What a Weekend!!

[Cap't Steve]

I hurt my back last winter & haven't been able to go fishing since last December. I had surgery in June & it has been a slow recovery to say the least. This Wednesday my son & his wife came up from Savannah for Thanksgiving & wanted to go fishing. We were goon go Friday but when i fired up the boat earlier in the week I found a bad raw water pump & water in the fuel filters so I spent Friday fixing everything up. Left the dock Friday afternoon for a test run & everything seemed to be good so we decided to go Sat.

Went up the river Saturday morning & dropped the lines at buoy 6. First fish came just about the time got the last rod set & my youngest gave the rod to my Daughter-in-Law. He told me it felt like a good one. She fought the fish for about 10 minutes but he was taking drag & she was afraid she was gonna lose the rod so she gave it back. Matt cranked down the drag another turn & 5 minutes later a 47" came over the transom. Biggest yet on the FinTastic. I thought "Good way to start the season!" Reset the rod & the other deep rod goes down, drag just a singing. My oldest (the one from Savannah) takes the rod this time & says "We're hung up on the bottom". I put her in neutral & went back to check but the line was running off to starboard & drag is just a singing. I tell him "Thats not the bottom, thats a fish"! After about a 20 minute fight he gets the fish to the boat & it comes over at better then 48" (tape only goes to 48"). An hour of fishing & the two biggest rockfish ever caught on my boat! 3 really happy kids as well. Gonna be a heckuva day. Put the boat back in gear & straighten the lines & the port engine quits. Fire it up again & now its running like crap. a few minutes later the stb. engine starts missin' too. Remembering the water in the filters on Fri. I started cussin' & headed for the barn. Sure enough, all 4 filters are full of water again. Changed 'em again & bought 4 more to keep on the boat "just in case". To late to go out again but we checked the weather & decided to hit it again Sunday.

Today we didn't get to the marina until 10 am & when I got to the #1channel marker of broad creek something made me turn right to the bay instead of going up the river. Headed straight East & about a mile before the cut channel I saw the fleet. As we got closer I saw hundreds of birds working a school of breaking fish & set the lines. It wasn't long before the first strike came & from then on it was non-stop until about 1-1:30. Nothing over 34" but several slots & everything else was 22 or better. Final tally was close to 50 fish. I even got to reel in a couple myself! My kids were wore out & we headed for the marina, were back to the dock by 3:15. Daughter-in-law had never been on a boat before, let alone out where the horizon was almost outta sight. She had the time of her life & the fishing was great! As I sit here typing the kids are all asleep.

Oh & by the way, boat ran like a champ today.

[jeffh4079]

NICE! I fished the river, #6 to # 8 afternoon shift and got skunked. Nice day on the water though.

[OldNo7]

First congrats to you and yours! I had a deep rod go off I knew it was a fish myself but another fellow said it was the bottom (A guest) but the fish took it so fast my drag was just a bit to tight I guess but I could tell It was a nice one. I wondered untill I read your post but the same thing happened to you the difference is you got yours in the boat. So once again congrats. Hope the boat stays running good and your back feels better. Take care and have a good holiday season.

[jerdabs]

Wow! nice catch...Its nice to see kids reeling in big ones! What do you use for you deep rod? I'll use a 20oz inline sinker with 16oz mojo with little luck....Thanks!

[gparsley]

Hey Steve those big fish will strengthen you back

[Cap't Steve]

jerdabs, first fish came on a little umbrella rig with white tails & a 6" white 'chute running over a 16 oz. Mojo head. Second & bigger fish came on a 4" Storm bait double rigged & run right down on the bottom with a heavy lead bottom bouncer weight. Way it was rigged the bottom bait was 4ft. off the bottom in 34' of water. Both fish hit in a turn which would cause the baits to drop even lower in the water.

[jerdabs]

Great! Good info...Thanks Capt....Sounds like they are a bit deeper than they were a few weeks ago...

[deer139]

Way to go Steve, it's nice to know somebody is catching big fish!!! I am a big fan of pictures, did you take any of these big boys?

[Cap't Steve]

Nope, Hate to admit it but I am lousy when it comes to capturing the moment. Even worse, I lost my cell phone over the side when I was reaching for a mooring line when we got back to the slip Sunday so if I had of gotten any pictures I woulda lost 'em. Worst of it was my son released the 49" fish, I guess he's been listening to his old man preach about conservation for too long. All in all, I kinda screwed up when it came to remembering the weekend. We ate the 47" for dinner the night before Chris & his wife went back to Georgia so I guess that counts for something. When you broil 'em, a big fish tastes just as good as a little one, they just have to cook a little longer.

[silvius]

You know it sure is funny how you went from hardly being able to scratch out 3 or 4 fish a day to just being able to SLAY them every time you go out now. And then not having any pictures ..... mmmmmm, imagine that.