Upon arrival to work this past Wednesday morning I discovered that I had been given the following two days, yesterday and today, off. What should I do with these two days? GO FISHING! That night I got on line found a charter company with an open spot on a boat and reserved my place on the Chesapeake Bay. Yesterday morning, I awoke at 2 o'clock (that is actually sleeping in one hour for me!), had some coffee, packed some more in a thurmos and hit the road at 3. By 5:30 in the morning, I was eating bacon and eggs shoreside and by 6:30, just after dawn, we were on our way to the fishing grounds.

We rigged and set out 10 trolling lines spread out from about 50 feet off or our starboard to about 50 feet off port using these devices called "planers" (?). Planers are these floating fins, attached by a cable to the boat that are set up so that the path of least resistance while being pulled by the boat keeps them at either side of the boat. Attached at different points on the cables are shower curtain rings and attached to them are rubber bands. Six of our fishing lines were rigged from the boat, out to and through the rubber bands and then to the water so that our lines span a much greater area than just the width of the boat. When the rubber band breaks, you know that you have a fish on.

After all the lines were in the water we drew numbers to see what order the anglers were going to take the strikes. I drew number four of five. The first guy to get a hit struggled with his fish for about 5 minutes when the fish was able to shake the hook and escape. To the end of the order for the 78 year old fisherman. The second strike came a bit later and was responded to by a the only woman on the boat. Hers turned out to be the largest fish that our boat produced that day. The smallest fish, at 35 inches long was brought in next. The minimum size for a keeper is 33 inches and the limit is one fish per angler. Immediately after he brought his fish in, it was my turn to try and bring in a fish. Though the bend of the rod was indication of the fish hooked onto the lure, the rubber band didn't break. The line just stretched it and ran through it. This meant that, more than likely the fish that I got was not big or strong enough to snap the piece of rubber. We had to pull in the curtain ring and cut the band and soon, thankfully, the fish broke loose and got away.

I didn't want a small fish but this put me at the back of the order behind the first guy that lost his fish. The next man caught his fish about half an hour later and then came a big lull. An hour must have passed before the next strike came giving the old timer a second shot and this time he reeled in a pretty nice fish. The lull continued. An hour passed and still no more hits on the lines. The crew began eating lunch which I politely declined. I'd eat after I brought in my fish, I told them. Still more time passed and just before noon, I was given another chance.

It took me about 15 to 20 minutes to bring in the second largest catch of the day. It was just over 40 inches long and weighing in at 23Lbs 2oz trailing the leader by only half a pound. I got two really nice filets out of it. One was put into the freezer and we were able to finish about half of the one that I cooked for dinner last night. Rockfish is the best tasting fish I think I have ever had. It's a very tender, flakey white flesh that has a really mild and tasty flavor. This one tasted a bit like victory.

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