Got back on the water Saturday with my friend Scott and two new friends Sammy and Cameron. I got the bait early again this week so we could get out on the water early. Went to Dameron Marsh near Reedville Va. just like most days and set up for a good day of fishing. Weather was perfect on the water, perfect temp, winds, waves were a foot or less, the day you all dream of for a day trip.
Our goal as always is to get everyone in on catching a big monster cobia but that was not going to be the case today. We were not out there very long before we got a good run and hooked our first cobia. Sammy got the reigns of the rod and did a good job keeping him out of the motor, trim tabs, etc. As he got closer to the boat we could tell he was likely going to be a “short”. We got him in the net, in the boat and that’s when the fun happened. It was a blast to see Sammy try to pick up that cobia. They are not easy on any day but if you could have seen the spectacle that we saw you would still be laughing. All in good fun, we got a picture, got the hook out safely, and put him back in to grow more so next year when he comes by we will have him on the “BarBe”.
Next up was Cameron, I didn’t write down the time we landed either of them but I would think it was another hour and half before we landed the second one. Much less drama getting the picture but still fun.
We did get one other run that did not hook up. Whatever it was, it took the bait and as I went to set the hook it bit half of the Spot but not the half with the hook in it. Well that’s fishing and a bit unusual as well, they generally take the entire bait so we are somewhat thinking it could have been a skate.
We did accomplish what we started out to do which was to meet new people, have fun and spend time away from the clutter of the world for a few hours. Meeting great people like Sammy and Cameron is the best part of fishing! Having time to get to know others without many distractions is a great way to spend a day.
Welcome back to fishing. It has been a long-time coming but I am glad to tell you I went fishing today with my friend Scott. We went cobia fishing, certainly one of my favorite times of year is the cobia start.
I had gotten all of the fishing supplies yesterday so we were ready to head out at first light. We stopped by our best Spot fish location and landed 3 of them for bait. We also had 8 eels, whole bunker for chunking, and chummed up bunker, along with Menhaden oil.
We ended the day with one cobia on board that measured 41″, legal size but very small so we let him go. We had a few others hooked but one ran under the boat and got tied up in the trim tabs and prop (in about 2 seconds) so we lost him and one other one that broke a 50 lb leader so the big one gets away yet again.
We got those 3 fish on live spot and eel. We caught two mullet while on anchor and used those when we finished out the spot but mullet did not get a bite. For location we were at Dameron marsh, basically where everyone else was and in about 30 ft of water. We fished most of the outing going tide and just a bit of the incoming.
When we left the dock it was mostly calm, maybe a foot or less. The weather otherwise was windy but nice. The waves got ridiculous so we left before lunch.
Scott holding our fishVery rough water at the end of the day
I did find a new tide chart program that I am liking. Tide Chart this particular link is for the area of the Great Wicomico light. I do like the way it works. It is a clean interface and not too busy which is a big plus. Check them out sometime.
Current weather in Glebe Point (Great Wicomico River)
This time of year when things start blooming and I see Osprey in the air and fish jumping in the creek I get excited for the upcoming year. I try to hold my enthusiasm back just a bit but I start hitting RWs a little more, Green Top and Bass Pro when I am in the Richmond area and looking at all of the boats listed for sale (not that I am going to buy anything, just boat dreaming is what I call it).
I have started cleaning up all of my equipment, trimming the last ten yards or so of line off all reels, cleaning the boat, and making final preparations for a better year. I have always heard that fishing tournaments are won on the dock, not in the water. I believe that for sure, you need to be prepared for success when the big one hits, it’s way too late to start doing equipment checks on the water. So take the next month going through all of your equipment, fishing and safety equipment to ensure you are ready for the day.
I don’t know when my first adventure will be but I am getting ready. One way I see the NNK Fishing group (https://northernneckanglersclub.com/) is having a seminar. I plan on attending and I will certainly invite all of my group. These people do a great job for the fishing community and I ask that you support them as you can.
From their website “The club is hosting a fishing seminar on April 23rd from 8:30 to 4:00 at the Lancaster Community Library. The Event will feature charter boat captains and local anglers from around the area specializing in targeting NNAC tournament species found in the waters of the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay and tributaries. There will be door prizes and raffles, and refreshments will be on hand. The event is free and open to the public. Come with your fishing questions for the quest speakers or for other anglers on hand. There is limited space available so get there early to ensure your seat!”. Hope to see you there.
