Lower Hoopers Island 7-6-13

[chex]

I met up with kevinfry on Saturday for what we hoped would be a good day of speck fishing. It would not turn out that way, although it was not a bad day of fishing overall.

Launching - and mostly staying - on the NE side of the Lower Hoopers island kept us protected from the SW winds, making conditions great. Mostly clear skies made it a great day for sunburns too, but only in that little spot where I had missed sunscreening. Ugh.

The area is beautiful and largely untouched by man. Water depths are a pretty constant 3'-5', except for the channel which is a ways out. Grassy shorelines with occasional trees provide perfect Chesapeake Bay photo ops.



We trolled to a spot that looked fishy and went to work. Kevin quickly got several blowups on a topwater lure, but could not hook up. Eventually, he hooked and landed a nice 19' redfish for cooler and a few stripers.



I only caught a WP and 2 small stripers. Tide was slack, and we decided to go around the island.



We caught a few small stripers and croaker as we made our way around the island. Nothing much. It was a long paddle/pedal.







When we reached the side of the island that started be unprotected from the wind, we doubled back and went back to our previous spot. By now the current was really moving. With the wind going one way and the current the other way, we were able to stay more or less stationary without too much effort. Kevin was using his drag anchor which seemed to work well. Very quickly, within a period of 1-2 minutes, I 1. hooked up with a 20"+ redfish. 2. Hooked up with another 20" redfish on my other line. 3. Lost my net in the water as I handled 2 rods. 4. Lost the first redfish at the boat. When I tried to lift him out of the water, the light line broke. 5. Landed the second redfish. Action packed minute or two. I later found my net in the shallow water. The redfish took a white 4" gulp mullet and a salt-n-pepper BA on a redfish magic.



Later I caught a 21" rockfish on the same redfish magic. Kevin caught some smaller stripers as well.



All in all, fun day, great exercise and some nice fish.

[Reelaxin10]

Nice Mike, Good looking fish! Did you cook both of them up? Which do you prefer, redfish or striper? I haven't done the comparison yet but hope to soon.

[chex]

Thanks Shane. They fought well. Funny how, in shallow water, they feel bigger than they really are. I guess they run away rather than down.

I gave them to kevin. I don't really like cooked fish ( I love sushi though). Redfish nigiri? Not sure about that... Kevin said trout would be good as sushi or ceviche.

[Shady]

Nice keepers! Reds always feel bigger than they actually are in my limited experience with them.
Blackened Redfish is one of my favorites, give it a try next time.
Maybe its because I've caught and ate quite a few Stripers and only a couple Reds, but I preferred the redfish over Striper when having them side by side last summer.

[kevinfry]

I always like fishing with Mike and love Hooper's Island. Like stepping back in Maryland history 20-30 years!. Ir was a funny day for 2 reasons
1) Croakers were attacking everything. They hit or ruined every type of lure I used except topwater plugs. I even caught them on tony spoons and Rapalas #2) Actions was funny because it would be hot then nothing for a long time.

Caught my first rfed on hot pink gulp minnow and thought "here we go". He was 19.75" Mike caught some stripers and I had a couple blowups and lost a niche fish on my yellow/orange walk the dog topwater plug. Hard to say if it was a red, Rockfish or trout. I had it for about 15 seconds then POP...gone. Due to shallow water, as Mike said, fish went on long powerful runs. Very fun!

After our long semi fruitless paddle we headed back and Mike was immediately back into fish. His double was a hilarious fiasco current going one way, wind galing the other, lines crossed, net popping out of holder.....both 20" plus red drum....what a thing to behold. In the mean time I caught my last red...another 19 incher on my favorite trout lure....brook trout count down Rapala in brook trout pattern

From there it was all short rocks for me....fun, but I was exhausted and headed home.

Thanks for the fish Mike and for a fun day of exploration and fishing!

[tufnik]

Actually I think you guys got some nice fish. You have a funny mask, Mike. Is that a red flappin' lip shield?

[ronaultmtd]

Nice fish and not unusual that they are congregated in some areas and not others- nice road trip- what was the mileage? My trip to St. Inigoes was sixty miles one way-

[zeebyrd]

Nice fish. Looks like you had a great time. I enjoyed your photos.

[J.A. Veil]

Great work guys. It is wonderful to see keeper sized redfish in kayak-accessible Maryland waters.

As an aside, someone on Tidalfish reported catching a 14" speckled trout somewhere in the Severn yesterday along the shorelines. So keep your eyes open for specs in more northern waters.

[whenican]

Well done guys! Good report chez one!

[Sun]

Nice report and pics! That place looks beautiful.

[kevinfry]

Thanbks Sun, wish I'd have known you guys were at Pt Lookout!

[chex]

Actually I think you guys got some nice fish. You have a funny mask, Mike. Is that a red flappin' lip shield?

I was trying to find a cool name for it... yes! Red Flappin' Lip Shield. Absolutely. My glasses kept fogging up so cut mouth and nose hole into my mask. I cut the mouth hole too big, so I covered it with the fabric I had, which was red. I figured I'd make it look like a tongue, since it already looked ridiculous.

[kevinfry]

I thought it was arose petal LOL

[ronaultmtd]

I was trying to find a cool name for it... yes! Red Flappin' Lip Shield. Absolutely. My glasses kept fogging up so cut mouth and nose hole into my mask. I cut the mouth hole too big, so I covered it with the fabric I had, which was red. I figured I'd make it look like a tongue, since it already looked ridiculous.

Never thought about that Mike- I quit wearing my BPS Buff due to fogging up my Costa's...I just slatter on more SPF 50- sunblock-