Happy Fisherman!

The spring rockfish migration is well underway. The fishing was starting to heat up before the Nor'easter, but the storm really put a damper on things, dropping the water temperature back to mid-March levels. We're slowly starting to see big fish again. Here are some pics of some fish caught with a new fishing buddy, Francis, down near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The plant discharges warm water from a large pipe about a quarter mile off shore. Baitfish are attracted to the warmer water, so the big bubbas come in for breakfast. We jigged large bass assasins (BAs) just after dawn and caught some of the nicest fish I've seen yet. We left them biting because I wanted to see Francis' trolling spread. He uses all light tackle, no broomstick size rods and reels, my favorite kind of trolling. It wasn't long until one of the lightest spinning outfits on the boat hooked up. After 20 minutes of drag-screaming action, I landed this fat 38 incher. It's the biggest fish I've caught so far in the Bay. -S