Chesapeake Light Tackle

If the tail slaps of big rockfish can be compared to the rumble of a Chesapeake storm, I spent this past weekend riding on thunder road.   We’re seeing the first signs of spring on the Bay resulting in some fun fishing. The good times this weekend were especially sweet because I just took delivery of my new Judge 27CC.   If you’ve followed my website you know I’ve been looking for a new boat for some time. There are several reasons why I chose the Judge. First off, I’m used to a long boat.  Having fished out of the Sea Ray for three years, I wanted something of similar length and handling so I could continue to go out in rough weather. I also needed a boat with a relatively narrow beam so I can trailer to where the fish are without worrying about permits. My other priorities included a bass boat style casting platform, a place to duck in out of the weather or sleep in emergencies, a shallow draft for fishing the near-shore top-water spots, and a long comfortable warranty.  Of course price played a major role.  I narrowed my decision down to three brands and Bill Judge made me the best deal even after the modifications I needed. There’s a lot to be said for cutting out the middle-man and buying directly from the boat builder, especially when it’s a local Eastern Shore guy.

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We interrupt the Mid-Atlantic’s snowiest winter on record with a tropical interlude in hopes it might at least warm a few spirits while we wait for spring.  Dianne and I are just back from a week aboard the good ship Norwegian Dawn, cruising to Belize and Costa Maya, Mexico.  Like any respectable redneck honeymoon, we took the kids, or at least one of the kids, or to be more precise, he took us.  Daniel, who plays bass with the hot new rockgrass band Larkin Poe, was invited on this year’s Cayamo Cruise. Cayamo is the hillbilly equivalent of hawg heaven considering the number of talented roots music musicians involved.  With artists like Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle, and Emmylou Harris on board, we jumped at the opportunity, especially since I had the not-so-secret ambition to jazz up our musical journey with some fishing. I decided to post a report in an attempt to illustrate our methods for finding fish in totally unfamiliar territory.   Here’s our story: Read More!

I’ve mentioned in previous reports that there are an extraordinary number of striped bass in the Bay this winter.  It’s never been unusual to find a few big fish here and there during cold weather, but each year there seem to be more nice fish wintering over.   I’ve managed a couple of trips this week with very good results as you can see in the photos below. Curious about why there are so many January rockfish, I put the question to Maryland Department of Natural Resources Senior Fisheries Biologist “Rockfish” Rudy Lukacovic when I ran into him at the Boatyard Bar & Grill in Annapolis one evening this week.  Rudy thinks it’s all a part of changing migration patterns.  He also noted that there have been fewer fish in the usual wintering grounds off the coast of the Carolinas in recent years. Read More!

One of my favorite things about cold-weather fishing is seeing the many species of migratory waterfowl in the Chesapeake Bay. Although numbers have fallen in recent years, there are still plenty of sea ducks, tundra swans, and snow geese around.   There seem to be more this year than I’ve seen in my previous four winters fishing the Bay.  Today I joined my neighbor Mark for an early morning outing onboard his Parker 2520, Fischadler II.  Protected from the sub-freezing temps by the shelter of the pilot house, we launched from Queen Anne Marina on Kent Island and turned south in the direction of Bloody Point Lighthouse. There was no chance to bird-watch in the pre-dawn darkness, so we put that off for later and set our sites on rockfish.  After a little running we managed to find a fishing spot and catch and release some respectable winter stripers. Read More!

Gone are the fair-weather boaters with their blaring radios and boats bristling with broomsticks.  No more planer-board trollers claiming 300 foot right-of- ways, or obnoxious broadcasters insulting everyone with a VHF radio within 50 miles.  Catch & release season is the time of year when the one-man-one-rod concept reigns supreme.  It’s when you can run on-plane for miles in the wide-open Bay and never see another fishing boat.  A time when there’s very little competition for prime fishing spots, and a small but tight fraternity of hard-core fishermen brave the elements to jig the cold-weather hotspots.  I anticipate the start of C&R season like a kid waits for Christmas.

My sons Jacob and Daniel are visiting from Tennessee this week.  We’ve been trying to work a fishing trip into our schedule, but we couldn’t get it all together until today.  Read More!

I hope to get in another fishing trip or two before the end of the year, but I want to take a few minutes to wish everyone a happy holiday season.  Even though I’ve been off the water for a while, I haven’t been completely idle.  I’m finally doing some serious boat shopping and narrowing my choices to what I hope will be the best possible light tackle fishing platform.  I’ll keep you posted.  2010 promises some big changes for me and Chesapeake Light Tackle.   I want to thank everyone who has visited this year.   Since January we’ve seen over twenty thousand individual visitors, and many of you have come back time after time to read the latest fishing reports and articles.   Out of over a hundred thousand page hits, we’ve had visitors from twenty countries and every state in the US.  I was recently informed that CLT ranks as the second most visited Read More!