Goodbye Irene

Last night I made it out to the shoal despite some really ugly looking water in front of our house. I was pleasantly surprised when the water was mirror like and actually fairly clean. After 4 nights without power and a long stay at a local hotel, I was thrilled to be back on the water. I had arrived a little before 7 and it was not long before the first blowup that missed. Ten minutes later I had another blowup that missed. After missing too many to count the night before the hurricane, I was getting really frustrated. Dabs called and said he would be out in ten minutes. In the meantime, I finally picked up a nice 22. When Dabs arrived all hell broke loose. He was picking up a nice fish on virtually every cast. I picked up 3 more 22 inch class fish, before pulling anchor and moving over to where he was fishing. As fate would have it, the bite instantly stopped and after 10 minutes or so, I headed in.

Tonight I arrived at the point around 6:30 to a packed house. Dabs and a buddy of his where anchored and Wild Bill was circling the wagons with a slow troll. Things were quiet until the sun set and I finally picked up a 22. One of Dabs boys picked up a 20 and that was all she wrote. Great sunset, but a slow night. I love this time of year.

Mother Nature Sucks

The only girl I have ever know named Irene was a rather annoying girl from high school who always looked like she needed a shave. So, with hurricane Irene threatening to shut down fishing for a least a week, I was intent on making my last night a good one. As I strolled down the pier at 7 pm, it looked like mother nature had it in for me. The western sky looked dark, but the almost complete lack of wind gave me hope. I have been fishing the South River every day for 12 years now and can say without a doubt that the last week of August is my favorite. The weather has always been perfect and marks the start of fall topwater bite So I decided to make a run for it. It was great to see the sun burst through the clouds just as I arrived at the shoal. There was a very strong outgoing tide, but the water was like glass. I anchored up around 7:30. I worked everything in my arsenal with only a few dinks to show for my effort. Just as the sun set the water about 200 yards from me exploded with feeding Stripers. Just as quickly as the appeared they went down as some yahoo out of fishing creek nearly clipped my anchor line on his way to the lighthouse. It took another 5 minutes before they resurfaced in basically the same spot. I quickly pulled anchor and moved uptide of the pod. My first cast was met with a huge blowup that was on then quickly off. The next 4 casts were exactly like the first. Finally on my fifth cast I brought to the side of the boat what appeared to be a 24 class fish, but as I grabbed the leader and attempted to swing her onboard the hook popped out. The next cast was surreal. I made a short cast and as the plug hit the water multiple fish slammed at once with no clear winner. This battle continued for several more rounds before I finally hooked up. As as started to reel, the line snapped as my 20 lb flourocarbon leader was shredded by the other fish banging up against it. I cannot remember ever breaking a leader while Striper fishing. It reminded me of tarpon fishing. The next cast resulted in another massive battle for the plug that resulted in a hookup that threw the plug past my head and into the pilot house where it snagged my sweatshirt hanging on the seat. Ok..now I am pissed. I want at least one picture tonight. I stayed on the fish for the next 15 to 20 minutes with every cast resulting in multiple blowups. I just could not get one to stay on the hook. Oh well, it was a perfect night. Too bad the rest of the week will suck.

Earth Quake

I have not posted much lately. It is not due to lack of fish, but as a result of dropping my camera on cracking the lens. The last two weeks have been very good. I have had the pleasure of introducing topwater fishing to several newbies with great success. My youngest daughter Grace and her boyfriend each boated several too close to call on Stillwater's . A good friend of hers, Carter and his buddy joined me last weds and we picked up 5 or 6 in the 20-24 range.

Tonight I left the dock at 6.45 to bright blue skies and a nice breeze. The air temp was in the high 70's and the tide was dead low. It was not until the sun set that the action began. The first fish hit on my last twitch at the boat and immediately went air borne. He literally came within inches of my nose and gave me a bigger scare than the 5.8 earthquake that shook my glass enclosed office at 1.45 this afternoon. I picked up 5 more keepers in the next 15 minutes. I also picked up a nice 4 pound bluefish that nearly spooled my med-lite St. Croix....the bluefish was actually caught on Sunday off of Cape Cod when my college buddies and I came upon Bluefish Blitz. I had read about them, but had never experienced one in person. All I can say is WOW. Every cast of our plugs was met with a massive slam of 4-6 pounders. We had a nice fish fry saturday night and I discovered that if you soak the meat in milk and then coat with old bay, they are actually quite good. The topwater season is in full swing now and my camera is back on board, so hopefully the blog will be a little more active.

