Back From Fishin!

Today, Trevor, Kenny, Tom and I joined three other members of Trevor's church tried to do something about the Chesapeake Bay's Blue Catfish problem. Kenny picked Chubby Chasers Charters, normally out of Chesapeake Beach, but for the Spring catfish season, fishing out of Goose Bay Marina on the Potomac River.

We got started a little late, thanks to late arrivals. The day started cool, with some frost on the docks, but warmed up pretty well under the bright sun and low winds.

It was not a hot bite, however, and Capt. Dan kept moving, trying to find a better spot. But we steadily picked away, and all of us got more than one opportunity to reel in a fish. Most of the them were Blue Cats, but we also caught 3 Flathead Cats, another midwestern species introduced into the Bay region, and considered invasive. 

Trevor with a fine specimen. The tackle choice of the day was a single or double circle hook with a 2 oz sinker, baited with cut Menhaden, or a bizarre mixture of chicken gizzards stained with cherry Kool-Aid and flavored with garlic. The Menhaden seemed somewhat better, but both caught fish.

Interestingly, Capt. Dan had his two sons on board. Logan, was in his early teens, acting a first mate, and getting yelled at a lot, but he worked pretty hard. Jackson was around 7-8, and out of school for Spring break. and generally just mingled on deck when he wasn't playing video games in the cabin. He's clearly not afraid of fish slime....

Anyway, we didn't solve the Bay's Blue Catfish problem, but we did make a tiny dent in it.