The one that got away!

Labor Day weekend arrived and it could only mean time for our pilgrimage to Annapolis to spend weekend  on Reel Thyme.  Jeff went up Friday night, Marie and I Saturday morning and Lisa and Einstein arrived mid-afternoon.  This weekend, Jeff had college buddies (Will and Brandon), now living in Charlotte, coming up for the Virginia Tech/Boise State game Monday night.  While in the area, they planned to hook up with their VT brethren including Jeff and to go fishing with us Sunday morning.

Saturday brought some of the best weather that we have seen all year - low humidity with temps in the low 80's - and blue skies.  We took advantage of the day to do some maintenance and cleaning on Reel Thyme.  We brought a power washer with us and used it to clean the non-skid surface on the bow.  It worked really well and was so much easier than scrubbing with a brush.  We also came across a great product (Gel Gloss) that works well in cleaning fiberglass and vinyl.  We used it to remove a light film of diesel soot from Reel Thyme's transom.  Besides doing a great job, the product can be purchased at Home Depot for less than $7 - compared to products at marine stores that cost 2-3 times more. 

Will and Brandon arrived late Saturday afternoon and as neither had seen Annapolis before, we decided to go on a walking tour of the historic district followed by dinner at Federal House.  On the way back to the marina, we stopped for cigars at a local cigar shop and made a final stop at an ice cream store in Eastport where Lisa treated all. Rum raisin ice cream is definitely a weakness for this person - and I am fortunate Marie likes it as well and was willing to share her selection.

Back at Reel Thyme, we put on the North Carolina/LSU football game and mingled outside in the cockpit with beer, wine and stogies.   We watched the game through our windows while listening to the broadcast via the outside speakers - so life was good - entertaining football game with friends and family and no cigar smoke inside Reel Thyme.  After a while, some marina neighbors joined us and an impromptu party was underway.  Captain Kentucky came by to see what was going on.  This is my name for him - quite a great guy who retired 3 years ago, sold his house, cars and business in Louisville, bought a boat, grew a ponytail and started cruising.  In my earlier post, I mentioned that he and his wife navigated the "great loop".  He confided that he "loves" the cruising lifestyle and his wife "likes" it.  They will be leaving our marina in a couple of days to continue their journey - and I hope we run into them again as Captain K is quite an entertaining fellow.   

The next morning we left dock at 6am.  This seemed earlier than usual due to the partying that only ended what seemed a few hours earlier.  Our destination was an area where we had luck previously - near the entrance to Eastern Bay.

After trolling for a couple of hours we could only bring up a couple of small rockfish that were released and one keeper bluefish.  I have heard that some people do not like to eat bluefish as they think the taste is too strong.  Marie has a great recipe for cooking these guys and I can tell you they are quite tasty when prepared correctly.

As the fishing was slow, we made the decision to troll south and pick up our speed with the hopes of landing some Spanish mackerel.  We headed south to buoy 84A.  If we are trying to catch rockfish, we try to keep our speed to 3.5 knots.  This requires us to keep one engine in neutral all the time and shift in and out of neutral with the other engine.  Probably not great on the transmissions - but this is the only way to slow our speed.  Trolling for mackerel requires a faster trolling speed - approximately 6 knots per hour - and we troll with both engines when we are targeting macks.   

It wasn't too long before we hooked up a mackerel.  Everyone was excited when the shout "Fish On" was announced and as Lisa happened to be nearest the rod with our future lunch, she started reeling him in.  Once Lisa reeled the fish in close to the transom, the fish was pulled out of the water and just as I was reaching for the leader line to bring him in, the fish decided he preferred the bay and spit the hook.  It was no more than a couple of feet from where he was suppose to go - but gone nevertheless. There was a chorus of  groans which could only mean a missed opportunity.  Fortunately for me, there were more mackerels and better anglers on board and "the one that got away" became a favorite story line later in the day (teasing the dad).  We also used a net afterwards to land mackerels after this incident!

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Jeff, Will, Brandon and Lisa coaxing a fish into Reel Thyme

Bruce, Will and Brandon after them mackerel

Brandon Dresch with a blue

Will and his mackerel

All in all - a great time on the Chesapeake Bay. We headed back to the marina around noon. Jeff cleaned the fish, Lisa made a beer run to the grocery, Will and Brandon grilled the vegetable kabobs and corn on the cob and Marie prepared the fish. Eating fish that only hours earlier had been in the bay is a meal hard to beat!!

Following our feast, it was nap time for some (a sauna for Brandon), showers and time for some us to pack up and head home. Regarding the sauna, while we thought the A/C was on in the V berth, it was actually set on heat and after a couple of hours of zzz's Brandon came out a little toasty.

Now, we just need Tech to come out with a win tonight and the Labor Day weekend will be complete.

Will Neese and friends

Welcome to Reel Thyme

In this initial post, I will first introduce you to the cast of characters: 

• Bruce & Marie McWhirter,
• Lisa McWhirter (daughter) 
• Jeff McWhirter (son) and
• Einstein and Margaux - a Beagle and Himalayan cat owned by Lisa and Jeff.  Marie and I have pets but they prefer to stay at our home (13 koi in Leesburg VA)
• Reel Thyme. 

