July Meet & Greet - Lowe's Wharf

It has been a long and busy first-half of the year.  Baby Ruth arrived in March, and we moved into our new-to-us home in May.  Even if I wanted to go fishing, I felt guilty about it with all that was going on.  Things are settling down now, and I've gone fishing here and there during the past month, but haven't had time to write about them...I may get to them later, or maybe report on all of them at once in a single report.  Anyway, one of my friends insisted that I start reporting on my trips again, so I hope I can keep this up again!

This trip was a Meet & Greet with the MKF gang at Poplar's Island, launching out of Lowe's Wharf.  I think this has been the largest gathering outside of the CBKA tournaments that I've seen.  It was fun meeting old buddies, and meeting new people.  Another special part of this trip was that I got to spend time with my dad.  His first exposure to kayak fishing was at Pt. Lookout last year, and I've been wanting to take him fishing again.  I also wanted him to meet some of the other folks from the forum, so that he knows the kind of people that I'm fishing with (My parents think I'm nuts for meeting up with random people from the internet to fish).

My dad with the sun rising over the marina behind him.

My dad and I left the house around 4AM, and arrived at the Lowe's Wharf ramp a little after 6AM.  There were already a handful of kayakers unloading their cars by the time we got there.  There were more to come later, and in total I think there were over 30 kayakers at this meet up.  I chatted with a few familiar faces, and was out on the water with my dad probably a little after 6:30AM.  I gave the Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 to my dad to paddle today, while I paddled in my Tarpon 100.  I was slightly nervous about how difficult it would be to paddle a shorter, wider kayak...but it tracked fine and I did a lot of paddling.

My dad and me trying to catch spot. (Photo Credit: Mark)

I had never fished at Poplar Island before, and didn't have much time to do research before the trip...so the simple plan I had was to use fish bites to catch some spot, and to use spot later for bluefish or striped bass.  I also brought some raw shrimp to try to catch some croakers.  So the first item of the day was to catch some silly spot!  I remembered how easy it was to catch some during last year's CBKA tournament, where I quickly found them in 4 feet of water.  However, I had the most difficult time catching them this time.  I tried water at 4 ft, then 6 ft, 8 ft, 10 ft....eventually, I heard someone on the radio (Frogsauce from the MKF forum) mention that he was catching spot left and right.  What the heck?  I asked for his location, and he shared that he was smack in the middle of the channel in 15+ feet of water.  Alright!  Time to change location.

I wouldn't say the spot fishing was fast and easy at the new location, but it certainly was better.  Soon enough I caught 6 spot on fish bites blood worms, and also on some live bloodworm that I got from a forum member I met, Dao.  Most of the spot were on the large side for live-lining, and I also got a surprise croaker in the mix on some shrimp that I tried out.  No matter, though...big bait = big fish, right?  Also, the bigger spot actually felt larger than they really are.  They won't pull much drag, but they do give up a feisty little fight.  My dad fished with me here too, and I think he actually had fun catching spot.  He ended up catching a bunch more spot than I did, which we took home for dinner.

So many boats....

I was under the impression that the fleet of boats to the north of us were live-lining for stripers, so I planned with my dad to split up for a bit while I checked out the rocky shoreline of Poplar Island, and then to meet him towards the boats to try for some striped bass.  I later found out that those boats were actually catching spot to use as bait for live-lining elsewhere.  Anyway, I started my long paddle toward the island, trolling an X-Rap behind me the entire way.  I didn't get any hits the entire paddle, but I was hopeful, because I saw several large pods of baitfish that were swimming along the surface.  I tried fishing my X-Rap through the schools of fish, but to no avail...

The tide going out on the rocks of Poplar Island.

I finally made it to the rocks, and was surprised by how shallow the water was around there.  It was 3-4 feet deep, and there were submerged boulders scattered around away from the wall of rocks.  It is nice to have a paddle kayak where you don't have to worry about submerged rocks!  Anyway, I worked my way along the rock wall, casting my X-Rap close to shore (maybe within a foot or two of the rocks), and swimming it back toward me.

So close...

