Ouch! Fiberglass repairman needed

We're smack in the middle of a nor'easter. We've had high winds and driving rain since I got in from fishing last night. When I arrived back at the dock the tide was very low. I couldn't get the boat on the lift far enough, and since it wasn't seated in the bunk properly, I didn't want to raise it up all the way. I went out several times, once after midnight hoping to get her raised, but there still wasn't enough water. This morning Dianne woke me up about 7:30 AM. I could tell from her tone of voice something was wrong. The storm brought the water up very fast and the strong winds washed the boat over the lift and up on to one of the dock pilings. It ate her up pretty good. The only positive I can see is that the hole goes through to the anchor well, and the lower hull isn't damaged. I'm obviously looking for a good fiberglass repairman. I'm just sick about it and feel like a real idiot for not setting a clock to get up and check on it. -S

Good news & bad news

My idea about using a parachute instead of a bucktail (fly) didn't work. The plugs don't run right. But the good news is, I caught some very nice fish this afternoon on the 1oz flies. Two of the fish were even bigger than the ones I caught Thursday. Here's the report I posted to the Tidal Fish bulletin board:

I started at Matapeake but couldn't find much happening late this afternoon so moved on down to Bloody Point just as it started to rain. Heard some guys on the radio say they got 6 before they moved out. Thought I was gonna get skunked until the wind started blowing and I guess it moved the bait up or something 'cause the gannets started going nuts, a group of 30 or so diving just north of the lighthouse. Fish started hitting my bucktails. I had a devil of a fight on my hands with my light outfits and the wind. Boated 5 fish and lost two more, all within 2 hours during the rain. It got too rough to setup my camera on the console to take pictures. Got two fish bigger than any I've caught so far on the Bay. The bigguns hit the smallest lures, 1oz bucktails with a twister tail trolled with a Bagleys DD22. This is FUN!!! -S

Spring Rockfish

I have a lot to catch up on. I'll try to do that over the weekend but first wanted to report on Thursday's fishing trip to the area around the Bay Bridge. I dropped my 4 rod light tackle spread in just above Sandy Point Light, just me and Crockett. I saw lots of marks on the fish finder, but no fish. Moved on about a mile below the Bridge and saw gannets diving near Matapeake. Picked up two fish right off the bat, but they were small. I wondered if my light tackle might be resulting in smaller fish and was thinking of changing, but moved up to shallower 65' water when another rod went down with a much heavier fish. Probably 38" or so. I was sending a cell phone message to my boys when, boom... another hook up, this one maybe just a little bigger. Storm clouds were building but the fish kept biting, all above red buoy number 88. Hooked and lost one, then got two more over the side before lightning got too close and I had to run north where I hid out below the Sandy Point side of the bridge. After the rain, I headed back down toward a nice rainbow, but there was no pot of gold. Gannets were still there, but I couldn't catch another fish. I ended up with 6 fish, 4 of which were the biggest I've pulled into my boat so far.

My spread is two Bagleys DD22/bucktail combos, one small daisy chain/parachute, and one parachute/bucktail tandem. I stagger them at 20-30 yard intervals behind the boat. I'll sometimes add another rod but it's a lot of work for one person. Crockett's job is to drive the boat, open the Natty Bohs, and take the pictures... The forecast is for wind, rain, and snow this weekend. If I can get out next week I'm going to try tying a parachute above the DD22s to see if they run true. It it works, I think it'll be the secret weapon for trophy rockfish season. My personal best rockfish is a TVA lake fish about 30lbs. I hope to break that record this spring -S