How about we all introduce ourselves

[MikeWood]

12 pages of responses! I'm Mike Wood (mrmoray someplace else). I'm 39, and live in Damascus MD with my wife of 10 years, 14 year old stepson and 8 year old son.
I've fished the bay, on and off, since I was about 8 myself. When I was young, it was mostly the the Kent Island area from Bloody to Love Point, through the Chester and Eastern Bay. I remember catching nothing but bluefish in the 80s, the moratorium on rockfish, then the first half of the 90s when the rockfish returned. I got away from fishing in the late 90s as I met my wife and then eventually got married. While that was a good time for me, from what I gather, I may have missed some of the best years, in recent memory, for the rockfish. Sounds like the early 2000s were great from what I read.
Anyway, in early 2005 I got my first boat. Its a family boat...22' Searay, but I do what I can to fish on it too. I now fish mostly the upper bay, from the bridge north, but I have ventured below the bridge during spring trophy season. I had never heard of LTJing before I got my boat but have been working to learn that technique more than any other since I started fishing again. I prefer light tackle, and bait fishing on my boat is difficult, so LTJing works best for me right now. I'm not great at it, but I think I get a little bit better each year. 2009 was definitely my most successful year so far. My 8 year old, Ryan, officially became hooked on fishing this fall, especially after catching a 34" rock on light tackle....all by himself. So these days when I'm out there, he's usually standing next to me.

I've not fished with anyone on the board, yet. I'd love to HO sometime to accelerate my learning curve..mostly on LTJ, but maybe trolling as well. Trolling on my boat is difficult, but I manage.

Thanks for listening,
Mike

P.S. If anyone has any convincing arguments to help me trade in the Searay for a more fishing friendly boat, I'd love to hear them. My wife loves the boat, so we spend a great deal of time on the boat as a family, in non-fishing situations, which the Searay handles just fine...it just doesn't fish very well.

[BreezyDog]

Originally Posted by MikeWood

P.S. If anyone has any convincing arguments to help me trade in the Searay for a more fishing friendly boat, I'd love to hear them. My wife loves the boat, so we spend a great deal of time on the boat as a family, in non-fishing situations, which the Searay handles just fine...it just doesn't fish very well.

Just get a second boat

Me, I got my fishing boat first. I've had it since July and my wife has been on it twice. I have almost a 100 hours on it already. And I still have 7 100 foot oak trees worth of leaves in my yard...I'm thinking the leaves will be gone in sometime in January...

[B-Faithful]

Originally Posted by MikeWood

P.S. If anyone has any convincing arguments to help me trade in the Searay for a more fishing friendly boat, I'd love to hear them. My wife loves the boat, so we spend a great deal of time on the boat as a family, in non-fishing situations, which the Searay handles just fine...it just doesn't fish very well.

Do you do overnighters? most fishing boats make great day cruisers and are easier to maintain.

[MikeWood]

We don't do overnighters, so I totally agree. But cruisers have "creature comforts" that the wife enjoys. Big swim platforms, carpeted cockpits, etc, etc. That's the hill I'm climbing......

[Andrew886]

Figured I'd join the party....My name is Andrew Trostle, grew up in Lebanon, PA fishing exclusively freshwater. Went to college in Richmond, VA at the University of Richmond and swore the one place I would never move was Washington, D.C. Sure enough, first job out of school would land me in Bethesda, MD. I found I needed to escape the city pretty quickly and bought a 22' Hurricane Deck boat w/Honda 4-stroke about two years ago. Pretty soon I found myself spending as much time as possible on the bay chasing any species I could. This past May I took a new job in Medical Sales that allowed me to move closer to the bay. I now reside in Annapolis, MD, am 25 years old, and fish out of the Rhode River. I can usually be found somewhere between Thomas Point and Poplar Ltjing, Live lining, or trolling. Aside from that I look forward to meeting/fishing/drinking with a few of you and learning a thing or two as well.

[der Fischadler]

"Went to college in Richmond, VA at the University of Richmond."

This guy must be brilliant.

[B-Faithful]

Andrew, I almost went to VCU in Richmond and visited the city often since a close friend and competitor (in track) ended up going there. U of R was in a lot nicer area than VCU but Richmond is a fun place none-the-less. I personally opted for the beach life over the city life and ended up at Coastal Carolina University.

Welcome to the board.

[Andrew886]

Originally Posted by der Fischadler

"Went to college in Richmond, VA at the University of Richmond."

This guy must be brilliant.

Brilliant is probably an understatement....no, in all seriousness you'd be suprised how many people really have no clue where the University of Richmond is located. Common sense to most, but not to all...


B-Faithful - Coastal Carolina would certainly be the right move over VCU in my mind. I had several friends that went to Coastal and visited a number of times. Needless to say where there are beaches there are some beautiful women

[Hockleyneck]

Originally Posted by Andrew886

Brilliant is probably an understatement....no, in all seriousness you'd be suprised how many people really have no clue where the University of Richmond is located. Common sense to most, but not to all...


B-Faithful - Coastal Carolina would certainly be the right move over VCU in my mind. I had several friends that went to Coastal and visited a number of times. Needless to say where there are beaches there are some beautiful women

My grandfather and brother are both graduates of the U of R- go Spiders.

[Pop Z]

Hi all, thought I would join the party. Bill Zell is the name. Had to come over here to keep track of my son, the boat and the truck. He's the guy on page one holding a 49.25# rockfish at the CBBT.
I won't post much, mostly just lurk.