More Holiday Rockfish

I'm still finding rockfish down at the Bay Bridge. This post is actually recycled from a fishing report I just did for the Tidal Fish message board. I'm a big fan of that discussion list because it's where I've learned a lot of what I now know about fishing the Bay. I decided to post the report in its original form here. -- A light day at work put me on the water by 2:00PM. I was at the east rockpile at 2:30 with a waning incoming tide and water temp around 45 degrees. Nothing on my FF so I motored over to the west pile and caught a little 12" rockfish right off. No other bites so back to the East rocks I went. Don't ask me what changed, but this time my FF looked like this!

Obviously, this time I remembered to take the camera. I also had the cam on my cell phone so shot the same pic as the one above and fired it off to my wife since I'd said I might be home early to join her for a shopping trip. Her text message response, "I'll see you after dark." There was only one other boat around, a couple of guys perching out of a Carolina Skiff. Looked like they were having a blast, doubling up almost every cast with their top & bottom rigs. I stayed on the rockfish verticle jigging a redheaded/white Gotcha Lure. I'm really liking this lure lately. Replacing the trebles minimizes the tangles and snags and, unless the current is really ripping, it'll get on down to the bottom. It reacts erratically when jigged which is what I think generates strikes. I hooked up a fat 15 incher on my first drop and the catching was on. Crockett's barking let the guys in the other boat know whenever I hooked up.


At 3:45 sharp the tide turned. I had been motoring down to the lower end of the pile and drifting back, thanks mostly to the wind, but now there was hardly any drift at all. Things really slowed down and the FF showed no marks, but I was still managing a fish once in a while. As the current began to pick back up, I moved up to the north side of the rocks. Fishing the pressure side of the structure is a tip I learned here on TF and it almost always pays off. More marks on the FF told me you guys were right again! About one out of three fish were over 15" with the biggest of the day about 20". I hooked that fish just as a DNR boat pulled alongside. I didn't hear her coming and must have looked startled. I showed her the fish before dropping it back in. She was very nice, asking questions about the size of the fish and making sure I wasn't keeping anything since rockfish are out of season. She even had a dog biscuit for Crockett! She motored off and I got back to fishing. By this time Crockett wasn't too excited about the fish, but couldn't resist an occasional sniff if I brought one over the side.


The bite continued until dark. Actually, as the current increased, even more fish moved in. Unfortunately, that increased the dink ratio. I thought it might be fun to get out the fly rod some evening because, when the currrent started ripping, smaller fish began feeding on the surface. I stayed until well after sunset and left them biting. Cruising by the Christmas lights at Sandy Point I thought how I'm having just as much fun now as I did fishing the breaks back in the Fall. I sure hope this winter action continues! -Shawn