2013 Year in review pictures - In several separate posts
 

16 Degrees here, too cold to mess around in the garage and I saw some of these threads over on TF. Problem is I killed way too many fish to post these pictures over there. I had a good year. I don't know exactly how many trips but counting the doubles, it had to be over 125. I had the opportunity to fish on my boat as well as mate on the Lucky Strike, Patent Pending, Janet M, Miss Margret, Mackenzie Rae and Valerie Ann.

I'll start with Early April getting the Lucky Strike ready. It's a big, old, heavy, wood deadrise that rides great but it takes a lot of sandpaper and elbow grease to get ready in the spring.

We fished every weekend of April and I managed to squeeze in a trip or two on my boat during the week. Nothing huge this spring, a handful in the 40" but the bulk of our fish were in the mid-30"s.

May 2013
 

We pulled umbrellas for the entire month waiting for the spot to show up.

Every year one of the May highlights is the Emerald Society Tournament. The Emerald Society is like the FOP for Fire Fighters. The area fireman charter all the boats in the Mid-Bay area and have a tournament amongst themselves. Always a good time with some great people, but based on the number of DCFD that take part, I always wondered what would happen if there was a big fire in DC that weekend...lol.

Had some good times on my boat as well. One of the most memorable May trips was when my friend, Capt Doug asked if he could bring along some of his "buddies" for a fun fishing trip. I had no idea his "buddies" would be so easy on the eyes...lol.

Another aspect of the warmer weather of May is going over to Tilghman for lunch or having our just-caught fish cooked up at the Happy Harbor. The new owners of the Harbor have made a world of difference...opened the Tkiki bar, they have bands on the dock and a new menu. All the distractions do make it a little hard to concentrate on cleaning fish and the boat though.

Perch fishing, no matter how much I hate bottom fishing, was pretty good off Holland Point as well.

The month ended with me having to pull my boat due to a busted trim tab and failed bottom paint. Bill Judge took care of me and got me back in the water quick.

Tawn's June 2013
 

June started with us still pulling Storm baits on umbrellas until the spot starting showing up. We did very well trolling in early June fishing the red side, south of Poplar Island. Fortunately, the bluefish were late and we were able to keep the tails on the baits later than normal.

While the boat & trailer were over at Bill's, I poured some pads in the backyard to keep the keep the tires off the ground.

By the middle of June Live Lining was wide open, which of course is good but then you end up bottom fishing to fill out the day. I never ceases to amaze me how many grown men refuse to bait their own hooks! :cool:

Did a little hook & lining with some friends. My biggest catch my first day was a gull which I insisted on unhooking instead of just cutting the line. I was trying to help the guy out but all I got for my humanitarian efforts was pecked and bird crap all over the boat.

I recommend everyone learn the ER procedure for hook removal....it came in handy this summer. Capt Shawn hates treble hooks for LLing..he insists on 5/0 J-Hooks. Well for this trip, I snuck a box of trebles on the boat. After this accident, he very calmly walked to the back of the boat and threw them over the side and said "Now we will do it my way" and went back to the helm. :rolleyes:

Caught our Diamond Jim off Poplar...In the end, it was worth $500. Happy customer none the less.

The highlight of June had to be a fun trip we took some kids on. Live lining off Poplar that afternoon was unbelievable. Had to throw back overs!

Never sweat killing a legal limit.

Great pictures - always cool to look back on them and relive past trips.

Friend of mine calls treble hooks " trouble hooks " :D

Hope 2014 is as good to you - looks like 2013 was awesome.

Great pictures; just what the doctor ordered for a cold winter day!

I too have run afould of the "trouble hooks" except that mine went through my thumb and into the bone. Garlien and I tried for hours to extract it, and 6 beers and 8 Motrin later we finally gave up.

We cut it off at the skin and the rest of the hook is still in my hand.




























