Tangier Gunning Trip.

This Christmas, My Son Grant got his first shotgun. Since then, Grant has been doing a lot of practicing shooting clay targets, and since he has shown that he is pretty good at hitting moving targets it was time to make the step to wildlife. On Monday, Grant & I loaded up the Three Sons and ran across the Chesapeake Bay to Tangier Island to visit with my good friends Jeff Crockett and Donald "Thornie" Thorne to do some duck hunting. I had been talking to Jeff since Christmas to make sure that the time was right for us to come across to make sure we got some good shooting. With a big winter storm bearing down on us, Jeff gave me the go ahead to make the trip on Monday because the weather would be sure to get the birds moving. We had a good ride across with the wind and waves behind us.

We arrived in Tangier Harbor at lunch time on Monday.

After getting tied up at Parks Marina I caught up with Thornie and Jeff. Since we got there early in the day, we were able to get out in the duck blind that afternoon for a couple hours.

We got set up, and within a couple minutes Grant had his first duck.

That afternoon turned out very well. We got shots on many ducks, and Grant wound up getting 4 out of the five birds that we bagged during that short hunt.  Once shooting hours were over, we went back to the boat and hooked up our heaters since Grant & I were going to spend the night aboard. Later that evening, Jeff came down to the Marina, picked Grant & I up and took us to his home where his wife Nancy had prepared a terrific dinner for us. This was an extremely generous gesture, and one that Grant and I are HUGELY grateful for. Thank you Jeff & Nancy for treating us like family. We will never forget it and hope to be able to return the favor some time soon. The next morning, Thornie picked Grant and I up early, and we headed out to the blind again. As the sun started coming up, the birds started moving in. While we let Grant do most of the shooting on Monday, today was every man for himself.  Jeff and Thornie were right, the birds knew that bad weather was moving in and they were trying to get to shelter where they could ride the storm out.  Luckily, we were where they wanted to be waiting for them.  

We quickly dropped a good number of Red Heads and Brant.

This morning was absolutely beautiful, but I could tell that there was a big storm on the way,

and we had fourteen miles of water to cross to make it home. Once the first flight was over, we returned back to the boat and started across the bay to Reedville. We had a good ride back, and only had to deal with 3-4 foot seas, which is much better than the 5-7 foot seas that are forecast for later today.
Thank you Jeff and Thornie for making Grant's first duck hunt great! You have accomplished your goal of getting him hooked for life. He talked about how much fun he had hunting all the way home, and is already talking about coming back and hunting next year.
 We are very lucky to have such a great place as Tangier Island close to us.  Because of the great habitat that they have, the marshes and flats around Tangier Island hold a great number of ducks, geese and shore birds, but because of erosion, there is less and less of this habitat every year.  I can only hope that "the powers that be" can find a solution to this problem, so that all of my boys can continue to experience what Grant and I did over these past two days.

Davis Trip

On last Saturday, my old friend Jesse Davis went fishing with me.  He has been working very hard over the past few weeks finishing up his new house in time to move in by Christmas, but decided to take break and get off of the land for a day.  As usual, we left the dock early and went out into the bay  looking  for striped bass.  Again, we headed south and kept our eyes peeled for any signs of rockfish working on bait. Unfortunately we didn't see any signs of fish working on the vast quantity of bait that we saw, until we made the turn into the Rappahannock River.  As we went further up the river, we started marking more and more rockfish, so we decided to put our spread out.  We caught a few fish pretty quickly, but unfortunately they weren't large enough to take home.  We kept changing our spread throughout the day until we found what the fish were looking for.  Once the tide changed, the rockfish got together and finally decided it was time to eat.  After straining water for sometime, we picked up some legal sized fish.

  Because of the long trip we had ahead of us, we picked up our spread at 2:00 and headed home.  It was a great day on the water, and the last trip that I had booked for the 2013 season.

All in all, this was a good first season of fishing on the Three Sons.  I had many good compliments from customers on my boat, and honestly she has performed very well this season.  I had great opportunities to fish with wonderful people, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I want to thank everyone that fished with me this year, and I look forward to having you back in the near future.  Unfortunately, the fishing has not been terrific this fall, but I have a good feeling that this spring will be a different story. 

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope that all of you enjoy a great holiday with your friends and family!

Joe   

Moreland Trip

When my Father, Captain Fred Biddlecomb first started carrying charter trips for a living, one of the first groups that he booked was put together by a man named Jerry Moreland.  Jerry booked dad for one of the first Reedville Bluefish Derby tournaments in the early 1980's which at that point was quite an event.  Unfortunately they did not win that tournament, but that weekend started a lifelong friendship between Jerry and my Dad.  From that point on, Jerry, his friends and family fished with Dad every year in that tournament and numerous other times during the year until he was unable to because of his health.  Unfortunately, we lost Jerry several years ago, but his three sons Jerry, Michael, and Mark still take trips with Dad and I several times per year.
Today, Michael, his Son Hunter, Brother Jerry and 3 other friends fished with my Mate Michael Sisson and I.  Although it was overcast, the early part of the day was beautiful, we had light southeast winds and the rain held off until later in the day.

