Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Got my visiting nephews from NJ (ages 10 & 13), their mom and dad (my brother, Ken) and the missus up bright and early yesterday morning. The trip from Fairfax to Pasadena was smooth. A good sign. Decided to fish further south than last week hoping to find croaker. Worked Belvidere Shoals with a lunch time plan to head into the Magothy River for tubing and then behind Dobbins Island for lunch and a swim.

We set up on the first hump and I get the kids ready with basic, 2 hook bottom rig with gulps and fishbites. The 10 year old (Steven) is in the water first. As I'm getting the 13 year old set up (Sean) I glance over and Steven is reeling and pulling and struggling. I get him to lift slowly and reel down and up comes a fat 14" croaker! First drop, first fish of the day and on the lightest rod on the boat. It's Steven's biggest fish ever! The look on his face, priceless!

Turned out to be the biggest fish for anyone. We picked a few more smaller ones and plenty of white perch and spot. I won the "pool" with the smallest fish, a spot no more than 2 1/2 inches. As the "experienced fisherman" uncle I caught some teasing about that!

As planned, early afternoon we went in to the river for some tubing. First time for the kids. They had a blast. Dad took a turn, too. He's a little more top heavy than the kids and got dumped. Served him right, too. He was goofing around suggesting it wasn't fast enough by yawning and leaning back with his hands behind his head like he was sitting on the couch! Well, Steven and Sean (and my sister-in-law) were howling! We took that as a sign to break for lunch and headed in behind Dobbins. First time I've been there during the week. Only 2 other boats there. Nice.

We anchored up and the kids wanted to jump in but were hesitant. Soooo, as host and guide I climbed up on the gunwale, did a back flip into the warm, murky water and immediately encountered a sea nettle across my lower back! Ouch! Only saw a couple out on the bay and didn't see any while tubing or settling in behind the island. I expected many more considering the hot, dry summer but haven't seen very many at all in 2 trips this past week. Well, that freaked everybody out. I put some ice on it and we settled down for lunch. Afterwards, I had to jump in a few more times (no more sea nettle sightings) to assure the kids it was ok. Once convinced everyone had fun. About 3PM I noticed the western sky darkening. I tuned the VHF to NOAA weather and heard about the coming storms. I knew they were coming and had one eye on the sky the whole day. Now, time to go. The plan included a stop to fish on the way back to Bodkin Creek but I had to cancel that. We got back just as it started drizzling and with some lightning and thunder in the distance. Good timing.

When asked by their mom to rate their day on a scale of 1 to 5 both nephews said a 10! Feels pretty good to provide these boys with a memorable first time visit on the Chesapeake Bay! An uncle did the same for my when I was their age and I'm still at it and forever grateful. It doesn't matter if it's a 120lb Pacific Sailfish off the coast of Costa Rica or a 2 1/2 inch Norfolk Spot in the Chesapeake Bay. Just ask my wife!

Oh, and the trip home on the beltway was memorable as well. But not in a good way. 3 hours! That hurt worse than any sea nettle!!