Back on the water

[5th Tuition]

Had a week of Vacation Bible School with the kids (yep, that's a scary thought) so it's been a while for fishing (about 10 days)
I went overboard to clean my transducers; they had a few barnicals and "velvet" to scrap off.
Tuesday looked like the best day, so I invited a couple of friends and the plan was to get our fish quick, then replace our spot supply, and get back to the slip before the 95* heat.
You know what they say about the "best layed plans"

We left the slip at 5:30am with temps already 79*. I headed north to Craig Hill Light for an early live line bite. As we approached, another boat with a two stroke mercury (is there any noiser engine) pulled up to the lighthouse (motor running) and tied up to the ladder of the lighthouse
So much for being stealthy I bet the rockfish skeddattled.

We only successfully pulled one keeper from the lighthouse.

Plan "B" was to try the rock pile at Love Pt/Chester River. We found 5 or 6 other boats already there. We caught a few just under size fish, but didn't see any of the other boats "lighting it up" either. We put our time in before leaving for plan "C". I was heading across the bay toward Podickery.

Suddenly, we saw birds working and fish breaking
We broke out the jigging rods to quickly see what size fish we were dealing with beneath us. I was anticipating dinks, but our first fish was just under keeper size. One of my friends hooked up another and said, "this one has some shoulders."

Knowing we had spent too much time trying to find the live line bite, I quickly pulled out three trolling rods with Captain John spreader bars (plan "D"). Captain John now has some small gold spoons that catch everything in the bay (rock, blues, spanish, reds).

We quickly put our remaining 5 keepers in the box and headed to resupply our spot numbers. We put 60 spot in the live well and headed home.

It was "hot" on land. I cleaned the boat while my friends cleaned the fish. The airconditioning in the truck was a relief as we headed home.

Not the best day, but a limit of fish and some flexibility catching them, put a smile on my face as my head hit the pillow for a well deserved nap (after a long cool shower)
5th