 We ran waaaaay down the bay looking for birds working on baitfish and hopefully some striped bass working on that same bait.  Fortunately, there is no shortage of Menhaden fish in Chesapeake Bay despite what some groups may say to the contrary,

however in the locations that we covered today, legal sized Rockfish were scarce.  

We strained water all day, but finished up with less than stellar results.

Thank you Morelands and friends for fishing with me today.  As always, it was good to see you!  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and I look forward to fishing with you this spring.  

Joe

Gilmer Trip

My Mate, Nathan Altaffer and I  had the opportunity to fish with one of my old friends from Capital One today.  Thad Gilmer and his family are spending the long Thanksgiving weekend on the Northern Neck, and decided to book a fishing trip with me today. 
When we got started out this morning, the weather was absolutely beautiful, there was very little wind, and the sun was shining bright.  After pulling away from the dock, we made our way out into the Chesapeake Bay, where we quickly ran into birds working on bait.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the fish that we were looking  for, so we headed south for a few more miles.  Luckily, we found birds and bait working not too far away.  Nathan and I got our trolling spread out again and started working on schools of bait.  Fortunately, we managed to pick up some nice sized Rockfish fairly quickly, because the weather took a turn for the worse.  By 12:30, we had Northerly winds of 15 -17 kts. and the seas picked up quickly.   After taking several four foot seas, I decided that it would be better for us to head back to the Great Wicomico River.  On the way home, we managed to duck in behind one of the other Carter Boats which gave us a better ride, and everyone was able to stay warm and dry in the cabin. 
Hopefully, over the next couple weeks we will see a migration of larger rockfish coming up the Bay from the Atlantic Ocean to take advantage of all of the bait that we have in this area. 
Thanks again for fishing with me today Thad!  I look forward to doing it again soon. 

Sublett Trip

I had the pleasure of fishing with Jerry and Zachary Sublett and their friends yesterday in the CNR Memorial Rockfish Tournament. 

This tournament is held in memory of my Cousin, Casey Rogers and benefits a scholarship fund that awards funds to Northumberland County High School Seniors who have participated in varsity sports and will be attending a four year College.  This is a very worthwhile event, and one that has produced a tremendous amount of benefit to our local community.

We left the dock early Saturday morning in hopes of being out in the bay and on the fish in time for the 7:00 lines out.  Unfortunately, we had to deal with ~20 kts of northerly wind which slowed us down, but we managed to find a tremendous amount of bait shortly after 7:00.

I put our trolling spread out and we strained water for the next two hours.  Unfortunately, the only thing we had to show for this is one short bite, and a couple tangled lines.  

We picked up our lines and headed down the bay and quickly ran into birds working on bait fish.

With our spread out again we began trolling between places of birds.  We were fortunate to pick up this nice rockfish, however, we were not in the money for the tournament.

 

Thanks again to Jerry and the rest of his group for making the best of a tough day.   I hope we get to do it again soon!

Curran Family Trip

I had the great opportunity to fish with Master Chief Mark Curran, his Wife, Son, Grandson and two of his close friends on Saturday. We left the dock early and headed out into the bay.

 

 

Unfortunately, the weather was less than optimal as we made our way through some rain showers, but everyone managed to stay dry in the cabin. 

After a short run, we were lucky to find some birds working on bait.  My Mate Bucky and I got our trolling spread out, and over the next 3 hours we managed to land some decent sized rockfish.

 

 

 

Once the bite ended, we moved to one of the local artificial reefs and caught the rest of our fish chumming.

 After the weather cleared, it turned out to be a beautiful day out on the bay, and fishing with a great group of people made it that much better. 

 

 

 

We saw lots of bait in the bay this weekend, and with the temperatures dropping, more and more good sized striped bass will be moving into the area during the next couple weeks.
Check back often for more fishing reports.

Joe

Practice trip

On 11/9/13 I had the opportunity to fish with a great group of people from Reedville, Va.  My oldest son was home from boarding school and wanted to get out on the bay to catch some fish before we had to take him back to Charlottesville on Monday. We all packed up and headed out early, which  worked out well because my first "official" trip is on 11/16, and I needed to get out and make sure everything was in working order before next weekend.

 

 

The weather was absolutely beautiful Saturday morning and we were able to get to our spot quickly.  Once anchored and setup, the fish started biting quickly.  Within two hours we had all the rockfish that we could keep, and had released many more.

 

There were A LOT of fish out there this weekend, and we sure had a GREAT time catching them.

 I can't help but think that these fish know that cold weather is on the way and they are eating everything in sight trying to put on weight to get ready for it. I have seen posts from my friends in Sag Harbor NY, showing catches of large striped bass in the past week. This tells me that the fish are making their way down the coast as we speak, and will be in the bay before we know it.  So, if you are considering fishing the bay this fall, call soon to book your trip, I have a few dates still available before the end of the year and would love to pencil you in.

 

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all whom serve and have served our country in the armed forces!

Joe