Amish guys get revenge 7/11
Last year - fellow Tfer Bosefish ( Dave ) who lives in York county , and I took his Amish neighbors out livelining from Sandy Point.
It was a disaster - heavy rain , then 2-3 foot waves. Guys were soaking wet and sea sick - but wanted to try again. We had planned to fish in late fall but could not get schedules to work.
I'll never forget meeting Jerimaha - it was pouring down rain when they got to Sandy Point. He did not have rain gear - I asked if he was ready to go. From warm , dry truck cab - he told me , I'm Amish - not stupid . Got to love a guy like that.
Aaron ( Amish guy ) has a phone in his barn so he can call me. Their religion has strict rules on using modern things like electric in the home. Even driving a gas powered truck or boat is taboo. Cell phone , TV , alcohol , most modern stuff is off limits. I found that out hard way last year - ran forward to secure anchor and asked one guy to steer boat. He didn't touch the wheel - even as boat swung beam to.
Aaron called me few weeks ago - asking if Rock were biting. I told him it's been good so we agreed to try Friday-11th. The weather was predicted to be near perfect - I hoped it was right. We met at Sandy Point at 6am - Aaron , Jerimaha , Morris , Joshawa and I think Luke. Me and names - arg.
I had fished Weds near the bridges with little luck - fellow Tfers Mlag and Weekend Thief had given me info and advice. Run to the Hill / Popular Island area. Thanks guys - .
I had to laugh as we motored out slowly in no wake zone. Guys had brought donuts and lunch cooler was full of Mountain Dews. Not allowed beer but can drink sodas - I asked Aaron to smack me if I offended anyone , these religious rules were tricky. I learned lesson last year about camera and in respect - did not even bring one on the boat.
Once in the bay - we were greeted with slight chop from north - hitting incoming current. Trimmed bow down a kiss and made 25 knots like she was on rails. So much better then last year. The Amish speak Dutch and English - fun trying to listen as both languages were spoke. We ran past Bloody Point light and turned east to go for Spot. The guys info was solid - found plenty of Spot in 19 feet of water. The crew worked very well together and soon we had 50 Spot. Most were 7-8 inches. Hooked two Rays as well - guys thought they were cool to see.
With Spot in livewell - ran about a mile to look for Rock in 30-40 feet near Hill / Eastern Bay. No secret - lot of boats are there. The guys saw a 60 foot sportfisherman - I told them I guess it was 2 million dollars. The wind dropped out to nothing - clouds were just enough to keep sun off , now we just needed some Rockfish.
Best bite has been at beginning of current - we were on end of it. We soaked Spot and had few hits but no hook ups. Moved 3-4 times - then finally found nice pocket of Rock. Anchored and soon we had hits. The Spot would get bumped - run offs but the Rock were not big enough to get hooked. Slack current was lunch time - then boat slowly turned 180* on anchor. Sun broke through and water was almost flat.
We had to tease the bigger ones by gently bouncing the injured Spot - this did the trick.
No way to prove theory but thought is smaller Rock grab the big Spot and crush it but can not swallow it. They let it go - larger Rock then grab easy meal. By bouncing / twitching the Spot - it gets keeper Rock's attention.
Current started moving and we started hooking up - fishing 4 of us in rotation. Few misses with net , few muffs with hook sets ( reel in bait runner mode ) but we slowly put 10 in the box. Took time to double check the count - then went after the final two for our limit. The fish ranged from 19-27 inches and were nice and fat / clean. I teased the crew that now we were fishing for my two fish - no lie , next two were 29 and 30 , best of the day. We ended with a limit and only 3 Spot left.
Cleaned up boat and very slowly idled out from anchored fleet around us. Amazing how many boats are ran through the fleet - some very well known. IMHO - no need to do that - the wake on calm day really bounces the smaller boats.
Once about 1/4 mile from fleet - pushed throttles down and ran back to Sandy Point. Stopped by bridge for 1/2 hour to add some nice Perch to the box.
Once back at Sandy Point - crew set the two bigger fish aside for me. I explained I was teasing them - and instead took two smallest ones. Now leave it to me - I did not pay any attention in the morning on who was driving their truck. Come to find out - Aaron had paid someone to drive them down , then wait all day. It was 2:00 when we got back.
I told Aaron their driver could have gone fishing - one more guy on calm day would have fit. The driver said he was not much on boats but did like to fish - I gave him my two Rockfish. Jerimaha ( smart a$$ ) told driver my fish were really the two big ones - but I had traded for the two smaller ones he had. Driver did not miss a beat - told him to ride in back for drive to York, Pa.
One heck of a fun day - I even think I learned how to cuss in Dutch.
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