Sharkman,
Yesterday: Quality Vs. Quantity It was slow coming on at first - but the signs were all there and I knew something was going to happen. While trolling only my two downrigger rods in about 30' of water, I hooked into 30" of pure fight. It was my first fish on and it yanked the line out of the release like a gun going off. Once he broke the surface he was dancing across the water and cutting back and forth in all directions throughout an obstinate but inevitable trip in to my reel.
He was fully devoted in his efforts to escape. But I was steadily winching him, eating up any slack I could gain while pumping my rod against his antics. He was unable to spit the lure or my stinger hook. When I finally dragged him across the threshold of my Tuna door, I was shocked to discover what it was. It was the largest Spanish Mackerel I have ever seen caught (or heard of being caught) in the Bay. Those gold spots on the silvery lower portion perfectly complimented that sleek, green torpedo body. He was workin those mean choppers like a machine! His mouth had set on both hooks rigged on the Tony Accetta spoon and he was just destined for a boat ride.
I was running my 15 lb sharks with about 80 - 90 ft. of leader in only 28 - 40 ft of water. You have to be scooting along at over 5 mph when trolling for these babies, but man it paid off!
Yes - It was fun out there , but I was alone doing all the work. In 27 - 40 ft. of water, it became a real circus. After a while, the breaking blues were taking over, (snappers about 14 - 20") but I really didn't want them. I was already spoiled by bagging the huge Mack and really just hoping for more Spanish. By 11 am, I had to go extra fast to avoid catching more blues! They were breaking everywhere and wanted what I was dragging in a big way. Three blues that did get to come in, I kept. It seemed only fair since they did swim the 6 mph it took to win the boat ride. The Stripper was a real surprise, since that at that speed, I didn't expect any to be able to even keep up.
A former charter boat captain who is a friend of mine, had advised me to try the area where I was trolling. He showed up later on and had caught a few "normal sized" Spanish Macks himself. When I held up the "King" he was stunned. He said "You've got the biggest Mack I have seen caught this year, for sure". He took a photo of me and the Mack with his camera while we were out there in the area. Thinking as a "Pro Staffer", I quickly grabbed one of my Sharks and held it in my free hand for the photo. It was getting close to noon by this time.
So being scheduled in the afternoon to be elsewhere - and totally satisfied with my catch - I went on in. Just wanted to let you in on the fun. The bad thing is that I don't yet have a good photo of the action. Attached is a pic showing the catch of the day back at the dock. It is only a cell phone camera shot, but you can at least see it with the obvious limited background scenery and resolution.
Three snapper blues and a freak stripper are surrounding the center stage attraction in the photo. If the other photo turns out half way "good", I would like to send it to you and ask that you replace the other pic of me on your Pro Staff web page, if that's possible.
I truly have not enjoyed such success before. Coincidence? Maybe. Or could it be something else.
v/r
Mark
Best Regards
Sharkman
9/26/07
Ed,
Let me clarify on some issues that I might have been fuzzy on before. The stripper is the one we tend to pick up with a slower, (2.5 - 3.2 mph) trolling speed. (All speeds referenced are via GPS). When the trophy season hits in the Spring, (April - June) we get the XL fish as they return from the head of the Bays on their way back to the Ocean. The season is fixed by the DNR to assure they get to run north past us and complete their spawning before any are caught and taken on the way back south. The fish are between 35" and over 50" in length for those 8 weeks, then quickly taper off in early June as they evacuate in the warmer Bay temps.
We only get 1 fish per day/per person. This fish suffered a moratorium up/into the late 1980's due to being fished to near you-know-what. Since then, the size limits have varied according to the DNR and their magic slide rules. Last year it was real goofy. We kept fish over 32" up to 36", released any from 36" - 42", and could keep over 42". During the spring season, you can walk across the Bay on the fishing boats. It is a very crowded time here. Sometimes I think we need air traffic controllers and police just to settle some trolling lane rules.
