I have two boats. Both were recently towed to Dare Marina. I really like the Tow Boat US insurance.
With the little boat, I was up in the marshes of the Eastern Shore trying to catch a tarpon. I’ve been fishing with Capt. Blake Hayden of Right Tide Charters. He grew up over there. I took my boat, one time, to try some different techniques and broke down. I called the Boat US captain and he was ready to come get me. I asked him to wait and get me the next day, as I wanted to try night fishing over there. I have one of the Spot tracking devices. I gave him the link to my track and said to just follow the path I took and don’t come at low tide.
The Albemarle has been having issues with the port engine since a rebuild last summer. Injector failed within weeks. Idling issues. Cutting off when backing on a marlin, a bad valve. Still fishing but never has been right. One of the Carter Machinery mechanics recently found what I hope has been the underlying problem all along. Was told not to run the boat and the engine had to come out again. So another tow to Dare Marina. Both of my boats in the shop.
They did not stay there very long. Both Dare Marina and Carter Machinery jumped on it. Both boats were ready in a week and I got them both back for this past weekend to test them out.
Saturday’s plan was to take Dr. Graves and one of his grad students out for their latest study on white marlin and roundscale spearfish. Weather was a bit questionable and the crew fell apart so it was the little boat up first. Caught spot 2 at a time in the Poquoson River. Not large, eatin’ size, they went in my bait barrel.
Sunday, we took the Healthy Grin out for a test run. It ran fine. While cruising around, we looked for cobia along the Baltimore Channel. We saw 7 of them. Roger Burnley caught our only fish. It was the most aerobatic cobia I have seen. Would have made some great shots. My camera was down in the cabin. After that fish, I got my camera out and we never caught another one. The guys were telling me to put the camera back in the cabin. Back at the dock, Roger’s fish weighed 54.5 pounds.
Monday, I was back in the little boat. I loaded the livewell with spot and some eels and ran back to the Eastern Shore. There was a new tarpon area that I wanted to try. It looks good on satellite images. I ran aground about 10 times, having to get out and push (and this was at high tide). I got out of there and went to the area that I know how to get to. Capt. Blake Hayden was there tarpon fishing. I gave him some of my spot and told him what I had tried. He told me where I was making wrong turns and which creek should get me through to where I was trying to go. I did see 4 tarpon in the time I was in the old area. I’ll try to get through that marsh another time. On my way back across the bay, I stopped and made a blind cast to a buoy. I had forgotten my sunglasses so sight fishing was not an option. Cranking my eel back, I felt a jerk. It was a big eel so I just thought it was the eel. Got the eel up on the surface and there was a little cobia chasing and attacking it. No way that fish was going to be able to eat that eel but I opened the bail and let it do its best. After a short wait, I cranked up and came tight. I was impressed with that little fish then it started taking drag. When I first got the fish up, there was that little cobia following the larger fish that had actually eaten the eel. Trying to net that fish by myself was a pain. I could have gaffed it numerous times but I really did not want to keep it. Finally got it in the net; measured, photographed and released. It was 53 inches long.
A note on Virginia Tarpon: do not do it. Just don’t. If you still insist, go with someone who knows what they are doing, like Capt. Hayden. The only reason I am fishing for them is that I have caught almost all of Virginia’s citation fish. I’ve caught tarpon but not in Virginia. There are a few other fish like longfin tuna and sailfish that we have had multiple Virginia citations for, on my boat, just not with me on the reel. Those, I just need to come off the bridge and crank sometime. Never planned on trying to catch all of the citations, just have gotten very close by accident. So now I’m trying to catch a tarpon. I’m really starting to hate those things. Fishing with Blake, have seen a bunch, have hooked a few, even had the leader on the reel with one (twice) but only because the thing swam right by the boat twice before launching out of the water and the hook came flying out. I did not count that one as a catch. Other than tarpon, only pompano is left. Maybe I can petition the VSWFT Committee to just remove these fish from the citation list so I can go back to fishing for something easy like swordfish and blue marlin.
Dr. Ken Neill, III
IGFA Representative
www.igfa.org
www.pswsfa.com
www.vbsf-hookedup.net/healthygrin/
