October outdoors opportunities abound

Ah, October! No other month offers so many diverse activities in our great out of doors. From saltwater fishing to bowhunting, bear hunting, bass fishing, and small game hunting, October has it all. And with some clear, crisp fall weather finally kicking in, it’s time to make up for our rain-drenched summer and washout of a September, downpours and deluges that put a major damper on any outdoors activities. When October finally arrived, I was determined to make the most of it from the get-go, so let’s take a look at my week in review.

On Monday, Oct. 1, I piloted my trusty craft, Open Debate, to the East Channel of the Isle of Wight Bay in Ocean City, Maryland, in quest of some fall flounder. As noted, September had been a washout, limiting me to a single fluking foray for the entire month. When it wasn’t too rainy or windy to leave the dock, the bay water remained almost as murky as a Senate Supreme Court nomination confirmation hearing, conditions that do not make for very good fishing. Small wonder I didn’t catch a thing that day.

But October arrived and the tide turned, the water cleared, and the flounder bite turned on. As is my regular routine, I fished the last two hours of the incoming tide and the first hour of the outgoing. Normally my favored bait is a white Gulp Alive swimming mullet dressed with a live minnow, but with minnows in short supply this time of year, the Gulp by itself would have to suffice. Even without the minnows, the Gulp worked as well as advertised. By the end of the day I had hooked up with twenty flounder -17 throwbacks that didn’t make the 16 ½ inch legal length standard and three keepers of 18, 18, and 19 inches.

Venturing out on the bay again the next day, the wind picked up making the drifts a little more challenging. Although I managed only six fluke that day, two of them were keepers. The bay was alive with schools of baitfish being chased by snapper bluefish. I caught and released two of the bluefish, but if I had been targeting the blues instead of fluke, I could have loaded up with a cooler full of the little guys, most of which barely exceeded the eight inch minimum legal standard. Incidentally, being based in Maryland where the flounder season runs year round (as in Delaware), gives me a distinct advantage over fluke fans based in New Jersey where the season closed back on Sept. 22, just before the fall flounder fishery really turned on.

With plenty of flatfish fillets in my cooler after floundering around for two days in the Maryland coastal bays, on Wednesday morning, Oct. 3, I journeyed to the Wye River on the Chesapeake Bay. Accompanied by Dave Stone, an old Ocean City fishing buddy, we met up with Chris Slaughter who treated us to a trotline crabbing expedition in search of world famous Wye River blueclaws. Within a few hours we had boated almost two bushels of the tasty crustaceans, most of them seven inches across, point to point, or more. For the full crabby story, check out next week’s column.

Then, on Thursday, Oct. 4, back in good old Chester County, it was time to try my luck on some largemouth bass. Travel time to the bass grounds was short, since my backyard pond, stocked with bluegills and bass, is only a few steps from my back door. I spent some time experimenting with favorite bass baits, especially those of Gary Yamamoto, using 3 inch Yamasenko baits in Watermelon Magic patterns versus the larger 5 inch version. After testing the baits on both Thursday and Friday, Oct. 5, the verdict was in: the bucketmouths preferred the larger baits.

Then, on Saturday morning, I exchanged my fishing rods for a compound bow. While I started the week drifting the sea, I ended it seated high in a tree, hunting whitetail deer with bow and arrow for the first time since our season here opened back on Sept. 15. While I know many of my bowhunting Facebook friends had already filled their buck tags, I never get serious about bow season until late October and early November when the rut kicks in. My time on stand Saturday morning with mosquitoes constantly buzzing in my ears reminded me why. The thick greenery also made things difficult. Sneaky whitetails could have ghosted past me without my ever seeing or hearing them. I spent a few hours on my favorite Kennett Township stand that morning and never glimpsed a deer. The only critter that put in an appearance around daybreak was a red fox on the prowl that quickly vanished into the undergrowth.

Then, on Sunday, Oct. 7, I strapped on my running shoes and met my brother-in-law, Daryl Robbins, at the starting gate of the Marshallton Triathlon. This year’s edition of the race, the 46th annual, was severely impacted by the stormy, rainy weather we’ve had all summer. As a result, the canoe leg, always the centerpiece of the event, had to be eliminated due to safety concerns. That’s because the stretch of the West Brandywine Creek from the Northbrook Bridge to the Route 842 Bridge, normally the canoeing leg, was so cluttered with downed trees and branches, it would be almost impossible for most contestants to navigate. So with canoeing erased from this year’s triathlon, organizers simply added an additional hiking leg. This resulted in a “Bike, Hike, Hike, Bike” event rather than the traditional “Peddle, Paddle, Pace” design.

Robbins and I completed the event (which I’ve participated in for more than 40 of the 46 years it’s been in existence) without any problems. Here’s hoping next year the “paddle” component of the event will be reinstated. In any case, the first week of October kept me very busy. As an outdoors writer, I’ve always contended that if you’re going to talk the talk, you’d better walk the walk. You can bet I’ll be keeping plenty busy the rest of the month with a potpourri of outdoors activities planned with lots more bowhunting, more back bay flounder, Chesapeake Bay striped bass, and kayaking for Brandywine smallmouth all on the menu. Stay tuned.