Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog

Monday, November 7 brought Karl Bernetich and Bernie Kemp together for a walk-on trip. This has been a popular cost-saving program, while at the same time giving fellow anglers a chance to make new friends.  I’ll act as your booking agent and make all the arrangements at no extra cost to you. Since the program’s inception, several clients have made repeat requests to fish with the same angler. 

Karl Bernetich picked a good day to fly fish the creeks of Smith Island

Wednesday, November 9 was a wild day, weatherwise. Dave Fetterman, his son Cory, along with Dave’s brother Kurt met me bright and early at the Somers Cove ramp in Crisfield, only to be greeted by a blanket of fog. While visibility was limited, we could see far enough to avoid a collision, so off we went. It was kind of neat actually, the GPS helped point me to a shoreline location that I wanted to fish, the sod bank would appear out of the haze, and more times than not there were rockfish waiting for our offerings.  It was fun fishing and gave us a sense that we were the only boat on the sound. Later in the morning, as the sun burned-off the fog, we chased surface-feeding rockfish in the bay out near the target ship. A great day on the water with three great friends.

   

On Saturday, November 19, it was a treat for me to take Mark Horst and his three boys fishing out of Crisfield. His sons Kent, Shannon and Delvin turned out to be very good with the spinning rods. After a slow, cold morning – and a boat trip that seemed to cover Tangier Sound in its entirety – we found breaking fish right out in front of Crisfield at the infamous “Puppy Hole.” The boys had a blast pulling in rockfish to five pounds. Thanks for hanging tough guys! 

 

 

 

On the day after Thanksgiving, Frank Shipper, along with his two sons Chris and Ford, met me at the docks of Somers Cove Marina for a six-hour trip in search of breaking rockfish. It took a good ride in the cool morning air, but we finally found the stripers just east of Tangier Island. The guys had a fun time jigging soft plastics and Li’l Bunker spoons by Specialized Baits, all-the-while catching rockfish averaging 17″ to 22.” After a couple of hours of steady action Frank says “let’s get lunch.” A hot crab cake platter at Drum Point Market in Tylerton on Smith Island was the perfect ending to a fun morning.

On Saturday, November 26, Justin Matoska and friend Kenny Fletcher enjoyed catching schoolie stripers on both fly and spin-tackle. We ran into working birds pretty much everywhere we tried, which was pretty much everywhere.. Kenny managed to master the fly rod and catch his very first saltwater fish of any kind on a fly. Thanks for being a quick study Kenny.

 

 Jack McKenna was one of my final trips of the year out of Crisfield and he enjoyed a mixed bag of breaking rockfish early, followed by a few shallow water stripers around the banks of Smith Island. Finishing-off the year in the creeks of Smith Island was the perfect way to end a terrific season on Tangier Sound. Now it’s off to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel for a last fling at some big sea-run rockfish. At least that’s the plan…