Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-06-16
Seminar Demonstrates PIuqqinq
For Rock in Bay Can Be Exciting
BY WHEELER JOHNSON
Outdoor Editor

Outdoor Editor
There are many ways to
catch rockfish, but some dedi-
Gated fishermen always are
searching for new one.
One Of these experimenters
is Bob Pond Of South Attic
boro who spends most of his
time in the laboratory - an
open water laboratory. Pond
counts that minute lost that he
isn't fishing, preparing to fish,
or talking about fishing.
He has an ak to grind on
a particular type of fishing,
because he is developer Of the
Atom plug. Therefore, he
naturally is most interested in
anything that promotes
plugging as against other forms
Of fishing.
But I will say this for Bob.
He still is ready to put his
lures on the line against the
others and is willing to discard
his theories when something
not of his own devising works
better.
High Living
He recently gave a small
seminar on plugging for rock
fish and / was honored to be
included among the students.
Others in the class were Charlie
Miller and Frank Smoot, both
Of Baltimore.
We gathered the night before
the session at Capt. Levin
Harrison's Chesapeake House at
Tilghman. Md. I am sure Pond
chose this base of operations
because in all likelihood-the
one thing he likes better than
fishing, is Eastern Shore cook
ing. In the time the seminar
was in session the Chesapeake
House proved to be as good
an exponent Of this art as one
sOuld want to find.
The chosen classroom was to
te Capt. Levin Buddy Harri-
con his charter boat, Lev
Eon-Son.
Prof. Pond stressed that all
hands should be on their feet
BY 4 am. He wanted to be out
casting those plugs at crack of
dawn. Oddly enough, he got
mis- class together on time but
the Chesapeake Houses pam
cakes we're so tempting 1t was
well after daylight before he
could get his pupils aboard the
Lev-Ron-Son.
Bay Is Calm
So he fretted about the
missed fishing time, although
even he would have to admit
that he had been one Of the
chief aggressors in the pancake
battle.
But Buddy Harrison soon
had the Lev-Ron-Son under
way and it was not too long
before we reached an area
around Poplar Island where he
had found fish the day before.
This time there was nothing to
indicate there would be any fish
in the area. The Bay was al
most calm and there wasn't o
gull in sight, nor any breaks
on the surface to indicate feed
ing fish.
But the skipper cut the motor
and we drifted. Pond suggested
that we try a variety of lures,
peppers and swimmers of vari-
Gus colors. The depth finder
indicated that we would be
fishing in water so feet deep,
although we were going to be
casting with spinning rigs right
on top.
Pond said he had found that
In general green lures were
the hottest colors and his pre-
diction proved to be true. We
hadn't made many casts before
Frank Smoot saw q swirl at
his green swimmer and soon
was fighting a nice rockfish
that had come from nowhere.
I had chosen a green B-
ounce pepper. Not too long
after Shoots success I also
got a strike and landed a
slightly smaller rock.
Snubbed by Fish
Meantime, Pond who was
using a blue lure, and Miller,
had had several swirls be-
hind their bait ut the fish
would follow the plug for a
distance but wouldn't hit 1t.
well. we seem to have fished
this place out" Capt. Harrison
said. Lets try another one"
So we went down the Chesa-
peake to the Devils hole, where
the water is 1870 feet deep. Here
again there was no sign Of
fish, and at that depth 1t would
seem to be impossible to bring
them TO the surface to take a
plug.
But almost Immediately Pond
got a nice fish and Miller took
one that was a little UNDER
sized and had to throw him
back. This seemed to be the
pattern on this type of fishing.
We would get a few almost
Immediately after running TO
a new spot, but after we had
drifted over the area for awhile,
things would slack off. II was
theorized that the motor stirred
them up when we first arrived.
One factor seems TO give