Healthy Grin Sport Fishing

I fished for specks this morning. I caught a bunch…and a single puppy drum. There were a lot of small trout. The largest I caught was 19 inches long.

I fished for specks this morning. Action was good. Ended up catching 22 trout and a bluefish. Most of the trout were small. I did catch three over 20 inches: two at 21 and a 24-inch fish.

I went out after speckled trout this morning. The bite was very good. For a time, it was a bite every cast. I have no idea how many I would have caught if I wasn’t taking the time to tag, measure, record, and photograph the fish. I ended up catching 25 speckled trout and 3 red drum. Three of the trout were over 20 inches long but the largest was just 21 inches. The largest pup was 25 inches.

After 36 years, I will retire from the practice of dentistry June 1, 2025. Dr. K. E. Neill, Jr. established this practice in 1967 after a tour as an Air Force dentist. I joined my father in 1989. For nearly six decades, a Dr. Neill has been serving the community at this location.

We have run out of doctors Neill so this will be an end of an era. People still remember the aquarium in the wall that my father had in the waiting room, which is now the back entrance. They also remember “Miss Kitty”, my grandmother, working the front desk.

Over the decades, we have been blessed with an excellent staff. Some truly exceptional individuals have worked at this office over the years. My current staff is an absolute joy to work with and leaving them is one of the most difficult things about retiring. Everyone that has worked here has done their absolute best to take care of our patient family.

We do think of you as family. We appreciate each and every one of you and are honored by the trust that you have placed in us. It really brings it home when I have a patient in the chair and I remember working on their parents when they were children. It is amazing the multiple generations of family we have taken care of.

We will be scheduling patients through the month of May. Any treatment that we cannot finish by then, we will not start. We will discuss your options.

There is a possibility of another dentist taking over the practice if we can find a good fit by June. If that happens, you will be updated.

We are always asked how the original Dr. Neill is doing. He is doing well. He won’t come back to work, I have tried. He is doing yard work, playing golf three times a week, and he and Mom are still traveling. As for me, after June 1, you can find me out on the water somewhere and Tricia and I will be doing our own share of traveling.

Hit the flats this morning and did nothing with the trout. Moved out to the reef where there was a good pup bite. I got broken off twice by something bigger. I assume big reds but can’t rule out black drum or sheep. All the drum I landed were in the keeper slot range.

I fished the PSWSFA Sheepshead Tournament today with David Brabrand and Jerald Abraham. They brought me along to take their photographs. I did catch more toadfish than the two of them combined and I caught all three conger eels…but enough bragging. David caught both of our sheepshead. The largest was just under 9 pounds and had us in the money…for about 10 minutes. They both caught some nice puppy drum. It was an absolutely gorgeous day on the water. The tournament was won by my neighbor, Corey Skay, which is cool. His team raked in all the winnings with an 11-pound sheep and they also weighed in the largest oystertoad.

I ran out for the sunrise and made one drift across the flats. Topwater explosions ensued, and I caught trout from 21 to 24 inches long. After the sun got up, I went on out to the reef and caught puppy drum and tautog. One tog was already tagged. I had two big somethings break me of that I guess were fully-grown drum. I ran out of bait and came in for lunch then took Tricia Neill out for a little photography safari and she got more great shots that she may share at some point. What a fantastic time of year to be on the Chesapeake Bay!