St. Mary's County Times December 06, 2018 | Page 23
Thursday, December 6, 2018
The County Times
Contributing Writers
23
The Tackle Box
Fishing Report
“Time to get with the
spirit of the season”
Erick Parker shows off pickersl, crappie, and bass from local ponds caught this
week.
By Ken and Linda Lamb
Contributing Writers
Stripers from the ocean have shown up at Smith Point. Big stripers
with sea lice were caught over the weekend in the 40 to 45 inch, 35 to
40 pound size range were caught trolling at the Virginia-Maryland line.
The catch is only a handful so far. The mouth of the bay in the region
of the bay bridge tunnel has reported big stripers in good numbers, and
those are the fish that will travel to our waters in the next few days.
In the mean time there are plenty of domestic rockfish in the bay
from Point No Point to the Targets, at buoy 72, the triangle, and in the
mouth of the Potomac from Ragged Point to Vero Beach. The average
keeper size is around 20 inches, with a mix of fish ranging up to 32
inches. The bigger fish are in the bay proper, while the Potomac has
more under sized fish less than the 19 inch minimum.
If you like light tackle fishing you can chase the birds and jig on
schools of fish with metal jigs or bucktails dressed with shad bodies or
BKD’s. The schooling fish can be tricky, eating at random times and
ignoring lures dropped on them when it seems they should bite. The
best times to get them is in the late afternoon and at sunset. This can
make a long ride home in the dark. The fish are healthy and very fat,
looking like black and white striped footballs. Their gut is so full it
makes you wonder how they could swallow any more prey.
Trollers can use medium sized bucktails and spoons with 16 to
20 ounce weights. The fish are in 20 to 50 feet of water and trolling
through schools indicated by sea gulls working overhead will bring
strikes on all the lures.
There are schools of bait fish everywhere. There is no reason that
we cannot catch fish daily unless a severe cold snap comes in to change
this pattern. The season continues until December 20th in Maryland
waters and until the 31st in the Potomac and Virginia.
Well I’m on a roll now, finally
got all the pumpkins out of the
front yard this morning. The
squirrels can now finish nib-
bling in one large buffet area
in the woods in the back yard.
Makes it easier for Mindy too,
she can have fun trying to catch
the squirrels back there all in one
area. Pumpkins can look pretty
horrifying when their cut-out
faces are melting and blackening with rot. I guess it was time to shovel
the mess out of there. Time to get out the outdoor Christmas lights, even
though I know I am a bit later than everyone else.
I thought I lost Mindy this morning when she was chasing one of
the feral cats that live in a set of old wedding-tiered pool steps by our
shed. Mindy raced after the cat and ended up hind legs over hound nose
wedged down behind a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood in front, shed wall in
back, Rubbermaid trash can container on one side, and pool steps on
the other. She probably had a foot of squared space all told. All I could
see was her long tail sticking straight up. But, just like the Grinch in
The Grinch who stole Christmas, when he got wedged in the chimley
for a minute, she somehow straightened herself out and hopped on out
of there…but without her quarry. It’s a little game she and the cats play.
Christmas inside the house is a whole ‘nother story. But, I swear, after
I write this, meet with a customer, run to Waldorf, take my granddaugh-
ter Leigha to dance, then pay my last respects to a dear fellow crafter,
Tori Hosier, this evening at Brinsfield-Echols Funeral Home in Charlotte
Hall (gone too soon Tori, so glad I got to work with you and got to know
you), then I will pull out all the Christmas boxes. I want to switch things
up a bit this year without losing the traditional feel of Christmas. No, I
am not ready, and never will be, for the new fad of black Christmas trees
I am seeing all over Pinterest and on TV. I love green too much.
You would think I would be so inspired to decorate at home from how
Christmassy it is looking at Keepin’ It Local, and with the smell of all
the fresh Frazier and Douglas fir trees and wreaths out front, especially
with the big open house this Saturday. But the other ladies in the shop,
Deb W, Deb L, Susan, and Tammy are the great decorators, I just bask in
their creativeness. If someone says how beautiful it looks in there, I just
say thank you, and giggle silently, “Tee hee hee”. Maybe I should have
them come to the house in the guise of a party, but instead hand them
each a Rubbermaid box of Christmas stuff as they walk in the door.
What has happened to me? I used to love doing all this. I think I will
be ready after A Charlie Brown Christmas comes on tomorrow night.
Maybe I’ll watch that, listen to a little Bing Crosby, and drink a big glass
of eggnog with Apricot Brandy in it. That should do the trick.
I do love the Christmas season, and I never want to lose the joy that
comes in this time of giving, doing, and receiving. I think what will re-
ally recharge me will be going to choir practice Thursday night at our
beautiful historic Christ Church Chaptico and raising our voices and our
spirits high up above the old domed plaster ceiling to all that is good and
loving in the Heavens. If you need a recharge as well, you are welcome
to come on Thursday evenings for meditative music starting at 6:10, and
Holy Eucharist at 6:30, before choir practice at 7 p.m.
To each new day’s adventure, Shelby
Please send your Christmas ideas or comments to: shelbys.wander-
[email protected] or find me on Facebook.