...Just kidding.....I went to the nighttime doc place and they took it out. But my ending sounds way cooler than reality.:cool:

Tawn's July 2013
 

Thanks for the comments guys, it is kinda fun looking back over the past year - it went by awful fast!

I am very fortunate for the help I have received over the past couple of years from some very good fisherman and charter captains. I'm also grateful for the opportunity to get out as much as I have. This real job BS is gonna suck! They actually have the audacity to expect me to show up five days a week! :cool:

July didn't start off the way I planned. Somewhere around the 1st of July I got poked by a fish. This Mr. Carter character warned me to watch it closely and sure enough I spent a week in Bethesda with a Staph infection. I blame him!

I got a lot of calls, texts and cards but I never expected to get a fruit basket from a bar....Gotta love the Happy Harbor...it made my day to say the least.

After I got out of the hospital I went and got my boat back from Bill Judge and got to use it as well as some fun fishing with Capt John and Mr. Carter on the Patent Pending.

Worked a trip with Capt Kenny on the Janet M and took Capt Kenny of the Miss Margret and his son and nephew out for some live lining.

Ended the month wearing them out north of Poplar...this was the best live lining I have seen in my limited time fishing the bay.

As I already mentioned, when fun fishing on my boat, I usually just back into an empty slip at the Harbor to clean the fish and have them cooked up right then and there...it's hard to beat a platter of fried and blackened Rockfish that were swimming just hours before.

I'll post August, September and November's pics a little later.

August 2013
 

August 2013

A lot of Live Lining, what can I say, it was good. So good, we sometimes spent more time at the Harbor after the trip than we actually did fishing.

I mentioned earlier that the new owners of the Harbor have bands on the Dock Bar in the summer. The problem is that if you don't get there early, it's hard to get a table for a large group. We figured out that if we just moved Shawn's big boat into the transient slip adjacent to the Dock Bar, we had our own, front row box seats...pretty sneaky huh!

In addition to fishing my boat, I also filled in for this Mr. Carpenter character on the Patent Pending and worked on the Valerie Ann.

September - December 2013
 

Last one - September through December

My fishing definitely started slowing down in the fall. I had my retirement from Uncle Sam's Canoe Club to get wrapped up, my wife had this crazy idea that I needed to find a job after I retired and I wanted to get my Captains License before I started a new job and couldn't get the time off.

Anyhow, we live lined at least once a week until the spot thinned out. Took the owner of the Happy Harbor out live lining ... he let it slipped he had never done it before so we literally kidnapped him off the dock one Sunday morning and took him out. Always good to have the bar owners as a friend.

A friend put his Hook & Line license on my boat and we went out one afternoon and did okay - couple hundred pounds. It was fun, but a lot of work. I still don't understand how we managed to get blood on the cabin ceiling...it looked like Charlie Manson had been on the boat by the time we were done.

Had a couple of decent days trolling in November but we didn't set the world on fire by any means. Additionally, I worked for John for his last few trips filling in for Marty, excuse me, Mr. Carter.

That cold front with the strong West wind blew all the water out of the creek (see the pic) and I can't help but think that had something to do with the resident fish shutting down.

Last few times out were nothing more than boat rides to lunch at Knapps Narrows or to the Fleet Reserve Club downtown Annapolis. Pulled the boat in early Dec, had Prestige Yachts of Annapolis come out and wash it and shrink wrap it for the winter.

Just out of tradition, Capt Brian ran his boat down to Cove Point on 15 December, just hoping to close the season out on a high note - it wasn't to be. 27 rods and not a touch all day.

In late December my 50 Ton Masters License came through and I went to DNR and picked up a resident guide license.

Looking forward to 2014...hope to see ya'll at some of the winter fishing shows, if not, I'll see ya on the water come April.

Wow, Looks like you had a Great Year, except for the hand thing. Thanks for sharing.

Great job Tawn.

You started out correctly (Carter) and then made up some fictitious person named (Carpenter):D

5th (Marty)