Outdoors: Buddy system still a hit on bay | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

TILGHMAN ISLAND - Not too many years back, the flick The Color Purple was a big hit and now it's on Broadway, I hear. Theatrics aside, it also played at the Chesapeake "Theater" the other day.

And the critics were unanimous in rating it a smash hit.

So did the audience of 13 in the balcony of the charterboat Capt. Buddy on the Chesapeake not far from Calvert Cliffs.

When I boarded the boat, I noted the dozen rigs were predominately of purple, the shade of purple that matched that of the once popular Hootchie Troll on the bay and ocean. I hadn't seen that in the past 20 years or more. Probably more, much more.

Mates Ben Byers and Jason Mende told me that in the previous several days, "purple had been the ticket to good catching." They tried a 9-inch Sassy Shad one day, it caught fish, so they added more to their repertoire - and they caught more fish. So what better reason to switch?

Things like, that happen in the trophy season, fish can suddenly, without rhyme or reason, switch color preferences - and only the fish know why. And they can't talk. Why would big rockfish choose a rather drab purple in day waters when a sparkling white or flashy chartreuse can be seen so much easier and are certified fish catchers?

That's why it pays to experiment - and to do the experimenting on occasions when fish are biting. To test something different, always do so when fish are biting, not when they're not biting. If they're not biting or not around, how can you know if the color or bait is worth fishing? If they're around and take the offering you know you have a potential winner. If they're around and ignore the new offering give it a heave overboard where it can add to an artificial reef - that's all it's good for.

Capt. Buddy Harrison chose to fish waters close to the surface, and on the standard umbrella rigs - and supplemented with more lines and rigs fished on planer boards. Buddy's planer boards are painted red, a good idea; they can be easily seen by other boats when things get crowded.

John Boughey of Curtis Bay was fighting a fish of about 37 inches before all the baits were wet, and yes he took it on purple. Then it was Mackenzie Noelle Boughey's turn; she's my granddaughter and only 6 with much angling experience with panfish of the bay and its tributaries, but never before with big fish on a purple (her favorite color) bait.

Friends, if you want the ultimate thrill in fishing, help a kid reel in his/her first whopper. Those fishing at Bloody Point could hear McKenzie's screams of delight.

If the spring weather is fine, take a youngster now; don't wait until the summer when it's perch, spot, smaller blues and such. Give them a chance at a legitimate biggie - and if they score, you just might have a fishing partner for life. When Mackenzie got back to kindergarten at Gibson Island Country School her description of her "biggest fish on the boat" had all her classmates excited and asking to go on her next trip.

It's nice to be a parent or grandparent, but even nicer to be a hero parent or grandparent. What better time than now when the catch will involve the biggest fish until the fall/winter run of big migratory fish. Snooze and you lose.

MacKenzie's fish wasn't really the top fish (she ignored the others in her ecstasy), a few other fish were closer to 40 inches - and unbelievably three of the fish appeared not having spawned yet. A good sign. Karen Kurtz and daughter Dora followed with fish, then retired Navy captain Rand Lebouvier of Massachusetts scored. Then things began to slow down, but by early afternoon New Jersey fishermen Scott, Elyse and Dan Poinsett caught their trophies and I rounded out the day with a 37-incher. Ten fish to a boat is a good day.

The occasion was the 52d annual Waters & Woods Ball, an event I've hosted at Tilghman since my arrival here in 1956, and it probably was the best ever. We had 30 fishermen and all but three brought home a trophy. More than a few topped 40 inches.

Soon the hardheads will arrive in the Choptank and with the trophy season waning by then, they will get much attention.

A WHOPPER: Don't get the idea that all the biggest of the big trophy fish have been caught. The other day Caglar Gozenir of Frederick caught a 55-pound, 7-ounce striper aboard Capt. Ed O'Brien's Semper Fidelis out of the Rod 'n Reels Docks, Chesapeake Beach. That's the biggest fish I've heard of thus far this year. It was caught off Breezy Point on a trolled big-eye parachute 20 feet down in fairly deep waters. It had already spawned - had it not, it could have challenged the state record of 67½ pounds.

OUTDOORS CALENDAR

Friday: Friends of Anne Arundel Trails will hold the first session of a three-part Maryland Safe Boating Course at Earleigh Heights Fire Department, Severna Park. Call 410-222-6244.

Saturday: Coast Guard Safe Boating Class begins at Boater's World, Severna Park. Call 40-647-4550.

Saturday: Three Rivers Sportsman Club chicken and fish fry at the club's headquarters, 215 Three Rivers Road, Harwood. Call Raymond at 410-257-2983.

May 12: Mike Hanson of Aqua Clear Tackle will discuss bottom fishing at a 7:30 p.m. meeting of Pasadena Sportfishing Club, Earleigh Heights fire hall. Severna Park. Call 410-HEYFISH.

May 13-14: Boat Safety Course starts at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels. www.cbmm.org

May 14-15: No catch and keep rockfishing these two days; it's an interval as the first phase of the season switches to the second.

May 18: Bay Hundred Ducks Unlimited Ladies Rockfish Tournament, Harrison's Chesapeake House, Tilghman Island. bhduufish@hotmail.com

May 19: Patapsco River Power Squadron Safe Boating Course starts this date Please include your phone number in ALL communications.. Call 410-757-6486. tomcat241@att.net

May 19: Coast Guard Auxiliary Safe Boating Class begins at Hillsmere Elementary School Annapolis. Pre-registration required. Call Michael Prokopchak at 410-798-5952 before May 17.

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Send outdoors news to Bill Burton, PO Box 430, Pasadena, MD 21123-0430; fax to 410-360-2427, or e-mail burtonoutdoors@yahoo.com.