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I suppose Dr. Seuss was describing my trip today. But he forget to add several dozen rockfish too.
After my fun and productive kayak trip in the Severn yesterday, I decided to change boats and locales today. Two weeks ago I found my first keeper sized redfish in the greater Eastern Bay area. I returned to the same spot again today hoping to find another good red. The wind forecast was supposed to be light all day. The wind was blowing pretty hard when I launched my 16 ft Scout center console -- the seas were larger than I like for my boat, but at least they were at my back for the morning ride.
I found several batches of birds working over breakers. I cast small lures but found only small rockfish. I tried jigging the fish on the bottom without any bites. Eventually I made my way to the shallow area where I planned to cast to a shoreline. The waves were coming directly into the shoreline I planned to work, making fishing far from ideal and, as it turned out, not at all productive there. It was still too early in the trip to call it quits. I looked 2 miles away and saw many birds diving on bait. I rode over and tried casting, but the birds were moving quickly and fish stayed up for just a short time. I decided to improve my odds by trying light tackle trolling. I take the same light and med-light spinning rods and small lures I use for casting, and troll them. I trolled three rods -- two with jigheads and various soft plastics or Gulp baits. The third rod had a small orange and white weighted spoon. For the next hour and a half, I had steady action picking up quite a few rockfish. I caught several at 17" and others at 16". I really wanted to get a keeper for dinner, but they were not quite large enough.
I slipped a different buzztail soft plastic lure on the jighead and tossed it out. Soon the rod was dancing more than it had on the other rockfish. The fish pulled well on the light rod and turned out to be a 15" bluefish. I enjoy eating small bluefish more than rockfish anyway, so it went in the cooler. I continued circling the same area hoping for a second bluefish. To my surprise a 14" blue hit the same brown lure again. That took care of dinner.
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I put the rods away and decided to explore some new areas that I had not visited before. A while later, I spotted a shoreline with some downed trees and moved in close for a few casts. Nobody was home there, but later I found a small grassy point surrounded by water 2-3 ft deep that looked inviting. On the first cast, I caught an 18" rockfish (released unharmed). On the next cast I had a good hit but no hookup. On the third cast to the same general area, I had a big strike with some serious power on the fish. As I got it close, I worked it all the way around the boat, keeping the line clear of the outboard in the back and the trolling motor in the front. As the fish rolled, I saw bronze color and two black spots. Luck was with me -- I grabbed the leader and hoisted it into the boat. The line broke at the lure, but the fish was safely onboard. The fish was about 24". It eclipsed my previous Maryland redfish record by over 5". I have never eaten redfish, so decided that I would bring that fish home too. I plan to have a red and blue fish medley for dinner tonight.
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Just for the heck of it, I cast the lure back to the same point again. On the next three casts, I caught two more rockfish of 16" each. The area that held those fish was not much bigger than my garage floor -- but it had the right structure and current to attract good gamefish.
The photo below shows the lures that were most successful today. The top lure caught the redfish and rockfish at the point. It is a 4" Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad in opening night color (the lure shown is what is left after catching many fish. At some point the nose of the bait was torn. I bit off the outer 1/2" and place the shortened lure on the jighead). The middle lure is a 12 Fathoms 4.5" Buzztail in a blended brown/grey/blue color. The bluefish hit only that lure today. The bottom lure is a clear twister tail that did well on the rockfish while I was trolling. I used various shapes of jigheads on different rods. They were 3/8-oz to 1/2-oz size.
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By the time I was done fishing, the winds had died leaving me a calm and pleasant ride back to the ramp.
After my fun and productive kayak trip in the Severn yesterday, I decided to change boats and locales today. Two weeks ago I found my first keeper sized redfish in the greater Eastern Bay area. I returned to the same spot again today hoping to find another good red. The wind forecast was supposed to be light all day. The wind was blowing pretty hard when I launched my 16 ft Scout center console -- the seas were larger than I like for my boat, but at least they were at my back for the morning ride.
I found several batches of birds working over breakers. I cast small lures but found only small rockfish. I tried jigging the fish on the bottom without any bites. Eventually I made my way to the shallow area where I planned to cast to a shoreline. The waves were coming directly into the shoreline I planned to work, making fishing far from ideal and, as it turned out, not at all productive there. It was still too early in the trip to call it quits. I looked 2 miles away and saw many birds diving on bait. I rode over and tried casting, but the birds were moving quickly and fish stayed up for just a short time. I decided to improve my odds by trying light tackle trolling. I take the same light and med-light spinning rods and small lures I use for casting, and troll them. I trolled three rods -- two with jigheads and various soft plastics or Gulp baits. The third rod had a small orange and white weighted spoon. For the next hour and a half, I had steady action picking up quite a few rockfish. I caught several at 17" and others at 16". I really wanted to get a keeper for dinner, but they were not quite large enough.
I slipped a different buzztail soft plastic lure on the jighead and tossed it out. Soon the rod was dancing more than it had on the other rockfish. The fish pulled well on the light rod and turned out to be a 15" bluefish. I enjoy eating small bluefish more than rockfish anyway, so it went in the cooler. I continued circling the same area hoping for a second bluefish. To my surprise a 14" blue hit the same brown lure again. That took care of dinner.
003.jpg
I put the rods away and decided to explore some new areas that I had not visited before. A while later, I spotted a shoreline with some downed trees and moved in close for a few casts. Nobody was home there, but later I found a small grassy point surrounded by water 2-3 ft deep that looked inviting. On the first cast, I caught an 18" rockfish (released unharmed). On the next cast I had a good hit but no hookup. On the third cast to the same general area, I had a big strike with some serious power on the fish. As I got it close, I worked it all the way around the boat, keeping the line clear of the outboard in the back and the trolling motor in the front. As the fish rolled, I saw bronze color and two black spots. Luck was with me -- I grabbed the leader and hoisted it into the boat. The line broke at the lure, but the fish was safely onboard. The fish was about 24". It eclipsed my previous Maryland redfish record by over 5". I have never eaten redfish, so decided that I would bring that fish home too. I plan to have a red and blue fish medley for dinner tonight.
004 - Copy.jpg 007 - Copy.jpg
Just for the heck of it, I cast the lure back to the same point again. On the next three casts, I caught two more rockfish of 16" each. The area that held those fish was not much bigger than my garage floor -- but it had the right structure and current to attract good gamefish.
The photo below shows the lures that were most successful today. The top lure caught the redfish and rockfish at the point. It is a 4" Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad in opening night color (the lure shown is what is left after catching many fish. At some point the nose of the bait was torn. I bit off the outer 1/2" and place the shortened lure on the jighead). The middle lure is a 12 Fathoms 4.5" Buzztail in a blended brown/grey/blue color. The bluefish hit only that lure today. The bottom lure is a clear twister tail that did well on the rockfish while I was trolling. I used various shapes of jigheads on different rods. They were 3/8-oz to 1/2-oz size.
002.jpg
By the time I was done fishing, the winds had died leaving me a calm and pleasant ride back to the ramp.
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