Saturday and skunk both start with S- coincidence?
 

I think not!! Got my a$$ handed to me today. Fished from Chesapeake Beach to 85A to sewer pipe to Love Point to Swan Point. No fish to show for it, not one. Talked to 5 other boats that wee trolling and most were in the same shape. 1 jigger had caught a few up to 24" but what a tough tough bite. Gave up at 2:00 and headed home with my tail between my legs. Thankfully we got EM yesterday. Just burning fuel tomorrow, damn a fish!!!

Nice talking to the folks out there today. It always make me feel better to hear the professionals are struggling as well. Misery loves company! :D

We smoked you today:rolleyes:. We got 1 20" fish and 2 shorts. Certainly not worth freezing my a** off for. what a difference a week makes. I'm supposed to take some neighbors and their kids out in the morn. I'll be in the Patapsco because wind is 10-20 south. I'll try to post tomorrow if my fingers thaw out.
bhl (Bruce)

I was humiliated today. Had a buddy bring his 11 yr old son with us so he could catch some fish:eek: We brought in one 17 inch rockfish today.

I've been doing rather well with 6 boat rods. I decided to run boards for the first time this fall. I figured we would smoke them. My full spread is 20 rods:roll eyes:
I figured I'd run 12 total today, 6 boat rods and 6 board rods. The "mate" came out of me after a couple hours:) Check for debris first, then put out two more board rods. Then later, put out to more board rods. My buddy asked what I was doing, I told him throwing more chit at them; hopefully they like something I have out:D

We had at least two footers this morning, which made it difficult to circle back on bait. But, I don't even think that would have helped me today. They just didn't want to feed (at least that's my story).

It was good practice with the boards. I little sporty, but the winds died in the late morning, only to pick up around one. Called it a day at 1:30 and headed to the barn. Found birds working and I got the "little twitchy" rods out with metal jigs. I figured we might salvage the day after all. Slowly approached the birds from above (to let the winds blow me over the fish); and all the little bastards sat down on the water. We drifted over some nice marks but it was as if they knew Marty was above:(
Not a touch jigging. Pulled into the slip and tied up only to hear one of the crew say; "what was that splash?" Never a good thing to hear. My spring line (attached through a pulley and down to a 10 pound weight) broke off the piling and fell to the bottom of the creek:eek:

But hey; at least the batteries were charged enough to start the motor this cold morning:D

My bones are starting to warm; had a great dinner; headed for a hot shower; and maybe some FIREBALL:):)

It was off the hook out front of Deale today:mad:
5th

Fireball! Fireball! :d

The morning was definitely rougher than forecasted. Tough setting a spread by yourself, when the boat keeps turning in circles. Had to go with the waves to set one side, then move up and set the other side on the next trip down. Stayed on the east side all morning and finally turned on for about an hour. Caught 4 fish to 28".

Mark; I give you credit for using boards solo yesterday morning. I put us in the channel riding with the wind and gave the wheel to Lou. My only request was to keep me in deep water while I put the spread out.
I had some novice guys on the boat and they "helped" me put the boards over and get the lines in. It's quicker if I just do it, explaining why you do everything takes a lot of time. Plus counting bars and talking at the same time gets confusing; especially when you start with my IQ:D
So, I have most everything out when I hear Lou say, "Chit, a crab pot". I grab the second station wheel (thanks Bill Judge) and slid it past the incomplete side close to the boat where there was a "hole" for it to slid through:)
OK, crabbers have been moving pots to deeper water, so its not uncommon to find a pot where you least expect it in the fall. Plus, with the 2 ft waves, they were going to be hard to see.
Then Lou says, "Another pot." WTF; I run up into the cabin to look at the chart plotter (wish I had a big 10-12 inch screen so I could see it well from the back of the boat), and we are in 20 ft of water; heading into 17 ft:eek::eek:
Luckily, there was an 11 yr old on board. I bit my tongue (somewhat), and told Lou we needed to be in deep water!!!!
I had to make a big correction, dropping all my lines in the mud, to get back toward the channel. As I pulled lines I realized that I had forgot to bring an important part of my trolling tackle with me (my pet hair comb to clean dirty parachutes). So, thank goodness I still have my hair, my comb did an ok job.
I found an old "track" on the gps and told Lou to "follow that line".
The rest of the day, I tried to stay at the wheel and tend to the lines.

Now it appears that I'm dumping on Lou, but that's not really the case. He's a great fishing partner. Always ready to go at the drop of a hat, willing to clean the catch while I tend to the boat, and good company while on the water.
Lou is just not technology proficient. You can tell he never played a video game in his life, and I suspect he can't see the subtly differences in the shading on the map between light blue depths and darker blue shallows.
When on his boat, I always have to reset his Lowrance because he has it so F'ed up.

So the big question Mark, is where did you catch your fish (above or below the bridge)? Were you pulling parachutes (six or nine inches)? What worked best, boards or boat rods? Umbrella's or tandems? Details man, we want to know:eek:
5th

No boards yet. I had enough trouble setting 7 boat rods. I've always thought I can set 15 rod spread quicker by self than when someone "helps". Although, I fish by myself most of the time.

Stayed in 25-45' of water on the east side north of the sewer pipe. A 20" and 22" were caught on a chartreuse bucktail with 6" shad. A 26" was caught on a tandem with a 9" parachute. The 28" fish hit a white umbrella with a 9" parachute. Hope that helps. I will probably pull out the boards next week.

I fished for 3 hrs yesterday morning before heading to Philly for a family gathering with a gentleman out of Mass who was in town to talk to Judge about a boat. He was ok with a short trip as it was more to see the boat than catch fish. Good thing it was because while we had one rubber band break off the boards, caught nothing, notta, zip, zilch! :mad:

There was TONS of bait in the channel and gannets hitting the water but we could not get any takers.

It was a lot of work to pull 15 lines with planerboards for such a short trip but he thought it was very cool.

I am glad I got that out of the way before the Tournament next weekend. :)

Now I know "the rest of the story". The first time i called you, Lou answered and said you were setting lines. I called an hour later and Lou said you were still setting lines and that he was in trouble because he supposedly got too close to some crab pots. At first I though that you might have been running 30 rods:rolleyes: Yes the pots were a pain, but thankfully we didn't catch one.
bhl (Bruce)