Bass and Carp over Birds

I had an unexpected day off Wednesday. I found out fairly late Tuesday night. I did not have much time to plan a fun day. Being that it was a Wednesday, my instinct was to go to the Joppa Flats bird walks in Parker River NWR. There is a morning and an evening morning walk the Audubon Sanctuary sponsors. I could kill two birds with one stone making the long drive well worth it. In between the two walks I could have gone to Ipswich River or gone shad fishing. The tide ended up being terrible when I checked it, so that left me only Ipswich River, which was fine with me.

Wednesday morning came and I got a 5 am phone call from work that didn't know I had the day off. I couldn't go back to sleep, but I was pretty tired. I got up at 6:30 and started packing my lunch. It was very windy. As much as I would have like to gone on two walks on the same day with experts, I just didn't think there would be a lot of active birds in the strong southwesterly.

It was still early, so when it got to a more appropriate hour I texted my friend Dave to see if he was fishing. He called me right back and said yes. I told him, if he wanted company I could be at his house in 20 minutes. I had packed all my carp stuff in case he said yes.

We went to a venue that he did quite well the day before. We had almost the same weather conditions, but not the same luck. I caught a 22 pound carp within  minutes and we thought they would be in thick. No such luck. It was the only carp caught all day.  We left around 3 pm.

On the way home I started to get a migraine. By the time I got to my house, I knew it was time for a nap. I didn't set the alarm and shut my eyes. I woke up at 5:45, just in time to make a trip to the bay. Wednesday was the last good tide for a couple of days so I didn't want to waste it. I went to a long sandbar. For two and a half hours I was the only one fishing this mile and a half of shoreline. I did not kill them by any means, but I ended up with two stripers and my first blue of the year. I got home about 9:30.

Certainly not the best day fishing, but I still made the right decision to go fishing instead of birding. I read the report from the walk, they didn't see too much. So although, I can say the same, I did save about twenty dollars in gas, and I caught my first blue of the year and a 22 pound carp.

Picture of carp to follow