2nd Annual Sail Fish'n Trip

I picked up my brother Steve and friend Paul from BWI at 09:30 on May 17th and headed for Port Annapolis where Domingoman was fully provisioned and ready for our four-day trip. Her sails were up before 10:15 and we headed South. For the first couple of days, the winds were great for sailing, but not so good for fishing. We need to be sailing below 3 knots if we want to catch fish. Since we had 15-20 knots of wind, we were sailing way too fast. We dragged two lines anyway.

Whenever the wind is up, I am always thinking…I hope nothing breaks! The only thing that broke was the genoa furler. Actually, it was the furler line that pulled out of the drum so we had to furl the headsail by hand.

We made our way to the mouth of Slaughter Creek (about a 40 NM sail), but we could not get through the channel as the water was too shallow. After running aground in 2.9’ of water (should have been 7’) we decided to head to Solomon’s Island, another 20 NM sail South, a 5-hour proposition. We cooked steaks on the grill while underway and reached Solomons around 22:00, tired and pretty much ready for some sleep.

The first matter of business on Friday was to have coffee and fix the furler. Steve headed right to the bow and got to work and had his coffee delivered. A half hour later, the furler was fixed and we were ready to shove off.

On the way out of the Patuxent River, we foul-hooked a cownose ray. These are potentially dangerous as they can sting you with their poisonous tail. As we were about to bring the fish on board, the line snapped and the ray swam away with a $15 parachute rig in its wing.

We made our way North, undecided as to where we would make next port. We thought we would stop at Herrington Harbor or Knapps Narrows which was another aggressive sail, beating into 15 knots out of the North. Steve checked the Chesapeake Bay guide book and found Chesapeake Beach, just south of Herring Bay on the Western shore. We made port there at approximately 18:00 hours, had dinner and then shot some bean bags (cornhole toss) until Paul lost 7 six-packs to Steve. Steve called Paul “Seven” for the rest of the trip! Chesapeake Beach was an awesome port. Our $50-ish slip fee gave us access to a resort hotel and its facilities (sauna, swimming pool, showers, continental breakfast, etc.). Great find Steve!

We left port around 08:30, raised a glass for Eileen’s birthday, and headed for our planned stop at Pirates Cove on West River. We started out with great wind, but around 12:00 or so, the wind started to taper off to 4-5 knots. This slowed us down to 1.8 to 2.2 knots, which is perfect for fishing. Within one hour, we had a 29.5” Rockfish on the boat. We iced it down and planned dinner around this fish! In another 45 minutes, we had our second Rockfish on the boat! This one was 34” and weighed about 25 lbs. We had to make room in the cooler and get creative to get this thing on ice. Since we were now out of cooler space, we hauled in the lines and made our way to West River.

West River is absolutely beautiful. Another great place to stop. Paul did a nice job on the fillets and the restaurant manager gave us some Cajun spices. The fish being only hours old and cooked out on the grill was fabulous!

Our last leg of the trip was from West River to Port Annapolis. We again encountered North winds 16-18 knots, so it was another beat home. Steve and Paul had a 15:30 flight, so we had to get back by 13:00. We made it with time to spare.

This trip was absolutely fantastic, sailing 151 NM in 3 1/2 days. It was really a pleasure to get to know Paul a little better, and it is always a joy for me to be with my brother. I look forward to our “third annual” trip! It was difficult narrowing down the photos to 10 when I started with 250+.  Here are some highlights of our trip...

On a beat 

 Sunrise at Chesapeake Beach



Steve working on the furler 

Paul fighting the ray 

Way too fast to fish! 

 "Fish-on"...again!

This fish was a slob! 

 Cajun Rockfish

 Headed back to Port Annapolis

Back safely in her slip, the crew having blue yummies!

Thanks Steve and Paul for making the trip up here.  I had a blast with you guys!