Go away blues

Last night was one of the nicest "topwater" nights of the year. I got a late start and did not get out the the shoal until a little before 8. There was a very strong incoming tide, but unlike the last week or so very little breeze stirring things up. The surface clearly showed where the rock piles where, so I anchored 20 yards off and worked the break. On my first several casts, I picked up little snapper blues on the small Chugbug. Every time I tried the twisty it came back tailless. The night before my friend Anthony had pulled up alongside and we talked about the state of fishing. He had been doing well on the eastern shore both trolling and LTJ with fish up into the 30's. When I mentioned the Blues problem, he gave me a few BA's with a new plastic that stretches so much that the blues can't rip them. As I worked this new plastic along the break-line, I had a nice hit a few feet from the boat. As I set the hook, the fish jumped straight up in the air like a largemouth bass and actually cleared the top of my engine. Very cool. It turned out to be a nice 24 that made my week. Thanks Anthony.

Maybe its turning on?

The last couple of nights have been brutal as far as conditions on the bay. The wind last night was blowing so hard that I literally could not keep my hat on.

Tonight I arrived at the lighthouse at 7.30 and found calm seas an a light breeze. Despite the days oppressive heat, it was actually quite pleasant. Worked the icebreaker for about a 1/2 hour with only one 18 inch bluefish. He made several spectacular jumps before breaking my leader at the boat. Headed to the shoal just as the sun was heading down. The white twisty produced a striper of some size or another on every cast. There was a strong incoming tide, so the best technique was to cast up current and let the plastic kind of float along with the current. My 6th fish was a very nice 22 that hit just as the bait was drifting behind the boat. Since the fish had to be pulled against the current and I was using my med-lite rod, it was quite a fight. After another 2o or so shorties, I boated another keeper size 20, pulled anchor and headed in. Nice night.

A sign from God.

When I downloaded my pic's on Sunday, a number a very strange images appeared. The pictures before and after were normal lighting, yet the four images staring back at me were pitch black, except for a pair of triangular eyes with the number 6 as pupils. I was more than a bit unnerved trying to figure out how the hell they got there. My wife and 2 of my 3 daughters were equally perplexed. Oh well....I figured it would eventually come to me.

When I reached the confluence of the river and bay tonight, I noticed a DNR cop just sitting in his boat looking around. It seemed like a strange spot to be sitting, especially with almost a complete lack of boat traffic. As I continued on, it dawned on me that he was turning back smaller boats due to some incredibly big seas on the bay. I guess he figured my trusty Parker could handle it. My buddy John greeted me at the lighthouse with a hearty "can you believe this". I have seen the bay rough before, but nothing like what was slamming the rocks. The wind was blowing from the southeast and creating "ocean like" swells that I estimated to be about 5 or 6 feet. We worked the icebreaker for about a 1/2 hour with one other boat. I was completely drained and fish-less, so I headed to my spot around 8. By that time the bay had laid down to the point where it was fishable, so I anchored up. I spent most of the time working a plug, but did manage 10-15 small stripers on a white twisty. As I was making my 5th "last cast", I got a call from my buddy Dab's who had been watching the action from the comfort of his living room on Thomas Point. Since he had called just as I casted, I left my line in the water as we talked. When we ended the call, I said it was time to head in. Just as I brought the line tight, my pole bent and the drag began to scream. Since the tide was ripping, I had quite a time getting the fish to the boat, but finally landed a nice 22. Nice way to end the night.

As I motored home, I passed marker number 6., and it all came back to me. When I had passed the marker Sunday night, there were fireworks coming from the north shore. I figured it would be cool to capture the the show with the marker in the foreground. When I checked the pictures on my viewfinder, it appeared to be all black, so I adjusted my shutter speed and waited for another shot. The final shot came out normal, sans the fireworks. So my conclusion is that the number six eyes where actually my flash lighting up the reflective numbers on the marker, while everything else just came out black. Ahh..now I can sleep tonight.

