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During the week, I was hearing the rumbles that croakers were being caught in number in the Elms Beach area, so I decided to explore and give it a try. My parents had requested croakers, so I was trying to oblige them. Rich, also known on Snaggedline as the FishingGod, said that he would meet me and anyone else down at Elm's Beach at 6:30am. He also offered to have a barbeque at his house. A few other Snaggedliners were thinking of coming, but they were not able to free their schedule. Rich informed me that Elms Beach can be packed with people on the weekends, that might make it tricky navigating past the people swimming and along the beach. He then offered to launch from his house, which would be a free launch. He lives in a house on the water just south of Elms Beach. There is a sandy beach to launch from less than 1/2 a block from his house. That seemed to be a better plan, so I launched from his house instead of Elms Beach. I left my house at 4:30am and made it to Rich's place at 6:33am after making some stops along the way.
It was only the two of us. The weather earlier in the week was looking good; SSW Winds at 9 mph dropping to 7mph later in the morning. The daytime temperature for that area South of Lexington Park, MD was expected to reach 90 degrees. Low tide would be somewhere around 10:40am. There was a slight chance of a scattered thunderstorm between 8 and 10 am, otherwise, no rain was expected during the day. When we looked at the water, it looked fairly clear, considering all the rain that we have been getting. The wind was calm, but we did notice rolling swells coming into shore. It was still quite fishable, so we launched.
We immediately began to catch croakers in front of his house in 5 feet of water. We fished most of the cove in depths of 4 feet to 8 feet. I ended up filling up my stringer. I actually had to double up with two fish on some of the clips. I even caught a strange fish that I released. It looked like a whiting or a baby black drum? It was only 5 inches. I even caught and boated half a dozen crabs on my fishing line. I did let them all go. Rich was doing very well, also. He caught a mess of croakers with sever 12 inchers to his credit. He too caught a crab and an oyster toad. By 12:45pm we called it quits and headed back in. It never did rain even though we heard thunder in the distance. The storms ended up going north of us, so we had a dry day.
Rich had his grill out so he cleaned some of the fish for lunch for his impromptu barbeque. The fresh croaker he prepared along with the roasted vegetable and potatoes were excellent. Being a chef is his other calling in life, so if he invites Snaggedliners down for fishing and grilling, whoever goes will be in for a treat. He is a great guy to fish with and another fine addition to the Snaggedline community.
It was only the two of us. The weather earlier in the week was looking good; SSW Winds at 9 mph dropping to 7mph later in the morning. The daytime temperature for that area South of Lexington Park, MD was expected to reach 90 degrees. Low tide would be somewhere around 10:40am. There was a slight chance of a scattered thunderstorm between 8 and 10 am, otherwise, no rain was expected during the day. When we looked at the water, it looked fairly clear, considering all the rain that we have been getting. The wind was calm, but we did notice rolling swells coming into shore. It was still quite fishable, so we launched.
We immediately began to catch croakers in front of his house in 5 feet of water. We fished most of the cove in depths of 4 feet to 8 feet. I ended up filling up my stringer. I actually had to double up with two fish on some of the clips. I even caught a strange fish that I released. It looked like a whiting or a baby black drum? It was only 5 inches. I even caught and boated half a dozen crabs on my fishing line. I did let them all go. Rich was doing very well, also. He caught a mess of croakers with sever 12 inchers to his credit. He too caught a crab and an oyster toad. By 12:45pm we called it quits and headed back in. It never did rain even though we heard thunder in the distance. The storms ended up going north of us, so we had a dry day.
Rich had his grill out so he cleaned some of the fish for lunch for his impromptu barbeque. The fresh croaker he prepared along with the roasted vegetable and potatoes were excellent. Being a chef is his other calling in life, so if he invites Snaggedliners down for fishing and grilling, whoever goes will be in for a treat. He is a great guy to fish with and another fine addition to the Snaggedline community.
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