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Early in the week the weather was looking perfect. Partly sunny skies, winds from the NNW below 6 mph, and only a 10% chance of rain. As Friday approached and a weather front came through, the chance of rain went up to 60% for the morning hours. Off and on rain showers were expected so I packed a rain jacket just in case the rain did come. There was a lot of anticipation with this Meet and Greet for old and new members. Coop and I tried to keep the communications going until Friday for anyone who had any questions. Coop arranged for us to use the ramp and have four reserved tables at the Lowes Wharf Restaurant.
I left my house at 3:35am to get to the Wawa on Route 50 for coffee and ice at 4:05am. While I was in the Wawa, and ran into two other Snaggedliners going to the Meet and Greet, Medicyaker and DaddyG. They followed me into Lowes Wharf, but not before we stopped at McDonalds to get some breakfast to take with us in the our vehicles. The drive to Lowes Wharf was not a bad drive from the Bay bridge. We ended up getting to Lowes Wharf at 5:20am. Coop was already there to help direct traffic and parking. We saw Nathan's (Echo5oscar) vehicle parked in the lot. He was the first to arrive and launched early, to get the morning bite. I had a list that I printed out of everyone who was attending from the most recent posting on Snaggedline. I checked-in everyone as they arrived. We had 23 who attended and the majority of them went to the lunch. There were a lot of kayakers at this launch....it was a beautiful sight. Many of the Snaggedliners helped each other unload the yaks, which was a good thing to see from the Snaggedline community.
It started to drizzle off and on, so I decided to put on my rain jacket as I was launching. It rained lightly off and on until 10am, then it remained cloud until 11am when the sun broke out. The winds were 0 to 5 mph all morning. When I launched, I went to cast a spinner bait at the grassy shoreline looking for perch or rocks. I saw tons of fish jumping all over there. Well, my spinner could not even attract a bump. So I decided to switch two of my rods to 4 inch paddle tails with a 1/8 and a 1/4 ounce jig head on each rod. Within minutes I began catching fish while trolling in water around 4 feet deep. I caught a dozen rockfish in short order ranging from 14 inches to 17 inches. Well, I was looking for a larger class of fish so I decided to troll on my was to Poplar Island. I land one fish on the troll over there. Since the water was deeper over there, I switched to a 1/4 ounce and a 1/2 ounce. I stated landing fish with my paddle tails. All the shorelines seemed to be loaded with hungry rocks near the ramp and all the way to Poplar Island. While trolling around Poplar Island, I landed a 14 inch bluefish, and at least 35 rockfish that ranged from 14 inches to 18.5 inches. I could not get a keeper this time, but I got lots of pullage. I even got the dreaded cownose ray (CNR) on my way leaving the island. He got my jig head but when he flapped his wings real hard, it released my precious lure. Coop, Cowpokey, other Sanggedliners, and myself, gave out some of our paddle tails to kayakers who may not have had the right bait that the fish were craving. Some kayakers caught only 1 or 2 fish, but when they started to use the paddle tails, they immediately quadruple their catch ratio. I estimated after talking to everyone that our group caught over 300 stripers today from 12 inches to 22 inches. Several members also caught white perch, and at least 10 CNRs.
It turned out to be a beautiful day with partly sunny skies, but it was now time to come in for lunch. We made it to the restaurant by 1:00pm. Everyone finally got their gear packed and we were all in attendance by 1:30pm. The owner reserved 4 tables with umbrellas for our group. The first order of business was to give out the bucket of lures that everyone generously participated in at the lunch. There was some good stuff in there. Coop was able to get one of the waitress to come over and pull the winning name out of a beer bucket. Well, Plastic Boat a.k.a. Jeff won. Good for him since he came all the way from Delaware to come to this Meet and Greet. Next we announced the winner of the largest fish caught and measured from a kayak. The winner for this was prize was Nathan a.k.a. Echo5oscar. Congratulations to both Jeff and Nathan. The restaurant was great. It had a beachy vibe on a nice sunny day. There was even a live band . The conversation was good, food and drinks were flowing, and from what Coop and I could see, everyone had a great time. It was good seeing some new and old Snaggedline members again. Everyone was heading home between 3:30 and 4pm.