This year I will start out with my year in fishing and move to more about me as I go. Hopefully the format will work for those precious few that only know me through my fishing blog and only want to hear those stories.
Well first things first I had a blown motor in my boat that had to get replaced so I fished with friends early. Got my brand new drop in all inclusive motor package from Michigan Motorz. I have to say I have been well pleased with the motor and my experience with them. If you have to get a new inboard/outboard engine I would say you should at least check them out.
I don’t think there is any argument that this was our best cobia year. We caught more, more consistently than ever before. Definitely caught the biggest cobia of my life with Vince. We through trial and error and maybe luck found out some new and I would say far better approaches to cobia.
Next comes Spanish mackerel. I would say we had an average spanish year. If they were out there in great numbers I never found them. Yes we would catch 8 – 10 but we had to work for them. Generally, in what I would say were normal years you would find a very large group and catch until you wanted to finish but that certainly was not the case. We did get a few other people out that had not gone out before so that is always exciting.
Now when it comes to fishing everyone around here including me is waiting for striper season. Honestly, it took this look back to truly understand how good a season we had. Expectations have grown because we have learned so much about striper fishing that it was easy to overlook all of the times we caught fish, caught limit, had an easy time of it, and just had success.
I have been trying this year to share what I have learned about the different types of fishing and the skills needed to catch as opposed to fish. I have stated this in other blog posts but I am confident that landing fish is a summation of various items and how many of those items you get right or at least how you score each of those factors ultimately determine the outcome. That of course is the reason that we all know of at least a few people that are dramatically better sport fishermen than we are currently. Think of it as scoring for the olympics, each person is scored on various different aspects of the sport. Fishing is the same so as we all learn and share we all become more likely to be successful.
Conservation is key to our sport. It is in fact a sport because as I have said to everyone I know the most expensive fish you will eat is the one that you catch. The fish we do take is almost always for others or for cookouts with family and friends. We are not there to just fill the freezer (I buy a cow for that reason). But we are not out there to survive but to thrive in life’s adventures and comradery with every person on the boat. There are precious few times you can spend more quiet and quality time with a few close friends than on a boat. We rarely have the radio on, but that does not mean there is no music out there, we sing every song we grew up with (even if it is only 10 words per song). Yes everyone should be exposed to this at least once.
From a personal perspective 2021 was still a hard year. We left 2021 with worse Covid news than what we started with. I think that surprised most people and it certainly surprised the people we are counting on for guidance. I lost a dear friend in Patsy, we together lost a lot of people that made our world a better place to live. My prayer is that we learn to live in a manner that would honor their lifestyle. It is imperative that we help this younger generation that all is not lost. All is not for naught.
I was asked to become a deacon at Fairport Baptist Church. Well I am as mystified as you are, well not really, the Lord has a way (His Way) of putting us in a position to be the person he wants us to be. I may not be ready to take on this role but I do know God equips those that are called as opposed to calling those that are equipped. I will definitely be doing everything I can think of to be the kind of person God needs me to be to take on such a role.
I have still been active with our Young Life group in in Northumberland. I still very much enjoy the people and the kids that come to learn about how they fit into the world of crazy and how a relationship with Jesus will be a grand benefit for them as they travel through life. If you have those same questions I beg you to come to Fairport Baptist Sunday mornings at 10:00 and ask them to me or our pastor Neale Schools.
I do thank all of the people that have been reading these blogs. Honestly, I started writing things down because I could not remember from year to year when or how we fished. After doing it for a while I realized I at least like doing it regardless if I am any good at writing. I do this more for a good mental exercise and I hope you keep enjoy reading. I have thought about opening it up for comments but I would not want to read all of the hateful people that do nothing but complain so if you know me you are always welcome to come by and give me some pointers.
One other thing I don’t think I have ever done is show you my boat. It is a 1998 Proline 251. If you see me on the water you can call out for the Mythical River.
I will likely update this as I go this week so come back later.
We have fish camp every last week of the striper season. This week was likely our most successful even though it went out with a fizzle. It actually starts a bit earlier than the week but in general we dedicate the last week of the season to bring as many of our friends from our old stomping grounds as we can make it.
