Fishing really started to heat up in the shallows last Saturday when Ralph Bones and friend Keith joined me for a day on the water. We hit a couple of creeks around Smith Island and while only one really produced, it provided some no-stop action on mostly 20″ – 23″ rockfish for about an hour. That’s the way the fall has been with the creek fishing. On any given day it has been only one or two creeks that pay off. Good fishing when you find the fish, but deep down it tells me there are less rockfish in the system. I hope the ASMFC doesn’t increase the commercial limit for striped bass like they’re talking about.
After the creek gave up all it was going to, we traveled south to Tangier Island and had some fast action on nice sized stripers during the ebb tide. Again, many of the fish were in the 20″ to 23 inch size range – the last respectable year class. Hard fighting and healthy. Sorry no pics, the guys were having too much fun.
On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of taking fishing a diehard rockfish fan in Werner Gruber. Werner loves to eat rockfish and our goal was to get him a couple for the table. We traveled back to the main bay from Crisfield with a moderate east wind at our backs. Not a bird was sighted until we approached Holland Light, at which time we observed a thick mass of gulls, terns and gannets diving in about twenty eight feet of water. I told Werner that many times the gannets mean there are big fish close by, and sure enough the second tug on our Bass Assassins provided stiff resistance and a drag-screaming run. Werner fought the fish like a pro and soon boated a fat 32″ rockfish that tipped the boga at twelve pounds.
Werner likes the smaller fish for the pan so the twelve pound rockfish was released alive. For the remainder of the day we had non-stop action with a nice grade of stripers in the 20 to 24 inch class. Werner got his dinner and was a happy man on the long ride back to Crisfield. The fish are there for the taking so long as the wind will allow us to go and get them. Hoping for an Indian summer real soon.
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