[Breakaway]

The birds have been around for the last 6 weeks, so when I couldn't find them today I thought I had a BIG problem. I did find quite a few boats just below the Md/Va line but I felt out of place since almost all of them were trolling and I only had jigging rods. Again I found no birds other than occasional gannet diving but nothing to get too excited about. I stayed there all morning jigging my ass off (while the trollers dodged me to the left and right) with nothing to show for it. Finally around noon I said screw it and headed back towards St Jerome's Creek, hoping MAYBE I would find birds somewhere on the way back that would save the day. No birds anywhere but when I got close to buoy 65, where I had caught fish last week, the depth finder lit up. Finally I started catching (and releasing since I was in Md waters) fish. I had a couple of really nice drifts where I stayed with and caught fish steadily for a half hour each time. Caught lots of fish with some in the 22"-27" range, using mostly a chrome/black stingsilver. I was all set to put the boat away for the year but, who knows, maybe one more trip?