Mark told me that he hates asking people to go looking for spot with him. He figures that if he invites someone fishing, it best be for rockfish. I had told him that I don't mind looking for spot to fill his trap at the pier. The spot are way to far south for me (running from Bodkin Creek).
Mark planned to go "spot" fishing today and I jumped at the opportunity for another day on the water.
We met at 6am and headed south into a stiff SW wind. The CBIBS said 14 Knots (about 16 MPH)
We took a leisurely ride across the bay and tried a few places he had been successful in the past years. Nothing
I called Capt. Charlie Schneider (Big Will II) who runs out of Tilghman, to see if he knew of any places where we could pick up a bunch of spot. He laughed, and said we were waisting our time. Some Captains are spending hours for 12-14 spot
Mark and I looked at each other, and Mark said, "We can always revert to Plan B. Lets go north of the bridge and troll for rock
So we began the long ride (at least with the wind) north. The bridge slowly got bigger as we made steady progress north.
Once north of the bridge, we dropped 7 trolling rods and fish on before the last rod was deployed
The tide was ripping, and we had better success as it slowed. Finished with our two overs (31,32) and two unders (21,22) while keeping a close eye on the dark clouds over the western shore. We only had a few sprinkles all morning.
We ran back to the South River and fueled up with plenty of time for Mark to head in to work
Sooooo, as far as "spot" go; we were skunked
The live well was empty; but the cooler was full
Look at the difference between 22 inch fish and 32 inch fish
It is alarming to me that it APPEARS that it is just this one school of fish supporting charters and private fishermen from as far away as Chesapeake Beach/Deale, and Tilghman Island
I hope I'm wrong and additional schools pop up elsewhere
Good luck to the CBA's headed out tomorrow
5th