Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I really don't know where to start this one except by telling just what happened, bad or good!

It all started with the notion that we would once again enter the Potomac River Anglers Club tournament which is help each spring and fall. I have taken part in three previous tournaments. My crew member this time was Bev Carroll who fished the tourney once before (we got skunked that time as well as the two other times).

The boundaries are the Rt. 301 Bridge and the end of the Potomac River (between Smith Point VA and Point Lookout MD. We would fish a 4-5 mile area about 1/2 way between the boundary lines (along with 15 other boats!).

We were feeling pretty confident since we had successfully used my “planner boards” on our pre-fish mission on Friday night.



Our lures are umbrella rigs with parachutes (you can see some them hanging off the windshield).



After a good night’s rest, Bev and I headed out on a gorgeous day! The river was FLAT calm and it looked like a good sign to me. We got down to the 13 & 14 markers and joined a host of other fishermen and we trolled an area looking for Mr. or Mrs. Rock. There were a few fish being caught by some of the boats but not many so I was starting to worry at noontime as we had no hits and no fish!

Well, it was really slow (as you can se by this picture) for us.



So.....after four tries, my boat has still not caught a rockfish in the PRAC tournament!

There were a few nice fish brought in at the weigh in but only one boat that I know of actually caught them in numbers.

Towards the end of the fishing time, we were along side the Gull Chaser which is owned by a friend of mine. We saw them hook into what looked like a big fish. So we rode along side and watched the action. Bob Morgan was fighting a possible fish of a life time! But right as they got a look at the fish as they were about to land it, the leader snapped and the fish swam away. Bob later told me he had never seen such a big fish. Wow!

Maybe we can try again in the fall. Anyone game?

Ernie