Team Heme Trip

Earlier this summer, my Mate Nathan and I spent the day fishing with Dr. Iqbal Hamza and the rest of Team Heme. 

With our passengers being Professors from University of Maryland, University of Utah, University of Georgia Athens and Harvard Medical School, Nathan and I were certainly on the bottom of the mental ability list that day.

That morning started out nice enough.  During the night before, we had a strong southerly wind and when we got out into the bay, we still had a decent swell from that direction. Other than the sizable waves, the conditions were fishable.  On our way out, we stopped and trolled around an artificial reef with limited results.  We opted to pick up our gear and head east to a spot that had been producing fish for me pretty consistently during the weeks before.
As soon as we got our anchor set, we started a chum line and got our lines out, in short order we started getting bites.  The first fish that we caught were bluefish, but within an hour or so we hooked into a few Cobia.  These fish had become extremely tackle shy, and as a result we were forced to use the lightest tackle that we could get away with to get hook-ups.  During our stay there, we managed to get several fish on the line, including one that walked us all the way around the boat and just out of gaff range 6-8 times before pulling the hook. 

I sure would have liked to bring these fish home with us, but at least we had the opportunity to do battle with them. 

Unfortunately, the wind picked up and the seas did too.  With one of our group looking a little "green", we decided to take a trip into Tangier Island for lunch and a quick tour.  Once we tied up at Parks Marina, we went up the street and had a great lunch with Jamie Parks at Lorraine's, and then the group took a short tour of the island.

Earlier that week, when I spoke to Iqbal to set the trip up, he had indicated that all of the guys that would be fishing with us that day had an interest in Tangier Disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangier_disease (which is named after the Island), and they refer to it during their class room instruction, but three of them had not had the opportunity to visit.

During our stay there, the weather became unsettled.  I could see several thunderstorms building up to the west,so we opted to run back to Reedville rather than fishing any longer.  Our trip back across the Chesapeake was fairly uneventful with the exception of running through a couple rain showers and one wave that made its way over the cabin and into our open hatches.  By the time we arrived at the dock, the storms had passed and the sun was out again.

Thank you again for fishing with us this summer.  I hope you had as much fun as Nathan and I did, and that we can do it again next year.