S.M.O.G and screaming reels

[Big Mike]

The Southern Maryland Old Guys (SMOG) ventured forth to the mythical Valhalla that is the Fishinggod pier and surrounding waters north of St Jeromes Creek. We arrived at 5:45 and before we could even unpack Rich told us the bait was boiling. Too bad the fish weren't. Squadouch from the pier this morning even though it was fun watching the bait jump all over the place. Could it be that Rich was fibbing to us, perhaps embellishing his stories with hyperbole and innuendo uncorroborated by photos. After half and hour or so we decided to launch from the somewhat difficult beach access. We motored around aimlessly for a while until we located a small school of fish that were running 18-20". We picked up a few before they dispersed. We then moved on down the beach towards a creek mouth and it was game on - reels screaming from nice solid rocks. Yak67 got his first keeper, a 23" brute. I managed 4 20" fish and my smallest fish of the morning was an 18" until a pesky 16 1/2 ruined the streak. I also had two fish i never saw, one broke my line and the other ripped off 20 yards of line before it put me into a snag. Rich was searching for rocks but ended up catching a nice haul of bluefish for grilling. The vast majority of the fish came in 3-4" of water and it was close to low tide. We came off the water after 3 hour or so, actually leaving fish behind but I felt like they were there all the time. So perhaps the pier rumors are true after all. The icing on the cake was a fresh bowl of Ceviche that Rich had whipped up before we launched that we had for brunch and it was one of the best I've eve had.

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A man and his pier

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Gary's first keeper

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One of many 20+ inch fish today

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Gary and Rich coming back in

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Ceviche! Yum

[buzz]

Awesome. Looks like it was a great day to be out on the water.

As for the ceviche... isn't that raw fish?


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[Big Mike]

Ceviche is raw but it is "cooked" by the acid in lime and lemon juice. It firms the meat up and you don't know that it hasn't been cooked. If you're squeamish about raw fish this is the place to start.

[Yak67]

Great morning with Fishinggod and Big Mike. We threw the dock's Mojo off with three of us out there throwing everything and the kitchen sink at those fish.
Went to our bread and butter Yak's and game on! What an epic day fishing and the weather was perfect!
Rich is the man, ate his great ceviche again and he showed me how to fillet a Rock fish.
The blue committed mayhem on our Zman soft plastics(off to BPS today). I caught a surprise small trout also in the mix of this.DSCN0262.jpgDSCN0263.jpg

My nice Rock!

Yak 67

[Redfish12]

Great trip guys!!! Rich how about posting your ceviche recipe?

[fishinggod]

no problem. everyone has there own opinions on each ingredients amount so i will leave that up to all of you. but here it is. sweet onions, jalapeños, cilantro, roma tomatoes, shallots, lemon juice, lime juice and lemon zest, very good sea salt and very good pepper, and very good garlic powder and very good onion powder. i say all that to let you know the quality of the spices is crucial. if i used generic spices it would not be as tasty. the zest is most important. it adds a very distinct flavor you would miss if you didn't do it. adjust everything to your taste as you wish. as far as spices, i get all my spices through Penzeys Spices online. the best spices I've ever found. now sometimes i adjust with grapefruit or oranges for a different flavor. its all up to you. oh, and you must add the fish..... or raw shrimp, or calamari or any firm fish will work. get creative as i do often times. if you ever travel to central and south america, they do different versions in every beach town to cater to there own flavor profiles.

[fishinggod]

you two ruined my Pier MOJO!!!!! haha. there was bait all around and i mean hundreds of thousands and fish splashing all around yet nothing would bite. i am trying to learn all day, and i think that the water was so clear that they were too keyed in on the bait fish. yesterday the water was stained and they weren't able to confirm the target so they hit everything. either way you two took me to school trolling as usual. i landed 4 stripers and all were 17-18 inches. never got the big bite trolling. but i have a friend that is a chef up in Annapolis and he wanted some bluefish so it all worked out. i couldn't stop getting blues in the 11-14 inch range, which i think are the best tasting. so i kept 8 fish to take to him tomorrow. Gary, i will be going to basspro tomorrow as well as i am all out of Z-Man baits. they do far better than gulp but the blues will still wear them out too. Mike, thats a fantastic shot of the sunrise if my fat ass wasn't in the way. haha. either way good times gentlemen!!!!

[Cowpokey]

Sounds like y'all had fun this morning! Congrats on the fish, and thanks for sharing the report.

[Toadfish]

Great thread Mike. really enjoyed the read. congrats on the fantastic day guys.

[AbuMasgouf]

Great report!

I love Ceviche. Got addicted to it last year when we were in Costa Rica. I posted up a pic of my version here http://www.snaggedline.com/showthread.php?10287

[fishinggod]

ah yes, I've done ceviche a ton of ways but the recipe i posted is my starter. then i modify depending on what sounds good or how lazy i am. I've done the ground ginger and garlic before. had it that way in Panama. very tasty. i also like to add chunks of oranges and habaneros diced. the oranges really counteracts the spice. i also like to add pomegranate pods for texture and tart.