After a few minutes of this, I actually had a strike!  I pulled it in, and I estimate it was about 15 inches...I didn't take a picture of it, but it was a little smaller than another fish I caught along the rocks later.  I did get a picture of that one, and measured him at 17 inches.  It was so disappointing to see the fish on my ruler, coming juuuust short of the legal limit.  I really wanted to take a rockfish home for dinner, so it was very hard to let him go.  By this time, it was around 10:30AM, and I wanted to meet up with my dad to try to do some live-lining for rockfish before we headed in for lunch.

Well, I turned around to paddle towards the boats and all I could see was the picture I posted above.  How am I supposed to find my dad????  He didn't have a cell phone, he didn't have a radio, my radio was just about out of battery, and I didn't see a single kayak in the midst of those boats.  There was a boat within a short paddle distance from me, so I went over and politely asked the people fishing on it to help me look for my dad.  Luckily someone on the boat had a pair of binoculars, and while he couldn't make out distinct features, he could see a yellow kayak out on the other side of the channel, not really near the armada of boats.  I am really grateful for those boaters, because I did not even notice the kayak until they pointed it out to me.  I thanked the people for their help and paddled to the yellow kayak.  Thank goodness, as I got closer, I could see a dark figure on the kayak with a wide brim hat, which my dad was wearing.  I was glad he was okay, and told him about how I had a difficult time finding him.  He thought I was overreacting because he said that he could see me the entire time.  Well!  Next time I take someone fishing, I'm not splitting from him.  The funny thing is, that when I left him, my dad was preparing a rod for live-lining for rock.  When I found him, he was fishing for spot again.  haha!

Spot!

By this time, all the spot in my bucket were dead, because I pulled it out of the water to reduce drag as I was paddling to and from the island.  I had been paying attention to the radio the whole day to see if anyone else caught any rockfish, and no one had...so I gave up on catching a keeper rockfish, and just rigged up my rods with top-bottom rigs, and fished for spot with my dad. We ended up with a cooler full of spot, and started the long paddle in.

Before we started heading in, I switched paddles with my dad so that he wouldn't get fatigued as much.  I took the heavier paddle, and gave him my Werner Camano.  With a longer kayak, and lighter paddle, I thought we'd be able to paddle at the same pace.  However, no matter how slow a pace I tried to keep, I was steadily paddling faster than my dad.  I'm really surprised by the speed of the Tarpon, and also by the difference that paddle technique makes!  I tried to convince my dad to paddle with his waist and core, but I could see him paddling with his arms.

Dinner is served...

We got back to the ramp, loaded the kayaks, had lunch at the marina with the gang, and went home.  When we got home, I let my boys hold the fish and play with them for a while, and then I cleaned and filleted some of them for dinner.  I told my boys to thank grandpa for all the fish he brought home today, and they even asked for seconds during dinner.

CBKA Tournament 2013

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The 2013 Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers tournament was held this weekend.  This is the only tournament that I planned to attend this year, and I didn't register because I'm a great angler and felt confident about being able to land a prize-winning fish - I hadn't even fished the bay bridge or any area near Kent Island at all this year.  I registered because it's a big kayak angling party with other like-minded people who gather to fish, have fun before fishing, share stories, and help two great organizations.
 

The Bay Bridge from Camp Wright

The event began for me Friday afternoon when I arrived at the camp around 4PM.  The captain's meeting wasn't until 7, but I decided to go early to beat traffic and to just hang out with whoever came early.  I arrived to find the CBKA staff busy finishing up preparations for the tournament with registrations and captain's bags.  There is a lot of work involved in coordinating a tournament, and I just got a small glimpse of it - those guys deserve a lot of thanks for the hard work they put into it.  There were also a handful of other familiar faces hanging out and talking about fishing, which I joined in on.  

As more people slowly trickled in, we continued to just lounge around and talk while some anglers set up their tents to stay the night.  I borrowed a 1-man tent from a coworker this year, which was kind of exciting because I haven't slept in a tent in years!
 

Rockfish and Speckled Trout Masgouf!

