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I can't believe Moc hasn't posted the report yet, so I'll do my best to fill his shoes.
I met Moc and Surfdog at the route 50 Wawa's at 3am on Saturday morning. Our goal was to launch by sunrise. We drove across the bay bridge and down to Easton, where we met up with Coop1486 at the Royal Farms. Then we stopped at WalMart to get some bloodworms, because at $8 a bushel, they're the best deal in town. It rained on and off as we descended into the Chesapeake wilderness that is the Eastern Shore around the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.
We arrived at our launch on Hoopers Island. Waves were crashing over the low bridge just before the hoopers island high bridge. Winds were howling. It was the perfect day for an adventure on the water. Surfdog decided to fish another spot, but Moc, Coop and I got ready launch. While we were rigging up, WhenIcan drove up and it was a pleasure meeting him. He would also launch with us.
By daybreak, the rain had stopped for good and the water looked good enough to launch on the protected side of the land, and so we did. We headed straight across to Wroten Island and fished its shores for several hours. Croaker were the main dish on the menu, which was NOT music to my ears, because I was here to catch my first Speckled Trout. I used redfish magic spinner baits, gulp mullets with and without spinners, salt-n-pepper/silver with chartreuse tail softies and even my trusty chatterbait, but the specks were not in the mood to play. The water was choppy, so maybe they weren't hungry. Or maybe they saw that Moc was around and gave themselves the word to fast for a little bit. By 9am, with no bites on the southeastern side of Wroten Island, Coop and I went around to join Moc who had gone around the other way.
By this time, the wind had seriously died down and the sun was breaking through the overcast skies. It was turning out to be a beautiful day after all. We drifted casually, soaking various baits to catch some croaker, and stringerfulls of nice ones were caught. We decided to head to shore for a break, where Coop pulls out a bag of freshly steamed crabs and Moc some cold Blue Moon beers! Freakin awesome!
We headed back out to fish the high bridge. I jigged for stripers, but got none. Moc hooked up with a ray that did NOT break his rod. Everyone sort of decided it was time to give in to the croaker, who were thick on the fishfinder, and catch them all. Moc, Coop and WhenIcan caught almost all of them. I caught a few, but I was still wanting that first speck, so I did not concentrate on the croaker.
I got hung up and lost the lure I thought the speck would want, so I switched to a very light (1/8) jig head with a chartreuse gulp mullet and trolled it around the grassy edges of shore near the bridge. I was not one minute into trolling that thing than a tug on my rod woke me from my torpor. At first I thought... yep, another croaker... but then I realized this did not have the twitchy nervous excitement of a croaker. This was a more sophisticated fish. I had a feeling it was a speck. I had it hooked on my ultralight rod with 4lb test, so I played it slowly, remembering what Kenvinfry had told me about their soft mouths. It came to the surface, splashed around, and I saw the toothy speck for the first time. I loosened my drag to let it run a few times, and tired it out before bringing it onto the boat. I had my first speck, at 18 inches.
I did not catch another fish all day, but the others kept on catching croaker after croaker, before we called it a day and headed out.
It was a great day on the water, with great company, crabs and beer. What more could you ask for?
I met Moc and Surfdog at the route 50 Wawa's at 3am on Saturday morning. Our goal was to launch by sunrise. We drove across the bay bridge and down to Easton, where we met up with Coop1486 at the Royal Farms. Then we stopped at WalMart to get some bloodworms, because at $8 a bushel, they're the best deal in town. It rained on and off as we descended into the Chesapeake wilderness that is the Eastern Shore around the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.
We arrived at our launch on Hoopers Island. Waves were crashing over the low bridge just before the hoopers island high bridge. Winds were howling. It was the perfect day for an adventure on the water. Surfdog decided to fish another spot, but Moc, Coop and I got ready launch. While we were rigging up, WhenIcan drove up and it was a pleasure meeting him. He would also launch with us.
By daybreak, the rain had stopped for good and the water looked good enough to launch on the protected side of the land, and so we did. We headed straight across to Wroten Island and fished its shores for several hours. Croaker were the main dish on the menu, which was NOT music to my ears, because I was here to catch my first Speckled Trout. I used redfish magic spinner baits, gulp mullets with and without spinners, salt-n-pepper/silver with chartreuse tail softies and even my trusty chatterbait, but the specks were not in the mood to play. The water was choppy, so maybe they weren't hungry. Or maybe they saw that Moc was around and gave themselves the word to fast for a little bit. By 9am, with no bites on the southeastern side of Wroten Island, Coop and I went around to join Moc who had gone around the other way.
By this time, the wind had seriously died down and the sun was breaking through the overcast skies. It was turning out to be a beautiful day after all. We drifted casually, soaking various baits to catch some croaker, and stringerfulls of nice ones were caught. We decided to head to shore for a break, where Coop pulls out a bag of freshly steamed crabs and Moc some cold Blue Moon beers! Freakin awesome!
We headed back out to fish the high bridge. I jigged for stripers, but got none. Moc hooked up with a ray that did NOT break his rod. Everyone sort of decided it was time to give in to the croaker, who were thick on the fishfinder, and catch them all. Moc, Coop and WhenIcan caught almost all of them. I caught a few, but I was still wanting that first speck, so I did not concentrate on the croaker.
I got hung up and lost the lure I thought the speck would want, so I switched to a very light (1/8) jig head with a chartreuse gulp mullet and trolled it around the grassy edges of shore near the bridge. I was not one minute into trolling that thing than a tug on my rod woke me from my torpor. At first I thought... yep, another croaker... but then I realized this did not have the twitchy nervous excitement of a croaker. This was a more sophisticated fish. I had a feeling it was a speck. I had it hooked on my ultralight rod with 4lb test, so I played it slowly, remembering what Kenvinfry had told me about their soft mouths. It came to the surface, splashed around, and I saw the toothy speck for the first time. I loosened my drag to let it run a few times, and tired it out before bringing it onto the boat. I had my first speck, at 18 inches.
I did not catch another fish all day, but the others kept on catching croaker after croaker, before we called it a day and headed out.
It was a great day on the water, with great company, crabs and beer. What more could you ask for?
. I was beat with all of the trolling and fishing that we did. I went straight to bed when I got home, and I am just waking up at 1pm...lol...my body is telling me something.
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