Technically Limited Out – Friday May 4th
Summary
The plan for Thursday & Friday, May 3rd and 4th, was to fish both days and put some good people on some good fish. On Thursday, Kate and my 90 year-old Pop and I made a go of it, but angry winds chased us in after less than half an hour. Friday was a different story; the light winds not only materialized as promised, but we caught fish. With me on Friday were Norm, Ron, & Mike.
We were underway at 7:15 am, and we had our first fish in the box by 8:30, a 34½-incher off the way, way back (11/0 silver crippled alewife) reeled in by Mike. At 8:45 am, Ron brought in a lucky 25-incher which took a 6 oz chartreuse single chute off the boards back 60’. Around 11am, a fairly large bass smashed the smaller bait of a 6/9 chartreuse tandem off the boards back 40’. Norm fought the good fight, but the 36 to 38 inch fish was lost at the side of the boat. During the morning, we got about three missed knockdowns in addition to the hookups.
Our fishing was suspended at about 1 pm while we waited out a storm with wind and rain, but thankfully, no lightning. We started redeploying the spread at about 2 pm, and before we had all the lines re-deployed, a fat 27-incher hit the large bait of 2/4 chartreuse tandem on the boards back 80’ at about 2:15 pm. I reeled in the almost-legal fish, and she was released without incident. About a half hour after my undersized fish was released, we got our fifth solid hookup of the day when a 32½” fat female slammed the lucky rod of the day, the 2/4 chartreuse tandem back 80’ on the boards. Norm reeled his prize, and so we were partially vindicated for the fish that was lost earlier. During this “second half” of fishing, we had one more missed knockdown, and we pulled the spread at about 3:45 pm. None of the fish today had sea lice, and most of the fish that we marked were in the lower half of the water column, many of them below a thermocline layer in cooler water.
Conditions
Low tide at Thomas Point Light was at 10:27 am, and high tide was at 2:50 pm. Low tide at Bloody Point was at 9:59 am, and high 2:12 pm. The “super” moon was 92% visible, and the water temperature was 61º. Air temperatures were in the low 60’s in the morning, rose to the high 60’s in the late morning, and rose to the mid 70’s after the afternoon thunderstorm. Winds started out light at 5 knots out of the north, and increased at times to 7-10 knots. The winds shifted to out of the south in the afternoon after the thunderstorm but remained light (5-7 knots). Waves were calm to a slight chop all day except during the storm when winds blew out of the west at 15 to 30 knots, which kicked up the waves to 2 to 3 feet. The salinity at Annapolis was 9.75 PSU and steady.
Trolling Spread
Starboard Board
100’, 2/4 oz white tandem Alien chutes
80’, 2/4 oz chartreuse tandem Alien chutes
60’, “Skip Special” **
40’, 6/9 oz chartreuse tandem Alien chutes on “Lucille” ***
Port Board
100’, single 2 oz chartreuse Alien chute
80’, single 4 oz white Alien chute
60’, single 6 oz chartreuse Alien chute
40’, 6/9 oz white tandem Alien chutes
Boat rod #1, 40-50’, port, 24 oz Chesapeake Bay Lures paddle tail in chartreuse with a 6-arm chartreuse umbrella on a BPS offshore rod fitted with Pop’s old Penn reel from the 1970’s
Boat rod #2, 50-60’, starboard, 20 oz torpedo chute with a 6-arm white umbrella
WWB, tandem 11/0 silver crippled alewife on a 30-foot leader with extra Sampos, and a white 3 oz chute on a 9 foot leader way, way back at about 325’.
** The “Skip Special” consists of an all white 6 oz Alien with silver tinsel with a 9” see-through green glitter shad in tandem with a 2 oz Alien with a purple head and chartreuse hairs with a 9” pearl shad, all available at Marty’s.
*** Lucille is one of Pop’s old 1970’s vintage Penn reels on a modern Penn slammer rod, so-named after BB King’s guitar, as this reel has caught more big blues than I can remember from the old days through recent times.
Calm Seas and Fog Were the Order of the Day
May the Fourth be With You: Dark-Side Trolling Success, 5/4/12
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