Thursday, September 29, 2011

Out Fished Again (Pt 2)



My post on August 27th 2008 was titled "Out Fished Again". I described how a dad and his 2 sons were slaying them right next to me while I was basically fish-less. When I arrived at the shoal tonight, Dabs was already anchored up with his brother aboard. They had just arrived and had boated one small 15. The tide was still coming in at rapid pace, despite what was already an abnormally high tide when I left the marina. It was quite choppy and breezy, so topwater was out. My white twisty on a 1/4 ounce jig head was basically working just below the surface due to the ripping tide, so I switched over to a 3/8 ounce and immediately picked up a nice 22. Little did I know that it would be my last fish of the night. Dabs and his bro were bailing low 20's fish a couple hundred feet away. Shortly after, a guy and his son arrived and anchored up on the other side of me. He immediately hooked into a fish and handed the rod to his young son. After a long fight, the kid boated the biggest fish I have seen on the shoal this year,a fat 31..NICE. Meanwhile dabs continued to bail fish one my right while the father & son team boated 6 footballs on my left. As for me...nada. I could analyze the situation for days to figure out the variables, but basically it just was not my night. It amazes me how a few hundred feet distance , 1/8 ounce of weight, or even a difference in color can make all the difference. That's what makes fishing so much fun for me. What was even more amazing was that the dad turned out to be the same guy from August 27th 2008. The same guy who identified and photographed my Needlefish catch the next night. What was even more amazing was that he and Dabs grew up in the same neighborhood and had not seen each other in years. I love everything about fishing. The smell, the sky, the laugh of young fisherman hooked into a 31, it's all wonderful. Great Night.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Nice Night



Tonight was fairly uneventful, but a beautiful night. Arrived at the shoal at 6:30. There was one other boat about 75 yards from the spot and he was bailing fish one after another. They seemed to be on the smallish size, so I stayed put. Initially I worked my full arsenal of plugs, with no action. After 15 or 20 minutes, I switched over to my white twisty and immediately picked up a nice fat 22. Not long after, Dabs arrived and anchored up close by. He immediately picked up a real nice 23 on a plastic. Finished the rest of the night working plugs to no avail. It just does not make sense. Sept. should be topwater time. Oh well. It was a really nice night, none the less.


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Why not my plug?


Despite the continuos threat of rain on Sat. I was able to get out for several hours in the afternoon. The breeze was light and the sun even peeked out for a while. I fished my way out to shoal. The conditions were excellent for pluggin, but alas, I was skunked. Wild Bill was trolling around me and picking up barely legal fish on each pass. I of course stuck with my trusty Stillwater.

I headed out around noon today to similar conditions to Saturday. Instead of messing around with the river, I headed straight to the shoal. After a half hour or so, I made and executive decision and switched over to a white twisty and immediately started picking up 20-22 inch fish. The highlight of the day was when I brought one of the 22's to the boat and noticed a monster fish following her in. The fish was at least a mid 30 to perhaps a 40 inch fish. She continued to bump up against my fish until I swung her aboard. I tried hitting the same spot, but was unable to find the big one. Total count for 2 hours was 7..all 20-22's. Not sure why topwater is not working, but I will continue to try.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

And then there was Lee





It was not long after Irene moved on that we were hit by tropical storm Lee and its 10 plus inches of rain. I can honestly say that the river has never been so un-fishable. It was surreal to see sunken boats and lumps of grass floating by. Needless to say, the last three weeks of fishing have been horrendous. The last fish I had caught, prior to tonight, was a 20 on labor day. It was really depressing because Sept. is normally the best month of the year for topwater and I was able to hook up with a number of old fishing buddies who went home empty handed.

The main stem of the bay has been even worse than the river since the Conowingo dam has been open. I tried the shoal a number of times, but the water was just too murky, so I have been fishing Lake Riva for the past 2 weeks. I left the dock around 5:30 tonight and hit all my normal spots. Since the river was like glass, I decided to give the shoal a try. There was one other boat there when I arrived at 6:30. On the other boat was a father and his young daughter. It was a beautiful sight to see them side by side working their plugs. As I set the anchor the dad had a nice blow up and handed the pole to his daughter to land what appeared to be a 20 inch class fish. It did not take long for me to get into the action. It was non stop action for the next 40 minutes. I boated 7 fish between 20 and 24. I really needed tonight!!!

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