REPORT 24-28 June 2008 Bluelines, Goldens, Rosies, Seabass, Triggers, Hake, and Spanish: We gave my Parents the tour

As always, when Mom came to visit, she wanted to go fishing. Both my Mom and my Step Dad were able to make it into town this time.

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DAY 1: The plan was to fish at the Chesapeake Light Tower off Virginia Beach, and patiently await the spades…if the fish were willing. It was a little rough as we headed out to the tower, but it didn’t faze my parents. We set anchor on the structure, and pulled off. I was already considering plan B. Once hung up again, we were not where we wanted to be, so we repositioned. I was up in the tower scoping for fish since my Step Dad was handling the anchor. I jumped out of the tower like I had hundreds of times. Just as I jumped down, the boat pitched as I aimed my footing to avoid stuff on the deck. This combination caused my foot to bend under, and down I went. No biggie, I thought. I jumped back up, and managed the anchor. No biggie…until a strange feeling began materializing in my ankle and spread over my whole foot. Within minutes, I knew something was up, and the pain set in. If you have never had a sprained ankle, it’s some of the worst pain I have ever experienced. So, let’s get back to fishing, I’ll just sit down for awhile. Nope, according to Mom it’s not happening. We were going in to get that ankle treated. Although I protested, my ankle did swell to about twice its size. There goes the day. We went to Bass Pro and went shopping later that afternoon instead.

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DAY 2: I’m ready to go fishing. Mom thinks we shouldn’t go because I shouldn’t use my ankle. But I don’t fish with my foot! Ok, I finally convince her I’ll be fine. At the dock, we chatted with CAPT Fred Feller, and some of the other folks at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center, who met Mom and My Step Dad, Dick. Since the spade bite is not on fire, I came up with plan “B” for some fast action. We headed out of Rudee Inlet at about 7:30 am, and took a hard left. We cruised to the Virginia Beach Ocean front, which took about 5 minutes. There was a slight chop, with SW winds at about 10-15. I spotted the fleet trolling off Cape Henry, so I stopped short near a barge in about 20 feet of water. I ran the boat, while Robin worked the pit. I got on target at 6.5 knots, and began following a nice tide line. “Fish on!” Mom was up, then Dick, then Mom again, then…..well anyway; it went that way for about 1 ½ hours. These were nice fish raging to about 21-inches. Mom learned how to work the pit quickly, and then she even took over the driving! Watch out! After we had 18 Spanish in the box, we were done with trolling and wanted to do something different. So we ran out to the tower, which looked crowded, with not much action. No problem, we moved over to a nearby hang and dropped a test line. I hooked up with a huge seabass??? Nope, it was a nice triggerfish. Ok, that will work, too. We anchored up, and proceeded to wear out the triggers. We did see spades, although they were finicky. We managed a handful of spadefish and a cooler full of fat triggerfish. On the way in, I called up Mike Standing, the owner of Waterman’s restaurant. He told us how awesome Spanish it is to eat. Mom helped me clean the fish, and we took the fillets to Waterman’s across the street. Mike is right. It is awesome…when someone else cooks it!

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Day 3: The next day was a deep dropping trip. We headed out of Rudee Inlet at 5am, and arrived after a pleasant ride. We looked for a minute in about 320 feet of water, and found the fish. We all dropped down, and everyone hooked up with nice bluelines. We made the drift several times, and ended up with a nice pile of bluelines up to 15 pounds, with three of them heavy enough for citations. We also had about a dozen big seabass. Ok, time to do something else. Mom did fine in 300 feet, but now we were going deep, to over 150 fathoms (over 900 feet). We hooked her up with an electric reel and turned her loose, and she was fine. On her second hoist, she hooked into a golden tilefish. Then I pulled up a golden tile. We also caught several dozen nice blackbelly rosefish to about 3-pounds, and two hake. Dick was itching for a golden, and he fished hard until he finally hooked one. As I watched his rod double over, I knew it was big. After several seconds, his rod dipped, and then sprang back up. Uh oh! The fish came unglued. He was not happy. What happened? Let’s check his drag. What drag? It was locked down. I made a mental note to recheck guest’s drags in the future. Sorry Dick! Although we hit some sloppy seas on the way in, the ride was good. We pulled into Rudee Inlet with a tired bunch at about 7:30pm. Mom left with five coolers of fish to take home...until the next visit! I'm still walking with a brace.