Author: Riley

Quite the title I know but it was a lot going on yesterday. Scott came over because we were going fishing. We left my dock at sunrise. We headed out to Smith Point Lighthouse to get back to where the fish were recently. Based on tides for fishing the day was not going to be stellar. But the weather was going to be great, and we were going to have calm seas.

We did catch a few small stripers early, but it was dramatically slower than Saturday. Got some scoop from Dave to head to the Potomac. We headed north and in just a few miles we saw lots of birds and two boats. Bang, bang, bang, we got our limit in just a few minutes. Well as the title states we had a mission, so we headed back home.

Scott was having his boat serviced so we went to the shop got his boat and dropped it off it in the water for a test ride. Well, if you are testing you can be fishing so we headed back north. Our intention was to grab a big mule. We did catch a few keepers that we released but never got the big one. A good day so we headed back home.

While we were out there, we got two texts from our friend Tim. He and a friend had joined us in the Potomac as we were leaving. He stayed there most of the day and got two giant fish. First and 40″ then later a 42″. Very good work Tim. After seeing these two giants I really questions the logic of our mission 🙂 It was the best thing to do but we certainly would have loved to pull in alongside his two big dogs.

You’ve seen Tim star in a previous post where he didn’t get the big fish but not today, he definitely got the big one (s) today.

I did not think striper season could pick up from yesterday but wrong again. My friend Rick came over on what turned out to be a very low tide. It took 45 minutes to get my boat off the lift, but we had plenty of time for fishing.

Of course, I head north again. No need to change locations based on how many I caught yesterday. Today, with Rick on the rods we caught so many I got tired of counting. They were not huge but plentiful. We were actually south of where I was at yesterday, maybe about 3 miles south of Smith Point Light House on the shore side of the shipping channel.

The birds were out in full force but really anywhere in a 5 square mile I went we saw fish. We saw them heading into the boat. We both finally got tired, and my dogs needed to go out, so we headed back.

The lures of choice remain to the purple and white.

You can probably see I only pushed half an update. I was working on this Saturday morning and Scott came early so I pushed what I had and vowed to come back to the story.

This has not been a stellar year for me. One, I have not been able to get out as much as I would like but also the times, I have gotten out I have not caught in good numbers. Today was different. Today is one of those days that you dream about.

Got a text from my friend Dave. He told me he was near Smith Point Lighthouse and was doing pretty good. Well why should work get in the way. I had a call I needed to take but I work remote anyway so on the boat counts.

No time to waste so I headed out. Got to him around noon and he was absolutely right, they were hitting. I started with my standard four rod setup but honestly, I couldn’t keep up, so I finally dropped back to two. Thank God for autopilot, I can’t imagine being that busy on the rods and driving the boat at the same time.

Finally, no mas, I got a nice 24″ in the boat and headed home.

December 13, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	53.0 °F	33.8 °F	41.7 °F
Dew Point	37.5 °F	22.1 °F	30.4 °F
Humidity	90 %	42 %	66 %
Precipitation	0.00 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	9.8 mph	0.0 mph	1.2 mph
Wind Gust	12.5 mph	—	1.8 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	NNW
Pressure	31.32 in	31.10 in	—

A little late to the party, but after a successful morning with Captain Ryan on the Midnight Sun, we returned to the Potomac on my boat for an afternoon. I had the crew onboard what was a great afternoon of weather, fishing, and friends. 

We were in the middle of the Potomac in about 45 – 75 foot dropoff. The water temps have finally gotten down to what we are looking for. Some birds were sitting on the water, but enough of them to think something was coming and it may be a good day. We ran over some excellent fish marks, not just the bait we have seen for a while now but of actual fish.

The lures that caught most of the fish were the purple people eater, all white, and a crazy greenish speckle with a fire-red tail. All of the ones we caught were on umbrella rigs. The rigs I have are below.

December 5, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	49.4 °F	36.1 °F	43.4 °F
Dew Point	40.0 °F	33.3 °F	37.2 °F
Humidity	98 %	58 %	80 %
Precipitation	0.01 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	9.6 mph	0.0 mph	1.3 mph
Wind Gust	11.2 mph	—	1.7 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	NE
Pressure	30.74 in	30.56 in	—

My friend Scott had not caught a cobia all year and was dying to go. He had spoken with a friend that caught a few down at Windmill point recently so we decided to give it a go. We left out early Saturday morning and headed to Dividing Creek. Dividing has always been a good place for us because it has lots of places that transition from deep to shallow. For me that transition is maybe 10 ft of drop-off so don’t over think it.

We were early in my mind because I like the hours surrounding the tide change, but it is always fine for me to be early rather than late. We got everything setup and started our chunking.

Our first run came about an hour into the morning. We could tell it was not big enough to keep but was thinking we could get a cobia on board to get the day going. Even when this guy came up to the boat my first instinct was that it was a small cobia. Well, it was a surprise to us both. We got our hook back and sent him on his way. Look at the eel, looked like a surgeon cut, and under his fin is another cut. Amazing sharp set of teeth and jaws to match.

We got everything reset and about 30 minutes before tide change, we did hook a nice cobia. We fought this guy for about 15 min or more. He was never ready to come in the boat. Thankfully, we have gotten pretty good about understanding when the correct time is to try to land him. We only dipped the net in one time for him. For me, I want to see him turn his white belly up when he comes to the surface before trying to net him. That may not be best, but it has to be close because you rarely miss one after that occurs.

The day was not over, we caught one more shark and one more under cobia (no pic). It’s the last cobia because I am not sure I can get back out there before the season ends.

