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Christmas Keeper-PLO-Potomac side
Like a lot of us, I , too, yearn to find solace on my human-powered
watercraft. I enjoy the tranquility I find while exercising my legs on my DPS Hobie...
my hands free to operate the rudder control lever on the left while my
right hand twitches the right trolling rod with my arm extended
over the rail. The water has a calming effect, releasing the stresses of life. I enjoy the peacefulness when no motorboats are neither disturbing
the peace nor spookmastering the fish. I cannot help but to enjoy the gracefulness of waterfowl
flying on the horizon or the various shades of light beaming from the clouds above onto
the water surface.
Today was no exception. I awakened before sunrise & departed quickly. A day earlier I had checked windfinder.com for the weather forecast & decided I would fish during the small window of opportunity when I had the least chance of getting wet due to thunderstorms. Since I packed the night before( unlike some of my previous adventures) I was able to get to the launch on time despite stopping to get $1.99/gal for diesel along the way( on rte 301 in the Odenton-Crofton area). I drove through rain, several areas of fog, & got passed by a trooper responding to a call. I thought I was getting pulled over for singing too loudly to songs on the radio. I was wrong. Thank God I was wrong.
It wasn't rainy or foggy at the launch. It was overcast with temps in the 60s. The tide was coming in. There was very little wind. I pedaled into the Potomac River & went with the tide. With no fishfinder or sonar I went back & forth over the channel. I casted a few times too but mostly I trolled & checked my lures for debris from all the rainfall overnight. The sun peaked out a few times too then hid back behind the clouds. The breeze picked up on & off & pushed the fogbank out from land back into the water, then they pushed the fog back onto land. Storm clouds threatened on 2 occasions but I eluded them & stayed dry, except for the fish I caught shaking the water onto me. Three spookmasters surrounded me after I caught a fish like I was at the only fish-holding spot in the entire river. I pedaled away & went elsewhere. And that was when I caught the keeper. Since one of my reels got messed up in a big-ugly wind knot on my last outing & I hadn't straightened things out, I brought my 9 ft Tica medium surf rod as my 2nd trolling rod. That was the rod that got slammed by the fish. The knock down was hard & I played the swimmer to my Outback. It was actually too big for my net but I managed to pull it in. This horizontally-lined peche measured out to be a fat 23"er. The curse had been lifted. My keeper dryspell has been voided. The keeper skunk is over. I have caught numerous short stripers in the Potomac & with the Patapsco crew over the past month. This is the 1st Christmas I have launched & it is, thus, my 1st keeper Christmas striper. It's a good thing the striper season is still open til december 31 on the Potomac, whereas, just a short distance east( in the Chesapeake Bay), the open season for keeping stripers has already ended.
There weren't too many fish jumping on my hooks today but I would've had fun anyways just pedaling & casting & enjoying the beautiful surrounding views, looking for swirls from rising fish, watching for working birds, & looking for baitfish being chased around. Breathing fresh air & leaving life's stresses behind is therapeutic. Catching fish is a bonus and catching table entrees is the jackpot. I loaded back up at the launch. Peeps were stoked at seeing my fish. The guys in one of the boats roared in after me & loaded up & took off before me. As a finished securing my yak on top of my car I felt a drop of water. As I got into my car it started to rain. I cranked up the Sirius radio on my way home & I sung loudly to the songs I heard or I Milli Vanilli'd it. This fish will be a Christmas gift to my Dad.
watercraft. I enjoy the tranquility I find while exercising my legs on my DPS Hobie...
my hands free to operate the rudder control lever on the left while my
right hand twitches the right trolling rod with my arm extended
over the rail. The water has a calming effect, releasing the stresses of life. I enjoy the peacefulness when no motorboats are neither disturbing
the peace nor spookmastering the fish. I cannot help but to enjoy the gracefulness of waterfowl
flying on the horizon or the various shades of light beaming from the clouds above onto
the water surface.
Today was no exception. I awakened before sunrise & departed quickly. A day earlier I had checked windfinder.com for the weather forecast & decided I would fish during the small window of opportunity when I had the least chance of getting wet due to thunderstorms. Since I packed the night before( unlike some of my previous adventures) I was able to get to the launch on time despite stopping to get $1.99/gal for diesel along the way( on rte 301 in the Odenton-Crofton area). I drove through rain, several areas of fog, & got passed by a trooper responding to a call. I thought I was getting pulled over for singing too loudly to songs on the radio. I was wrong. Thank God I was wrong.
It wasn't rainy or foggy at the launch. It was overcast with temps in the 60s. The tide was coming in. There was very little wind. I pedaled into the Potomac River & went with the tide. With no fishfinder or sonar I went back & forth over the channel. I casted a few times too but mostly I trolled & checked my lures for debris from all the rainfall overnight. The sun peaked out a few times too then hid back behind the clouds. The breeze picked up on & off & pushed the fogbank out from land back into the water, then they pushed the fog back onto land. Storm clouds threatened on 2 occasions but I eluded them & stayed dry, except for the fish I caught shaking the water onto me. Three spookmasters surrounded me after I caught a fish like I was at the only fish-holding spot in the entire river. I pedaled away & went elsewhere. And that was when I caught the keeper. Since one of my reels got messed up in a big-ugly wind knot on my last outing & I hadn't straightened things out, I brought my 9 ft Tica medium surf rod as my 2nd trolling rod. That was the rod that got slammed by the fish. The knock down was hard & I played the swimmer to my Outback. It was actually too big for my net but I managed to pull it in. This horizontally-lined peche measured out to be a fat 23"er. The curse had been lifted. My keeper dryspell has been voided. The keeper skunk is over. I have caught numerous short stripers in the Potomac & with the Patapsco crew over the past month. This is the 1st Christmas I have launched & it is, thus, my 1st keeper Christmas striper. It's a good thing the striper season is still open til december 31 on the Potomac, whereas, just a short distance east( in the Chesapeake Bay), the open season for keeping stripers has already ended.
There weren't too many fish jumping on my hooks today but I would've had fun anyways just pedaling & casting & enjoying the beautiful surrounding views, looking for swirls from rising fish, watching for working birds, & looking for baitfish being chased around. Breathing fresh air & leaving life's stresses behind is therapeutic. Catching fish is a bonus and catching table entrees is the jackpot. I loaded back up at the launch. Peeps were stoked at seeing my fish. The guys in one of the boats roared in after me & loaded up & took off before me. As a finished securing my yak on top of my car I felt a drop of water. As I got into my car it started to rain. I cranked up the Sirius radio on my way home & I sung loudly to the songs I heard or I Milli Vanilli'd it. This fish will be a Christmas gift to my Dad.
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