After that span, the size limit drops down and the residual fish that stay in the bay become keepers, with the limit being 2 per day/per person. The minimal size limit also relaxes to 18". The stripper here is also called a "Rockfish". He likes mostly large bucktails with 9" - 12" sassy shads rigged on them and is prominently caught on "umbrella rigs" These are made up with smaller sassy shad teasers surrounding the longer lead with the bucktail/hook on it. The large array works in the spring on the big boys, but naturally, everything is scaled down for the summer fish. In the late summer or early fall, they start biting on the spoons - like right now. It is unusual to catch a stripper trolling as fast as I was last weekend, but freak things happen. I could have been in a turn, (slowing the lure) or it might just have hooked him in his sleep for all I know. But in the spring, no one is trolling fast.
Since the big fish are somewhat easily caught and it is rare not to get one, no great effort has been spent on trying to figure out a way to increase the lure of them. That is one reason why innovations are so slow here. No one thinks on their own - they just do what the old time charter boat captains did. For example: I am a rare bird using downriggers here. I have seen a few others - but most think it is not necessary. No charter boats in my local area even used umbrella rigs until just a few years ago.
I was introduced to umbrellas in the late 1980's and indeed I laughed when I saw it the first time - until I went fishing with one. Then I converted exclusively to using them on all lines and even run them on downriggers to this day. I turned on a local tackle shop that runs charters to using them by showing the owner's wife a photo in a catalog. She was a nice lady and ordered some for sale. Next thing I knew, their whole fleet of charter boats were running them, and when I went in to buy my next new one, she came out to the register and told the sales person, "He doesn't pay for that here, it's free". That is only one example of the stifled technology here in fishing.
Now Bluefish, like the Spanish, are aggressive ocean swimmers. They are fast and you can catch them trolling at most any speed. But they show up in the early summer in small "snapper" sizes, (12 -16") first, then the larger ones show up until fall - when they go south to find warmer waters, leaving the bay. Their meat is somewhat oily, having a stripe of blood in its centerline, so most don't bother eating them. But they are good eating when prepared right and smoked blue is some of the best fish I have ever tasted.
Using spoons is a must on these "choppers" because they will bite off bucktail hair or sassy shads in minutes if you deploy them on your rigs. After the sassy shads are bitten off, the lure has no wiggle and an umbrella will not pull straight, so attraction is then dead. But aside from that, this time of the year you could drag a soda can top as a lure and catch a boat load of blues. That is one reason it is hard to figure out an attractant scheme for them. They school up in frenzy feeds and you have to try things NOT to catch them - if you are strictly looking for something else. The creel limit on blues is 12" minimum and 10 per person/per day.
The Spanish are somewhat rare, but a real treat, (as I already conveyed to you previously). They are running here right now. They have big choppers, the same as blues. This time of the year, Spanish and blues hit the spoons big time. But as I said, trolling speeds should be 4 - 6 mph. for the Spanish. They too will head south soon, because their sporadic appearance here is like hitting a vein a gold in the fishing seasons. Attracting them would be fantastic, but I would not know if I was attracting them or just found a bunch at random.
Now sonar in general: I can see bait balls on my sonar. I also see larger fish in the thermals or bottom contours hiding at times - or near underwater structures. But I cannot tell the species from the return. Maybe on higher dollar video sonars like Furunos, one could, I don't know. In the spring, you don't see the big Rockers on the fish finder at all. They do not seem to school up or lay around, but just randomly swim the channels. You just know that they are in the deeper, (70 - 120') depths, riding thermals about 25' down, and so we troll those areas.
In all honesty, let me also say this. Stripers seem to be the game fish of the Chesapeake Bay due to their size and numbers in the spring. But a ways north of here in the ocean/tributaries off of New Jersey, New York, and Maine, the fishing of them (and everything else for that matter) is reportedly much better. It is done there on a much larger scale and I suspect in every way superior. But those waters being hundreds of miles away - I will never know. I only know what is happening here - on the mid Chesapeake Bay. But all I have learned, (and am still learning) is yours if you need it. And any way I can assist or help you in your research, I will do as I am able.
v/r
Mark
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