Lots of releases - Bloody Point - 3/23 w pics
My phone rang this morning at 5:45 am - it was my dad. He asked if we were still going since the trees in his yard were blowing around. I said - of course , then he said something that really worries me. He said he just did not feel up to going today.
Now , if you know my dad - it is never too rough to go. In fact , he'll go when I'm having second thoughts.
Sucks him getting old on me. He's up for the next trip hopefully.
That started the morning off on a sour note but I headed off to sandy Point to meet fellow Tfer Charlie S.
He was there when I pulled in - not hard to find each other since no one else was there. Wind was blowing right good from the south - predicted to be SW.
Launched the boat and quickly racked the six rigged rods and the one spare one. Ran out over 2 foot whitecaps at about 18 knots. With no real game plan - ran SE towards #84A. Watching the meter as we ran - saw very little bait. The water was off colored at first but cleared near Thomas Point. Got below Bloody and saw a few bait schools so we put over the boards. Only took a few minutes to get out the spread. 3 singles off port and 2 tandems off starboard. Back 100 - 75 and 60 feet. Rigged up a test rig from Reel Dragon tackle. Small 6 arm 6'' glow shad with a 2 oz parachute. That went out off the board as well.
Wind shifted SW and began to lay down.
We trolled east/west from 50 to about 90 feet. Had a hit that broke the rubberband but no hook up. Release #1.
Swung around and had another hit - again it broke the rubberband but did not hook up. #2 release.
I was hoping we would catch - then release.
Had that happen one more time then hooked up to a fish. Charlie made short work of a good looking fish about 32 inches.
It hit a white sparkle parchute.
We circled around and let the incoming current carry us north. The high tide was really high - the current ran in long after prediction. Had another release - my guess is small males that could not get the entire lure. I debated switching to 6 inch shads but we did not have much time left. The rod with the umbrella got hit and I reeled in a chunky fish about 33 inches.
Wind shifted west and came up about 1:00 so we reeled in and ran back. Good timing as it got windy on the drive home.
Hoping more fish show up soon - got a bad feeling a lot got killed this winter.