esfishdoc
Well-known member
Full Moon Fishing
Good or Bad? I never know. I work on the premise of fish when you can so we did. The original plan was to get yard work done Monday and fish Tuesday but yesterday I decided Tuesday was going to be wet (I could be a weatherman!) so after the yard was cut work stopped!
Karen and I met up with Malcolm and Carol at Willis Wharf at 4PM. A quick look at the trailers on the lot suggested there might be 3 boats flounder fishing and one other drum fishing. We shoved off with lots of conversation of places we had traveled to recently.
Talk turned to fishing and Karen tells us, “so and so says all the drum are on the bayside now..” Hmmfff…. I’ve learned to filter talk of where fish are and are not.
We arrived at South End with plenty of wind from the west and water that was white capping. The tide was a flood tide going against the wind. High tide was scheduled sometime around 9.
For the next two hours we talked and ate and caught a few sharks and two small skates. We had nothing that felt like drum. The couple on the one other boat out there was achieving similar results. They picked up and left around 645.
The winds were slacking and the water was settling down. The tide was slowing. The sun was closing in on the horizon. Perfect.
About 650 I had turned on the sounder to see if anything was going on 18 feet below the hull. The answer was nothing. Nothing at all.
About 710 I happened to glance over and look at the monitor just as a huge mark right on the bottom strung out across the screen. Big slow moving object.. hmmm.. now what could that be. I announced, “there’s a fish down there, get ready.” Within 15 seconds Malcolm picked up the rod that was showing some activity and waited for the right time to set the hook. Bam! Fish on!
The fish happened to pick a rubber banded sea clam on a 7/0 hook. It of course was on the end of Malcolm’s favorite lucky rod and reel that always worries me. It is a rod with a broken reel seat so the reel twists around. By the time the fish was up to the boat the guides on the rod were almost 180 degrees out of sync with the reel. I held my breath… everything stayed together. With the current slowing it didn’t take long to get the drum on board.
I checked the sun’s position by holding out my hand at arm’s length and sure enough the sun was exactly 2 fingers above the horizon.
We got some lines back in quickly in the hopes there would be more. There were not.
As we picked up the lines the moon was rising. The light was fading as we ran the 12 miles back home. We made it back to the dock in darkness with the full moon hiding behind the clouds.
Another successful trip.
Malcolm called me when he got the fish home. 48lbs
Carol hoping to connect with another.
Moonrise
Good or Bad? I never know. I work on the premise of fish when you can so we did. The original plan was to get yard work done Monday and fish Tuesday but yesterday I decided Tuesday was going to be wet (I could be a weatherman!) so after the yard was cut work stopped!
Karen and I met up with Malcolm and Carol at Willis Wharf at 4PM. A quick look at the trailers on the lot suggested there might be 3 boats flounder fishing and one other drum fishing. We shoved off with lots of conversation of places we had traveled to recently.
Talk turned to fishing and Karen tells us, “so and so says all the drum are on the bayside now..” Hmmfff…. I’ve learned to filter talk of where fish are and are not.
We arrived at South End with plenty of wind from the west and water that was white capping. The tide was a flood tide going against the wind. High tide was scheduled sometime around 9.
For the next two hours we talked and ate and caught a few sharks and two small skates. We had nothing that felt like drum. The couple on the one other boat out there was achieving similar results. They picked up and left around 645.
The winds were slacking and the water was settling down. The tide was slowing. The sun was closing in on the horizon. Perfect.
About 650 I had turned on the sounder to see if anything was going on 18 feet below the hull. The answer was nothing. Nothing at all.
About 710 I happened to glance over and look at the monitor just as a huge mark right on the bottom strung out across the screen. Big slow moving object.. hmmm.. now what could that be. I announced, “there’s a fish down there, get ready.” Within 15 seconds Malcolm picked up the rod that was showing some activity and waited for the right time to set the hook. Bam! Fish on!
The fish happened to pick a rubber banded sea clam on a 7/0 hook. It of course was on the end of Malcolm’s favorite lucky rod and reel that always worries me. It is a rod with a broken reel seat so the reel twists around. By the time the fish was up to the boat the guides on the rod were almost 180 degrees out of sync with the reel. I held my breath… everything stayed together. With the current slowing it didn’t take long to get the drum on board.
I checked the sun’s position by holding out my hand at arm’s length and sure enough the sun was exactly 2 fingers above the horizon.
We got some lines back in quickly in the hopes there would be more. There were not.
As we picked up the lines the moon was rising. The light was fading as we ran the 12 miles back home. We made it back to the dock in darkness with the full moon hiding behind the clouds.
Another successful trip.
Malcolm called me when he got the fish home. 48lbs
Carol hoping to connect with another.
Moonrise
