Tweet
This is my third year spending a long weekend in Wachapreague with my friend Todd for some bottom fishing. We arrived in Wachapreague in the late afternoon on Fri. After unpacking, we picked up some minnows and launched my 16' Scout center console ("Small but Perky"). After arriving at the inlet, we began a nice drift. Then Todd pointed back toward town at the huge storm clouds that were forming near the town. We debated for a few minutes whether to fish or run back for just a few minutes, then packed up and ran for the ramp. We avoided the storm, but saw lots of lightning during dinner. That was among my shortest fishing expeditions.
Sat morning was calm and sunny. We returned to the Wachapreague inlet and spent most of the day drifting in various locations.
We started using live minnows and hoped for flounder. The flounder bite was very weak there. We caught just one small flounder all day. We did find all the 10" to 14" croaker we wanted. They loved the squid. When we used up all of the squid we brought, we switched to Fishbites, which worked well on croaker too. We also tried Gulp baits, which did not work as well as they had the previous year.
I caught several less common fish on Sat. On one bite, I caught a croaker on the top hook and a small shark on the bottom hook. (no photo due to boatside self-release) A few minutes later, I caught a ray of a species I had never seen before. I believe it is a spiny butterfly ray. It was about 18" across, with small spots and a small tail.
Later in the day I hooked a much larger ray of the same type. This one was more than 3 ft across and gave me 10 minutes of rod bending action before we got it boatside.
On Sunday morning we drove to the wildlife refuge just above the lower end of the Eastern Shore. We launched there and headed out to the CBBT. The wind and current set up some large waves. We drifted between the two bridges for about an hour before the current got too fast to hold bottom. We caught a few flounder there but were getting bounced around too much in a small boat. We returned to the bridge leading to Fisherman's Island and drifted there for several hours. The flounder bite was definitely better here than in Wachapreague. In addition to the flounder, we caught several egg-laden female crabs and two weakfish, several northern kingfish, and a colorful toadfish with black and yellow markings.
We finished the day in a long, slow drift back down the canal where the ramp is located. We caught many flounder (especially in one location that produced flounder on about 10 consecutive drifts). Todd had a 19" and an 18.5" flounder, and I was close behind with two 17.5" and one 18" fish. Nearly all the flounder bit on live minnows today.
We caught a few tiny black sea bass too.
My most unusual catch of the day was a fishing rod and reel that looked almost new. There was no evidence of long submersion -- it may have been dropped overboard this weekend.
We caught 9 species over two days. This was not as many species as we had caught on the previous two years in our Wachapreague weekends, but still is not bad for bottom fishing. Combined with the other types of fishing I have done during July, I personally caught 20 species of fish plus a blue crab on hook and line. That is my all-time high number of species for one month.
Sat morning was calm and sunny. We returned to the Wachapreague inlet and spent most of the day drifting in various locations.
We started using live minnows and hoped for flounder. The flounder bite was very weak there. We caught just one small flounder all day. We did find all the 10" to 14" croaker we wanted. They loved the squid. When we used up all of the squid we brought, we switched to Fishbites, which worked well on croaker too. We also tried Gulp baits, which did not work as well as they had the previous year.
I caught several less common fish on Sat. On one bite, I caught a croaker on the top hook and a small shark on the bottom hook. (no photo due to boatside self-release) A few minutes later, I caught a ray of a species I had never seen before. I believe it is a spiny butterfly ray. It was about 18" across, with small spots and a small tail.
Later in the day I hooked a much larger ray of the same type. This one was more than 3 ft across and gave me 10 minutes of rod bending action before we got it boatside.
On Sunday morning we drove to the wildlife refuge just above the lower end of the Eastern Shore. We launched there and headed out to the CBBT. The wind and current set up some large waves. We drifted between the two bridges for about an hour before the current got too fast to hold bottom. We caught a few flounder there but were getting bounced around too much in a small boat. We returned to the bridge leading to Fisherman's Island and drifted there for several hours. The flounder bite was definitely better here than in Wachapreague. In addition to the flounder, we caught several egg-laden female crabs and two weakfish, several northern kingfish, and a colorful toadfish with black and yellow markings.
We finished the day in a long, slow drift back down the canal where the ramp is located. We caught many flounder (especially in one location that produced flounder on about 10 consecutive drifts). Todd had a 19" and an 18.5" flounder, and I was close behind with two 17.5" and one 18" fish. Nearly all the flounder bit on live minnows today.
We caught a few tiny black sea bass too.
My most unusual catch of the day was a fishing rod and reel that looked almost new. There was no evidence of long submersion -- it may have been dropped overboard this weekend.
We caught 9 species over two days. This was not as many species as we had caught on the previous two years in our Wachapreague weekends, but still is not bad for bottom fishing. Combined with the other types of fishing I have done during July, I personally caught 20 species of fish plus a blue crab on hook and line. That is my all-time high number of species for one month.
Comment