Going Kayak Fishing Romancoke 7/3/2011

Ok Surf wants to meet at Angler's on Rt 50 at 5am for bait. I may buy a yearly Queen Anne's county pass while I am there, so I can use all of the QA county boat ramps on the Eastern side of the Bay Bridge.

If anyone is interested then just reply to this thread so we can expect you. There should be croakers, perch and spot there, and a lucky rock. We plan on fishing until 11am.

See you there.

[jet]

These tboomers are pretty crazy around me right now...

[surfdog]

yeah postponed till monday

[mmanolis2001]

Better Safe than sorry. Im sure you will get them tomorrow.

[moc]

Yeah, Surf and I called it off for today, due to the weather. We will be going Monday Morning instead for anyone who is interested.

[tufnik]

Directions?

Boat ramp launch? Or sandy area launch? Any launch fee?

Will Virginia saltwater license be OK?

[surfdog]

Directions?

Boat ramp launch? Or sandy area launch? Any launch fee?

Will Virginia saltwater license be OK?

first exit over the BB rt 8 road ends at romancoke pier, 10.00 fee for park or can get a queen ann county ramp pass at anglers for 35 i use there ramps often so i got the pass. little wood ramp to go down to sandy beach at low tide at high tide most of the beach is covered

va salt is good, romancoke is closer than clailourne only 4 miles across eastern bay IDK if the fishing is as good but we will see

[surfdog]

someone explain to moc what a bottom rig is he kept slamming these croakers and told me he was using a bottom rig with shrimp but so was i and they wernt hitting mine got back to the ramp and looked at what he was using and it was a fishfinder rig
caught numerous wp and med spot and a small rock. very nice morning on the water, most fish were caught straight out from the pier by the dredge bouy in 19-20' of h2o

[tufnik]

I wanted to go with you guys today, but after two straight yak outings getting beat up by the sun, headwinds, and waves, I thought I would rest this old body. I'll be recharged for next weekend.

I think the high/low or double hook rig is the most common bottom rig for shore. I use this rig from the yak too. I use FF rigs (also known as carolina rig) for bottom fishing (shore or yak) as well as for trolling.

Good work. How big was the striper and what did you catch it with?

[surfdog]

we were looking for you, pretty nice morning nice breeze water was fairly calm and overcast. both stripers were about 12" caught on bws

[moc]

John wanted to go fishing out of Romancoke on the Eastern Bay to see if the fishing was as good there as it was at Claiborne. We met up at Anglers at 5:00am for bait and supplies. I got some shrimp and bloodworms and John picked up a bag of bloodworms. The weather was great in the morning. It was almost high tide. There was a light refreshing breeze over the water with overcast skies. There were already people on the Romancoke pier crabbing and fishing along with a family grilling early in the morning. I was wondering if they were grilling breakfast. This pier is open 24 hours a day, but you need to pay $10 a visit or buy a yearly pass for $35 for Queen Anne county boat ramp facilities.

For me this would be an expensive trip. It was not because of the toll crossing the bridge, it was because of the $50 ticket that I got when we got back to the ramp at around 10:45 am. When we got to the ramp in the morning, their payment machine had a sign on it that it was out of order and to pay the attendant. Well, there was no attendant either. I was hoping that when I got off of the water that there would be an attendant there. This was my first time to this facility. Well, an attendant must have come by around 9:30am and gave me a ticket. I will try to fight it, but generally this stuff have been a racket in the past to get money out of you. We will see. I understand that I must pay the $10, but $50 for their poor instructions and broken equipment is robbery. Well, enough of that. Despite those issues, Romancoke is a nice facility. There are real bathrooms there and a kayak ramp to use, along with a good size pier. When it is working, there is an electric pay station that takes credit cards. There is a grass area with one barbeque grill.

John and I launched around 6:30am. This is were my Fishfinder with GPS really showed its worth. I looked on my onscreen charts and located an underwater point with a steep drop off and headed that way. The drop off was from 14 feet to 30 feet, with the best catches around 19 to 20 feet of water. John (Surf) followed me to the point and we immediately got the skunk off by landing perch after perch. Wanting something different after awhile, I located another point underwater and landed more perch. I went back to the original spot and drifted along the gradual slope at the top of the point. I used shrimp on a "California Rig/ Fish Finder Rig" . Yeah for some reason my brain was not firing on all four cylinders. I was trying to share with Surf as to what bait and setup that was bing sucessful for me. But for some reason I kept telling him that I was using a bottom fishing rig. Oh well, I figured it out at the end and told Surf, but it was too late. It was time to come back to shore.

I caught Perch (11 inch average) , and Spots (8-10 inch average) on a bottom fishing rig tipped with bloodworms. I caught 90% of my croakers on my fishfinder rig tipped with 1/2 a shrimp. That was the hottest setup. The fishfinder rig landed croaker after croaker in 19 feet of water while drifting. The croakers seem to like the bait dragging on the bottom. Some of the croakers that I kept were fat and approaching 16 inches. Both Surf and I also caught dink rockfish around 12 inches. Not a bad day on the water. As the heat started to roll in, Surf and I got off the water by 10:45am. It was expected to be 90 degrees today.

As to which location is better, I still enjoyed Claiborne in Talbot County better. The fishing is alittle better there, even though I did not do bad at Romancoke. The boat launch is also free, however, Romancoke is alot closer. My advice, just get the $35 Queen Anne's County park/launch pass, that will get you onto other launch facilities including Romancoke.

[mmanolis2001]

Sounds like a great trip minus the ticket. Hopefully you can get that resolved without paying.

How is the boat traffic in that area?

How is the new battery working for the FF?

[moc]

Sounds like a great trip minus the ticket. Hopefully you can get that resolved without paying.

How is the boat traffic in that area?

How is the new battery working for the FF?

There was hardly any boat traffic at all. Especially, for a 4th of July Day on the Water. I did see several head boats way out in the distance North East of our position.

The new battery is awsome and highly recommended for anyone who has a color fish finder with GPS. So far, my battery has lasted all day. Before it would barely last 2.5 to 3 hours. My new battery is a 12 volt 12 amp hour battery. It is a great investment.

[surfdog]

Jk about the rig i usually have no problem with a t/b rig and being 20' away from you with no hits WTH neally good day on the water. snakeheads on sat, might head back on sunday

love watching the sun come up like that

[moc]

I know you were joking Surf.....LOL. I thought it was funny also, especially when I got the right term out of my mouth by the end of the day. Yeah, I hope I can catch a snakehead. I have been telling my wife about them. I plan on putting one on the fire for a snack. I want to see what the rage is all about over in Asia, since they sell these toothy critters in the grocery store, or their version of one.

Depending on how tired I am, I may be willing to join you again on Sunday, minus the $50 donation to Queen Anne County.