Posted on April 14th, 2021
Today started off very nice with sunny skies, little to no wind and temps in the 50s, but by this evening it was down right dreary. The rain moved in about 4:30 this afternoon and has been annoyingly consistent over the past several hours. Thankfully most of the day was pretty nice so some folks got out and bent a rod….including me.
I had the pleasure of fishing with my new friends Steve Sweigert, Officer Mike Dzurnak and Lee McCabe today for our first ever surf fishing episode of Hooked on OC. It would have been enjoyable enough just hanging on the beach soaking in the Assateaugue vibe, but we caught fish too which made it very awesome. We ended the day with a couple of stupid skates, three black drum up to 30″ and two rockfish…one of which was the smallest I’ve ever caught on a hook. It was a great time and should be another cool episode of the show.
Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star went swinging for the fence today looking for a larger class of tautog and his clients were not disappointed.
Underway well before dawn for this long-tog trip. Jupiter & Saturn prominent in the eastern sky; two dim patches of light reveal ships just over the horizon; a bit of heave from a distant wind rolls us a bit – pretty morning.
Just after sunup we dropped 44 blocks in two large reef units. Won’t be long, sea bass will be on em soon. Even our most recent efforts will have become spawning habitat by early June I expect.
But today? Tautog – a ‘swing for the fence’ trip. James Milano of Babylon NY has been on a tear with me. Today he landed a 14lb tog and tagged it. The female fish swam back down strong and still won the pool.
Not all our releases went well. Most ..but ended up with 5 in the boat my anglers would rather have seen swim away. Netted em back up, removed their tags; took a handful more for dinner too.
Not a great day of fishing. Not horrible either. Anytime dedicated tog anglers walk off my boat with a new ‘personal best’ – plus we see two species of whale (minke & fin — & sorry! too distant for pics!)- both color phases of northern fulmar, and several good-sized pods of saddleback dolphin riding the bow and all in calm water? I’d call a good day indeed.
Regards,
Monty
Captain Marc Spagnola of Dusk to Dawn Bowfishing was doing his part to assist the Maryland DNR in eradicating the snakehead population last night. He once again put his shooters on some great opportunities and they hit their mark on most.
