Spent Labor day weekend in Norfolk Virginia with family. Got out Saturday on my wife's cousins new 306 Grady White fishing machine. We fished the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel area, hitting a few piling for some oyster toads. Went searching for Cobia, but weren't in the right area as we later found out they were a few miles east of us.
With the skunk starting to stink up the ride, we gave a hail mary shot right on top of one of the Tunnels. Cut up some blue claws and sent them down with the outgoing tide just starting. A couple of toads followed by micro sea bass had us thinking today wasn't our day until I almost had the rod ripped out of my hands as the line went tight. I had no idea what I was up against but I knew it was ornery and had decent weight. Lots of thumps and a few nice runs, but soon the fish came up, only to spit the hook as it shot out of the water. Luckily, John became Johnny on the spot as he was able to get the fish in the net before it realized it was free. First blood on the new ride turned out to be a 9 1/2 lbs Sheepshead. Soon after, my wife also got tight to a sheep, that didn't shake the hook, and we had dinner for the family. The fishing slowed down as the tide picked up, but not before we also landed 4 tautogs that didn't mind the 75 degree water temps, as well as the surprise beauty 25.5 inch Red Drum that my daughter Ally tangled with. What was almost a skunk turned out to be an epic ending with 2 fish species we have never seen before.
