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Good fishing - on a Saturday - Sandy Point

Fishing Report 
4K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  Crabbermanjl 
#1 ·
Rare I fish weekends. I often work Sat / Sun and if not - avoid going just because of crowds. I donated a fishing trip to help a local family that suffered a house fire - guy that won the bid asked if we could go on a weekend. I explained how crowded it would be if weather was nice and likely catching would be slow - he agreed to chance it.

Launched the boat at Sandy Point at 5:45 am - shaking out cobwebs from staying out until 12:30 seeing a band. Park was busy but not as bad as I feared - even managed to get parking spot at first one - these are slightly longer than others.



My three man crew arrived right at 6 am - Ted , John and Jeff. Went over safety gear and idled out. Nothing like hearing the - Crack - of a beer , oh boy this was going to be a fun day.

Got past jetty and saw about 20 boats getting Spot - one weekday there might be 2-3. Explained to the guys how Spot would bite and cut up bloodworms. Have to give a shout out to All About Bait ( old Warren's shop ) on B &A blvd in Glen Burnie. Really good worms - pricey but excellent quality.


We had a slow bite - guys were missing a lot of Spot or not letting weight sit on bottom. Rod I fished from holder did good - dropping 6 double headers into livewell. Once guys got hang of it - livewell started to fill up. Only got two Croaker , few small Perch and a surprise Skate. Different from Cownose Ray.



Took about an hour to get enough Spot - I watched as about 100 boats ran by. Not used to seeing so many other fishermen out. Used binoculars to look at bridge pilings - most had 1 or 2 boats on them. Incoming current was moving but due to go slack about 9:00. We had some fog with clouds - I hoped this would keep Rock feeding. Guys asked if I wanted a beer - rare I drink on the water. Figured it had been almost nine hours since last one - so took one and sipped it as we ran north. Saw a lot of boats at Podickery but not much going on. Moved east and found nice marks - anchored over them and set out three bait runners with Spot. One no weight , one 3/8 oz - one 1/2 oz. Rock were at 12 to 20 feet in about 30. Hits came fast - first couple Rock got away but then we started to get hook ups.

Ted took first one and reeled backwards - unscrewing the handle. Nothing like trying to thread handle back on while a 24 inch Rock is pulling. Number 1 in cooler and soon all three rods were getting bites. Guys did OK and soon we had six in cooler. I double checked count and heard drag going off - John had hooked a good fish. The Rock went under the boat but soon the 30 incher was on ice. Fat 24 was # 8 - we had limit just after 8 am.



So much for my theory of tough weekend bite. Triple checked the count - eight was confirmed. Guys asked if we could keep fishing - I explained creel limit and likelyhood of killing Rock with C/R. They agreed it was wise not too. We went to check on a boat fender a friend saw yesterday - thinking might be snagged anchor. I had two extra jugs to mark it better , plan was to maybe dive it Tuesday. We found it and grabbed the 3/8 line - Ted pulling gently so line stayed away from my props. I was tying jugs to fender and Ted said it did not feel like anything was on line. He pulled in about 30 feet - and found small brand new anchor.


Best guess we pulled from opposite direction and freed it from snag. I marked location - plan to look it over better with side scan. With Rock limit in cooler - we ran back south to bridge. Guys offered another beer - I declined - still sipping first one. We got to bridge and it was packed - I watched as three boats all tried to fish same piling. One boat casting LTJ - one live lining and other casting bottom rigs.

Moved away from that crazy scene and set up near a piling in 15 feet. Current was slacking - we had steady bite of Toadfish. Guys put a hurt on beer cooler - I stayed busy baiting hooks and unhooking Toads. Moved boat slightly to get in shade - sun had burned through clouds and it was getting warm. Saw huge group of kayaks - they paddle almost into my bow. They all waved Hello - not sure if they realized we were anchored.

Current started outgoing and we started to get Perch. Mostly 6-8 inchers but enough 10-11 to throw into cooler. Guys asked if other fish were around - I told them you never know what is down there. Told them some Cats were being caught - 15 minutes later we got a 5 lb Channel. Nice add to cooler.

Ted then reeled up a real surprise - 7 inch Flounder. Crazy to catch a Catfish and Flounder side by side. We fished until about 11:00 - idled back to ramp so as not to push wake on all the small boats anchored around pilings. Got back to ramp and cleaned fish for the guys - putting carcass in trash bag and thankful dumpster was there. NRP officer stopped by to check catch - he complimented guys on nice catch.

Once fish were cleaned and guys left I went to get truck. It was chaos in parking lot - beach lots were filled so cars were circling trailer lot looking for empty spaces. Looked like Christmas time at a mall.

My truck was about 6 ramps over - I was lucky enough to be able to back out and down to empty ramp. While trying to do this cars were going around me - drivers eager to grab the vacant space. Got trailer on ramp and went over to motor my boat to ramp. I was just shaking my head at how crowded it was.

Got boat on trailer and headed home. Cleaning boat I had to laugh at my 1/4 left beer in drink holder. It was a fun day but I'd much prefer my easy weekday fishing.
 
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#4 ·
Good report and trip as usual.

Good to see All About It got some good worms in. I know they were fighting to find a good supplier, not liking what they had been getting.

Chris
 
#8 ·
Mike - I use the egg sinkers as lighter weights - up to 3/4 ounces. Heavier than 3/4 - I use a fish finder rig.

Sometimes I'll use the biggest split shot - guess it is about 1/4 oz or so. I also will " pin " the egg sinker tight to swivel with a tiny split shot so it can not slide when I need to gently lob cast upcurrent.

Most times I do not need weights but 90% of Spot I'm getting are the 5-6 inchers. These do not swim down fast like 8-10 inch Spot that I prefer as bait.
 
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