2011

I have been debating continuing the blog this year. Fishing has been downright horrible and the weather has not cooperated since early spring, There have been many nights where the action has been non stop, but all of the fish have been "unders". I have even been getting the 16 inch class to hit on top, but it has been very frustrating due to the lack of real fish. Despite the lack of fish, I have made it out to the shoal most nights and have been rewarded with some incredible sunsets.

My buddy John has been telling me that he has picked up several keepers at the lighthouse, so Thursday night I gave it a go. The tide was going out, so I positioned the boat to fish the inside edge of the ice breaker. I was using a white twisty on a 3/8 ounce jig head. It was not long before I was rewarded with my first (believe it or not) keeper of the year...a nice 20. I headed back out to the lighthouse this morning and found a veritable parking lot of anchored boats that reminded me why I rarely fish there. I was able to jockey my way into the same position as Thursday and work both the inside and outside edge of the ice breaker. After several 17's, I had something sizable hit my twisty right up against the breaker as it jig was sinking, As I set the hook, it seemed like I might have been snagged. After a few seconds though, the drag began to scream. It took all my skills to land the fish. The tide was ripping, so I was drifting towards a anchored boat and the wind was blowing me towards the rocks. I was able to back the boat out of harms way while the fish made several runs. Once the fish surfaced, I knew it would require a net..a whole new problem. After straining to get the net down from the rocket launcher while avoiding another collision, I finally boated a "fall like" 24 incher...NICE. After a round of applause from several anchored boats, I hightailed out of there for the quiet of my "spot". Who knows, there may be a blog this year after all.

Rock on the Rocks

I have always wondered why they call Striped Bass "Rock". The consensus seems to be that it was because they migrated into the bay and rubbed against the rocks to remove the sea lice. Since few if any fish in the South River come in from the ocean, I have always felt it was because they like the warmth that the rocks provide. As the water temps have dropped over the past few weeks, I have been mainly catching fish right up against rocky shorelines. This supports my theory, but I will need more tests. Again, I had a small window to fish before dark, so stayed within sight of the marina. Just as it was getting dark, I picked up a feisty 17 right up against the rocky shoreline behind the old island (now called a shoal). So the fun continued for a least another day.

November Surprise

Yesterday was a nearly perfect day to fish. Light breeze, sunny skies, calm sea's, and light boat traffic. Unfortunately, my three hours of fishing yielded little more than a peaceful day.

I only had a short window to fish tonight, so it was Lake Riva for me. Started at the headwaters of Broad Creek and worked my way back to the marina. Worked the gaps between piers with a white twisty. My expectation was that all the Stripers had left, but was hoping for a White Perch or Pickerel. As it was getting dark, I had made my way back to " Al's Spot" for the final casts. I was reeling very slow and was just getting ready to set the pole down to take a picture of the sunset, when the line went tight and it was fish on. I knew immediately it was a Striper. A nice 21 inch surprise for the end of November.

Happy Thanksgiving

Last night my friend John K and I hit that headwaters of Broad creek looking for a few remaining Stripers. Although I continued to toss my trusty Stillwater, John stuck with plastic. I finally gave in and switched to a white twisty. Soon after, I picked up a small white perch. At our second stop, John picked up the biggest White Perch I have seen in the river...a fat 13 1/2 inch. It was not until we got home that he realized it was citation size (13 inch in MD). Nice!!

It did not take long this Thanksgiving for me to be booted from the house to go fishing, by the four women in my life. So I headed back to Broad Creek around 11 Am. There was quite a bit of bird action in the shallows, but I was unable to entice a blowup after an hour and half. At that point, I knew topwater fishing was basically over for the year {maybe}. I started working the white twisty near rocky shorelines at the mouth of the river. On my second stop I hooked into a Chain Pickerel that provided me with quite an air show. Turned out to be my second and biggest Pickerel ever...a nice 22 (citation size is 24). So it looks like fall fishing has given way to winter fishing on the South River. Happy turkey day.

9 Days of Pleasure

It has been nine days since my last post. This time included two solid weekends of fishing. That meant 4 "two a days" where I fished from 10 to 1 and 3-5 both Saturday and Sunday. All without a bump, nibble, swirl, blowup, or a bird sighting. Since it now get's dark at 5 , I had to work hard to catch the last hour of daylight each weeknight. Despite the lack of fish, it was a very pleasurable nine days. The sun and air temp made it feel like October never ended. Unfortunately it had. For a topwater guy like myself the conditions were tough. The breeze was extremely shifty, which made finding Stillwater difficult. Furthermore, when I did find a nice spot, I also found leaves sitting on the surface. The boat traffic on the 2 weekends was more like July than November, which also meant dealing with a ton of wakes. The weeknights on the other hand have been great. It has basically been me, the river, and some incredible sunsets.

