This time of year, when the weather (wind) is right, you just have to go
I haven't been out for a while, and Bruce had his new Judge to finish putting his 10 break-in hours on, so we decided to "buddy boat" and look for some fish.
We agreed to meet at 7ft Knoll at 8am. I got there a little early and Mike and Lou pitched a few lures at the rocks and structure while we waited for that slow poke new 27 Judge with 300 Suzuki (he wasn't to run over 4000 rpms for extended periods)
Mike noticed some birds about a 1/4 mile south, so we checked it out. I had a feeling they were small fish, so I picked up my metal jig rod with one of my perch jigs on it. Sure enough, I was hooked up time and again while the small YOY had a hard time getting to the hooks of a 6inch BKD
Bruce showed up, tried a little bit away from us and hoping for bigger fish, but no luck, everything was tiny.
We picked up and ran south. Bruce ran the shallow side of the channel while I ran the deep side so we could scout more water looking for birds, breaking fish, slicks, or any signs of life.
As we broke under the bay bridge, I radioed Bruce to run alongside for a few photo's of his new ride (pic's to follow).
Found some birds working at the bow of the anchored ships. Mostly small fish, but some 18 inch fish mixed in with them (no Keepers). Played with them for a while and once again headed south to Eastern Bay. Binoculars didn't show anything happening, so I trolled a while into the bay while glassing for more action. We picked up rods and ran farther into EB and found birds working closer to Poplar Island. Saw those jigging throwing back undersize fish, so we dropped a few umbrellas looking for a keeper or two holding with the smaller fish. Lots of 18 inch fish and ONE 22 inch fish that went into the box. Lots more 18 inch fish came over the gunnel, so I decided to move once again.
We had reports that nice fish were being caught in the Choptank, and I considered running behind Poplar to get to better fish. However, Bruce decided to run back to the Western Shore (now had his 10 hours) and search the West, South, Severn, and Magothy Rivers as he headed home. I ran deep into EB and went through Kent Narrows and out into the Chester. Never seeing any signs of life
As I headed NW to check out Belvedere Shoals; I saw Bruce running north. We hooked up together just in time to search Belvedere thoroughly. Again, nobody home.
Ran back to the slip to clean boat (and one fish
).
Looks like I'll be pulling boat, putting on trailer, traveling south to look for better fish.
I wish I had a better report. Maybe CJ was the smart one in the group. He sold his enclosed Parker this summer
I think a lot of people will be shrink-wrapping early this year if they normally fish north of the bridge. When is the first fishing show this winter
5th
62 miles/one fish
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