4-7 breezy
Made last minute decision to go fishing last night - only day this week I could go. Alarm went off at 3:30 am but light rain had already woken me up. What possess a man to leave a warm bed and wife to head out into dark rain - this fishing addiction is awful.
Easy drive down and once near Wayson's corner the drizzle stopped . Got to Tylers and the big flag was moving but not too bad.
Looked over at Chesapeake Beach - no activity at all , man will that change in 10 days. Pulled into Breezy and bumped slowly along the gravel " road ". Once at ramp - no one else was there yet. Fishing alone - I was extra careful launching the boat , a slip could be fatal with no help around.
Let engines warm up and double checked everything. Bilges dry and all electronics working so off I went into the darkness. Took quick photo just before bumping up onto plan.
Radar showed a few small rain pockets but managed to dodge them. South breeze had a slight chop but boat ate it up at 24 knots. Decided to try power plant for a while - nothing to write home about. Few other boats there all played well together. The Rock were not big but sure fought well. Barbless hook made easy release.
Tough to get decent picture while holding the fishing rod. Drizzle came / went - just enough to put on rain gear. Played with the fairy wands for about 2 hours then ran ESE to the CP marker. Saw a few Gannets sitting but nothing at all near / under them. They lifted and all flew south in a big way - damn.
VHF weather was calling for small craft at 9:00 am but it was not bad at all. Put one board over and set 5 rods on it with # 6 as a deep boat rod.
Worked an east / west pattern with no one within two miles - and this was a tug boat. Got to love weekday PSCR fishing. Alternated between watching fish finder and clips off the board as current began to move out. My theory is the Rock feed on outgoing - then ride / swim with incoming up the bay , sorta like a people mover at airport. Sun played peek a boo - as did drizzle but wind never came up past 10 knots. Checked 3 rods - all were clean - water is as clear as I've ever seen it.
Saw a few scattered fish deep ( 30 feet ) in 65 and slight markings of thermocline / salinty break. Trolled as shallow as 35 feet but found the most marks ( scattered at best ) to be in 55 feet. Tighten the oval pattern and it paid off with nice hit off planer. 90 feet back 6 /2 tandem. Fish felt solid and swam towards boat but went deeper. Had to move deep rod over it but lucky line stayed tight and soon a nice 38 to 40 ish was beside the boat. Tried to get picture but she got loose before I could snap it.
Reset the line after combing out the lure and soon had another hit that broke rubber band but did not come tight. Reeled the tandem in a 2 oz white parachute was all muffed up - sure sign it was a fish that hit it.
Swung around that area following GPS track but never saw anything besides a few blips on meter. Gannets continued to fly past me on southerly path but really did not have time to pull spread and chase after them. Put radar out far to see if it could spot a bird show but only showed a little rain pocket to south.
Ate lunch slowly but no hit - rare that eating does not get interrupted. Heard a very long noise from power plant - this is never good - and saw huge plume of steam being released. Zoomed camera in and took photo.
That happened few times - then saw black smoke billow from emergency generators. Heard later big power outage in DC. Worked slowly north and began to reel lines in one at a time. Took extra care bringing board in - falling over in the cold water would not be good. Ran back at almost 30 knots - watching screen the whole way. Saw a few bait clumps but nothing to get excited over.
Got back to Breezy and noticed the gravel had been neatly smoothed - no more potholes at all.
Think everything is about 2-3 weeks behind , I expect this type trip in March but not 10 days before season opens. Got bad feeling fish will be inbound full of roe when it does.
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