11/11/13 Cove Point Area
 

Bruce Lewin (Hook 'em) called in to work and took the day off to go fishing with Lou and I today:D. With Tawn's post of nice fish,overs and unders, south of Chesapeake Beach, I just had to give the Cove Point area a try today.

Because it was a scouting trip, we didn't leave CB until about 8am. We cleared the bridge with room to spare (low tide) and opened the judge up for a quick ride south. Winds were more than I anticipated and more out of the north west (yeah I know that's Kim Kardashian's babies name).
We saw some small birds working, but not much under them. We ran over lots of bait, and when we came upon 78A we saw charters working the area. I slowed, watched the meter and the charters. Saw several small fish (23 in range) boated, and decided to stick to the original plan and continue south.

Surely we would run into more birds and boats:rolleyes: We arrived near the power plant and slowed to look for bait. Zip, nada, nothing:mad: no birds, bait, or boats. I started across the channel and found enough bait to put out the spread. We ran all 6 in. baits or spoons. I stayed long enough to give it a good try, but now, those 23 in fish up north looked pretty good:eek:

I swung the bow northward and we SLOWLY trolled back toward 78 & 78a. The closer we got, the better the bait got. When we got close enough to see the charters (probably on their second trip of the day) a rod got hit, but didn't hook up. I trolled a while and then checked the bait, the shad had been shoved up over the hook:mad: we reset the bait.

As we crossed the channel from west to the eastern side, a boat umbrella went down. Good, skunk off the boat. I watched the screen and told Bruce that I had lost the bait. Another rod goes down, soon another, and while unhooking a fish on the deck, another:). We picked up five fish in about 30-45 minutes. One was an 18 in fish that we all agreed to toss back. We had 25,25,20,20 in the box and had about an hour to still troll. Surely we will pick up two more for our limit:rolleyes::rolleyes:

As you can guess, those were the last fish we saw:mad: Well, at least we had some meat in the cooler and some good information. Had we stopped at 78A earlier, I have no doubt we could have had our limit early in the day. But, we would have always wondered if those 30 inch fish were further south.

It turned into a beautiful day on the water with friends (that's what we all say when we don't catch our limit of big fish:D).

BUT, I did get to see my Gannets:eek: never saw them diving, but they were flying and saw a couple sitting on the water. So in conclusion, it's close to busting wide open, but not quite ready yet. If it doesn't rain or snow tomorrow, I'll clean the boat. It will be ready for next time the winds lay down:D

5th (Marty)

I would say you did pretty well Marty.

One of my buddies out of the Harbor ran his party all the way down to 77A based on what I had told him....they came home busted. Three throw backs, that was it.

He said they started north of 77A and worked up towards 78 and never found a single keeper.

Another friend had his private boat out near the Gas Docks and ended up skunked as well.

I heard of a bite out front, but it was third hand info and I can't vouch for the accuracy of it.

Tawn, I have to say, I was really disapointed in what little activity I saw south of 78. I figured your fish moved, but I was hoping some more came in to fill the void:D

5th

Ain't fishing grand??? :D. Just when you think you got 'em figured out....
I'm sure you boys had fun and came home with a few for dinner. Well done!!

Any time I can get out on the water in November and not have to be at work is a good day. We didn't get the big ones but at least we got some pullage.
Thanks for the trip Marty I had a good time with you and Lou.
bhl (Bruce)

Nice report.

I was out Saturday and played around with lots of small ones near green 3 and red 2 at mouth of choptank.