How about we all introduce ourselves

[MikeWood]

12 pages of responses! I'm Mike Wood (mrmoray someplace else). I'm 39, and live in Damascus MD with my wife of 10 years, 14 year old stepson and 8 year old son.
I've fished the bay, on and off, since I was about 8 myself. When I was young, it was mostly the the Kent Island area from Bloody to Love Point, through the Chester and Eastern Bay. I remember catching nothing but bluefish in the 80s, the moratorium on rockfish, then the first half of the 90s when the rockfish returned. I got away from fishing in the late 90s as I met my wife and then eventually got married. While that was a good time for me, from what I gather, I may have missed some of the best years, in recent memory, for the rockfish. Sounds like the early 2000s were great from what I read.
Anyway, in early 2005 I got my first boat. Its a family boat...22' Searay, but I do what I can to fish on it too. I now fish mostly the upper bay, from the bridge north, but I have ventured below the bridge during spring trophy season. I had never heard of LTJing before I got my boat but have been working to learn that technique more than any other since I started fishing again. I prefer light tackle, and bait fishing on my boat is difficult, so LTJing works best for me right now. I'm not great at it, but I think I get a little bit better each year. 2009 was definitely my most successful year so far. My 8 year old, Ryan, officially became hooked on fishing this fall, especially after catching a 34" rock on light tackle....all by himself. So these days when I'm out there, he's usually standing next to me.

I've not fished with anyone on the board, yet. I'd love to HO sometime to accelerate my learning curve..mostly on LTJ, but maybe trolling as well. Trolling on my boat is difficult, but I manage.

Thanks for listening,
Mike

P.S. If anyone has any convincing arguments to help me trade in the Searay for a more fishing friendly boat, I'd love to hear them. My wife loves the boat, so we spend a great deal of time on the boat as a family, in non-fishing situations, which the Searay handles just fine...it just doesn't fish very well.

[BreezyDog]

Originally Posted by MikeWood

P.S. If anyone has any convincing arguments to help me trade in the Searay for a more fishing friendly boat, I'd love to hear them. My wife loves the boat, so we spend a great deal of time on the boat as a family, in non-fishing situations, which the Searay handles just fine...it just doesn't fish very well.

Just get a second boat

Me, I got my fishing boat first. I've had it since July and my wife has been on it twice. I have almost a 100 hours on it already. And I still have 7 100 foot oak trees worth of leaves in my yard...I'm thinking the leaves will be gone in sometime in January...

[B-Faithful]

Originally Posted by MikeWood

P.S. If anyone has any convincing arguments to help me trade in the Searay for a more fishing friendly boat, I'd love to hear them. My wife loves the boat, so we spend a great deal of time on the boat as a family, in non-fishing situations, which the Searay handles just fine...it just doesn't fish very well.

Do you do overnighters? most fishing boats make great day cruisers and are easier to maintain.

[MikeWood]

We don't do overnighters, so I totally agree. But cruisers have "creature comforts" that the wife enjoys. Big swim platforms, carpeted cockpits, etc, etc. That's the hill I'm climbing......

[ericmagsamen]

I had a 19' CC that was great to fish. But, I wanted something bigger and the family wanted a bathroom, etc... But I didn't want a cruiser so that's why I went with the walk around. It sleeps 4 when the mid bunk isn't full of fishing stuff... Ok, never. But it has a head, shower, heat/ac, galley w/fridge/sink/burner & genset. So now we're all happy until I pull up to the gas dock!

[thecow18]

My name is Dung Nguyen. I am a married 37 years old with 2 daughters, age 7 and 1. I grew up in the Fairfax County, VA area most of my life and currently live in Chantilly, VA. I am a Financial Systems Analyst. I did most of my fishing on land before I bought my first boat late last year. Early fall I found that my glastron boat had a big crack in the transom so I decided to get another. Cost to fix was more then what I bought the boat for. Found a great deal on a 2000 Angler 26' CC with dual Suzuki 150 outboards. It is now parked in a slip at Calvert Marina at Solomons, MD. I am still fairly new at fishing off the boat so I have lots to learn. Had the opportunity to fish with Jerry and Don from this site and they were very helpful and taught me alot. Very nice and friendly guys. Told Don I had to drive 1 hour just so I can fish with him and his jaw dropped. Told him that was a short drive. Solomons is almost a 2 hour drive for me and I have been doing that almost all summer long...........

very nice to meet everyone here.

[drichitt]

Welcome Dung. I have to drive an hour as well. My surprised look was that you had to carry those fish for an hour without being on ice. Glad it was a fairly cool day. I would suggest bringing a cooler when you sign on as a HO. Gotta think positive; or did you have doubts?...Don

[Ralph]

Hi guys -

Lot's of familiar friends have shown up here - glad I could join in where all the "cool kids" hang out .

My name is Ralph Meloy ( a.k.a. rem1224 on the other site). I live in Bowie, MD - been there over 20 years now - although I spend a lot of time on our farm property in Upper Marlboro where I grew up. Married to Gail for 30 years now (time flies!!) We have 2 boys - 1 in college, other one just got married in August.

I've been in the financial and computer fields for my whole carreer - worked in commercial lending at a couple of local banks, then got into private industry where there is a little less "government regulation" .

I've been fishing since I was about 10 - grew up fishing the Patuxent River from Waysons Corner to Benedict. The water in the river was actually clean back then - we'd actually catch crabs right off the dock near Rt 4.! Have owned several boats over the years - currently have a Trophy 2002WA. Next boat will have to wait until the college bills stop coming in . Usually fish out of Sandy Point or Chesapeake Beach.

[thecow18]

My name is Dung Nguyen. I am a married 37 year old with 2 daughters, age 7 and 1. I grew up in the Fairfax County, VA area most of my life and currently live in Chantilly, VA. I am a Financial Systems Analyst. I did most of my fishing on land before I bought my first boat late last year. Early fall I found that my glastron boat had a big crack in the transom so I decided to get another. Cost to fix was more then what I bought the boat for. Found a great deal on a 2000 Angler 26' CC with dual Suzuki 150 outboards. It is now parked in a slip at Calvert Marina at Solomons, MD. I am still fairly new at fishing off the boat so I have lots to learn. Had the opportunity to fish with Jerry and Don from this site and they were very helpful and taught me alot. Very nice and friendly guys. Told Don I had to drive 1 hour just so I can fish with him and his jaw dropped. Told him that was a short drive. Solomons is almost a 2 hour drive for me and I have been doing that almost all summer long...........

very nice to meet everyone here.