Living only 20 miles from Sandy Point has advantages - can squeeze in some fishing on short notice. Finished up work at 10:00 and met my dad at my house at 10:30. Only took few minutes to hook up trailer and we were ready to go.
Ruckus - Black Lab gave us the " don't leave me home " look and he jumped in back seat of the truck. We got to Sandy Point at 11:00 and saw two other boats at the ramps. One was a Neptune fishing boat about 22 feet - other a rigid hull inflatable work boat.
The ramps were iced in and the lagoon was iced about half way. Slowly backed in to avoid breaking trailer lights and launched the boat. Ruckus was playing in the water where the rigid hull had broken the ice.
Let engines warm up and asked the rigid captain if they were going out. He said he was waiting for us to bust the ice. The Neptune owner was still getting things ready so my dad helped me spin the boat around in at the pier. Much better to bust ice with the bow the risk damage to engines. Old school trick is to make an opening in ice - then reverse until back against ice. Gunning the engines - then stopping - pushes a bow wave under thin ice and helps break it. The lagoon is No Wake but figured no one was there to complain.
Trick worked and we motored slowly cut a path out to open water.
Once to jetty - we ran SE to channel. Slight chop with a ENE breeze but nothing to worry about. The water clarity was a concern though - our wake looked like crap. Not the dark green clear water of winter - this was awful looking. It stayed dirty all day.
We ran under bridge and looked for fish on meter. Saw 4-5 boats south on east side off Mattapeake. Got close enough to see they were gill netters so stayed north of them but took note of where they were and depth.
The Neptune boat ran near us and saw him drifting and jigging but not catching. My dad broke out a sandwich while I looked for fish with depth finder. Saw a few blips at 30 feet in 60 but not much else. Dad asked Ruckus if he wanted a bite - like a dog would refuse.
Finally saw a few marks on bottom and drifted over them. The current was incoming and breeze was from east - making it tough to predict the drift. Dad jigged while I watched meter - hoping to see fish. My guess on the drift was horrible and / or fish moved.
Took a while to find them again but this time I held boat over in reverse while my dad dropped over a gold sting silver. He got a few taps then reeled up a small Rock. It hit the dropper fly.
Nothing to get excited about but at least we caught some thing. Found more fish and dropped anchor. Not normal to do when LTJ but the boat drifts fast with curtains up and often in winter fish prefer slow action.
Dad did OK with the sting silver but I had better luck with a 7'' white bass assassin on a 1 1/2 oz jig head. Swapped his lure out and soon we had a decent bite going. 10 lb braid with 30 inches of 20 lb mono leader let us feel the subtle ticks.
I'll share what worked for us - your mileage may vary. We cast lures up current about 30 feet and let them sink to bottom ( 55 feet ). Once it hit - we lifted lure off bottom about 2 feet - then lowered it while shaking the rod. We got a lot of hits but it was 5 to 1 hooking them. Faster jigging did zero - dead sticking got one now / then. We could get 6-7 lifts - then had to let out some line. Once lure was behind boat 20 feet - we reeled up.
Saw the Neptune run by and tried to wave him over but he headed back to Sandy Point. We caught about a dozen fish - biggest about 24 inches with most about 18-20. Dad had some thing bigger or fouled hooked a fish - not sure since it got loose.
Took some time to look around rock pile but did not see much. The bridge painters barge has long cables running out to yellow buoys - the southern one prevented a better search for Perch. Perplexed on where they are this winter - most times it's good fishing for them.
We got back to ramp about 3:00 and the ice was gone which made it easy to load boat on trailer. Warm enough to wash boat and flush engines. Went down to freezer and pulled out a package of fillets. Those plump Rock had my mouth watering for fish.
Will not be too much longer before we can keep them again.
2-7-2013 Sandy Point LTJ w pics
Days of the week will certainly run together. Just remember, it's better fishing during the weekdays
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