I took off on Friday and the plan was for my brother, follow Sunset longbow shooter Evan, and I to head to Ocean City to try our luck shooting more rays and perhaps do a little fishing if the conditions are not right for ray stalking.
Well, Thursday Evan pulled out due to a new work commitment. Chris and I decided to give it a go anyways. I brought my 8 wt fly rod and a flounder spin rig as well as my bow fishing stuff.
Conditions were breezy and cloudy with a chance of passing thunderstorms. Conditions were not good for the rays and we saw none. With steadily increasing winds we made many drifts searching for blues or flounder focusing on sandbar drop off areas in the bay. Action was slow and I got some good practice casting in the wind from atop the bow of the boat. Chris was mainly jigging and not getting any bites either, so I didn't feel too much at a disadvantage. Chris did hook an undersized flounder at one point, but it came loose just as I was about to net it. I made a lunge when I saw it come off, but it made one big squirmy leap clear of the net.
It was nearing time to start the drive back when I decided to drift my top and bottom rig in the right hand and my flyrod with chartreuse clouser minnow in the left. Suddenly I took a huge pull on the left hand and I set the hook. Chris reeled in my spin rod and took a short video of the fight before grabbing the landing net. The decent sized bluefish made a couple good jumps, and I managed to keep him on the line and into the net. As soon as he was on the deck of the boat he bit through the line! We drifted another 5 or 6 times through that area but this was the only action. I felt so happy I stuck with the fly and got him.
I drove 6 hours and through a massive thunderstorm on the way home for 3 hours of fishing, but this one fish made it worthwhile. I did lose my good CRKT spring assist pocket knife when I left it atop my truck bed cover as we were unpacking gear in a driving rain. I drove off and it went somewhere in the neighborhood and probably picked up by a walker the next day before Chris could go look. Oh well.
Saturday was the last day of put and take for my stream in Thurmont but when I checked the river was too high to cross and I called it a day. Fishing there is now fly only and catch and release until next March so I will probably target other streams because I like to eat trout!
Chris also gave me a dead starling he shot in his yard with his pellet gun. Apparently, it was an amazing 50-yard shot. Now I have soft hackle material in the proper size for 14, 16 and 18 sized flies. I tied up a few bead heads quickly and will work on some more traditional soft hackles later.
No comments:
Post a Comment