We finally had the captain's meeting around 7 where we went over the rules, and Shawn Kimbro also made an appearance to wish everyone luck and to share a quick fishing report from his experience.  After the meeting, we all just hung out and shared more stories and some people participated in a potluck dinner this year.  That was a pretty fun time...a bushel of crabs, shrimp skewers, a masgouf demonstration from Mustafa, and a bunch more food.  These guys know how to put together a potluck!  I hear the festivities went on through the night, but I retired around 10 to get some rest for the next morning.

I had been watching the weather forecast for the day of the tournament the entire week before the tournament, and I knew it was going to be pretty windy.  Not as bad as last year's winds, but still enough wind that would make fishing the bay bridge miserable for a paddle yak'er.  So I spent a couple nights studying the charts and decided to try Eastern Bay, figuring Kent Island should block the winds well enough to make it manageable.  So a little after 6AM, I launched out of Shipping Creek to try live-lining on some of the ledges in Eastern Bay.

The sun rising in front of me as I paddle toward Eastern Bay

I paddled out in search of some shallower water to try to fill up my bucket with some live spots.  I soon found them in about 4 feet of water, and quickly picked up about 6 or 7 on fish bites blood worms.  I even caught a tiny croaker in between the spots - it was too bad that there was not a "Smallest Fish" division this year!

I used the GPS on my Mark 4 fish finder to try to paddle out toward some water around 15' in depth that would fall down to 20'+.  While searching out these ledges, I trolled a deep diving Yo-Zuri Crystal minnow to try to pick up some fish between live lining.  I caught a striper and a perch in between fishing holes on the crystal minnow.  Neither fish was large enough to be competitive in the tournament, but I was glad to not be skunked!  Live lining did not prove to be any more productive...I didn't get any hits from any stripers that may have been in Eastern Bay.  The wind was also much stronger in the middle of the bay than it was in the channel, so it was hard staying in position to let the spot swim around freely.  I was even drifting at up to 1.5 mph from the wind.  

Rather than snapping pictures of fish, I was taking pictures of the scenery... look at that sky!

The highlight from live lining was probably when one of my spot got completely ripped apart, which was probably the result of some bluefish, but I didn't hook up with anything.  The 5 or 6 other spot were really lucky, as I let them go after several trips down to the bottom of the bay.  I gave up live-lining after the last spot and trolled some more to see what I could snag up.  I probably paddled about 8 miles in the wind, and finally gave up around 1PM.  I headed back to the launch ramp to weigh-in early and just rest.

Raffle Prizes!

The dinner and banquet started around 4 or 5, which is always a good time of raffling and eating good food.  I actually did well in the raffles this year and snagged a couple of cool items - there were a couple big ticket items, but the most exciting prizes for me were a pair of fish grips (I've always wanted one...) and several of Woody's feather jigs (he's closing shop)!  Some representatives from the two organizations (CCA and Make-a-wish) that the tournament benefits also gave some presentations.  A video was played about a recent make-a-wish grant for a boy who wanted to meet RG III - he got his wish and much more!  That was really cool... the evening went on until around 7:30 or so, after which we all went our separate ways.  I stuck around a little to avoid the madness of the rush out, and to thank the organizers for another great tournament.  This was a great event, and I will be marking the date on my calendar as soon as next year's tournament date is announced!

Point Lookout Family Picnic

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 My fondest childhood memories are of days when my family and I would go on long drives to go fishing on the bay.  My dad taught me how to bait hooks, cast top & bottom rigs, unhook fish, and many more.  I remember fishing with my dad, but I don't remember the last time I fished with him - it has to have been over 7 years ago... Well, my parents are in town for a few weeks, and I took the opportunity to share my joy of kayak fishing with my dad.  I took the day off on Monday to take the family to Point Lookout for a picnic, some fishing, and hopefully a fish dinner at the park.  

Caleb looking for bugs, while the adults prepare lunch.

