All the volunteer Captains and Mates start to arrive by land and by sea just before 8am the day of the event. Family’s are scheduled to arrive at 8am. If you trailer over, as I do, you get your boat launched and tied up to the pier then check in with the Dock Master. Once that’s done, you wait for your name to be called asking you to come pick up your family. It just so happened that Bill and I were one of the first to be called.
I met my family at the check-in, made sure they had life vests, signed the paperwork then walked them to their ride for the day. Checking out the first picture, you can clearly see the excitement on the faces of each family member as well as on my Mate’s face. He’s an old coot but he really does enjoy this event. Shortly after boarding The Attitude, we set out for the fishing grounds. The kids always love the boat ride. I’d have taken pictures but I was a little busy handling the boat.
After making our way around a tug and a barge, we stopped briefly just outside the Navel Base to see if there were any schools of fish around. None showing up on my bottom machine, we took a brief look at the carriers, subs and tin cans of our mighty Navy and moved on out. A short ride later, we stopped to wet our lines in the channel between the Monitor Merrimack Bridge Tunnel and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. Here, we found a few small Croaker for the kids to play with.
Here’s a couple pictures of the action:
After a few hours of fishing, we were ready to pack it in, wind up the motor and hurry in for some well deserved lunch. But not before getting Anthony's cousin Keven his Jr. Angler Award. This is an award the State gives to kids that catch 6 different species of fish, typically in one day but I'm not sure that's a requirement. Kevin caught one or more of the following: Oyster Toad, Blue Fish, Croaker, Sea Bass, Pin Fish and a Flounder. High fives and congratulations to Keven for earning that award.
So with that, Anthony gives us a peace-out and were headed back to the park for picnic, awards and a raffle.
Bill and I get the boat loaded up on her trailer and we head over to the picnic grounds where we were met with the smell and taste of deep fried turkey, barbecued chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, tater salad, beans and all the fixing's. We took up a seat next to our old friends at Whalens Marine, my X-Suzuki dealer and also a special friend from last years event, Michael.
We had the privilege of fishing with Michael during last years Wish-a-Fish event. This year, Brian Whalen treated him. Sure looks like he had a great time!
So this ends another successful Wish-A-Fish event. If you'd like to know more about this group, please visit their web site at http://www.wishafish.org/ After everyone has had time to stuff themselves, Al, our Wish-a-Fish coordinator kicks off the awards by presenting each and every kid with their very own rod, reel and certificate.
That's it. By they way, did I say it was Hot during this years event? It was Hot! We had a record high of 98 degrees this day. I love it!!! My buddy and first Mate Bill on the other hand, was hating it.
Thanks for reading. Until next time!!
Wait, might as well combine reports and give you a quick update of our travels the next day. Bill and I decided to do some, shall we say, more serious fishing. We launched the boat at day break and after searching for live bait, we headed off shore about 16 miles or so to a wreck I know of. We spent the day catching and releasing small Sea Bass and Triggers. The Triggers we kept. We also had 4 Sea Bass that were legal and made the ride home with us. We ended the day with 10 Trigger Fish and 4 Sea Bass. Here's a couple Pic's.
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