This past Saturday I heard from two different duck hunting party's that there were Stripers busting bait on the surface at the headwaters of Broad Creek. I love fishing back there, but have never had much luck. The water is very mucky and shallow. The nice thing about the area is that it is completely protected from wind and noise. As the sun was setting Sunday night, I could hear the tell tell "swack", but the water was too shallow to get close enough. Last night the tide was a bit higher at sunset, so I was able to get a bit closer, but leaves removed any chance of a blowup. Tonight the tide was as high as it gets due to a full moon. As I came around the corner to the wide expanse that makes up the headwaters, there they were. It was a good sized baitball, just getting slammed. They were smack dab in the middle. When I got within 50 yards, fish took off in every direction. As they scattered they left a wake, which made the whole thing look like a flock of geese taking off. It looks like a kayak trip is in order. On my way back down the creek, I tossed a twisty into a promising looking point of living shoreline that was covered by leaves. A few turns of the reel and I finally had my 20. Now why didn't I think of that sooner? I am one stubborn topwater guy!!

First Half of Sat....not good

For a November day, it could not have been any more perfect. The water was calm, the sky blue, winds light, and the temp in the low 60's. Headed out at 10 and just returned at 1. I fished every inch of the South River and did not see a single sign of life. No birds, no swirls, no bait balls, no fish. It was a beautiful day, but quite frustrating. I am going to try for the last hour of light, but have little hope.

Went back out and fished from 3.30 until dark. Stayed mainly in the Lake Riva area with no luck. As the sun was setting, I decided to run out to Glebe Bay and then end my night at the mouth of Crab Creek. My bad luck continued until I was just ready to give up when a small fish finally hit my plug. As I continued my retrieve several more fish made a stab at it with no success. Just as the plug approached the boat, a good sized fish blew up. I had him on briefly, but alas, he got away. So the grand total for this beautiful day in November was zero. However that last cast, gave me enough encouragement to do it again tomorrow.

Cold

It was another perfect topwater night when I left my office at 2:45. By four I was anchored up at "the spot". The water temp on the bay had dropped to 54.5 and the shallows of the river close to 53. When the temp hits 50 the catching part of fishing becomes a lot more difficult. The knowledge that the end is near made me appreciate the perfect conditions even more. A light breeze from the east against the falling tide made for a bit of chop, but basically it was perfect. Within 10 minutes, I had my first fish in the boat...a barely legal 18. Five minutes later, I boated a nice 20. Neither fish really exploded on the plug. Instead they sort of sucked it off the surface. Not very exciting, but it is November after all. That was basically it for the night. After the sun set, I realized how cold it had become. I was quite happy to pull into my slip and run for the warmth of my car.

Chasing the Birds

The view out my office window of Annapolis Harbor screamed "Topwater", so I had no choice but to drop everything and race home. I wanted to get to the shoal as fast as humanly possible to catch the last hour of light. After a few quick stops, I anchored up at "the spot". The breeze was coming out of the river and the tide was dead low. The water temp was 55, the sky blue, and the air a balmy 65. After fan casting for 20 minutes, the water exploded and I boated a healthy twenty. While I was unhooking and taking a picture of my guest, the tide started to come in and the boat swung to the north. When I looked up there were hundreds of diving birds a few hundred yards away. My mind could not shake the vision of forty pounders pounding 12 inch baitfish on the surface, so off I went. As soon as I arrived, I knew it was a mistake. My "vision" turned out to be dink's pounding small anchovies. By the time I returned to "the spot", the sun was disappearing below the horizon. After a few fan casts, I headed to Glebe bay for a few more casts before heading in. When will I learn.."never leave fish to find fish". Great night!!

