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2-Day trip to hunt flounder at Chincoteague and Gargatha Creek.
Saturday
Was on the water after 8 am at a Chincoteague launch point. Target was flounder, but today I got none of that. I did get a surprise though.
I was jigging a tandem rig with a white bucktail on the bottom and a pink Gulp mullet on top. I jigged along ledges and around the pilings expecting a keeper flounder. Around 9 am, I got a hit. A big hit. It spooled my reel; had to tighten the drag.
Couldn't be a monster flounder. No way. Again, it spooled, and again I tightened the drag.
I thought, "Maybe it's a ray, but it doesn't feel like a ray." Maybe a drum?
Fought the thing a few minutes wondering what the heck it was. I finally got it to surface.
"...saw the familiar body stripes......OMG!....OMG!....OMG!....." I thought. I never expected this around this area. It was a big sheepshead! Scooped and measured it; it was 23 inches!
(As you might know, sheepies are among my favorite to catch, and they're great on the table)
A sheepie on pink Gulp swimming mullet!?!?! That's the other surprise. I thought you can catch them on fiddlers, sand fleas, clams and green crab only. Wow, took me by complete surprise.
Reeling from the morning catch, I went on to later catch croakers and toads.
Sunday
Hit the water after 6 am at Gargatha Landing. Water was smooth. Never fished there before. It was tricky trying to find my way around the grassy channels, but I found the area to start my drifts on an incoming tide.
Jigged the bucktail/Gulp tandem rig again. Picked up a short flounder. All the while I thought about going back to Chincoteague because I figured my chances for catching another Sheepie might be better than catching a keeper flounder here.
On one drift, I spotted some fins sticking out of the water about 100 feet away. I went to check it out and saw that it was a ray. When I was about 10 ft away, it got spooked and made a quick beeline. Where? Straight toward me! It went under my yak and whacked the mirage fins. Checked it out, and the drive was OK. Now back to fishing.
After over four hours, I decided to head in and go back to Chincoteague. Just 100 yds before reaching the dock, I drag my rig again. Caught another short. Jigged again and not 10 seconds, I picked up a keeper at 17.5" (It hit the bottom bucktail). Was thinking I should now stay, but I decided to stick to my decision. Sheepies were in my head.
As I went to pick up frozen sand fleas at the bait shop on my way back to Chincoteague, I thought, "What are the chances of catching another big sheepie?.....Hmmm, fat chance, but I had to try."
Was on the water before 1 pm. Went to the same spot to hang sand fleas, but got nothing. It was an outgoing tide, so it wasn't easy staying over structure. I went to another spot and again, nothing. Then, at 2:30 pm, BAM! The sucker spooled my reel. It was big. What a fighter. Turned out to be a 25" citation sheepie.
Tally:
2 croakers
2 toads
2 short flounder
1 keeper flounder 17.5"
2 sheepies (23", and 25" @ 13 lbs - a citation)
Very nice fishing wx. My main target was a lot of flounder, but I'm still a happy camper. Took home fish. Great trip.
Saturday
Was on the water after 8 am at a Chincoteague launch point. Target was flounder, but today I got none of that. I did get a surprise though.
I was jigging a tandem rig with a white bucktail on the bottom and a pink Gulp mullet on top. I jigged along ledges and around the pilings expecting a keeper flounder. Around 9 am, I got a hit. A big hit. It spooled my reel; had to tighten the drag.
Couldn't be a monster flounder. No way. Again, it spooled, and again I tightened the drag.
I thought, "Maybe it's a ray, but it doesn't feel like a ray." Maybe a drum?
Fought the thing a few minutes wondering what the heck it was. I finally got it to surface.
"...saw the familiar body stripes......OMG!....OMG!....OMG!....." I thought. I never expected this around this area. It was a big sheepshead! Scooped and measured it; it was 23 inches!
(As you might know, sheepies are among my favorite to catch, and they're great on the table)
A sheepie on pink Gulp swimming mullet!?!?! That's the other surprise. I thought you can catch them on fiddlers, sand fleas, clams and green crab only. Wow, took me by complete surprise.
Reeling from the morning catch, I went on to later catch croakers and toads.
Sunday
Hit the water after 6 am at Gargatha Landing. Water was smooth. Never fished there before. It was tricky trying to find my way around the grassy channels, but I found the area to start my drifts on an incoming tide.
Jigged the bucktail/Gulp tandem rig again. Picked up a short flounder. All the while I thought about going back to Chincoteague because I figured my chances for catching another Sheepie might be better than catching a keeper flounder here.
On one drift, I spotted some fins sticking out of the water about 100 feet away. I went to check it out and saw that it was a ray. When I was about 10 ft away, it got spooked and made a quick beeline. Where? Straight toward me! It went under my yak and whacked the mirage fins. Checked it out, and the drive was OK. Now back to fishing.
After over four hours, I decided to head in and go back to Chincoteague. Just 100 yds before reaching the dock, I drag my rig again. Caught another short. Jigged again and not 10 seconds, I picked up a keeper at 17.5" (It hit the bottom bucktail). Was thinking I should now stay, but I decided to stick to my decision. Sheepies were in my head.
As I went to pick up frozen sand fleas at the bait shop on my way back to Chincoteague, I thought, "What are the chances of catching another big sheepie?.....Hmmm, fat chance, but I had to try."
Was on the water before 1 pm. Went to the same spot to hang sand fleas, but got nothing. It was an outgoing tide, so it wasn't easy staying over structure. I went to another spot and again, nothing. Then, at 2:30 pm, BAM! The sucker spooled my reel. It was big. What a fighter. Turned out to be a 25" citation sheepie.
Tally:
2 croakers
2 toads
2 short flounder
1 keeper flounder 17.5"
2 sheepies (23", and 25" @ 13 lbs - a citation)
Very nice fishing wx. My main target was a lot of flounder, but I'm still a happy camper. Took home fish. Great trip.
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