Rockfish 2006!

This past weekend my wife and I were back in Virginia visitng family, and we had the pleasure of going out on my Uncle Billy's boat to fish for Rockfish (Morone saxatilis)(aka striped bass) in the Chesapeake Bay around the Bay Bridge Tunnel. This fish is slowly but surely recovering thanks to conservation efforts and very strict control of commercial and recreational quotas. The weather was perfect, about 50 F, and we had a fantastic time! We caught ~40 fish all total, ranging in size form 16 inches to 29 inches in length. We concluded the day by cooking some of the fresh fish up on Billy's grill. The menu included green beans, batter bread, homemade oatmeal-raisin-walnut cookies (courtesy of my grandmother Lucy), and Boston Cream pie with peppermint ice cream. It was so much fun fishing and cathcing these hard fighting fish, and I can't wait to go after them again! Most of them were caught on either a white colored swimbait or heavy stick plugs jigged about 10 feet below the surface.