Just a Few More Minutes

I managed to convince my son to join me for round two this afternoon. I thought it would be a repeat of my early morning session, but I ran out of time. We found a lot of small fish, but just when it was starting to be "prime time" we had to go. He really wanted to go in and I couldn't tell him "in a few minutes" anymore. Fifteen more minutes is all it would have taken. I started to see big swirls and a few "BIG" birds starting to work. Oh well, until next time.

A Wonderful Thing

Fishing during the week is a wonderful thing. I love being the only boat around and finding a school of quality fish...it doesn't get any better than that!! I started off at first light in the same general area I've been fishing the last few days and it continues to produce fish up to 30". Most of the fish today were in the low to mid 20", but I did manage several that went between 30-32". Maybe I'll get a chance to catch a few this PM?

Football Season

What a beautiful morning. Great sunrise, flocks of birds everywhere and many, many, many "footballs". It was game on at first light and continued right up to the minute I had to leave them (around 9:00). I stayed in the same general area where I left them last night and it paid off. Several boats were chasing birds, but they were dinks last night and that was the same story today. Nothing bigger than 25-26", but I didn't go more than a few casts without having a tight line all morning.

Looking Up

Tonight was one of those nights that you could go in almost any direction and you found fish. Most of the fish were dinks, but after searching around a bit I finally found some really nice fish. Mid to upper 20"ers and a few that were pushing 30". I plan on starting out early tomorrow just were I left the nicer fish in hopes that they will still be there. It's been awhile since I had some decent pullage, so it was a welcome change to finally find some quality ones tonight. It comes just in time for an upcoming vacation that includes fishing just about everyday next week.

Fishing the Rip

Tried my luck at a local "rip" without anything to show for it tonight. I only had a few minutes but nothing was biting. I did talk to another guy who recently caught some nice fish (one close to 40") in the same general area which is good to know. It's tough getting out during the week with not much daylight after work, but I'll take a few minutes anytime I get it.

Slow Day

Tried the afternoon bite and didn't have much luck. There were a few pods of fish breaking but they didn't stay around for long. I'm sure the "blue bird" day with it's high pressure contributed to my slow day. I got impatient and decided to call it quits after only landing a few dinks, but It was nice seeing a couple of friends on the water who sounded like they had similar luck.

Nice to be Back

This was my first trip on the bay in a few weeks and finally the wind was calm. The reports haven't been great lately so I didn't expect to find much, but I was surprised to see flocks of birds working fish/bait in almost every direction. Unfortunately, the fish were on the smaller side. Many small to mid-teen size fish with the largest maybe going 20". It's nice getting back on the bay especially with no wind. Any day the bigger fish should start consistently showing up in the mid bay.

Back from Harkers Island

I had high hopes, plenty of gear and a great network of intel for this years trip, but the Albies were hiding. As I expected, we encountered 15-20 knots everyday which made getting around a little tricky. In three and a half days we burned 93 gallons of gas without even seeing a fish (did see a few splashes) and the closest we got to landing a fish was being next to a boat who was hooked up. Not all was lost, as we met some new friends and found a great place to stay for future trips. It's still one of my favorite places to fish with or without actually catching anything. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait another year to try my luck at catching some albies.

Another Calm Day...Not

Must be nice having a job as a weatherman when its OK to be wrong 90% of the time. 10-15 turned into 20-25 with 3-5 footers rolling across the bay. My friend from the "burg" (CD) came down to try his luck today, but we couldn't find any decent fish. The spots that have been holding mid-upper 20ers didn't produce anything. Even after some serious searching we never found anything over 15" or so. The good news was there were plenty of 15' fish (30"ers in a few years) working pod after pod of small bait. As everyone says, smaller birds equals smaller fish and that held true today.

Harkers Test Run

Well, I'm almost certain I will be fishing in 25+ knots next week at Harkers Island so I figured I would give it a test run today. It was blowing in a big way, but the fish were biting equally as hard. I searched around to find some nicer fish because at first I found acres of 15-18" fish but nothing bigger. After a few stops I consistently found mid 20"ers. Nothing bigger than 25-26" but two hours worth of non-stop catching.