John's Biggest Rockfish

[jelkin]

John’s biggest rockfish, caught aboard Fo Paws with Captain Tom Smith of Whitestone, VA. The stripped bass was 45” long and weighed 41 lbs, 6 oz. It was caught east of 41A in 40’ of water on a white, 24 oz. Mojo with a green shad in mid-afternoon of December 19, 2006.

[ONTHEROCK]

Was there birds and fish everywhere or were you just blind trolling?

[riverwatcher]

Congratulations on the big striper. Sorry to say that my drag screaming striper hooked at the same time pulled off the hook about half way back to the boat. Now I know why Capt. Dave told us to double hook all of our big shads. I must have used my only Mojo without a double hook. It will have a second hook by tomorrow. Good thing your biggest striper was the first one over the slot for you. You probably didn't feel so bad throwing back the 38 and 35 inch stripers. My 35 inch striper looked like a midget in the cooler next to John's fish. I still have a vacant spot on the wall, but it appears that John will have his trophy fish on the wall before I do.
John. check your e-mail for the pictures I took of you and your fish. I think they show how big your fish actually looks.
I hadn't fished for a couple of weeks due to other obligations, but I enjoyed seeing how good the fishing has been in the Bay and couldn't resist going out after 2 PM today to get back in the game.
Tom

[Third Child]

Congrats on the hog. We have waited a few years for it to be this good again. Hey Boss, I think I am taking leave the through New Years!

[jelkin]

We were near birds.The screen was full of big fish on the bottom.It was hot.We threw back several large fish.

[jelkin]

Tom smith and I both had hogs on at the sams time.I "believe" Tom let his get off just so he could net mine.What a captain!

[Kevin.M.Smith]

Tom,

Congrats on the Hog!

Kevin
Weekend Mistress

[riverwatcher]

John probably had a hard time sleeping last night waiting for Queens Creek to open this morning to get a certified weight on his largest striper. Official weight was 42 lb, 4 oz (Citation size) this AM compared with 41.8 lb on my digital scale late yesterday afternoon. I couldn't get John to take his tackle off my boat last night in case we had a chance to go again. Well, we went again today at 11AM today and heard the reports of a slow bite. We started in the vicinity of the yesterday's good late afternoon bite (3 miles east of 41A), but saw no birds, no boats, and no bait, but did mark a few scattered fish. We stuck it out and John again had the hot lure, a pink Stretch 25, which yielded a 38 incher. Then another hit on a Storm shad resulted in a 36 inch fish for a neighbor on his first venture into the Bay. Finally, it was my turn, but all I could catch were 33 and 30 inch slot fish, which were released of course. I finally managed a small keeper. We heard of a bite at Buoy 42 and since we were only 3 miles north, decided to run down and check it out. I immediately caught another slot fish of 30 inches and then nothing for 40 minutes. I wondered why I was treating my guests so well and if I would be able to get my big fish for the day. I decided to head towards home with an eye out for birds or bait on the depth finder. I saw some bait on the depth finder and slowed to check it out. I also saw a half dozen gannets sitting on the water about a half mile away. We headed in their direction and came across a big school of fish on the depth finder before we got there, so we started putting out the lines. We could not get out but 2 before we had both hooked up. We stayed in this area for about an hour without any working birds, and landed about 15 additonal fish. My first fish was my over the slot fish at 36 inches, which went in the cooler, and I ended up releasing 5 additional fish from 35 to 42 inches. My guests were also catching and releasing big fish, and we finally got the two under 28's that we needed to finish our limit. All of the fish were caught deep on tandem Storm shads, a Storm shad daisy chain, chartreuse 9 inch shad behind a small umbrella rig, or Stretch 25's in 37-38 feet of water.
We had two consecutive fantastic afternoons of fishing, and I figure I saved about $600 in taxidermy costs by not landing a citation striper such as John's.
I have obligations on Thursday, but since John left his tackle on the boat again, I am hoping I can finish up in time to get out for a couple of hours in the afternoon. And then later if its rainy and windy, I'll get back to the Christmas shopping.
Tom

[Fishboy OV8]

Congrats on your catch and thanks for the report and info. Do you have pics of the fish just after it was landed??

[1murphys law]

Tom,
Thanks for the report!! Congrats on your catch..........it has been a great fall season.

Gary