We got to the park around 10:30AM and started out by spending some time on the beach and preparing for lunch.  The picnic/beach area was pretty vacant, so we were lucky to get the picnic table right next to the beach. Dad and I got the grill going while Mom and my wife prepared the table, and the two boys played in the sand.  It was fun watching the boys play in the sand and get their feet wet in the water.  My older son, Caleb, loves bugs...he spent most of his time foraging for crawling things in the sand.  And we learned today that my younger son is a neat-freak - he does not like to get his hands and feet dirty.  

After our steak and salad picnic we packed up and drove over to the bay side of the park.  The water looked a little choppy on the Potomac side, but the bay side was smooth as glass.  That's the nice thing about Point Lookout - if the wind is in a east-west or west-east direction, you can always fish on the side that's blocked by the trees and land.  My dad and I unloaded the kayaks and carried them down to the south-side pet beach for launch.  My oldest son begged to go, so I thought we'd bring him along - grandpa would love to spend more time with him, after all.  Based on my experience with the stability of the Tarpon 100, I thought my dad could handle paddling it with Caleb in front of him.  The plan was just to paddle and fish for a little bit with Caleb and to bring him back for his nap shortly after.

Wake up!  Note that we all had our PFD's on...Safety first!

Well, my dad and Caleb did great!  My dad looked pretty comfortable, and Caleb was definitely comfortable because he fell asleep on the water!  When we got to water about 10 feet deep, we rigged our top & bottom rigs with cooked salad shrimp and started fishing.  I tried to help my dad by rigging for him, and at one point I forgot that I took his tackle box.  Everything was going perfectly until that moment...as my dad reached over for the tackle box, he leaned over a little too far and PLOP!  He and Caleb turtled right in front of my eyes.  It felt like it all happened in slow motion.  The surprised look in my dad's eyes as the boat slowly rolled over will never escape my memory... 

Luckily everyone had their PFDs on, and no one got hurt.  My dad quickly got Caleb into my boat, and I talked him through the process of how to right the kayak and how to get back in.  I have never experienced a turtle myself, so I had to actually go off of what I had heard people share on MKF.  If it wasn't for the experience shared by the great guys on the forum, I don't think I would have known how to help my dad.  The only casualty from that fiasco was a lost rod and reel with an X-rap on it.  That's okay, because the most precious cargo was safe and sitting in front of me.  We then proceeded to get all the floating tackle boxes out of the water, and luckily one of the rods I gave my dad to use was leashed to the holder, so he was still able to fish.  As he reeled the line back in, he actually had a croaker on it - he caught the first fish of the day!

My wet dad with the first fish of the day.

After letting Caleb play with the fish a little, I asked my dad if he was okay, and if he felt comfortable being on the water alone.  He said that he's not afraid of a little water, so I paddled Caleb back to shore for his nap.  He actually fell back asleep on the way in, and woke up just as we pulled up to shore.  My mom and wife had watched the whole turtling scene, but were surprisingly calm about it. Thank goodness!

The norm for the day.

I paddled back to my dad and asked if he had caught anything.  He said he caught 3 small ones that he let go, which was disappointing to hear...but then he pulled the stringer out of the water with 4 or 5 croakers.  He caught enough for dinner before I even caught one!  I quickly dropped my rig down, and started a fun day of pretty consistent croaker action.  The largest one I caught was 13 inches, while the majority of the fish were in the 8 to 10 inch range.  There were a lot of throwbacks.  I've said it before, but I think croaker are pretty strong fighters for their size.  Many atimes I hooked up with a fish, and was hopeful for a 13 to 14 incher, but was greeted on the surface by a puny 8 incher.  

Dad hooked up with a skate. "Woah! I got a huge one!"

Around 5PM the wind picked up on the bay side, and we wanted to grill some fish for dinner at the park before heading home, so we decided to head back in.  We quickly packed up the van, and went to the fish cleaning area by the boat ramp.  I loved the fact that they had a place to clean fish on site!  My dad and I scaled and cut the fish while my mom washed them out with water.  The job went pretty quickly with the three of us working together.  I wanted to try a style of preparing fish that Mustafa from MKF shared, which is to cut a fish in half like a butterfly from the top to the bottom.  It was actually easier than I thought, and resulted in a clean cut fish.

