I don't know how to sum the trip up other than "Wow".
I had an invite from Rex to head out yesterday afternoon. We still went even though it started out rough. He really wanted to get out before Thursday before "all the f'ng pretend fishermen head out in the nice weather".
Ok, so I head south to meet him at a private slip on the Potomac near the mouth. It's a damn Yellowfin 32! This sloppy trip just started to look better. Rex normally keeps this boat in OC but had it repowered over the winter and wanted to get some hours on it before he heads offshore in it.
So we head south....and we keep heading south. It's a nice ride despite the wind for sure. But seems like we just ride..no fishing. He said he had some good reports from further south. This is new water for me so I have no idea where we are. After a good 40 minute ride or so we get to the area he wants to fish. It doesn't look like anything special to me but Rex told me to watch the display. Sure enough..out of nowhere we see some big structures underwater. There were no wrecks or coutour lines on his chart. He didn't know what the structure was but assured me there was fish there. He also said that in the dozens of times he's been here that no other boats were around. It was a spot that he was shown by someone who he said "best damn fisherman that ever lived". Sure enough, nice marks started across the screen. It didn't black out but these were nice fish. He pulls out a salinity meter to check the water. "F'ng rain has been messing up my strategy". I'm lost but ok
.
We drop a couple bucktails over the side (yes, bucktails). He said they're a lost art and showed me a few techniques. After a short time, just like he said, fishon for Rex. Couple of seconds later I hookup. We both pulled in a couple of nice mid 30's. I was happy but Rex was a little ticked. He said rarely do you find them that SMALL here!
For about the next hour or so, we have steady action. About every 3 casts lands a fish. The biggest was just pushing 40". As the afternoon went on, the winds died down so we putted around the area looking for more marks. We started to see some bait balls forming so we tried to stay around them dropping our bucktails over. Rex snagged an alewife right through the eye. I never seen a guy so excited. He pulls a live lining rig out of his tackle station and rigs up one of his baitcasters. He maneuvers around until we are over a baitball and lowers it down. It got no more got 30' down and just gets completely nailed. Rex was kind enough to let me take the rod. Since it was a circle hook, I didn't set and the fish sets itself. I never seen so much drag pulled in my life! After 10 minutes or so, we get the fish boatside. This was a big fish!! We didn't want to get it out of the water so Rex grabs the leader and does the best he can to work the hook free. We didn't measure it but both agree it easily in the upper 40's. You'll have to take our word on that since neither of us are camera happy.
We continued to jib the bait balls but it wasn't the same as earlier. The afternoon tide was rolling but for some reason the action died down. Rex gave some sermon about how the late moonrise affects the feeding patterns but it was a little over my head. I'll just take his word for it.
Anyway, the bay was still rolling a but it wasn't a chop. So we started back. It was a pretty good afternoon to say the least.
Rex is a helluva fisherman. If he invites ya to go, I'd recommend it!
He made me swear not to spot burn so I won't.
Rex, next trip is on me buddy!
Fishing with Rex
............Gary
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