Their spirit of enthusiasm is very infectious. I am lucky to fish with gentlemen and ladies of this caliber and the rewards have been well worth the effort. It is the spirit of teamwork that makes Daybreak such a fine boat to spend a day on.

In the following pages I mention only some of the people by name that have helped me while fishing. I can't possibly get into it all here but I would like to publicly thank all the ladies and gentlemen that have fished with me and the folks that constantly take me fishing. I might also take this opportunity to say that the captains I fish with in Chincoteague are about as great a group of people as you will find.

We fish a variety of locations around Maryland and Virginia. From June to mid September we fish in the ocean from Chincoteague, VA. We sometimes wreck fish in early June for sea bass or tautog. In mid June we fish for bluefish, sharks and bluefin tuna. We normally begin searching for yellowfin and dolphin around July 4 and keep after them until fall. We may fish anywhere from 14 to 70 miles from the beach. My favorite fishing is trolling for yellowfin in 30 fathoms. In September we often return to the Chesapeake Bay and fish as late as December.  

There are lots of places to fish in the ocean off Chincoteague. The inlet is a bit tricky due to the maze of sandbars inside. Once thru the inlet, there are a few choices to make. Many larger boats follow the marked channel out to the seabouy "C1". We often turn hard left at the inlet buoy and head easterly for a moment to get around a shoal then head about 135 degrees magnetic. This path will take us south of the dangerous Ship Shoal. A word of advice here....this path leads you directly into Turner lump which rises to 12 feet beneath the surface. This area can be very rough in certain weather conditions. Turner lump is about 5 miles from the inlet. After clearing Ship Shoal, steering for buoy 2TL will help avoid the shallow area. Reaching  2TL and N2 signal the end of the shoals and deeper water ahead. Boats headed on a course numerically lower(more easterly) than 135 sometimes run from the inlet straight to the "point". Boaters going this route must stay on the southern side of a few shoals southeast of the point. Once clear of this dangerous area, boaters can turn a bit more east. This is a typical route to the popular Parking Lot.

Excellent fishing can sometimes be found almost anywhere off Chincoteague. It varies from season to season and every year is different. Through the years, I have found spanish, king and boston mackeral, houndfish, triggerfish, cobia, amberjack, jack crevelle, rudderfish, bluerunners, spadefish, tripletail, trout, croakers, flounder, skipjacks, bullet tuna, false albacore, bonita, bluefish, bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, marlin, dolphin, sea bass, tautog, red hake, cod, pollock, bergals, stargazers and many more. Sharks have included sharpnose, blacktip, dusky, sandtiger, smoothdog, horndog, hammerhead, brown, blue, mako, tiger and others.

Sometimes many of these fish come right in to areas such as Blackfish Banks, Winter Quarter Shoal, etc. A good shoal for inshore fishing is what I call the 28 foot lump. This area is 12 miles east of Chincoteague. The bottom rises abruptly from 100 to 28 feet. I have caught spanish, kings, skippys, false albacore and dolphin here as well as sharks. Schools of small herring are sometimes found on the surface here and small spoons or feathers seem to work well here. A drone spoon and planer rig can be productive. Just east is the sub wreck which often holds dolphin, skippys, triggers, etc. Another overlooked area is several small shoals just inshore of the Ammo Wreck. We have caught several tuna and kings here. The Parking Lot is 25 miles off the beach. This area is a large hill just inside the 20 fathom line. Many people are not aware of the whole story of this area. Before the big chunking craze hit Chincoteague, this area was known as the Big Steel Barge as it holds a large wreck. The barge rises 30 feet or more above the bottom. A circle of bass pots mark it's location. This is sometimes the main hangout for the chunking crowd. A few miles south is what the locals call the Little Hill. It sits just inside the 20 fathom line. This spot can be real hot at times for bluefish, bluefin and kings. Several large wahoo have even been caught here. The next popular spot south is the Lumpy Bottom. This is considered Wachapreague territory and the area is pretty much overrun with boats. We fished it for yellowfin several years ago before it became so popular. Now it is known more for bluefin fishing. Other favorite spots include the little 20 fathom finger, 30 fathom hole, 30 fathom lumps and Washington Canyon. We also fish around weedlines, scallopboats, lobster pots and tide rips You can read about earlier fishing exploits on my previous boat Humility.