Everyone's excited about the catch!

I want my kitchen to be like this.

We finished cleaning the fish and the fish-cleaning area, and headed to the picnic area where we had an hour left to grill and eat our dinner.  We ate our dinner, the boys played on the playground a bit, and then we packed up to start our trip back home.  Today was a most memorable day that I am sure I will never forget.  A delicious picnic on the beach with my family, a turtle experience with my dad and son, a banner day of catching fish with my dad, and a delicious grilled fish dinner as the sun prepared to set over the beach.  I look forward to having many more days like today in the future.

Wye Mills

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Last weekend I went crabbing with some friends from church.  I had tried to get some of them to try kayaking,  but they have been apprehensive about getting on a small boat in big water.  They were more willing to get on the water in a skiff that you didn't have to propel with your arms.  We wanted to try something new this time, so the agenda for this trip was to catch some crabs!  Enough to try to have a crab party.  We were joking that if our plan didn't work out we could just pick up a bushel on the way home, so we weren't too pressured to have to catch much.  Luckily, things did work out!

A 7 incher!  Look at those colors...

I got a recommendation from a friend to try crabbing at Wye Mills from a boat that you can rent at a boat house called Schnaitman's.  I looked it up, and got some helpful tips from the friendly guys at the MKF forum about the place.  We arrived early - a little before 6AM - to rent our boat.  We were surprised to see that there were already several people ahead of us unloading and getting in the boats.  I wasn't really sure what to do, so I asked a guy there, and he said that you just pick a boat, sit in it and wait for the owners to arrive to pay them to go out.  So we unloaded our fishing rods, crabbing gear, and ice boxes and picked a boat until 6AM.

The owners arrived at 6AM on the dot, and I got in line to pay for the boat and also to rent a dip net to scoop up the crabs in.  This was my first time operating a motor boat, and I am embarrassed to say that I screwed things up pretty badly.  I didn't know there was an anchor out in the water, and I kind of got the motor going, but then it stalled.  I tried to re-start it, and it kept getting hung up.  I thought that it might have gotten caught on some rope underwater, but I didn't see the anchor line so I shrugged it off and kept yanking the cord.  Of course after a while I yanked the handle off the rope and we were dead in the water.  Luckily the owner was watching, and had us paddle over so that he could fix it.  I could tell he wasn't happy, but he was real polite about it.  I was just glad this happened while he was nearby, and not while we were way out on the water.  I would have had no idea of what to do.

After the gentleman kindly got us started, we were off!  Since this was my first time, I wasn't really sure where to go or what to do, so my plan was to just look for "fishy" places to anchor by and just try fishing and crabbing.  For bait we had a pack of bloodworms and cooked shrimp for the fish, and chicken wings for the crabs.  It would have been cheaper to get chicken necks, but I couldn't find any at the grocery store the night before.  I also didn't realize that they sold chicken necks at the boathouse.  Anyway, we got to our first location at the mouth of the creek that the boathouse was on.  We anchored off and the guys put out their lines as I got the crabbing gear together.  

Double perch.

Double, Double perch!

The guys were immediately hooking up with some fish - albeit small fish...but they were getting pullage!  They were hooking up with perch, small croakers, and spot.  While they were busy with the fish, I got the handlines baited with chicken, and used one of the perch for the crab traps.  Within just a few minutes I brought up a crab on the handline - it was too small, but now we knew what to do. We each took a handline, and for the next hour or so we were fishing and catching crabs at the mouth of the creek.  We periodically checked the traps all day, but neither of them produced any crabs the entire time.  

One of the throwbacks.

The minimum size for crabs right now is 5 1/4", and we caught a lot of crabs that were probably around 5".  That's always how it goes, huh?  We still were able to catch a few and put them in the cooler.  I didn't realize this until after the trip, but we should have either kept the cooler lid open, or put the crabs in an open container and kept them moist.  When it was time to cook them later, they weren't really moving...or breathing.  Luckily we steamed them several hours later - but next time I will remember to keep them lively.

No other boats around.

