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On Saturday morning I met up with Mike and Ron to fish in the Lower Potomac. The weather was great, a brisk 60 degrees with no wind to speak of. Water temps were about 76°F. We started the morning off throwing topwater with no success, though we did get to witness a very scenic and foggy sunrise. If you look closely you'll see a tiny dot amidst the fog... that's Mike in his PA14.
We switched approaches and fished subsurface - a variety of different Zman swimbaits. We all caught fish but it was sporadic and slow, just one here and there without much consistency. The bite seemed to pick up a little bit later in the morning as the tide started moving. The lizardfish (and/or baby bluefish... and/or crabs) were fierce and constantly shredded our lures, biting the tails off or biting them clean in half.
We managed to do alright though... Ron caught at least 7 different species of fish from lizardfish to spot to black sea bass, Mike managed to catch a flounder, both of them got keeper-sized speckled trout, and I caught my biggest ever redfish! What a thrill that was... I was trolling 3 rods (2 in holders and 1 in my hand) and all 3 went down at the same time. First I reeled in the rod that was already in my hand - a small rockfish - while maintaining trolling speeds to keep tension on the other two rods. I reached for the next rod and could tell right away that it was a nice fish. It was pulling my kayak in circles, making hard runs, ripping drag... eventually I saw a glimpse of its copper colored shoulders and got very excited that it was a nice red. Hyper-focused on not losing this fish I let my 3rd rod go slack and that fish got off, the least of my concerns. I finally got the redfish in the net and radioed to Ron and Mike that I had a big one. I put it on the measuring board and it hit 24 inches! This was my biggest red by a mile... I think my previous best was 15" or so. Having never caught a legal sized redfish before I harvested this fish; my dad and I shared one of the fillets for lunch today and it was tasty!
I stayed out after Mike and Ron headed home and I caught 3 more redfish, each of the subsequent fish were 14". One was particularly pretty with 3 spots and a fluorescent blue tail. All told I finished the day with 5 rockfish (all in the 15-17" range), 5 perch (including a very nice 12.5"), 4 redfish, and 2 lizardfish. Overall I'd say it was a good day fishing.
We switched approaches and fished subsurface - a variety of different Zman swimbaits. We all caught fish but it was sporadic and slow, just one here and there without much consistency. The bite seemed to pick up a little bit later in the morning as the tide started moving. The lizardfish (and/or baby bluefish... and/or crabs) were fierce and constantly shredded our lures, biting the tails off or biting them clean in half.
We managed to do alright though... Ron caught at least 7 different species of fish from lizardfish to spot to black sea bass, Mike managed to catch a flounder, both of them got keeper-sized speckled trout, and I caught my biggest ever redfish! What a thrill that was... I was trolling 3 rods (2 in holders and 1 in my hand) and all 3 went down at the same time. First I reeled in the rod that was already in my hand - a small rockfish - while maintaining trolling speeds to keep tension on the other two rods. I reached for the next rod and could tell right away that it was a nice fish. It was pulling my kayak in circles, making hard runs, ripping drag... eventually I saw a glimpse of its copper colored shoulders and got very excited that it was a nice red. Hyper-focused on not losing this fish I let my 3rd rod go slack and that fish got off, the least of my concerns. I finally got the redfish in the net and radioed to Ron and Mike that I had a big one. I put it on the measuring board and it hit 24 inches! This was my biggest red by a mile... I think my previous best was 15" or so. Having never caught a legal sized redfish before I harvested this fish; my dad and I shared one of the fillets for lunch today and it was tasty!
I stayed out after Mike and Ron headed home and I caught 3 more redfish, each of the subsequent fish were 14". One was particularly pretty with 3 spots and a fluorescent blue tail. All told I finished the day with 5 rockfish (all in the 15-17" range), 5 perch (including a very nice 12.5"), 4 redfish, and 2 lizardfish. Overall I'd say it was a good day fishing.
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