We don't usually do C/R charters. We will get a couple guys together and go out for fun just so we can obtain some information. However; we were contacted by some people who live in Virginia and they were coming up to Maryland for Easter and it was the only time they could be together to fish.
We informed them that the season was C/R, we were limited to 6 rods, and the fish were later returning this year because of the colder weather. They said they didn't care, they were willing to try even though the fishing would be sparce. They even got the "crabcake lunch" for an even better time on the water.
We left the dock at 7am. We headed south and found bait and fish in 65ft of water. Fish seemed to be holding at the 40 ft depth.
I put three lines out on the board. One tandem and two "six packs". The tandem was out 100ft, one six pack back 80ft and the other back 60ft. I also ran another six pack off the gunnel back 200 ft with no weight
Lastly, we had two umbrellas deep (20 oz's) 5 and 6 bars respectively.
It took a while, but at 9:30am, a board rod got slammed
She hit the six pack back 80 ft. Fish On! I can't tell you what the size was, we took a quick photo (so quick the photographer didn't even get the whole fish in the picture) and placed her back in the water. She was a nice fish, maybe 43 inches
A slap of her tail sent water in everyones face and back to the spawning grounds she went. She left no sea lice on the deck (not sure how to interpret that).
We continued south with no more hits. John broke out the cooking utensils around 11am and as he cooked lunch, I pulled lines and headed the boat southwest. We knew it was going to be a tough day, so we had a plan "B". I broke out the jigging rods and tied 6in. and 10in. BKD's on the rods. We were headed to the Power Plant
I know we are not very welcome in such tight waters, but I figured by noon, we had given the small boats enough time to catch plenty of fish. We slowly made our way into the "outer" plume and saw some fish. Most of the smaller boats (Bfaithful included) were working shallower water inside. We tried to be as stealthful as you can with a 46ft Markley.
I tried to explain the jigging process to the crew, but they were very inexperienced and it would have been dumb luck (in thick fish) to hook one. I had a hit and missed it
We saw a couple boats hooked up, and I called Greg on the phone to see how they were doing. I believe they had a double hookup, so they had to call me back
We tried another drift or two, but I could see the crew thought this jigging stuff was a lot of work for no action.
We let them decide if they wanted to stay and jig or go back to trolling
We fired up the big diesel and brought the boat up on plane, and ran through the underwater discharge and laughed as the people on the little boats grabbed tee tops, hand rails, or dove to the bottom of their boat
Just kidding
Jamie (Jumbo1) wasn't there, so we saved that move for another day
We trolled back toward Deale. Everyone's bellies were full of crabcakes and blueberry pie. The sun was out and the jackets came off. We leasurely limped back north and kept an eye out for gannets, osprey's, ducks, and whatever else we could find.
Back at the dock, we apoligized for just one fish, but they said they had a great day on the water. They asked about any open dates during the Trophy season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them back later next month.
At least we didn't get skunked. I only saw one other boat trolling today. It looks like you still have time to paint that bottom, wax that hull, or install those extra rod holders. I'll keep posting; it will get better; trust me
5th (Marty)
1st Charter 2013
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