The fishing was pretty steady the entire time.  When we started running out of shrimp and bloodworms, I put on some "squirmin' squirts" tube jigs on my bottom rigged bait hooks.  I should have done this sooner!  I was getting double perch almost every cast.  I think the fishing and crabbing here is probably similar to the fishing and crabbing on the Severn, where I first started kayak fishing last year.  Lots of perch, and lots of crabs.  However, the water at Wye Mills is less congested with boats (maybe it was because the weather wasn't that great this day), and the shorelines are less developed.  I would consider kayak crabbing here sometime.

The 7 inch crab again.

Anyway, we moved around maybe 3 or 4 more times during the trip and ended up with 12 crabs and 41 white perch.  All of our anchoring spots were also within a mile of the boathouse - we didn't have to go far.  Crabbing by handline was pretty fun, and I think next time I might take my wife and son - I'm sure they would have a good time.

That evening we steamed up the crabs, steamed some fish, and fried up the rest of the fish.  Everyone loved the food.  The wives joined us for dinner, and we had enough crabs to just get a taste of it - 3 per couple.  There were plenty of fish sticks from the dink perch that we brought home to fill the rest of our appetites.

Fish Chips

Steamed Crabs

Steamed Fish

Croakers at PLO

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The MKF monthly Meet & Greet was last Saturday.  I was looking forward to going to it, because it was going to be at Point Lookout State Park (PLO), and we were going to target croakers.  I have fond memories of catching tons of croakers in college, and enjoying them the next morning for breakfast.  It has been a long time since I've targeted them or even caught them.  However, I found out the week before last that I wasn't going to be able to make the Meet & Greet, and was real bummed out about it.  My wife tried to cheer me up by buying some croakers from the local asian market for dinner last week.  It just wasn't the same.  The fish she brought home must not have been fresh, because it had a real strong fishy smell and it tasted just like it smelled. That couldn't be the croaker that I loved to eat back in the day.  I had to catch some croakers to find out.

Since I was now busy on the day of the Meet & Greet, the only time I had available to fish was the evening before.  Last Friday I went in to work extra early so that I could make it out in time to get to PLO with some sunlight before it got dark.  This would be my first time fishing from my kayak at night so I was a little nervous.  However, it's been a while since I had gotten some pullage, and the thought of a cooler full of fish knocked any second thoughts out of my mind.

I got to the park around 7PM, and started unloading my kayak at the first "Pet Beach" that I saw.  I had heard from some of the members of the forum that they were launching from a pet beach and fishing the bay side.  During my rigging, an extra friendly park ranger stopped by and suggested some other places to launch.  "....potomac side...sandy launch....south....pet beach....." I didn't pay too much attention, because I was eager to get out on the water.  That was a big mistake, because as I wheeled my kayak over to the pet beach, I saw that there was no way I could get my kayak to the water - there were a bunch of boulders lining the shore!  Darnit!  It must have been the other pet beach that the others were launching from!  I quickly tore down my kayak, put it on my car and drove to the end of the causeway to the south side.  I looked over at the pet beach and saw the sandy shore.  Dang...wasted time.

Very calm bay side water.

I quickly re-rigged my kayak and wheeled over to the beach.  I had read the wind forecast, and the wind was supposed to be blowing from the west.  I hoped that the bay side would be calm, since it would be protected by land.  Luckily, the water didn't look too bad from the beach.  I also could see another kayaker fishing out in the water.  I quickly paddled over to find out who it was.  He was Dsmero from the MKF forums.  He had been fishing for a few hours, and was paddling in to put some fish on ice and to stretch his legs.  I asked what he caught, and he said he was doing real well catching 12-16 inch croakers in 18-20 feet of water.  Great! Croakers!  He was using squid for bait, and kindly offered one of his to me since I didn't have any squid.  I had only brought cooked salad shrimp from Costco and some nasty old bloodworms (note: don't ever buy bloodworms from the "rod & reel" gas station on the way to PLO).  We parted ways and I headed for the target water depth.

The first of many fish.

