The weather was hot and we expected the croaker bite to be the same. Paul and I motored out from Cobb Island on Neale Sound on his 26-foot center counsel Grady White Thursday evening and set up across the Wicomico River for some night fishing.
A red full moon rose into the night sky as we dropped our lines into the water. Paul fished this area a few weeks ago and had non-stop action all night but after two hours we had no luck. Not even a crab had touched our bait so we returned to the dock and decided to try again in the morning.
Friday morning was humid and hot. Some of the locals advised us to try fishing the 'Dolly Partons'. I'll leave it up to you to figure out what the geographical features of this area look like. It was a beautiful area and fish were jumping out of the water around the boat, but none were in the mood to bite so we lifted anchor and moved to Ragged Point. Along the way we fished breaking schools of menhaden but couldn't connect with whatever it was that was pushing them to the surface. One thing that was missing in all this action were the birds. Usually you'll find tons of birds dive-bombing the baitfish as they turn the surface into a froth trying to escape the predators below but throughout the day, at every breaking pod we fished, the birds were absent.
After we set anchor at the point, on my first cast out of the boat, I hooked up with a croaker. After that it was good, steady catch and release action for a few hours. A surprise catch of the day was a medium sized catfish! We followed the croakers around Ragged Point for the better part of the morning then turned to trolling around the breaking menhaden schools. We marked lots of large targets below the schools, but none were in the mood to take what we were offering. We used medium sized spoons, Mann's diving lures, Storm shads and bucktails but no luck so it was off to St. Mary's Island for more croaker fishing.
We anchored up in various spots along the back channels of the island and found lots of croaker and spot although none were really outstanding specimens. We called it a day late in the evening and overall it was a decent day. The croakers we landed were of a uniform size (medium) except for a big one Paul caught off Ragged Point but all of them put up a good fight on light tackle.
EQUIPMENT: Paul used a commercial multi-hook wire bottom fishing rig on a medium-heavy spin rod. I used an ultralight action 6-foot rod and a spinner spooled with five-pound Stren monofilament. I rigged a three-way swivel with a 1/2 ounce lead dropper hanging off 18-inches of four-pound flourocarbon; main #4 baitholder hook tied on six inches of six-pound flourocarbon. Cast, let the rig sink, reel in excess line until you can just feel the lead dropper touching the bottom. This should put your main hook right in the strike zone.
LOCATION: Cobb Island is a small inhabited island located in Charles County, Maryland, at the junction of the Potomac River and the Wicomico River. It is located approximately 45 miles south of Washington, DC. Cobb Island is separated from the mainland by Neale Sound, and connected by a 300 yard long bridge. Approximately 500 residents live on Cobb Island. Cobb Island is approximately 1.5 mile long, and 0.5 mile wide.