Flat Seas, Birds, and Breakers 9/13
 

One of Those Days That We Live For, September 13th, 2012
:)

Summary
Today Norm could not make it, and so I went solo. I was underway at about 3:45 pm, and was pulling up to a busy dock just after nightfall at about 8 pm. It took a little while to find them, but I eventually found working birds and breaking fish. I caught about thirty rockfish on the bay from 12 to 18 inches, but the blues and Spanish mackerel eluded me. I was fishing over a hard bottom in 17 to 22 feet of water, and the most productive lure for me today was a 4-inch chartreuse chug bug. I was fishing the outgoing tide the entire evening. I trolled for a short while, but put away the two-rod spread and moved after a double knockdown of small stripers. At the lighted dock after I had pulled and put away the boat, I caught small rockfish and tiny white perch with my Beetle Spin while targeting puppy drum. If I’d had it to do over again, I would have nixed the trolling all together, and I would have walked the dog with my 6-inch chartreuse Spook instead of tossing my small Chug Bug in an attempt to weed out the smaller fish.

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/atta...7&d=1347833328

Conditions to Die For
Winds at the Gooses were out of the southwest and were calm to 3 knots with gentle gusts to 3 to 4 knots. The seas ranged from flat to a gentle 3 to 6-inch chop. High tide at Poplar was at 2:13 pm, low tide was at 8:24 pm, and the moon was 12% full and was waning. Sunset on this glorious evening was at 7:16 pm. Salinity at Annapolis was 13.4 PSU and up from about 12 PSU over the last two weeks. Water temperature in front of the South River was 79° and was 81° at near Poplar Island. The skies were clear and cloudless, the humidity was low, and air temperatures were in the mid 70’s.

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/atta...8&d=1347830930

Tackle
I used mainly my 4-inch chartreuse chug bug, and I also threw my old silver Gotcha plug when there were no breakers within casting distance. I also cast my Lil Jimmy (Specialized Baits) in a glass minnow pattern and with a 3/8 oz head as well as my old reliable 6-inch albino hot-rodded BKD with the ½ oz head and the tried-and-true bronze rattletrap. Later, at the lighted ramp at the marina, I tossed my white Beetle Spin.

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/atta...5&d=1347830930

I briefly dragged half of my summer trolling spread. I trolled a small Drone spoon in gold with the black on the concave side (Marty’s) and a #1 planer 30 feet back on the outside starboard, and a gold Clark #0 spoon and a #2 planer 90 feet back on the inside port. Both of these briefly-used rods simultaneously produced one undersized rockfish before they were put away. Undeployed were a medium Drone spoon with the same gold pattern and a #1 planer which would have been put 40 feet back on the outside, a gold Clark #00 spoon and a #2 planer which would have been put 120 feet back on the inside.

http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/atta...2&d=1347830983

I Wound Up the Day Fishing from the Lighted Ramp
http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/atta...4&d=1347830983

Fantastic pictures!

I'm so jealous of the breaking fish and birds....it's been two years since I've had a good experience like that.

And I love working Spooks.....We crushed the Largemouth in Mexico back in 2010 using Spooks early in the morning.