Monday at Ft. Smallwood

[mdfisherman57]

Harry, aren't you a little to old to know about photoshop? Glad to see you guys were as productive as we were yesterday. Seems like the white was the ticket today too!

[On the fly]

Harry, aren't you a little to old to know about photoshop? Glad to see you guys were as productive as we were yesterday. Seems like the white was the ticket today too!

Never to old

[Shady]

It was not only long, but had a massive girth on it.

Must have been from the strippers

[Raptor]

Once again On the fly (Harry) picked a good day for fishing.

We visited Ft. Smallwood and six anglers boated approximately 80 stripers in 4 plus hours of trolling. Harry, J. Rentch, Raptor, Hugo, John Veil and I launched at low tide and low wind between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. We immediately found fish in the shallows. Most were in 5 to 6 feet of water and occasionally we would find them in 10 feet.

Here's Hugo and Harry:

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Raptor put on quite a show with one fish. I thought he was trying to make a small fish look big, but it really was a big one:

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Here he continues to fight the fish as John Veil passes him in the back:

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I was moving through and couldn't stay long enough to see him boat the big one. It was indeed an excellent fish and I'll let him tell you about it and where he wound up after catching it.

I did especially well on one particular bait. I was in midst of 30 minute dry spell. Harry heard me crying the blues on my radio and told me he had something for me. I pedaled over to see him and he handed me the lower trailer in the photo below. I then reeled off eleven catches on this one bait including one at 19 inches and two at 18 inches. Thank you, Harry! Prior to then I had caught seven 15 to 17 inchers on the top bait in the photo. I also got two on a chartreuse buzz tail until a fish broke my line and took it with him. My jigs were 1/2 ounce.

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We had spectators today. The MD DNR paid us a visit and checked our licenses. We all lined up and were checked. Raptor was the first in line:

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So that's a quick summary of the day. The fish were a little larger there this week than last week and there were clearly more of them.

The wind picked up near noon but the fish were still biting. I caught two on the way to the launch very close to shore.

If you want some pullage, you should give the area a try.

So - I was just peddling along when BANG, my little St Croix perch rod (Light/Medium) with a 1000 series Penn Fierce spinning reel with 15 Lb. braid tied to a Gray Ghost X -RAP, went down into the water. Well game on! The fish had her way with me for about 5 minutes then I started to make some small gains. Another 5 minutes and I had her to the boat. She was 29" long, not the longest Rock I've caught but by far the heaviest. This girl was a pig. The nice thing - I took the hook (replaced the trebles with single circles) out with two fingers and sent her on her way . . . a little tired . . . but none the worst for wear. Sorry, I didn't take any close ups but I wanted to get her back in the water ASAP. It took me about 20 minutes to untangle my lines after, but it was worth it.

T.

BTW - Really great to see the DNR guys on the water. They were awesome - great guys who have a tough job.

[Salty Dog]

Congrats on a great day, Still trying to get out for the first time. Hope to get a line wet soon.

[Cowpokey]

BTW - Really great to see the DNR guys on the water. They were awesome - great guys who have a tough job.

We saw them a few weeks ago at Ft Armistead; they didn't check everyone's license. They were more interested in hearing if we were catching fish, were really happy to see that we were all dressed properly in case of immersion, and everyone was wearing their PFD.

[J. Rentch]

Thanks John!

[scott taylor]

Mark,

Great to see such a positive report. Did the DNR board you?

ST

[daddyg]

Mark,

Great to see such a positive report. Did the DNR board you?

ST

That's good next time I get stopped I'm just going to tell them that. (You have permission to come aboard)

[Mark]

Scott,

Now that would have been interesting.

I was hoping he'd check to see if my hooks were de-barbed. They were but he didn't.

I did tell them to check John Veil's hatch but the DNR officer said he didn't hear any fish flopping around in there.