Reel Thyme is the star of the blog and I will endeavor to discuss what we are up to while enjoying our boat.

The name Reel Thyme reflects our interest in fishing and cooking. Our previous boat was named Reel Madness; I suggested to Marie our next boat would probably be named Reeltirement. Marie is an excellent cook and enjoys preparing superb dishes using fresh herbs for friends and family. 

 Reel Thyme is a 42' Bertram sportfish which we keep in Eastport/Annapolis MD.  It also serves as our weekend condo.  It can sleep 6 and has A/C, full size refrigerator, oven, microwave, head and shower and of course TV and DVD player.  We located the boat searching Yachtworld.com last summer.  Marie and I wanted to get back into boating as we are seriously considering cruising full time when we retire.  The plan would be to acquire a trawler and cruise the US east coast and parts of the Caribbean.  We have a lot to learn about cruising - and there is no better way than actually doing it. 

After purchasing Reel Thyme in Hampton VA, we moved it to Horn Point marina in Eastport/Annapolis over a weekend - electing to overnight in Crisfield MD Sat night. 

Crisfiel MD

The total trip was about 180 miles.   On the trip up the bay, we experienced black smoke coming from the starboard engine exhaust - which is typically a problem in the air/fuel mixture (diesel burning too rich).  As it turned out, we needed to replace an exhaust manifold.  We still have some back smoke but it is much better now - one of those projects for another day.

In 2009, we kept the boat in the water until December.  We took it about 20 miles south to Herrington Harbour North to have it hauled out for the winter.  Over the winter, we had some heavy snowfall and several trips were made to remove snow.

While on land, we had a number of projects for Reel Thyme:

• we had the bottom soda blasted to remove layers and layers of old paint; this will make the boat lighter in the water when it relaunched;
• removed fighting chair from cockpit to have more space
• replaced torn canvas;
• installed new carpet;
• reupholstered two chairs;
• sunbrella fabric covers made for electronics, helm chairs and windshield;
• Jeff and I repainted the accent stripes on the boat and waxed the hull (a bigger job than we anticipated);
• barrier coat added to the bottom along with bottom paint and new zincs just before the spring launch; 
• not to mention a lot of scrubbing and cleaning..

Reel Thyme looks 100% better. 

After launching in May 2010, we brought it back to Eastport.  The weekend we moved the boat, there were strong winds and small craft advisory warnings for the Bay.  We decided to stay in port Saturday but Sunday we had to move the boat and the weather wasn't much better.  The ride up the bay was rough and several times we had spray coming over the top of the flybridge.  The enclosure kept us dry.  Waves were 3-4 ft but nothing Reel Thyme could not handle.

All of us like the marina's location as historic Annapolis is only a 15 min walk from the boat, where there are a number of restaurants, wine shops, Starbucks and a farmers market (on Sunday mornings). 
Besides that, the view from our slip is really nice as we look out over the mouth of the Severn River. Horn Point is the first marina on the right (starboard) as you enter Back Creek. 

Lisa and Jeff

We keep kayaks at the marina and all of us have now yak'd in Back Creek - Jeff and Lisa (left) have ventured much further.

Another thing we have noticed about the marina and Annapolis is that as Annapolis is one of the major boating destinations on the east coast; there are several boats in the marina that are there for a couple of weeks or months until hurricane season is over.  In talking to the cruisers, I learned that one boat had travelled the "Great Loop" - which is up the east coast to the Hudson River, north to the various canals that lead to the Great Lakes, then down the Mississippi to the Gulf Coast, around Florida and back up the coast to Annapolis.  Another cruising couple had spent the entire winter cruising the Bahamas and Carribean - pretty neat stuff.     

The downside to the great view we have in our slip is that we are not protected from strong winds coming from the north or east - but we have not experienced any problems in the year that we have been here.  As I write this post, Hurricane Earl is bearing down on the Outer Banks tonight and this major storm has made all of the east coast nervous about its direction.  Latest news is that it should turn eastward after getting close to Hatteras and OBX.

So far in 2010, our cruising has taken us to St Michael's, Chestertown, Rock Hall, and Tilghman Island.  We have also anchored out several times in Maynadier Creek (off of Little Round Bay/Severn).  The boat has a generator so we can keep A/C, fridge etc running while on the hook. 

We even learned to catch fish this summer! Unlike Texas Gulf Coast fishing (Port O'Connor and Baffin Bay) where we typically wade for speckled trout and redfish, people fish from their boats in the Chesapeake. We troll with 5-8 rods depending on location.  Lines are let out at different lengths and with different weights so that you have your lures at different depths.

The more turns that are required in a location will cause us to use fewer rods as lines can and do get tangled. The biggest frustration is when the lines get tangled - and this has happened more than once. If we can't untangle, we cut and retie line (Jeff is becoming an expert on this). We also hired a captain to teach us how to set out line, type of lures etc to use. The training was a success as we have now caught fish each time we have gone out since the session - still not experts for sure - but it is more enjoyable when fish are brought into the boat. Over the last 2 weeks, we caught rockfish (striped bass), bluefish and Spanish mackerel (which migrate into the Bay for a couple of months during the summer).

Jeff and mackerel

Catch of the day (missing are 2 bluefish we had for lunch)

All for now - stay tuned.