about two hours later a deep line with a
white umbrella had a huge hit on it. I reeled and reeled
and it took line from me. I just about had it up to the
sinker when Bob grabbed the leader and --- nothing
there! We trolled for another two and a half hours and
never had another bite. Richard Ehrlich and crew were
competing with us again today. I guess we won since he
had one pull-down all day and nothing in the box. I
guess I really am a "blocker." Maybe next time
--- whenever that may be. Check back, it's not over yet!
contest
against our friend Richard Ehrlich and his crew. He
called us to report he had caught a 41" Striper up near
the HS Buoy about 10:45 and until 12:45 we never had a
hit. Then down by buoy 72A one of our rods on a planer
hit and I landed a 33" fish. It didn't take too
much
longer when Bob, again on a planer rod, beat me by an inch and
pulled in a fat 17 pound 34" one. This was close to
1:30. 
pulled in lines and, low and behold, there was a nice 20"
fish on another planer line. So, we totaled 87 inches of
fish. We had to give Richard an 11" handicap (since
we are such great fishermen), but he only got one small fish
of about 20", so his total of 61" plus the 11"
handicap didn't match our 87". We won! Now
Bob has bragging rights in the Woodmont golf locker
room. Orem got his 6 fish before 9 a.m. this morning
down between 72 and 70. He had a couple over
40". So, we may conclude that the BIG ONES are
finally in and biting on the change of tide. Yippee!
and
we headed down just north of Hooper Light and started trolling
back and forth across the shipping channel.
By 9:45 we
had four hits (one of them a big one), but only had two small
Stripers (19" & 21") to show for it. I hadn't
reeled a fish, so I said I'd get the next one. That was
the kiss of death. We never had another hit all day and
we fished until 3:00 p.m. I heard of some bigger fish
caught up between #76 and #77, and we went up there too.
It didn't work. The fish we caught were during the turn of the
tide. I'm starting to agree with Orem that that is the
best time to get them to bite. A good day on the water
with two nice guys. What more can you ask --- except for
3 more fish over 40"!
didn't
get skunked! Well, almost! We fished around HI
buoy for over 2 hours, didn't see many fish, but Bob did get a
nice 22" Striper. Not what we were looking
for. I had heard that they were getting some decent fish
up in the Patuxent, so we went up near Sandgates and trolled
for another 2 and a half hours. It was a very pretty day
for a boat ride. Lots of fish on the meter and we saw
one fish caught and thrown back. But, we watched about a
dozen boats up there, so that was pitiful. Maybe
Saturday is the day. 
even
a hit --- again!) We went out with Orem today
at 6:00 a.m., but the first 39 inch Striper wasn't caught by
Dick until about 7:55. Then at 8:20 Jim got one that was
a half inch bigger. (Gosh that Jim Pennington is a terrific
fisherman!) It took until 9:15 for Bill Hanford to
get his nice 29" fish that had a big gash on her bottom
just in front of the rear fin. The Captain said looked
like she had been hit by a boat propeller, but the wound had
healed nicely. It was my turn next to pull a fish.
After about a two hour wait, we pulled our lines up and came
in. That seems to be the story of my Fall fishing this
year. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday I'll do better.
Check back to see.
were
not too bad as we went out, but increased to 2 footers plus by
the time we came in about noon. We trolled exactly the
same places we did last Thursday, when we had five good hits
and caught fish. Today there was not a touch and there
were very, very few fish on the meter. Gannets all
around, but they sure were not showing us where fish
were. Maybe later this week. Crap!
bite
was on during the change of tide from about 11:30 to
1:30. During that time we hooked up with 5 fish and
boated 3 of them. Bob got a 34", Richard a 29"
and, like yesterday, I managed to bring in a monstrous
19" minnow who didn't even cause the clicker to go
off. Bob had another great fish on, but I managed to get
us among the crab pots and by the time I escaped the fish was
gone. Looks like the weather may keep me in until
Sunday. Check back!
champ with a 42" and a 37" fish, and
I took the booby prize with 27" and 21" guppies! See
Fishing Reports 2004 for more pictures and
details. I'll be out to try it myself with Bob Lerner
tomorrow.
Look
what Denny Roderick got yesterday on his Grady White, the Mary
C. The smaller one is 31" and the monster is
also 31! 31 pounds, that is, and 44" long and full
of sea lice. They were caught Sunday morning down
between the HI and HS buoys. Great job, Denny, and I'm
sure lots of us will be trying to duplicate your fete!