Smith Creek 8/2 - unusual day

[Big Mike]

I showed up at Fishinggod's (Rich) house around 5:45 anticipating launching into the bay in front of his place for croaker and perch. We could have launched, but there were already fair sized rollers which would have made the day less than pleasant. We opted to go to Smith Creek, so across the county we went to the Potomac (about a 15 minute drive). While the water was much calmer we didn't see much baitfish activity from shore but headed out anyways. Went up to the point where the water was lower than I'd ever seen it and it wasn't low tide, perhaps the blue moon influence. I made a pass and hooked my first flounder of the year. Try not to swoon from the size of the monster. Fishinggod picked up a nice rock and I got a couple of croaker, but the action was slow. We headed to deeper water with nothing happening there either. I suggested trying for perch back up in the grass beds. Along the way we found a very nice underwater point that had oysters on it. Fishinggod was using this unusual lure and started picking up 19" rocks by casting up to the point and then "ticking" the lure across the shells. He lent one to me which I promptly launched into the depths when my line caught on the hook keeper and snapped. In this spot what we thought was a baitfish jumped out of the water and landed in the back of Rich's boat. I pronounced it an alewife but it didn't look right and it had teeth Based on internet pictures I'm fairly certain he had a Spanish mackerel as it had a whitish side with the spots on it. We called it quits around 10:30 with Fishinggod having a half dozen rocks and me a pair, but I did have that flounder.
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[J.A. Veil]

You had a good variety of catches. Here is a photo of a small Spanish Mackeral. Did your fish look like that?

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[Big Mike]

It had the spots, the V tail and the teeth. It had a bluer back, but his fish was much smaller so it could be a coloration of a juvenile that fades with age.

[fishinggod]

Mike, despite all the craziness, it turned out to be a good 4 hours of fishing. not the greatest but for sure not the worst. so here is my take on the day... after deciding on smith creek over my place i still planned on fishing for croaker and white perch. but after launching i forgot my bait in the truck....so i had to just decide to cast the swimbait i had which after talking with Mike, it was a bit larger than what most are casting. around the first point i kept getting hit on it but just croaker slapping at it is my guess(it was a 7/0 hook). so then i grabbed my tackle bins in panic thinking i have to start to salvage this day quick. went with the sebile as it worked for me before on stripers on Lake Texoma. second cast it lands me the first striper. then nothing...moved deep as Mike said for nothing for either of us as well. going up the creek turned out great. as soon as i felt the shells on that ledge i knew it felt fishy. then a pattern was set in motion fish after fish... then wait for it...... slack tide and everything was squashed. but a pattern was set for sure and i will now search out more areas such as this. oh and my battery went dead up in the creek after only 2 hours with fish finder on. guess i didn't have to charger hooked up good. they wouldn't hit that bait straight reeling in. it had to tick the shells first then i yoyo'd up and started reeling and soon after was the hit. too bad none were over 19 but the smallest was 16, and i hadn't caught a striper since April so it was an amazing day in my opinion. Thanks again for the company Mike. I'm sure we will fish more often together as we both live in the slower lower.

[fishinggod]

oh i almost forgot.. a torqeedo review... although i felt like a lazy fool all day, it is very very nice to not be tired at the end of the day as well as being able to go in reverse. thats a huge advantage. i think in the future i will just have the pedals in and the torq off to the side as a backup if i get tired or weather gets rough. but who knows, i may just be lazy yakin from now on. haha . as far as power, it has a ton of speed. i ran it about medium throughout the morning with several instances of full speed to get back on spot. after 4 hours i was at 55 percent power at the dock. so i'm very happy with the battery life. i didn't hard install it through the hull and I'm glad i didn't. the battery sits great under the seat and i mounted the throttle on my right on the bar so the only cord forward of the seat is the one going to the motor and i ran that down the right side against the side so it doesn't interfere at all. couldn't be happier with it

[jet]

thanks for the report and pics. tha'ts crazy a fish jumped into the kayak, let alone a potential spanish mac!

[fishinggod]

J.A. Veil, it looked almost like that except it had more purple or blueish color on the upper portion of the body. I didn't measure but id say it was around 6 or 7 inches. ya mike was lookin my way when I t happened. he say the splash and I just heard it... then I heard floppin behind my seat. crazy for sure.