12/4 Trolling Report - Bloody Pt - Thomas Pt Areas
 

Today (Fri 12/4) I had aboard Reeltor (Paul) and TFer Rick Hensley. Launched from SP around 6:30 this morning. We ran down the channel ready to put our spread over soon as we saw some good marks. Did not see anywhere near as many marks above TPL area as I had seen two days ago, so we ended up running much further south than I expected. Ended up starting slightly below TPL out in the channel and picked up our first 2 fish within the first 45 minutes or so. We then went without a bite for the next few hours as we zigzagged the channel avoiding nets and an ever growing flotilla of boats. We confirmed with others, including Mlag (Mark), that the bite had gotten tougher. We decided to get away from everybody, so we worked our way further south to the BPL area. Finally on the western side of the channel in about 54' of water we happily found ourselves all alone with a nice bunch of bait and fish. Had a steady pick for the next hour, or so, picking up another 6 fish. It all came to an end when the last fish hit a planer line and proceeded to cross-over another planer line and screwed up everything. Since this fish had it's weight distributed across two lines, we had a very difficult time getting the rubber band to break. Once we got the lines all cleared up and back in service we were unable to relocate the schools of fish and bait that had been so good to us. We heard the bite was going well further south, but decided to slowly troll north as we were running out of time. Talked to Baldzilla who had followed the school south and they were spanking them good. It was hard to keep the bow pointed north, but within a half hour we came across some good marks that netted us our last 2 fish.

Total of 10 fish for the day, all in the mid to upper 30 inch size. Hot lure was a 3oz white mylar chute (from Alltackle) with a 9" white shad, run as the top bait on a tandem rig, on the boards. I run three of these in my spread at various lengths from 50' to 150' back. These 3 baits accounted for 6 of our 10 fish. You cannot ignore that statistic fellow fishermen. 9 of the 10 were caught on the boards. It was an absolute pleasure fishing with Paul and Rick, both very accomplished fishermen. Rick commented to me that each of us could have had tape over our mouths and we would have caught just as many fish. Everybody knew what they had to do to make the day a success, and a success it was...Don

Sounds like a good day Don.

Sounds like a good day Don. You got to watch that guy reeltor........he will take your tackle:D..............Gary

Now you tell me:D...Don

Nice Job!! Sounds like you had a great day!! I'm working on getting out Sunday but probably won't happen. Sure is nice to get out on a weekday (even if it is a Friday) in December; made fishing a lot less stressful than in the spring. I've GOT to retire sooner....:rolleyes:

Well oiled machine...
 

Don,
Thanks for the invite. Had a great day with you and Rick today and learned some new tricks:D.

You run a tight ship...the preparation you put into your spread made things go very smoothly for Rick and I. I don't think I've seen anyone put so much time/effort/detail into making a large spread so easy for the crew to understand and deploy...kudos to you.

Don has a print out created on an X Cell spreadsheet/log system. Every rod is made up prior to the trip with the lure of choice, then entered into the spreadsheet. Each rod is numbered (masking tape and a Sharpie) to a matching rod holder making the placement simple for crew members. His rigs are predetermined so he can track which lure/color/weight/depth gets hit. He also writes on each rod's masking tape how many bars to let out. Its not easy to HO on someones boat for the first time and know EXACTLY how to deploy 14 rods without asking questions.

Don also did a very smart thing by not dropping lines until he found what he was looking regarding bait. Once the lines were deployed we quickly hooked up... Rule 1-fish where the fish are:). Many novice fishermen get to their fishing grounds, blindly drop lines then wonder why they aren't catching fish. Its hard to find bait/fish trolling along at 2.5mph! When you aren't catching fish the bay can be an awful big space...at least get started on the right foot.

Don mentioned that he runs Capt Wayne Morgan's spread. Capt Morgan will be giving a presentation on Dec 14th@ 7pm at the Earliegh Heights Fire Hall on Rt 2/Severna Park. Its a no brainer to attend.

Thanks again for the invite Don and nice fishing with you Rick...good times!

Hope next time we can use some of that tackle on the fish!

Way to go Don, you guys were in it today! Great talking to you and Paul out there, thanks for the communication, it's great to have that network out there!

Nice job guys!!! Good fishing with you today. Did "baldy" ever catch any fish?:D.......................Mark

Read my report there MLAG, I think I got a few more than the Godfather :D

The only reason you and Donno may have caught more is because I pulled lines early to let you guys catch a few:D:D........................Mark

Don,
Nice catchin'

Jim

Mark, humbly I can probably not deny that :D

Thanks for the compliments Paul. Actually I use Wayne Morgan's system of trolling...rod holders and rods visibly numbered and knots in lines to mark distances. My use of a detailed, written trolling plan was learned from Mlag. Mark was also a huge help in developing my spread. He catches fish, I was not about to reinvent the wheel. I have had many conversations with Capt Wayne as well and attended his all day seminar during the winter months; his advice as well, as Skip's, have also had big influences on how I troll. I really appreciated spending the day with both you and Rick. It was one of my most enjoyable days on the water...Don

Don; as I sit here watching the snow fall, I have to tell you that you are you are deploying your rods incorrectly. I know; I watched a master at work yesterday. The crew got explicit instructions from the captain. We would say, Mark, where does this rod go? He would say, Over there I think. Or we would say, Mark, this rod doesn't have anything on it. He would say, In that bag is a bunch of lures, make up a tandum. And here is a good one, Hey Mark, this reel doesn't work, what do you want me to do? Just grab another one that works. This is the one I like the best, Mark; where did you get this color umbrella? That thing has never caught a fish since I had it; put it out 8 bars!!! (WTF)
Just goes to show you how well that 25 Maycraft raises fish!!!! Guess I'm lucky that he keeps taking me back out though after I beat to death the biggest fish of the day with Mark's net before having the line break and watching it swim away.
We had a good time out there today, just gotta love fishing with friends that bust your balls all day long.
Good talking to you out there, looks like cbangler was well represented yesterday. 5th (Marty)

Very funny Marty. I am somewhat new to trolling these larger spreads and need all of the structure I get from pre-planning. Those with experience and a 6th sense of where the fish are, get along fine with mayhem and confusion:D...Don

Great job. Thanks for the report it is nice to see a real one for a change.

Chad

Don,

Just joined the site. "Rick Hensley" on the other board. Thanks for the link. Had a great time fishing with you and Paul Friday. A pleasure for sure.

Welcome to the board Rick...Don