It didn't take long to get to water 18-20 feet deep, but it was still well out of range of the shore fishermen.  I'm glad to be able to get out this far from shore and be able to just drop my lines.  I baited some squid and shrimp on my two rods and put them out.  Within a couple minutes, I had a hit on one of the rods.  Fish on!  Then shortly after I had another one...then another...then another!  The croakers were hitting pretty fast.  I often had a fish on both rods at once, and often didn't have time to unhook a fish before reeling in the other line.  I hadn't had this much fish action in a long time, and these weren't all small fish either.  They were all good keeper sized fish that all went into my cooler.

Dsmero eventually came back out, and we drifted and fished together.  We were both getting some good fish with the squid, and some on the shrimp.  Then as night time set, the bite suddenly stopped.  I must be too used to my shore fishing technique of setting up camp in one place and sticking to it.  I kept putting out my lines in 18 - 20 feet of water waiting for the fish to start biting again.  Dsmero decided to head closer to shore instead and to fish in some shallower water.  He said he'd let me know if he found them, so I just stuck around.

Some small baitfish.

Since things slowed down a bit, I had time to fool around a bit.  All evening some small baitfish were splashing the water, and I could finally see them now.  They were 3-4 inches long, and weren't very shy.  I'd shine my head lamp at the water next to me, and the fish would come and bump my boat or swim next to it.  I wanted to get a closer look at one, so I swiped at it in the water to try to splash it into my kayak.  It actually worked, and I got to take a picture of it.  It turned out that I didn't even have to go through all that work.  Later I had 2 of these jump into my kayak on their own.  I had live baitfish in my boat now, so of course I put them on one of my rigs and cast them out to see if any bluefish or something would hit them.  I didn't get anything after about 15 minutes so I replaced them with shrimp.

Small crab.  He was released after his photo shoot.

The baitfish weren't the only ones floating by on the water.  I could see a lot of crabs - 2" to 6" swimming by.  I sure wished I had a crab net at this time.  I thought it might be fun to get a close look at one of the crabs too, so I found a small one swimming by and swiped at that one to get it in the boat.  Worked great just like the fish! haha.  He bit me during his photo shoot, but luckily he was only 1.5" long.  I am glad I didn't think to swipe at one of the bigger ones.  I just thought it was neat seeing these crabs swimming in the water from so close up.

I need a bigger cooler!  Or throw out some ice.

At around 10 or so, I heard Dsmero calling saying that he had found some fish.  I paddled over, and he was in about 12-13 feet of water.  He said he was catching fish pretty consistently there with bloodworms.  I put out some bloodworms and shrimp, and the fishing was hot again!  I was getting hits more frequently on my cooked salad shrimp.  In fact, I had 4 fish get deep-hooked with the salad shrimp.  I didn't have that problem with any of the other baits.  I anchored up this time because I was getting tired of paddling, and eventually the fishing slowed down again.  I could see Dsmero drifting further and further away.  At close to midnight I decided to call it a night and paddled over to Dsmero to say bye and to thank him for the tips.  I also asked how the fishing had been, and he said the fish were biting pretty consistently for him.  Again, I probably should have moved around looking for fish when things slowed.  I need to get rid of my habit of sticking to one spot.

By that time Dsmero was done for the night too.  He was planning on taking a short nap at a nearby hotel to return for the Meet & Greet by 4 or 5AM.  Crazy....  Anyway, we paddled in together and helped each other drag our kayaks to our cars and load them.  I opened up my cooler to gauge how many fish I had.  I looked in, and it didn't look like I met the 25 fish limit, so I thought "I'm good, I can take them home."  Dsmero and I packed our cars and went our separate ways.  The drive home was 2.5 hours, but it wasn't that bad...I was happy that my dream of a cooler full of fish had come true.

24 fish. Scaled.

Well, the happy feelings went away real quick the next morning when I had to scale and gut all the fish.  There were 24 fish in all, and I cleaned all of them.  I gave 19 of them away, and kept 5 to eat with my family. We had some fried fish Sunday evening, and my son Caleb loved it!  He kept asking for more.  The croaker this time tasted much better than the fish we had last week.  This is the great-tasting fish that I remember.