It all started great with the biggest fish we had ever caught on Sunday the 26th. We had quality fish every day and got them early and often for the most part all week long. But sadly I had Charlie, Johnny, and Todd for the last day and we did not catch even one.
The day seemed to be doomed from the start. The weather was terrible, dense fog all over the area. I always promised myself I would not venture out in the fog so we waited until about 10:30 before leaving the dock. Even at that we did run into fog around 1GW but as you got out even further it cleared more and more. It was never really gone but certainly safe.
We headed out to R62 and trolled our favorite baits but nothing really happening so I heading down to the cut channel. I took that long run because I really wanted them to get at least one fish. Also, it was far clearer south and the cut had at least 3 miles of visibility.
We tried for several hours but most of the group had something planned for New Years so we headed back early. Maybe if we had stayed fish a while they would have gotten the dinner bell playing but not today.
We made it back in plenty of time and again only the 1GW area had any significant fog so we were safe. I definitely had the radar humming and all eyes on the path.
Yep stole the title from a ZZ Top album but they obviously misspelled theirs.
We had Trey with us today and we just took off to R62 instead of just running around the bay just to end up there. There were a few boats there already including the Midnight Sun. We took our time getting out today because we were not sure of the fog conditions but ultimately set out at 8:00 from my dock. Trey is just one of those truly genuinely nice people that I am fortunate to call friend and he is more than welcome on my boat any day he wants.
The water was calm with just a bit (and I mean just a bit) of chop on maybe ½ foot rollers. We got there quickly and set up shop just south (maybe a half mile south of R62). Trolling eastward we ran into a few marks in the channel which is where we had caught most of our fish. But today, there was little to nothing in the deep water so we kept going eastward. We got to the shelf of approximately 45 -50 foot of water just before the NNK reef ledge of 30ft and we saw lots of marks and a fair amount of bait.
Often surprises (and at this point in my life it should not) me how out of the blue we get our limit. Today was no exception, we got multiple 20” fish but continued to throw them back and eventually hit a school 23” fish. Now that is more my style. We put three of those guys in the boat in no time and had a good ride back to the dock.
We did hit a thick layer of fog at the entrance to the Great Wicomico which I am never a fan of but we got through it fine with my chart plotter and radar. People ask me all of the time how often I use my radar and I say it is required to run if you have one but I love the confirmation of a radar blip where I can see the other boats and even more when I cannot see the other boats.
We had Mitch, Scott, and Thomas in Mitch’s boat with us all day and they had good success as well so another good day on the bay.
The purple people eater was the best bait today as well as the year really two years.
Always good to have a good captain and experienced first mate on board. We set out a little later than normal thinking it would be good timing and hoping the winds would die down. I think the weather apps have been more consistently off recently than I can remember. The water was very calm, a low ceiling to the point you may have thought it was fog. There were some rolling 1.5 foot but zero chop which is always an interesting mix. What wind we had was more from the east (which is not the best fishing wind). It started out warmer and got colder during the day.
We headed off to the Smith Point Lighthouse area to see what was happening. Saw nothing in the air or on the sonar so I headed over to the areas I like best there, which are the 3 wrecks just off 63a. It’s deep water but you generally see bait and fish there. We did see a ton of bait and fish in the area. We caught a few fish but they were mostly small or at least nothing we wanted to bring onboard. We finally did catch one 23” fish there but we decided to head to R62 to see what was going on.
Well there it was just a lot of the same. As we moved through the tide change we caught a bunch of 23”. We had two in the boat so we kept throwing back one and catching another. Well finally I decided that we were either catching the same fish or we were in a school of 23” and we just put the 3rd one in the boat and came home with plenty of daylight and time to clean everything.
Overall a really good day. I feel ashamed that you can be dejected with catching limit with nice fish. Spoiled is the only word that comes to mind.
Chuck (aka, Angelique) always tells us we are the “bellys” going fishing. She will add up the number of people on the boat and that is the name of that boat. Much like whichever plane the President is in is considered Air Force one, we had the call sign today as the 4 Bellys (yes this is how we spell it). Well we probably have more fun in our Belly Boat than any of the presidents but that is another blog completely. So today we added another into the mix, Denny joined our merry band of anglers.
