I am sure most of you know how close we came to not having a black sea bass season in federal waters. Fortunately, NOAA posted the correct regulations in the Federal Register April 28, and that allowed the black sea bass season to open May 1.  

I set my clock alarm for 3:30 a.m., but my bladder alarm went off at 3:20, so I got up then. However, I ran into a little unexpected problem that had me leaving my house 30 minutes late and arriving at the boat just 15 minutes before she sailed at 6 a.m. Thanks to the help of the fantastic mates, I was on board with all my gear just as we pulled away from the dock.  

The two-hour ride out was a lot of fun. I have no idea how many of you have tried to run a single-screw keel boat in a big following sea, but I know from personal experience, it ain’t easy.

Capt. Chris had his hands full trying to keep the Angler on course in the 4- to 5-foot seas. Back in the day, my friend Larry Weldin had a 30-something single-screw keel boat that he wanted to charter. Since he didn’t have his license yet, we ran charters on my license. One fine day, I had to run the boat back from the 30-Fathom Line in a big following sea.

I was determined not to let the boat get the better of me. Then came that big, rogue wave that turned me 180 degrees and headed me right back where I came from.

On Friday, I was facing aft and watched the landscape change from Ocean City to Assateague Island as Chris battled the forces of water on that keel. The captain was not the only one fighting the waves. I saw one guy lose his breakfast, but that was the only sign of sickness I saw all day. 

Once we arrived at our first stop, I was pretty sure I knew where we were. The commercial bass pot grounds. I could tell by the flags that marked the location of strings of bass pots.

My first drop produced an instant bite. I cranked up a short sea bass. That’s the way it went until I managed to cull out one keeper from all the shorts at this location. Then the bite shut down completely on the port side of the boat.

The folks on the stern were still picking away. One of those picks was a 5.9-pound sea bass. There went everyone’s pool money.

Finally, the captain decided to move and we ran for quite a while and anchored up again.

At this location I caught a few more keepers, plus I began to catch big dog sharks. In addition to that good news, an angler to my left was not using enough weight and would drift down until he tangled both me and the guy fishing directly to my left. That mess took the mate a good while to untangle.

From then on, it was pretty much as you would expect. The boat would move, I would catch a couple of keepers, a couple of dog sharks, a couple of tangles and then the boat would move again. 

At one stop, I thought I was fishing next to my son Roger. Regular readers will know that man has a Golden Horseshoe. The guy directly to my right first pulled up a big black sea bass. I am certain it weighed well over 3 and maybe over 4 pounds. As if that wasn’t bad enough, on the very next drop, he caught two big keepers. I would guess both of those fish were over 2 pounds. Meanwhile, there I am not 5 feet away using the same rig and the same bait and feeling lucky if anything I catch measures 12.5 inches.

As the day went on, the seas calmed down. It actually became quite nice out there, if you didn’t mind the cold air. Most everyone on this trip was dressed for the elements.  

I am pretty sure the ride back to the dock was nice and smooth. I wouldn’t know because I removed my hearing aid and slept the entire way back.

Now I want you to understand that I only caught a few keepers and I had hoped to catch a limit, it being opening day and all. My left thumb is sore from laying braid on the reel, my butt is sore from sitting on my cooler for six hours and my legs are sore from holding me in place for six hours. That’s right, I had a wonderful time.