Noah's Half Dozen

Noah's dad never worked so hard to see him and his buddy catch sunnies. These fish were the finickiest tiny fish that wouldn't even take a bloodworm with a weight or bobber attached to it. Using Noah's 2 and a half foot cars rod Noah and his buddy Ethan were able to each reel in a sunny. Then later in the day Noah and his dad chummed and tricked a half dozen onto Noah's line. He had a blast bringing them in but wasn't too keen on throwing them back instead asking if we could cook them and eat them for dinner! It was a great day with Noah, Ethan and the two dads.

Memorial Day

On the Happy Ours with Amy, her mom Sharon and Noah I heard the drag being pulled. I quickly grabbed the rod, set the hook and started reeling. I knew this was a big fish and yelled "grab the net." Amy held the net and nervously netted the fat fish. "Chomper," as he was named by Noah and Amy, weighed in at 3.5 pounds, just under 20 inches. This was my heaviest flounder yet. Noah had a great time fishing and playing with the bait can't wait for more trips with him in the future.

Bushels O'Crabs

For fathers day weekend Greg and I took our Dad out crabbing on bear creek. We had some hints as to where the crabs where and it sure paid off. We were at Merritt Point in line to hit the water before the sun came up and then once we were out laid our 30 already baited traps (first time crabbing with 30 traps). From 6 to 9 AM we had a bushel of crabs and keep going. We took a break to fish a little north east of Fort Carroll and ended up with 30 white perch and a few small stripers in about 45 minutes of slack tide. We ended up with between a bushel and a half and a bushel and 3/4. It was a great day and made for a wonderful Fathers Day crab feast.

Seth on the DNR

Seth McCauley

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Recreational Angler

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North East, Md

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Total Reports:
1

Sent in on: November 15, 2010 at 8:52 AM Permalink

27 inch 8 lb rock fish on a 3/4 oz rattle trap

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Northern
Location: Susquehanna Flats
Tags: Striped Bass, Rat'L trap, Susquehanna Flatts

Went out Saturday morning with my uncle, Parke John. We fished the east side of the flats drifting from Rodney, south along the grass bed. The tide was high so we were able to move in west over some of the bottom grass and still keep the lures from getting caught on grass. I caught this 27 inch 8 lb rock fish on a 3/4 oz rattle trap, chrome with blue top, quick retrieve. My uncle had a nice 19 inch. Both fish very fat. After cleaning mine it cut open the stomach and there were already two fish inside the size of my 3/4 oz lure. How much does a rock fish eat this time of year?

Also, at one point we moved over the center of the flats since the tide was high. The water was as clear as out of the tap. You could see 8 feet down to the bottom which was of course covered with beautiful different types of grasses and some open spaces. It was nice to see the bay looking so good and hope it continues to improve.

PHOTOS

Flounder Pounder Weekend

It was something I was looking forward to since we weren't able to fish it last year, the 5th Annual Bahia Marina Flounder Pounder! Seth came down and we fished on Saturday-all day. Unfortunately, while the weather was beautiful the water was still dirty from Earl. We got into a few fish each but nothing to write home about. In the evening Greg came down and we decided to skip dinner, get some more bait, beverages and head back out for some evening/night fishing at the 50 bridge. We anchored right up close to the pilings with the water rushing past. We saw a few blues get pulled before we got there but for us it was mostly small stuff, until...get the net! My rod was bent over, testing the strength of the Ugly Stick. Never mind, I was stuck, "Greg put away the net your making a scene." But then my line started to swim away. We have a HUGE fish. I fought it for around 10 minutes as the other boats around looked on. My reel was taken to it's limit; making noises that didn't seem natural. Finally, I pulled it in, Greg yelled, "Shark", but it wasn't. What it was, was a mammoth sized ray/skate. We got it up and put it on the gas tanks in the back and before we could get a picture, it spit the hook and went right back into the deep. It was probably the biggest fish I've ever caught. It easily was as big as I could circle my arms. That was fun! Then late night it was onto dinner at the De Lazy Lizard.

The next morning was the Flounder Pounder and the skies were ominous, with dark clouds and a steady rain. We got to Fish Tales/Bahia with all of the die hards and with the sound of the horn, shoved off. Within the first half hour in the East Channel, Greg had a big fish. We were close to De Lazy Lizard and he pulled it up. I knew it, it was a crier, 18 inches. It was just one inch short to keep. Seth later pulled in a nice sized one and Greg caught a heavy, large, ugly fish that we couldn't yet identify. We continued on and lost a ton of rigs, after 30 we lost count. We headed to Homer Gudelsky Park and tried our hand there. Frustration was starting to set in for the Happy Ours and the moral was low, until..."I got one, get the net." It took a little bit to get it towards the boat and right when it came up Greg swiped with the net and missed but then landed it and we knew it was a keeper. We jumped up and high fived, knowing we'd have something to weigh at the scales. We headed back with our "Carry Out" and docked at Fish Tales. I brought the almost 20 inch fish over to the scales and saw a BIG ONE and then two guys came carrying a huge cooler. They opened it and the people gathered, this was the biggest flounder I've ever seen alive. My fish weighed in a 3 pounds, 3 ounces and I had my picture and video taken by the Coastal Fisherman. It looked like we had the 12th heaviest fish weighed that day which was pretty good for our first tournament. The winner's fish was over 8 pounds and he took home almost 2,500 dollars...wow! A great time and a great tournament, can't wait until next year's Flounder Pounder! (For more pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/mattworks88/2010FlounderPounderWeekend# )

Finally!

It took most of the summer but at long last the Happy Ours was happily back on the water (and this time didn't need to be towed back). We did some serious fishing to make up for lost time. It paid off as we had our two best days of "catching." Captain Gary and I pulled in 50 fish on Saturday and he alone had 19 Flounder. We spent a little extra time looking for the 20th but instead I ended up catching 2 keeper Crocker which we had cooked up at Fish Tales for lunch. No keeper flounder though but we did catch a keeper shoe...yes a shoe. The next day we got to go out with a full boat. Greg, Mike, and Bob joined us to knock them dead Sunday as we pulled in around 70 fish. We threw every bait you could think of at them and caught them on everything. Captain Gary however seemed sold on the white Gulp. Despite no keepers we flew the Flounder flag proudly after two great days of fishing.

In the SC Surf

Down in South Carolina we took some time to upgrade our rods and equipment. It took some time and some frustration getting used to the new rods. After many errant casts we slowly improved. By the end we were able to get some decent casts out a little further and it paid off. I had a big hit and saw my fish jump twice out of the water. The Snapper Blue came in at 14.5 inches and then a little later my dad pulled in this small shark after the spot he had earlier in the day. Unfortunately, a big summer storm chased us off and ended our day a little earlier than expected. Next time we are sure to catch some more nice fish.