bloodyptmackWhile I haven’t seen any Spanish mackerel flying around the Eastern Bay recently, I was fortunate enough to find a school farther south tonight.  I fished onboard Fishadler II with Mark, launching out of Queen Anne Marina on Kent Island.  It’s a full moon which usually means increased current, but we haven’t had much incoming tide this week.  Fortunately, the outgoing current has been very strong.  About 3:00 PM – during the last hour of  the outgoing – we found breakers near Sharp’s Island Light and noticed macs in the mix.  That’s about seven miles south of where they were last week.  Although we had trolling gear on the boat, it looked like there might be enough to catch some casting. I started slinging a homemade three-quarter-ounce inline sinker, flattened and rolled in super-fine blue glitter with a treble hook attached.  I think I hooked six or eight macs, but didn’t get them all in the boat.  Casting for macs is a different game than trolling for them.  Even if you can find them and manage to hook one, getting them to the boat is very challenging.  The trick is to keep their nose pointed toward the boat, then sling them up over the side.  If they ever turn and head off in the opposite direction, they’re usually gone.

mackcloseThe fish disappeared as the current waned, and Mark and I made the run all the way down to the Little Choptank.  We found plenty of rockfish and some nice blues, but no more  macs.  We were also keeping an eye out for red drum.  There have been some nice ones caught in the area.  Some of my fishing buddies landed five fish over 40 pounds last weekend.  It was a long shot. Locating red drum in this part of the Bay is like a finding needle in a haystack. This evening, Mark declared, “We can’t even find the haystack!”

needlefish1We headed back up the Bay and got a little top-water fishing in before sunset in the same area I’ve fished the previous two evenings.  Last night I had my friends Dave and Mike onboard Crockett’s Reel.  We caught plenty of rockfish by casting to the shoreline.  Mike even landed a decent-sized needlefish.  I’ve seen them dive on my lures before, but never hooked one.  Those fish are downright mean.  Once they get in the boat they wiggle and squirm like an eel.  The big difference is they have rows and rows of very sharp teeth, and they’ll bite everything within reach.  This one drew blood from Mike before he finally got it pinned down enough to hold it up for a picture.

Mark and I finished our evening with a leisurely cruise up the Bay.  The usual breaking fish around Poplar Island were nowhere to be seen in the slack current.  We stopped for a few sunset pictures around Bloody Point Lighthouse, then ran on back to the marina.  Someone wanted to buy our fish at the dock, but I wasn’t letting those macs get away.  I’d already called home to say it was sashimi night in Old Stevensville. It’s Labor Day weekend, so there will be crowds on the water tomorrow and Sunday.  I may be out, but I don’t expect the fishing to be anything like it’s been this past week.  When the Bay fills up with boats, the fish know how to hide.

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Posted Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Filed Under Category: Fishing Reports
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Responses to “Running South for Spanish Macs”

  1. Daniel says:

    mhmmm. go vols pops

  2. Daniel says:

    mhmmm. go vols pops

  3. Mike Burrows says:

    Great report. Shame you didn’t find that needle.

    Mike

  4. Mlag says:

    Nice job Shawn!!!…………….Mark

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