Daylight Savings Time...Dang

A miserable cold day with 15 to 20 knot winds, gave way to a relatively nice night. I headed out around 4:30 with no real plan. Due to the wind, there were very few places with still water, so I was forced to stick to the eastern shorelines of the creeks. I got a call from Brandon who was just leaving Aberdeen Creek. Before meeting up with him, I worked the eastern shore of Glebe Bay for a good fifteen minutes. By this time he had moved to Harness Creek, so I joined him. The water was nice and calm, but unfortunately the fish did not seem to be there. Brandon decided to check out Glebe before heading in. I decided to stay in Harness Creek and take a few pictures of the incredible sunset. A few minutes later he called to let me know they had just landed an 18 in the exact spot I had just left. It goes to show,that sometimes you just have to be patient.

De-Skunked

Having a good network of fishing buds is critical to catching fish consistently. My buddy Brandon left me a comment yesterday that he had done well at the mouth of Crab Creek last night. I was able to get out for an hour tonight, so that was my destination. Tried several spots before the bridge with no success, before hitting marker 16 with the same result. After several days of being skunked, I was getting rather frustrated. When I arrived at Crab Creek the sun had just popped out and the wind was much lighter than the river proper. My first cast with the big Chugger got tangled, so I quickly retrieved and made a new cast. The second the plug hit the water this time, the water exploded. A short time later, I boated a 19. So with the skunk off the boat, I headed in to go to dinner with my wife. Nice November surprise.

The Skunk continues

Fished the river and the shoal from 4:30 till dark with only one small blowup. The tide was very high and not moving the entire time. Conditions at the shoal were decent, but the action was not. Lets hope this weekend is better.

August In November

I was pulling into my driveway at 3:30 tonight, when my buddy Brandon called looking to do some pluggin. I picked him up at his dock a half hour later and headed out. We fished several new shorelines coming out of Crab Creek, with no luck, so we ran out to the shoal. Dabs was already there with a buddy. They had caught several fish, but they were small, and on plastics. The conditions were like a late August night except it was forty five degrees. There was a strong outgoing tide, light wind, and calm seas. We anchored on my spot and the plugs started to fly. It did not take long to realize the fish either were not there or were not looking up. One by one, the boys of summer began to show up until it really did feel like an August night. Every once in a while someone would yell that they had boated a fish, but they continued to be in the 18 inch class. Brandon picked up several fish on a yellow curly tail. After the sun set the yells of blowups began with Chris boating a 23. I finally had a nice blowup close to the boat, but the fish spit the plug directly back at me and into my wool hat. Dabs called to see how we were doing, and as I was talking another fish blew up on my plug floating by the side of the boat. Unfortunately, the action quickly died down, so we headed in. 3 fish...all on plastics.

Skunked

It seems every year that the start of November means the start of cold weather and the end of topwater fishing in the river. I left the dock tonight at 4:30 filled with optimism. The temp overnight had dropped into the 50's, but the winds had died down to 5-10. Hit a number of "spots" on my way to Thomas Point, with no action. When I arrived at the shoal at 5:30 the winds were a tad higher and the temp was a lot colder. Anchored up and began fan casting . The tide was moving out at good clip with a stiff NW wind. I only managed 1 blowup until heading in at dark. There is always tomorrow.

Windy Saturday

It was cold and brisk when I ventured out this morning around 10. The wind was not too bad, so I made my way to the shoal and made several drifts. I was able to pick up one dink and a barely legal 18. As the morning wore on the winds picked up which made for some uncomfortable fishing., so I headed in.

The winds tonight were even stronger with gusts up to 20. I tried several creeks off the main stem that seemed to be out of the wind. With the shifty winds and heavy leave coverage, it was difficult to find any clear water to fish. I tried the creek on the south shore right after what used to be called Pier 7. The entrance is blocked by a number of moored sailboats, so I had never ventured back there. It was actually quite nice. The wind was still swirling, but I was at least able to make a few good drifts. The creek is very narrow, so I was able to basically drift down the middle and work both shorelines. About halfway through my drift, I had a small blowup by what seemed like a small fish that missed. I backed up and made 15 or 20 casts into the bulkhead where the fish hit. Out of nowhere, I had a huge explosion that missed, but the fish turned and slammed again and came tight. He had engulfed the entire plug, so I had a bloody mess on my hands. It was a pleasant surprise when the fish measured 23 inches. Not bad for a back creek. A new spot and decent fish in some miserable conditions, made the whole day a success.