I have lost more fishing days to the weather this year than in any year I can remember. It began in the spring and has continued into the fall. It seems that on days when I can’t fish, the weather is beautiful, and on those days when I can fish, the wind blows like stink.
A couple of weeks ago I decided I would try to book a 10-hour trip on the Angler out of Ocean City. My original date was Oct. 31, but you guessed it, the wind howled like a werewolf with a toothache.
According to the Angler’s schedule, the next 10-hour trip was the following Monday, and when I went to the website to change my date, lo and behold, they had put up a 10-hour trip for Tuesday. Having seen the marine forecast for that day, southeast 5 to 10 with 1- to 2-foot seas, I jumped on that date like a chicken on a June bug.
The boat leaves the dock at 0600 and they request everyone be there by 0530. Capt. Chris Mizurak has a policy of boarding his passengers in the order of their reservations. This makes for a very orderly process without a mad rush for the best positions along the rail or trying to be there several hours before the boat leaves just to be first in line.
I was No. 15 and secured a spot just forward of the stern. Once my rods were in their holders, I retired to the cabin where I was able to find a seat. Once the cabin is full, the only seats left are on the stern.
The boat left right on time, and after a two-and-a-half hour run, we were on the day’s chosen location. When fishing for sea bass, you want to have your lines in the water a quickly as possible. The largest fish feed first, and this was proven once again on this trip. My first drop of a squid-baited top-bottom rig was instantly attacked and my first sea bass went in the cooler. This continued for several drops until my rig attached itself to the bottom. When fishing wrecks, this sort of thing is expected, and before leaving home I had tied up six rigs. It only took a few minutes to attach one of these with a new sinker, bait up and get back in business.
My original rig must have had some sort of magic power because once it was gone, so were the keeper-sized sea bass. While every drop produced at least one and often two fish, none measured the to the 12.5-inch minimum size. Oh so many were above 12 inches, just not far enough above to go home for dinner.
While I was trying to catch keeper sea bass with little success, I observed a fellow on the stern casting a metal jig and catching bluefish. Not having a metal lure, I attached a bucktail to my line and the blues were just as receptive to that as they were to the metal.
The blues were all over the water column and I was catching them within 3 or 4 feet from the surface. The folks still fishing the bottom would also catch a few blues. Most of these fish were in the 2- to 3-pound class and it didn’t take long to put my 10-fish limit in the cooler.
After that, it was back to bottom fishing and catching dinks. I did notice other anglers catching some keepers, so perhaps I was the only one with dinkitis. I did have one nice surprise when a 3.5-pound triggerfish hit my squid and made his final trip to the surface.
Everyone I saw was using the same two-hook top-bottom rig and baiting with squid. The captain kept moving us around, but everywhere we went I continued to suffer from dinkitis.
In addition to triggerfish and blues, a few flounder were caught. In fact, the largest fish of the day was a 4-pound flounder. Unfortunately, that angler was not in the pool, which was won by a 3-pound, 11-ounce sea bass.
The captain pulled the anchor and we were underway by 1330. During the run home, the mates, Dean Lo and Rich Fouts, cleaned fish for anyone who wanted that service. It was well worth the small cost to leave the boat with bags of filets.
During this trip, I was finally able to use the new HYBRID 20 reel that my friend Jerry Gomber had given me. While much smaller than most of the reels everyone on the boat was using, it performed flawlessly. I had no trouble cranking up fish from the bottom and it worked great when jigging the bluefish.
It was a fine day on a fine boat and I hope to go back out with them sometime in the future.
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Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
