Monster Rock

Older Salty knows something about fishin'!

Death with Dignity

Recently when I stop at the gas station in Deltaville for gas and beer, the cashier always asks if I need some ice. I assumed that she thought I'd want ice to keep the beer cold. This time of year that would be completely unnecessary.

I've caught a lot of fish this fall. The rockfish have been heavy down here. This time out, I put the line in the water and caught one before I'd even left the anchorage. I thought about throwing it back. I'd heard fisherman on the radio the day before bragging about the 30+ inch fish they'd caught, and I wanted to bring home a big one.

It was a good thing I kept the fish. I didn't get another hit the rest of the trip. There were no gaggles of birds feasting on bait fish this time. That's a tell tale sign of big rockfish feeding. And the dolphins have left the bay too. I think rockfish trophy season may soon end.

I've caught a fair number of fish in my life. I pond fished as a kid, bringing in blue gills and an occasional bass. I've caught a number of blue fish since sailing on Split Decision. And some spanish mackerel, croakers, and jacks.

My gutting and filleting skills have improved, but I'm still squeamish about the killing. That's where the ice comes in. That's how most fisherman around here kill their fish. Hypothermia. Another way to go about it is to pour some hard liquor over its gills. I've read on the internet that works, but haven't tried it. My technique recently has been to stick a screw driver through its head, which is bloody and very unpleasant for both the fish and me. But it's probably a vast improvement for the fish over my old technique of just letting it bash around in the cockpit until it expired.

But next time I'll buy the ice.

Man the Pumps!

The only sailing I did today was in the basement of our new (to us) house. The house is what in sailing terminology would be called an "old shoe". An old shoe is a very seaworthy boat with classic lines. That's what our 1920s Craftsman Four Square house is. Except it was not particularly well cared for by her previous owners. Among other deferred maintenance is a wet bilge. (For you landlubbers, that would be a leaky basement.)

The remnants of hurricane Ida have been pouring rain on our house and I awoke to find several inches of water in our basement. I set off to Lowes this morning to purchase a bilge pump. While waiting for it to pump out the water, I sailed my catamaran around.

i can haz wokfish?

On my trip to Tangier Island this week there wasn't much light on the bay until after 7 am, and the sun didn't rise until a while after that. But I was awake much earlier and wanting to sail. So off I was at dawn's first light.

This also happens to be a great time to fish on the Chesapeake in the fall. There's a reason why hunters and fishermen wake so early in the morning to head out into the woods or water. That's when the animals are feeding.

The first day out, the wind and waters were calm as I sailed out of a creek and into Fleets bay. But that didn't last long as I sailed into a flock of birds diving into the water. They were fishing from above on a school of bait fish. At the same time, Rockfish were fishing the school from below. The water was alive with action as the little fish jumped to escape the Rockfish, but were also being gobbled up by the birds above.

Into this mess I sailed, and my reel was promptly sent spinning when a Rockfish mistakenly took my lure for breakfast.

I could have spent all morning bringing in fish, but the legal limit is two Rockfish a day, and one was plenty for me anyway. They are big fish. I did put my line back in the water at the end of the trip, so I could have a fish to bring home and share with our new kittens.

I imagine if the pic below was on this website, it would be captioned "i can haz wokfish?"

Back in Port

Had a great fall sail on the Chesapeake this week. I went to Tangier island.

Raised the Spinnaker





Caught some Rockfish.



Hung out on the island.



Saw some dolphins (really, there are dolphins in the video!)



And some sunsets and sunrises.



Sorry for the quality of the pics and video. They were all taken with my cellphone camera. I'll also try to flesh out the blog post with more commentary soon, but I no longer have my verizon aircard and the internet at the marina is pretty bad. I just wanted to get the media uploaded before I worked on the commentary.

No One Noticed

I got new glasses. My old pair went overboard about a month ago while raising the jib in some rough weather. I imagine some crab walking around on the bottom of the Chesapeake wearing my old glasses now.

No one has commented on my new glasses. Well, except Amy. But she helped pick them out. She's my style consultant, and says I look much hipper in my new glasses. I pretty much trust her fashion advice. The only thing I'm not happy about, is that she won't let me wear mock turtlenecks anymore.

I also got a new hat. Bryan found it on the beach and gave it to me. In case you can't read it, it says "Master Baiters", and has a picture of a fish on it. I can't wait to wear it for Amy! I think she'll be pretty pleased.

Just for Fun

Sailing with Thoreau

Bryan seems oblivious to the shark pursuing him while body surfing behind Split Decision. We didn't quite get up to speeds where we could break out the water skis, but had a good sail on a single tack to the Occohannock river and back.

We didn't have much luck trolling Bryan as bait, but did catch a couple bluefish which made good fried fish sandwiches. I caught a crab whose meat made it into my morning eggs. Bryan also found me a new hat while beach combing. I don't want to spoil the surprise for Amy when I get home, but it is classic.

Funniest incident of the trip was when we nearly collided with a motor boat in the middle of the Chesapeake. We saw him coming from about a mile away. He just kept coming. He even adjusted his course to intercept us. He ended up crossing, I am not kidding, 30 feet in front of our bow. I probably could have T-boned him if I wanted. After he passed, he got on the radio and called me an idiot.