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.
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.
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 ˝ oz head and the tried-and-true bronze rattletrap. Later, at the lighted ramp at the marina, I tossed my white Beetle Spin.
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.
I Wound Up the Day Fishing from the Lighted Ramp
Flat Seas, Birds, and Breakers 9/13
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