Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog

Eric's speck

June 14, 15 and 16 brought a nice change of pace, in that we boated a few nice speckled trout, a rare catch of late. Granted, we have not been searching too hard for specks – what with the rock, flounder and bluefish action to keep us busy – but the windy conditions of these three days forced our hand. On Tuesday, Luther Carter, Albert Dulin and Eric Krouse met me at Somers Cove, along with a very stiff NW breeze. After some debate, we decided to give fishing a try along a protected shoreline of the Big Annemessex river. This was to be a pay-as-you-go day, and I can tell you that the meter didn’t run very long. After just two hours we  had had enough of the constant bombardment of the 25 knot winds and called it a day. But not before Eric was able to pull a colorful speck out of a semi-protected grassbed. Thanks for keeping the skunk out of the boat Eric.

Paul E. with a fat rock

I had an evening trip on Wednesday with Ray Leety, Paul Sirochman, Dave Stover and Paul Eichelberger. Ray brought his boat along so we weren’t crowded and together we made the long, bumpy (wind again) trip to lower Tangier Sound. The water was fairly clear in the lee of an island and the wind died a bit as the evening progressed. The guys were able to catch a few rockfish on poppers as the waters calmed and the sun set much too fast to the west. Ray had a pair of rock at 20 and 23 inches that exploded on his popper and gave him a good fight. Paul E. and Dave were fishing with me, and together they landed maybe a dozen fat stripers while casting four-inch pearl shads. It was a nice, pleasant four-hour trip and I enjoyed the company of four very good fishermen.

Ray and Paul S. with Ray's five pound speck

The same group met me bright and early on Thursday for a half day morning outing. This time Ray and Paul S. rode with me. As we rounded the “five-legger” (buoy at mouth of Little Annemessex) I had every intention of beginning our day where we ended it the previous evening. A couple of shots of salty spray to the face from a strong southerly breeze quickly erased those thoughts from my head. I opted for the west side of Smith Island where I believed that I could find some clear water. Casting a Storm Wildeye Shad to some rocky structure quickly netted Ray a beautiful, fat, five-pound speckled trout. I don’t know about Ray but that one fish made my day.

Paul's speck hit a popper

 Between both boats we were only able to scratch up a few smallish rock, as the wind was really making things miserable. We bit the bullet and pounded our way back across the sound to the Big Annemessex river. We found some pretty grass flats in the lee of some islands and Ray managed a small rock but little else. As we were heading towards Paul E. and Dave in the other boat I saw a large splash and Paul with his rod bent double. My first thought was that he had snagged a large cow nose ray, but as we got closer we witnessed Paul posing for the camera holding a speck that was almost a carbon copy of Ray’s. The explosion of water I observed was the speck crashing a popper on Paul’s first cast. It was a fitting way to end the morning, and a shake of the fist to the ever-present wind.