Scott and I got out Friday afternoon for a late Spanish run. We tried our local spots and caught one every so often. With little going on we decided to head off to R62. We saw a few Captain’s boats just further north than we had intended on going but we decided we were going to ole reliable R62. It rarely lets us down and didn’t today either.

We had to get back for dinner and needed time to clean up the boat and the fish before, so we came back to my dock. Each of these Spanish were about 18 – 20 inches.

I haven’t posted in a while, but I have been fishing regularly. I have been going on quick trips at the mouth of the Great Wicomico. There are plenty of Spanish Macs around this time of year.

I have not been on great adventures, but I get out for an hour or two. It is nothing like the calmness and the peaceful feeling of fishing. I get maybe 4 or 6, just enough to cook dinner for us and my lunch the next day.

There were many dolphins around, and today I caught a ribbon fish. I am not 100% sure how to target them, but he bit my clark spoon at 7 knots.

Hopefully, I will be heading out with my WyldLife kids sometime soon. I just spent a week in Rockbridge (check out the videos) with them, and other than completely exhausting, it was fantastic.

We were all on team Sutton today. I met up with my friend Adam, who likes to fish for Spanish, but his son Sutton loves to catch fish in general, especially Spanish. We also had on board Andy, which gave us a good crew member. We left my dock this morning at about 7:30 and headed to 1GW, where they were yesterday.

We got our gear in the water and headed south like I did yesterday. Well, nothing, and we headed back north. No more than we got back to 1GW, and just north, we started catching a couple of Spanish but primarily blues, so we kept going north. We returned to our ole reliable area around the nets at Smith Point (just south SP). We ran into a good area and circled to catch what we wanted to keep. It allowed us to return before any storm arose, and I was ready for lunch.

The good news about today was that we caught fish all day (minus the 30 min going south) all day. Maybe more blues than we had hoped but catching fish is always fun. We kept a few bluefish and ended with 11 Spanish. All of them were nice sizes, even if they were not huge.

I want to let you know just how good Sutton is at knowing when a fish is on. Most of us know that just before the planner is tripped, you can see the distinct movement of the rod. Sutton is as good as any I have ever seen at knowing when the planner will trip. He is on the rod, ready to reel it in. He is completely into the fish getting on board.

Always a good trip when you are on board with Team Sutton.

There was a cobia tournament going on today. I was scheduled to be in it, then got assigned a job that would not let me commit. Ultimately, I was glad to be moving today. It was excessively hot, with almost no wind out there today.

July 8, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	87.5 °F	75.9 °F	81.6 °F
Dew Point	81.0 °F	75.0 °F	77.6 °F
Humidity	98 %	77 %	88 %
Precipitation	0.01 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	6.3 mph	0.0 mph	1.1 mph
Wind Gust	8.1 mph	—	1.7 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	NE
Pressure	30.50 in	30.45 in	—

I left work a bit early to explore some Spanish Mackerel. I left my dock at about 3:00 and was heading to R62. I never got there. I saw some birds on the water around 1GW. I think they were there because the Omega fleet had arrived just before I arrived, but I decided to give it a go. Well, it did not take long. I got the first one before I got the 4th-rod fishing.

The water was as calm as possible, and I had my autopilot running, so a good day was ahead of me. It turned out I got 12 in the boat, missed about eight coming to the boat, and had about six blues that I let go.

Indeed, most were caught just south of 1 GW in about 30 feet of water. Every color I had worked, probably a Spacely Sprocket, would have worked today.

I got scared of a storm that was forming even though it didn’t materialize. I never take that kind of chance. Those that know me know I’m not particularly eager to get wet (at all).

These were all caught in about an hour.

July 7, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	88.2 °F	75.1 °F	82.4 °F
Dew Point	80.1 °F	72.7 °F	76.7 °F
Humidity	97 %	63 %	84 %
Precipitation	0.00 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	7.8 mph	0.0 mph	1.4 mph
Wind Gust	9.6 mph	—	2.0 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	ENE
Pressure	30.50 in	30.43 in	—

We left the dock this morning around 7:00. We headed to the beach. I had DJ on for the first time, and this was his first cobia try, along with Rob and Rick. 

I decided that since this day would be so nice, with no waves to deal with, I was not going to Dameron to join the all-too-familiar parking lot. I prefer to be alone, where I can manage the slick and the chum in the water. Well, a good plan gone wrong. There were very few boats at Dameron, but every boat east of the Mississippi seemed to be on the beach point. 

We ran our standard of eels and spot, but there was a long time when we only had a good conversation. This is an excellent time to give clear guidance. If you don’t like someone well enough to be cooped up with them, do not fish with them, it makes for a long day. But this group had a good time all day.

We finally decided to put out a cut bait for two reasons: we needed to change our luck, and at least we wanted a skate to put DJ to work. We did hook a skate, but Rick reeled it in, but it did break the ice.

Finally, one hit the line, and he hit it very hard and was dedicated to the nth degree. DJ got on the fish. You can’t be ready for your first cobia. You have to experience it alone. It was a nice fish, and we could tell that early. It jumped out of the water twice. As usual, he was far from done when he got to the boat. He made six distinct runs and was just a handful to get into the net. 

Well, MAFL, the word on the ML27 is out. They follow us wherever we go. I understand they need a fish, and they know the team is ready for the challenge.

June 24, 2023

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	82.3 °F	71.7 °F	76.3 °F
Dew Point	76.1 °F	70.8 °F	73.0 °F
Humidity	97 %	76 %	90 %
Precipitation	0.00 in	—	—

	High	Low	Average
Wind Speed	7.2 mph	0.0 mph	1.2 mph
Wind Gust	8.9 mph	—	1.7 mph
Wind Direction	—	—	West
Pressure	30.53 in	30.44 in	—