I left my house at 3:35am to get to the Wawa on Route 50 for coffee and ice at 4:05am. While I was in the Wawa, and ran into two other Snaggedliners going to the Meet and Greet, Medicyaker and DaddyG. They followed me into Lowes Wharf, but not before we stopped at McDonalds to get some breakfast to take with us in the our vehicles. The drive to Lowes Wharf was not a bad drive from the Bay bridge. We ended up getting to Lowes Wharf at 5:20am. Coop was already there to help direct traffic and parking. We saw Nathan's (Echo5oscar) vehicle parked in the lot. He was the first to arrive and launched early, to get the morning bite. I had a list that I printed out of everyone who was attending from the most recent posting on Snaggedline. I checked-in everyone as they arrived. We had 23 who attended and the majority of them went to the lunch. There were a lot of kayakers at this launch....it was a beautiful sight. Many of the Snaggedliners helped each other unload the yaks, which was a good thing to see from the Snaggedline community.
It started to drizzle off and on, so I decided to put on my rain jacket as I was launching. It rained lightly off and on until 10am, then it remained cloud until 11am when the sun broke out. The winds were 0 to 5 mph all morning. When I launched, I went to cast a spinner bait at the grassy shoreline looking for perch or rocks. I saw tons of fish jumping all over there. Well, my spinner could not even attract a bump. So I decided to switch two of my rods to 4 inch paddle tails with a 1/8 and a 1/4 ounce jig head on each rod. Within minutes I began catching fish while trolling in water around 4 feet deep. I caught a dozen rockfish in short order ranging from 14 inches to 17 inches. Well, I was looking for a larger class of fish so I decided to troll on my was to Poplar Island. I land one fish on the troll over there. Since the water was deeper over there, I switched to a 1/4 ounce and a 1/2 ounce. I stated landing fish with my paddle tails. All the shorelines seemed to be loaded with hungry rocks near the ramp and all the way to Poplar Island. While trolling around Poplar Island, I landed a 14 inch bluefish, and at least 35 rockfish that ranged from 14 inches to 18.5 inches. I could not get a keeper this time, but I got lots of pullage. I even got the dreaded cownose ray (CNR) on my way leaving the island. He got my jig head but when he flapped his wings real hard, it released my precious lure. Coop, Cowpokey, other Sanggedliners, and myself, gave out some of our paddle tails to kayakers who may not have had the right bait that the fish were craving. Some kayakers caught only 1 or 2 fish, but when they started to use the paddle tails, they immediately quadruple their catch ratio. I estimated after talking to everyone that our group caught over 300 stripers today from 12 inches to 22 inches. Several members also caught white perch, and at least 10 CNRs.
It turned out to be a beautiful day with partly sunny skies, but it was now time to come in for lunch. We made it to the restaurant by 1:00pm. Everyone finally got their gear packed and we were all in attendance by 1:30pm. The owner reserved 4 tables with umbrellas for our group. The first order of business was to give out the bucket of lures that everyone generously participated in at the lunch. There was some good stuff in there. Coop was able to get one of the waitress to come over and pull the winning name out of a beer bucket. Well, Plastic Boat a.k.a. Jeff won. Good for him since he came all the way from Delaware to come to this Meet and Greet. Next we announced the winner of the largest fish caught and measured from a kayak. The winner for this was prize was Nathan a.k.a. Echo5oscar. Congratulations to both Jeff and Nathan. The restaurant was great. It had a beachy vibe on a nice sunny day. There was even a live band . The conversation was good, food and drinks were flowing, and from what Coop and I could see, everyone had a great time. It was good seeing some new and old Snaggedline members again. Everyone was heading home between 3:30 and 4pm.
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