Far colder today, with less sunshine, more wind, stronger seas, you name it, there was worse of everything today than yesterday. But, we fish because we want to not because there are good days and bad days. We will leave the dock washer (people that have boats but don’t take them out) to themselves and charge on as normal. You can’t catch a big one or many of them on the dock making phone calls to see if they are out there. And no I am not talking about any of my friends so don’t start with me.
Anyway we headed out in Mitch’s boat from his dock at about sunrise. Did not take long to know that it was going to be a rough ride to the fishing grounds. I would say it was 2 solid feet with rough chop. It was far cooler today but we are here to fish so we did. Denny said we needed to find a better road home when we come back (Mitch complied and it was far smoother on the ride in).
We started out at R62 looking for the same group of fish but they were gone. The old saying of you can’t catch yesterday’s fish is as true as it comes. But, throughout the morning we did catch a lot of undersized fish that we threw back and two keepers.
Denny and Basil did a good job on deck and brought in the fish and rigs like they were pros. We were out there and the Captains boats were having as difficult a time as we had. Yesterday they were back at dock at 9:00, today some were still out there when we left.
Okay, let’s start at the beginning of my day. Went to church as normal but Scott and I had arranged to go fishing as soon as I got back to my house. He called later to let me know that Mitch would be joining us on my boat. We did not get out as quickly as possible because Scott needed gas in his boat so we went there first. He needed to fill up because this week is fish camp. We invite everyone we know that wants to fish the last week of the season so we each need our boats full of gas and ready to go. But, we decided that today we need to scout out where to fish and how.
We left the dock at about 1:30 and headed to R62. We did see a bunch of birds and the water was active. We were catching normal fish all day and we got our 28 inch fish in the boat leaving room for a big one. There have been more “big ones” caught this year than has been in a bunch of years and we wanted to be that boat as well.
We were bottom bouncing and I saw the rod bend over and so did Scott. He picked it up and screamed to stop the boat. The fish was taking drag even after I had it in neutral. Mitch and I got the other rods in the boat to keep everything out of the way.
We all knew it was going to be a big guy and as it turned out it was a 47” 45 pound killer. This one was caught on our bottom bounce rig. We were in deeper water so in those cases we definitely want one of them out.
Bringing a fish that big in the boat takes the whole crew. There is an amount of teamwork that is needed that without that level of work there is no way the fish is in the boat. Even with us all at work it was still amazing to get everything in order to get him over the rail.
This is what we were all looking for, we have fish to eat and could really care less about the food aspect of fishing (even though we love to eat them). I wanted the big one, this was the biggest striper to be over the rail of my boat and I am glad and proud to catch it with two of my best friends.
Just a quick note about the name of the post. It originated from our trips with Brandon and the boys. They want to name all of the fish and we decided the big one would be called Bocephus. So they keep saying we are going to catch Bocephus. Well this time we did, maybe the next time they go with us we can catch it’s brother.
Scott holding the fishMe holding the fishMitch and Scott
December 26, 2021
High
Low
Average
Temperature
61.7 °F
43.3 °F
55.6 °F
Dew Point
52.3 °F
39.1 °F
42.5 °F
Humidity
90 %
44 %
63 %
Precipitation
0.00 in
—
—
High
Low
Average
Wind Speed
11.4 mph
0.0 mph
3.0 mph
Wind Gust
13.2 mph
—
4.0 mph
Wind Direction
—
—
Pressure
29.88 in
29.52 in
—
The water was very calm, about 1 foot. Water temp was 44.
Here is another tactic I have added to my list of rigs that I use. We call it bottom bouncing. In essence the idea is that you put a big enough weight on the line to have the weight bounce on the bottom and it puts the lure just above the floor of the bay. You put the lure directly above a striper that is resting close to the bottom.
I think you can use most any lure but we use what I call a Road Runner. On to this I add a 5 inch swim shad.
It works when other times during the day things don’t. There are times when you are waiting on the tide or current to change and you are just burning gas. I have found during those times you increase your chances of success by adding this to the mix. I don’t run these when umbrellas and tandems are killing it but when nothing else seems to be working.
I hope you can notice that for this lure the hook is up which helps it not pick up any trash if by chance in a turn it also hits the bottom.
As you are trolling you will see the rod leisurely go down then back up say on a rhythm of a Lawrence Welk “and a one and a two” or a bit slower. If the rod tip is not moving you are not on the bottom.
