I haven't posted much because the fish have been harder to find (at least for us). We have been doing ok, but burning lots of fuel. As most of you know, Capt. John is a troller. We dabble in livelining, but he gets antsy and wants the breeze blowing through his hair on the troll
.
We have left Deal, headed to Eastern Bay, ran south to Sharps Island, across to Parkers Creek, up the western side toward the Radar Towers, and back to Eastern Bay after a tide change to catch a nice bunch of fish.
We find blues, rock (under blues), and a few Spanish at all the mentioned places. We have caught Spanish as far north as the Severn River
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The fish are moving a lot more than last year!! My opinion is that last year, with so much fresh water in the bay, the majority of fish stopped around the Choptank River. REMEMBER, the hook and liners working this area were way over their limit and had to be shut down for a time, and when they were allowed to go back to H&L, their daily quota was reduced.
With the bay as salty as it is, the fish have continued moving north, and we are running as far north as Hacketts for our fish. Because the fish are on the move, we have been doing a lot of searching, and relying on my friends information to put fish in the box. Thanks to all who feed me reports
.
Birds, breakers, and nervous water were hard to come by this last week. We had an easy time of it in Eastern Bay prior to last week. Birds were working either at the mouth or up inside past red #2 buoy. My lighter rods (2,4,6 oz) were picking up nice blues-big enough to have to grab them across the back because you couldn't get your hand around their belly and back (maybe 22 inches). Rock were found under the blues and caught on (10,16,20 oz) rigs.
Breakers were so prominant, I even had John breaking out the jigging rods and having fun with light tackle.
I normally run 7 rods off "Patent Pending", and cut that down to 4 when we are on breakers. This week, I added two more rods off the roof, and even went to two real deep rods with #3 planers and single lures for a total of 11 rods during charters.
It's really unusual. We can find lots of bait (the rods "quiver" as we go through the bait and the rigs hit the baitfish), but no fish are feeding on them. Good marks are again right on the bottom, and my deeper rods produce. We have had a few fronts come through and maybe the low pressure has shut down the bite. It appears to be feast or famine. I read that the "dead zones" are smaller than last year, so O2 content shouldn't be the problem. It looks like the jiggers have an advantage with fish tight to the bottom. I look for bait and fish spread throughout the water column/ with the best results in the 20 ft and above mark for trolling.
Anyway; it may have been easier for others last week, but we covered a lot of water to make the customers happy. We only run one trip a day, so we have even been staying out for a tide change for an extra 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Trolling doesn't use much fuel, so time is the only extra cost for us.
I have a friend that used to fish with me all the time. He moved to Hancock Maryland and will be visiting Mon, Tues, and Wed this week. I will be running my personal boat out of Bodkin Creek and fishing the upper bay with him. Wish us luck
. I hope to put him on some nice fish before he heads home.
I "stimulated" the economy today and filled up the fuel tank on my 22 W/A. Look for a report on Thursday.
5th (Marty)