Catch of the Day

By Captain Dave Compton

Last fall I entered "Aces Up," my Chesapeake Bay charter boat, in the Casey Neil Rogers Memorial Rockfish Tournament. Casey was my friend, Capt. Ryan Rogers' younger brother and his charter boat mate. Casey was a popular young man who tragically lost his life in an accident. The tournament in his memory was to benefit a scholarship fund and the local fire company.

There was a captains' meeting the night before the tournament. I attended the crowded meeting, and just by a stroke of luck I won an assortment of Custom Saltwater Lures as a door prize. I liked the looks of the lures and since Capt. Ryan declared that they would catch fish, I decided to rig up a few. One of them was a white "Hot Lips" style, 5-ounce head that was just the ticket for a 6" arm umbrella rig. I rigged that one and a couple of others to be used two weeks later in another tournament.

In the meantime, Phil and Carol Truitt chartered me to take them out for rockfish on the 19th of November 2005. This just happened to be the first weekend of the Boat U.S./West Marine Bonus Rockfish Tournament for the Northern Neck Anglers Club. I was planning to fish the tournament on Sunday, so a trip on Saturday would give me a chance to try out the new lures. The Truitt's trip was a blast. We got to jig up some school rockfish that were breaking the water first thing in the morning. Later at the Northern Neck Reef we chummed up at least four or five dozen nice rocks for the two of them. After that we tried trolling for the big stripers. Just by a stroke of luck we hooked up a big one with the white "Hot Lips" lure. The lunker was 35" long and a great finale for our trip. It also proved that the "Hot Lips" Custom Saltwater Lure would catch fish.

The next day I was out there again with Tom Smith and John Elkin trolling for rockfish in the NNAC Tournament. We were pulling nine lines. I put the 6" umbrella with the white "Hot Lips" Saltwater down the middle with no inline weight about 250 ft. out. Tom suggested that we assign rods for each of us to attend. I said, "Since I'll be running the boat, I'll just take the middle rod." That left four rods each for Tom and John. We had a bunch of different types of rigs out there spaced at various depths and distances. If any fish were there, we would be sure to attract them.

We trolled for hours up, down and across the shipping channel from buoy 63A up past Smith Point Light, eastward to buoy 64 and then over to GC 1 with nary a hit. Things were not looking so good for our tournament chances. At some point I decided to try trolling by buoy G 65 since there is a deep slough that runs by it. We were just a few hundred yards south of the Virginia/Maryland line when John yelled, "Fish On!!." I bounded out of the cabin to see which rod it was on. Just by a stroke of luck the fish was on the middle rod. I pulled the rod out of the holder and watched the line peel off of the reel. I guess it ran off over fifty feet before I ever turned the crank. I knew it would be a nice one. I can't really say how long it took to get the Lunker close enough to the boat for Tom to grab the leader. However, he and John did a great job of netting and hauling in the big rockfish. It was 42 inches. Boy was I pleased with that. Later we weighed the fish for the tournament at Smith Point Marina. It tipped the scale at 28 lbs. and 8 oz's. and just by a stroke of luck it won the tournament.

Now you would have to believe that I had more than a little faith in the white "Hot Lips" Saltwater Lure, to consider using it during the CCA/Green Top Tournament. Well, I did. I was on Dr. Bob Caplan's boat, "Cache 22" as a guide for the tournament. Besides Doc, we had Tom Smithand, John Elkin aboard in case lightning should strike again. Our other angler was Lem Stewart, who was Doc's friend and neighbor. This time I put the 6" umbrella with the white "Hot Lips" Custom Saltwater Lure on Johns rod and let it out 250 ft with a 6 oz. inline weight on it.

After trolling around at the top of the cut channel for a couple of hours with no luck, we decided to turn up north to buoy 62. All lines were to be reeled in for the run up north to buoy 62. At last it was John's turn to reel in his line. Just by a stoke of luck the line parted as soon as he started to crank it in. Gone forever was my 6" umbrella rig with the white "Hot Lips" Custom Saltwater Lure. It was the victim of a faulty line guide on John's rod that had severed the line.

So you see, a stroke of luck can either be good or bad. In this case I had both. Fortunately, though, I was able to replace my white 5 oz White "Hot Lips" Custom Saltwater Lure at R.W.'s Sport Shop in Callao, VA, before the next tournament. I had faith that my good luck would return. It did, but that's another story. Perhaps I'll tell you about it sometime.

This article was written by the famous Capt. Dave Compton, fishing the Chesapeake Bay and local waters, and the article can be found in the Woods and Waters Magazine, February 2006 issue.