River Rock Tourney 9/14 off Rock Hall

[Chessie27]

Tough day out there today. Only legal fish we "caught", we lost at the boat. Heard a few others had a tought time too with some "defective" lures. We fished 15 rods with hoses, BFG, drones, and crippled alewives and a mix of colors of all the above. Basically looped from the triple buoys to Love Point and in toward the thicket and mouth of the Chester all day. Marked a lot of stuff, just never found a decent one that was hungry.
1st place went to a 15lber

[5th Tuition]

Jeff, it was a tough day. We were fortunate enough to place (received a plaque and we all got t- shirts ) for the rockfish we submitted.
Defective lures is right. We had to decide if we were going to try to match the bait (small silversides) or put in long hours with no fish. We downsized to Tony 15's, knowing we have had trouble with the strength of the hooks in the past.
Sure enough, we had two hooks straighten out on us with big fish. Mike got to fight one of them briefly
Lesson learned, Don says "No more 15 Tonys allowed on his boat".
With a crew including Dan, Don, and Mike, you can't help but have a fun day on the water. The wind in the morning could have layed down earlier for us, but the sky's were clear and the sunshine bright.
We look forward to participating next year. It's a fun little tournament.

A special thanks to Don for being Captain. We were all beat and tired from being on the water all day. He still had a salt encrusted boat to clean and tackle to rearrange. I know what he is doing today
You just have to admire how his Maycraft eats up the seas.
5th. Marty

[drichitt]

Had a great day out there yesterday with Marty, Mike and Dan. Those same Tony 15s caught a 27" and a 30" fish this past Thurs so my gut tells me we lost 2 nice fish. The one we lost while reeling to the boat was probably the smaller of the two. But the other one was a quick hit, hook straightened and goodbye....that was maybe a summer time bubba. Who knows, the ones that got away are always the ones that coulda made the difference in our minds. That's my story and I am sticking to it. Those Tonys are great lures, but the size 15, as made now, is not for trolling and there are no stronger replacement hooks made that will fit it and allow it to swim as intended. Time to invest in a bunch of replacement drones.

Marty, I don't know where I got the energy but I had the boat and gear washed, cleaned and put away before dark last night.

[Chessie27]

I heard that if a fish can straighten a hook on a 15tony, it is at least 15.2# . Sucks that happened; from what I have heard there was more than a few boats with 1 or no legal rockfish at all so a "hook bender" would have done well. I agree, it is a nicely run, fun tournament. I wish the crew was up for attending the awards but the boat's DD was ready to go home (she is running a half marathon today).

Now, and more importantly, I just started using "Salt Away" this year. I find it to be pretty amazing stuff. When we got in yesterday, the mood was too somber to scrub the boat. I hit the whole thing with the salt away figuring I would clean this morning. I just got back from the boat and the thing was beautiful when I got there. You just spray the whole thing down and walk away, don't even rinse. It really does a nice job. I will say sometimes it does better than others and I think that is probably on windy days it dries too fast and leaves some white streaks BUT, if you are in a hurry and don't feel like a full scrub, I highly recommend a quick rinse down with this stuff. It's not super cheap, but it sure does work well. I do the whole boat with 1 nozzle container full (about 5 oz maybe). BTW, the first jug I bought was actually "Salt Off" and it worked equally as well. Just something to think about when you want to take care of your stuff but you're running short on time...

[5th Tuition]

Sounds like a good thing to try out on Patent Pending
5th

[Skip]

Sorry to hear about bending hooks on Tony #15. I thought problem was fixed.

FWIW: The round wire hooks will bend open easily on the new Tony's. The older flat side hooks are very strong.

Might be worth watching for them at flea markets.

[drichitt]

Originally Posted by Skip

Sorry to hear about bending hooks on Tony #15. I thought problem was fixed.

FWIW: The round wire hooks will bend open easily on the new Tony's. The older flat side hooks are very strong.

Might be worth watching for them at flea markets.

I spoke with the guy at the tackle shop in Rock Hall and he told me they have looked all over for a good replacement hook for the 15 Tony but nada. The hook they use is custom made (in China no doubt) and, in his opinion, designed to wear out quickly. The Luhr-Jensen company has even stopped offering a replacement hook, but who would buy them. They are junk.

[Skip]

I got some hooks from Jim at Marty's in Edgewater about three years ago to replace the sh*tty new ones on Tony # 15.

It might not be exact but is much stronger then the stock one.

Luhr Jenson ruined Tony's - IMHO. The new #21 are garbage - the action is way off due to metal being thinner. Not like the price dropped any - they are charging $$$ for them.

I have Tony #21 that are 30 years old - they swim 10 times better then the newer ones.