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I was very fortunate to be invited to fish with Doug Mcnair and his sons on the Fin Finder with Capt. Greg Buckner and his more than able mate, Andrew Turner. The Fin Finder is a 46' Markley bay built boat....solid as a rock.
It was a bit chilly when I left Ashburn at 4:10 AM (low 30s) and there was frost on my car!!
I got to the dock at Solomons right at 6 AM and within a few minutes, we were on our way to the fishing grounds. This is what it looked like as we approached the water that Capt. Greg wanted to fish.
While this was a trolling trip, Greg and Andrew used fairly light tackle spinning rods. Most of them were 6'6" MH Ugly Sticks with 4600 Penn Slammers. the baits were 9" parachutes in various colors. We did not use umbrellas.
The downrigger rods were 7' H Ugly Sticks with 7600 Slammers since they used a tandem parachute setup. This was a great way to fish!
I did not take long for the first bite and Jamie (Doug's son) reeled him in but he came unhooked right at the boat. We figured it to be in the mid 30's. A few minutes later, Jamie brought this one in!
A 39 inch beauty!!
Shortly thereafter, Bob Lord was up and brought this nice 36-37 incher in!
Chris was next and he did not disappoint.....he had a nice one that Andrew safely coaxed in.....
This one was close to 38 inches!!
Doug is up next and he has a fat one on and brings him or her on in!
Now everyone has a fish and it's my turn....a rod goes down and i start reeling but he gets off but not before the striper takes a leap! I don't ever remember seeing that before! I managed to catch the next one and it was 33'!
Here is the crew.....Doug and his two sons plus Robbie!
So we go around again and everyone gets another fish in the boat. It's my turn and I get a hit and start reeling and the fish gets off....again!
That's twice now! But I got another change and as soon as I grabbed the rod, I knew I had a nice fish!
Nice enough to be the big fish of the day at 42.25"!!
We had great conditions once the sun came up....flat calm seas....good crew of fishermen and an expert boat crew. Greg and Andrew are class acts!
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Nice fish Ernie. Sounds like a great day.
I was at work, day dreaming about fishing.
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Yep...back to work tomorrow. These guys (Greg and Andrew) are excellent fishermen. I will charter them down the road. They do a cobia and spadefish trip down at VA Beach in late June and July......
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By the way, we caught a total of 11 fish and had 2-3 come off before we could land them!
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Wow!
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Check the bend on this pole.....
This is a great way of trolling...light tackle!
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Great day for you guys, and you beat the weather. I notice those are ugly sticks with penn reels. Are you going to risk one of your Loomis on Saturday?
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Loomis rods are for casting!! Ugly Sticks are great rods....indestructible. I have 3 of them that I use for trolling and Fletcher's fishing.
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That seems like a fun day of fishing. Are you allowed to keep the rock fish or it is to soon.
solomons is awesome.
mo
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Nice fish! That must've been alot of fun fighting those beasts on light tackle
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I think this Saturday is the first day that you can keep them...
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purpleworm wrote:
Nice fish! That must've been alot of fun fighting those beasts on light tackle
Absolutely!
Mo- the season starts April 18 in the Potomac (below WW Bridge) and Bay. It starts on May 16 for DC waters. While we went out of Solomons, we fished around 12-15 miles north of there.
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Great report, Ernie.
It really was a nice day. Won't get many April days where the water is that quiet - day before was really lumpy until about 7:00 PM.
The best landmarks for the trolling we did are Cove Point lighthouse to about a mile below the Power Plant. Trolled East to West and just seemed to pick at them all day long. Greg has the LTT thing down really well and slows the boat to near stop when someone has a fish on. Just keeps it moving enough to keep the planers out.
Only saw one other boat fishing the entire day on Monday but things will change this weekend. This Saturday is opening day for Stripers and the opening of the Tiki Bar in Solomons. They're expecting 18-25K people for the Tiki Bar and you won't be able to get on the island (busing folks on from the shopping centers). I'll bet there will be a hundred boats out with at least half of them fishing planers out 100'-150'. Think I'll wait a few days before I put my boat into that zoo.
Glad you were able to make it and I'm sorry Curly was such a wussss.
Doug (Aches n Pains)
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Doug- like you said, it will be a zoo out there on Saturday!! I like this style of trolling....much sportier than heavy rigs (I may be selling heavy trolling stuff that never gets used).
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More pics.....http://www.pacemakerfishing.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=239
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Great report.
What were the weight combinations on the tandem rigs? (For example 6oz with 3oz or what variations?)
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They only used a few tandem rigs (6/3, 8/4) most were singles which they varied the weight. They also had two down deep with the downriggers.
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