Fishin' With The Bishops

The archives have finally been unsealed.

Herewith, the records of the infamous April 20, 2008 fishing trip on the Chesapeake Bay aboard the fabulous Tenacious charter boat of Deale, Maryland.


And before we get started, let me point out that Captain Jacob Henderson (left) and First Mate Karl are the best crew I have ever been out with on the Bay - and I have been out with a dozen or more. They not only put us on the fish, but they are nice guys. Not to say most Chesapeake captains are not nice, but the majority of them seem to have the customer service instincts of drill sergeants. Jacob and Karl are indeed the new generation of charter fishing, and I pronounce the generation good.

There will be a video of the trip, and it should show in more detail how great these two are. (And running the video camera the whole time is the main reason I got such spotty photo coverage of this trip - sorry Jeremy, there is more of you in your "seaworthy" state in the video!)


We pulled out of Happy Harbor Marina in Deale at the brisk hour of 12:30 pm, a sensibly early start in my book.


Ah, nature. Ospreys (seahawks) are pretty cool birds of prey.


The fishing would be trolling with umbrella rigs, the preeminent method this time of year in the Chesapeake. The rigs seem to weigh about 20 pounds themselves when you are reeling them in, so it basically doubles the effort required to reel in when a 20+ pound striped bass is attached.


Wild Man Kevin The Fish Hunter was first up.


Next, Buddy aka Card Shark.


Then Steve Jr., who had his hands full.


When it's man against nature, we should always be pulling for man. But I must say nature acquitted herself pretty well in this particular contest.

To be fair, the fish was hooked in the side, which added about quadruple the resistance. Steve Jr overcame it gamely in the end.


For Steve Sr. it was really just another day at the office.


Oh yes - the quarry: Very large striped bass, also called rockfish in these parts. Our smallest was 30", which take my word for it is a pretty big fish.






After an early abortive effort, El Jefe finally got in the game.


Although we've been doing it for tens of thousands of years, every day a group of men goes out and conquers nature, that is a good day.


As the topper of the toppers, Buddy and Steve got a two-fer right at the end - a couple of 32"+ stripers (that we had to release because now it's one fish per person season).


I like the smell of stripers in the late afternoon...


It smells like ....


...Victory.


Just to seal the victory, this very wise and prudent group of men elected to stand with First Mate Karl as he filleted our fish in what was one of the most effusive downpours I have ever stood in for a half hour. You can't tell in this picture, but the rain was coming down sideways in sheets.

If you are going to be truly manly, you must go all the way.