Croakers bite on the York

"Hello," said my rod, as it was about to be pulled out of the holder on the side of the boat. "I think there's a croaker on the line."

No doubt about it. It was another nice croaker, tugging for all he was worth. In a short while he would join about three dozen other "hardheads" in our ice chest. A fish fry was in the making.

Last weekend my fishing pals, Courtney Craft of Charlottesville and Tim Tigner of Orange, and I headed for West Point. The croakers were in town and we wanted to invite a few home for dinner. Below West Point, the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers join forces to form the York River, a favor-ite haunt of the Atlantic Croaker, one of the most popular saltwater game fish in Virginia.

Tim, Courtney and I are all big fish-eaters, along with our wives. And a fresh croaker dipped in batter and deep fried in hot oil is as about as good as it gets. Our mission was to catch enough for the six of us to eat. We more than accomplished that goal.

We arrived at the beautifully state-maintained ramp in West Point around 8 a.m., shoved Court-ney's boat off the trailer and were anchored in a prime spot within 15 minutes. Not long after our 3-ounce sinkers pulled some fresh, cut shrimp to the bottom, the croakers did their thing, hammering our baits and fighting like a bobcat cornered by a pack of beagles.

We found the croakers in about 20 feet of water, in or near the main channel. The best bite by far was on the outgoing tide. Nothing much bit at slack tide, except a few hungry channel cats. The only bait we used was shrimp. When all is said and done, it's hard to beat fresh shrimp for catching bottom fish anywhere in the Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries.

We probably caught 60 croakers or more, but kept only those big enough to fillet easily. We never did catch any of those 3- and 4-pounders, but I won the big fish pot with a fat croaker going about a pound and a half. We had plenty to eat, that's for sure.

Currently, croakers are spread out in the bay and up into tributaries like the Potomac, James, York and Rappahannock. There must literally be millions upon millions of croakers in Virginia waters, but I would support a reasonable creel limit. I would also like to see every pound and gill net tossed in a big landfill. Pound nets are death traps, especially for croakers. But that's another story.

I am still in awe of the fisherman last year who caught an 8-pound, 11-ounce croaker. When I saw it, I thought it was a misprint, but it wasn't. Norm Jenkins of Portsmouth landed the beast near Smith Point Light. Jenkins' fish obliterated the old record of 5 pounds, 13 ounces caught way back in 1982. One of my personal goals is to land a 4-pound croaker, and I know a fellow who is capable of putting folks on big croakers like that: Bobby Jenkins, a charter captain out of Urbanna. Bobby fishes all over the bay but has a honey hole on the Rappahannock where some big 'uns hang out. Actually, we were supposed to go out with Capt. Jenkins last week, but a serious illness in his family changed plans. Bobby is also a top-notch striper guide, and the trophy season for stripers is now underway.

If you'd like to get into some big croakers or stripers and need a guide, Bobby's your man. Call him at 804-314-4799 or e-mail at mrjspleasure@aol.com.

If you go croaker fishing, remember to bring at least one glove. The gill plates on croakers are sharp as razor blades, and just taking the fish off the hook can rip apart bare hands. I found some rubber-type gardening gloves at Plow & Hearth that cost less than $10 and make outstanding gloves to protect your hands. That is, if you can remember to bring them along. I forgot mine and had to use one of Courtney's gloves.

Another tip: the best fish batter of all is House Autry, a product sold only below the Mason Dixon Line. Their hush puppy mix is also outstanding.

Summer vacations are upon us, and the croakers are biting. Let's go fishing.