Christmas Eve rockfish.

[shore-power]

Ran out of Kiptopeake Christmas eve morning with friend Darren and a couple of his friends, eels in tow. *All I wanted for Christmas was a fish over 40 pounds. *We each rigged and watched a rod but my rod was getting bit more often. I reeled in 2 fish in the 35 pound range and one of the others reeled in one about the same. The bite got slower and my rod bent over again! I handed it off to one of the others who had not gotten any bites and sure enough it was a 47 inch 44 lb. fish :-/ *Big fish of the day. the bite continued and we caught about 6 more in the 30 to 39 lb. range including a 45 inch fish that I released that was about 37 lbs. on the hand scale. 9 of 12 fish came on my rod. Some good JUJU on that rod I guess..
Nice quality fish! Sure hope they hang around for awhile I really would like one over 40..

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q86/shore-power/th_44lbstriper.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q86/shore-power/th_45inchstriper.jpg

[turbinedoctor]

Thats a couple of nice Christmas presents you got there.

Looks like it was cold.

[shore-power]

Hey there "D" man. Thanks for the gift last night. Sorry I was a bit out of it. I had been up since 2 am and had just passed out when you showed up.
Its was a bit cold but not bad. Breezy at times. See you Weds.

[reelapeelin]

Good stripes, Shore!!... keep 'em comin' !! ... 8) ...

[turbinedoctor]

SP figured you could use it for your next chartplotter. If I had known you just passed out I would have stopped by later. I must confes the misses was pretty anxious to go and get you up. ;D

Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas.


Turbo

[shore-power]

Yeah we had a family function to go to at 7 and I was catching a quick nap to re-charge. *Darren posted a full report and more pics. on the Chesapeake board on Sportfishermen.com

http://www.sportfishermen.com/board/f133/christmas-eve-concrete-ships-15984.html

[phester]

those are some nice fat stripers SP, good job! Only five months till I see any striped bass again :-/

[Blue_Runner]

Whoa, making my last trip look really badd there! Nice fishes! I'd say that rod had some definite mojo. Pretty work! ;) 8) :o

The boyz I fish with would'a had one or two of those on the wall!

[turbinedoctor]

What color was the rod, it wasnt the yellow rod of death was it. ;D

[shore-power]

No TURBO that rod is reserved for drum fishing and its mojo is way too powerful for stripers ;D
The hot rod was one of my spinners with a shimano baitrunner on it. I think it was getting bit because of the flouro leader and the lighter wire hooks I use that let the eels swim more naturally. I did pull the hook on a drag screamer on that trip that I would have liked to have seen? Not sure what happend there... But those lighter wire hooks usually penetrate and hook well. I told the group what my rig consisted of and why I thought it was getting bit but they didnt have any flouro or lighter hooks on board. Also, they had been catching fish all week with their rigs so obviously they worked as well, so I could be wrong..

[sfprovyn]

Hey someones got to do it...I just wish it were me..We get a short inconsistent 4 to 5 week run of big stripers here in the Beaufort NC area but its hit and miss with the wind and they are always in dangerous shoal areas...Great fishing report ........Frank

[TheTinMan]

Nice job!!! Awesome fish :o :o

[parishht]

Nice fish and sounds like a good trip.

Are those concrete ships or barges?
Do you know if they are cousins to the concrete ship that
sits off the Cape May Point in NJ?

[shore-power]

They are ships and I do believe one like them is off of NJ somewhere. They were WW2 vintage and did have propulsion so they wouldnt be considered a barge I dont think. Here is a link with some info.
http://www.concreteships.org/ships/kiptopeke/

[parishht]

The Cape May ship is the SS Atlantis from WW1.

http://www.concreteships.org/ships/ww1/atlantus/