For the Week Ending Sunday, April 23, 2017

Monday, April 17, 2017..."A whole bunch of good news," said Ron, "but the icing on the cake was a really good afternoon in Rudee Inlet." He caught about 15 speckled trout and kept two for dinner. He also managed to boat a grey trout, with plans to compare it to the specks when he cooks them up. Ron went on to note that he "got stormed off just as the bite was really picking up. The specks provided some great fights, and I lost a few bigger ones," he said. "Was looking for the big blue fish, but didn't find any. They are there; I just have to put in my time to find 'em." Ron concluded by saying he may have to shift gears and fish the inlets for a few weeks while the blue fish are around.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017..."Fished Godfrey and a little of Pocaty today," said Ray. He ended up with a total of nine bass and five perch. There was only one keeper (1.25 lbs.), though; the rest were dinks.  The water level was low, and the temperature was running 64 to 67 degrees. Productive lures for Ray today were a finesse worm, spinnerbait and a frog. "Small fish but big fun," he concluded.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017...As planned, "hack with no attack" stayed in West Neck today. Early on, I thought I maybe should have stayed home because I had two huge blowups on my "Whopper Popper"--note I said Whopper Popper, not Whopper Plopper--without a hookup. My Whopper Popper, as I referred to it, is an out-of-production popper that really generates some noise when you work it "hard." Between it and my modified Senko worm, I managed to catch a total of six bass, including two dinks, a 1-2, 1-3, 1-12, and a 2-2. I couldn't buy a strike with my favorite jerkbait. I noticed one distinct oddity today in all six fish that I boated: All of 'em put up a good fight, complete with leaps, until I got them in the boat, and then they became completely docile, even while I removed the hooks. Don't recall that ever happening before, certainly not in recent history.

Saturday, April 22, 2017...Earlier today, Ron went to Campbell's Landing, where he was met with a windy, murky mess. "Didn't get a single tap," he said. This evening, though, he got a bit of redemption by launching at Indian River Road about 4 o'clock and fishing upper West Neck Creek. "The wind was a bit stiff," he noted, "but it is protected." He reported that the water was very, very clear and high. On his second cast, 20 feet from the launch site, Ron got a 1-0 on a Pop R, followed by a 1-10 and two dinks. He also lost a few..."and got soaked, cold, and blown around, trying to avoid the lightning." He finished at 7 p.m., as the heavy rain came down. The friend who talked him into going caught a nice 3-2.

Sunday, April 23, 2017...Having launched at 0500, Ron fished the outgoing tide at Rudee Inlet in stiff wind and a bit of rain. He managed a just-shy-of-keeper-size puppy drum, a few bluefish, and a small speckled trout. The wind did him in about 1100. While trolling with the wind, his rod went off, and he fought a gator bluefish for about 7 minutes. He described the fish as a "real drag screamer that easily measured 35-plus inches. It was an amazing fight, as he towed me around. I was trying to get him with the lip grip when he finally threw the lure, and I was heartbroken. Having caught several others over 30 inches, I am pretty confident this one was 35-plus, maybe 40 inches--a real brute." Ron went back out this evening with his son, Alex, but reported that, because the wind still was strong and the rain had increased, they gave up on the Rudee Inlet chop after only an hour and a half. "It was chilly and wet," said Ron. "We each caught a small bluefish."