With the winds projected to be virtually nonexistent yesterday, I decided to take out a friends 14 ft carolina skiff in search of puppy drum and rock. Last Friday (from the kayak) I had a field day with rock up to 24 inches on the outgoing tide around the mouth of creeks and points with structure. So yesterday, our plan was to venture slightly out of yak range to other areas.
We launched from Crisfield around 0600 and made our way south on an outgoing tide. Each point produced several short rock but no keepers. No specks, no pups. We were fishing a variety of plastics from Gulp! to DOA weedless jerk baits. The rock were hitting the lighter colors as the day progressed and conditions became brighter, and vice versa in the evening. At the height of the outgoing we came upon a sand flat with a few puppy drum. They were boiling the water and tailing, but would not hit anything artifical.
We went into Crisfield to run some errands and get lunch about 11:00. We stopped and grabbed a dozen soft crabs at Souther Connections (directly across from Golsborough Marine). Cost - $10/dozen.
We relaunched at 2:00 and fished the entire incoming. Of course the reds were not there on the incoming, but the rock were still stacked up. We kept two that were 22 inched and released dozens. Most were short. Soft crab worked slightly better than plastic, but not by much. Same pattern as in the morning....fish points or guts/drains with depth changed and current. We also caught a short flounder.
The hightlight of the evening came when I casted out a soft crab and placed it in my milk crate rod holder (1st mistake). Then I turned my back for a split second and a fish slams it and takes the rod and reel with it (2nd mistake). A shimano curado 301E (a wedding gift from my wife of 2 months) and a shimano teramar rod were gone, skipping towards Smith Island. I was pissed at myself to say the least. 20 minutes later my friend JC saves the day when he is reeling in his line. He catches my line. The fish was still attached to the circle hook, as was the rod and reel. Shew, that was a close one! Got lucky.
We launched from Crisfield around 0600 and made our way south on an outgoing tide. Each point produced several short rock but no keepers. No specks, no pups. We were fishing a variety of plastics from Gulp! to DOA weedless jerk baits. The rock were hitting the lighter colors as the day progressed and conditions became brighter, and vice versa in the evening. At the height of the outgoing we came upon a sand flat with a few puppy drum. They were boiling the water and tailing, but would not hit anything artifical.
We went into Crisfield to run some errands and get lunch about 11:00. We stopped and grabbed a dozen soft crabs at Souther Connections (directly across from Golsborough Marine). Cost - $10/dozen.
We relaunched at 2:00 and fished the entire incoming. Of course the reds were not there on the incoming, but the rock were still stacked up. We kept two that were 22 inched and released dozens. Most were short. Soft crab worked slightly better than plastic, but not by much. Same pattern as in the morning....fish points or guts/drains with depth changed and current. We also caught a short flounder.
The hightlight of the evening came when I casted out a soft crab and placed it in my milk crate rod holder (1st mistake). Then I turned my back for a split second and a fish slams it and takes the rod and reel with it (2nd mistake). A shimano curado 301E (a wedding gift from my wife of 2 months) and a shimano teramar rod were gone, skipping towards Smith Island. I was pissed at myself to say the least. 20 minutes later my friend JC saves the day when he is reeling in his line. He catches my line. The fish was still attached to the circle hook, as was the rod and reel. Shew, that was a close one! Got lucky.
Comment