Schmelzer decided to start fishing three years ago, at the age of 63, with the help of a couple of lifelong friends who knew their way around a tackle box. “One fishes down on the Patuxent, and the other is from Severna Park. He’s an expert fisherman, and has been fishing for almost 60 years. He taught me everything I need to know about finding rockfish on the Bay.”
Using the CBC’s boats, Schmelzer started fishing on both the open Bay and its rivers. “I’d have to have two boats to do what I do, but luckily the club has 22-foot Bowriders that are great on the Bay, and a 19-foot twin vee catamaran that’s really great for the rivers.” Schmelzer will not give out his favorite spots to catch fish, but does admit to getting lucky a time or two.
“One day I went out with my grandson and my wife. We anchored just north of the Bay Bridge on the Kent Island side. We were fishing with cut LY on the bottom, and within two and a half hours we caught about 12 fish, all between 27 and 32 inches. We threw almost all of them back, but my grandson Tyler, who was nine at the time, had a great time.”
Schmelzer is a great example of someone who knows how to have a good time, and makes sure he gets out there and does it. “I just tell people that it’s never too late to learn how to pilot a boat, and it’s never too late to learn how to fish. The amount of fun that the club has given me (and my family) is incredible. It’s given me more enjoyment than anything else I can think of.”
Congratulations, Tom, on hitting 51 days on the water this year!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016 - 08:45
Even though we here at PropTalk specialize in talking about how important it is to get out on the water, even we understand that it can sometimes be challenging to actually get out and just do it. When the Chesapeake Boating Club (CBC) let us know that one of their members, Tom Schmelzer, logged his 50th day on the water, we wanted to get in touch and see how he makes it work. The thing to remember here is that Schmelzer does not own his own boat.
“I’ve been a member for I think about 20 years now,” he says of the CBC. “I had a Pearson 27 (sailboat) for four years, but after I realized what that was about, I decided to go back to the Club.”
Schmelzer decided to start fishing three years ago, at the age of 63, with the help of a couple of lifelong friends who knew their way around a tackle box. “One fishes down on the Patuxent, and the other is from Severna Park. He’s an expert fisherman, and has been fishing for almost 60 years. He taught me everything I need to know about finding rockfish on the Bay.”
Using the CBC’s boats, Schmelzer started fishing on both the open Bay and its rivers. “I’d have to have two boats to do what I do, but luckily the club has 22-foot Bowriders that are great on the Bay, and a 19-foot twin vee catamaran that’s really great for the rivers.” Schmelzer will not give out his favorite spots to catch fish, but does admit to getting lucky a time or two.
“One day I went out with my grandson and my wife. We anchored just north of the Bay Bridge on the Kent Island side. We were fishing with cut LY on the bottom, and within two and a half hours we caught about 12 fish, all between 27 and 32 inches. We threw almost all of them back, but my grandson Tyler, who was nine at the time, had a great time.”
Schmelzer is a great example of someone who knows how to have a good time, and makes sure he gets out there and does it. “I just tell people that it’s never too late to learn how to pilot a boat, and it’s never too late to learn how to fish. The amount of fun that the club has given me (and my family) is incredible. It’s given me more enjoyment than anything else I can think of.”
Congratulations, Tom, on hitting 51 days on the water this year!
Schmelzer decided to start fishing three years ago, at the age of 63, with the help of a couple of lifelong friends who knew their way around a tackle box. “One fishes down on the Patuxent, and the other is from Severna Park. He’s an expert fisherman, and has been fishing for almost 60 years. He taught me everything I need to know about finding rockfish on the Bay.”
Using the CBC’s boats, Schmelzer started fishing on both the open Bay and its rivers. “I’d have to have two boats to do what I do, but luckily the club has 22-foot Bowriders that are great on the Bay, and a 19-foot twin vee catamaran that’s really great for the rivers.” Schmelzer will not give out his favorite spots to catch fish, but does admit to getting lucky a time or two.
“One day I went out with my grandson and my wife. We anchored just north of the Bay Bridge on the Kent Island side. We were fishing with cut LY on the bottom, and within two and a half hours we caught about 12 fish, all between 27 and 32 inches. We threw almost all of them back, but my grandson Tyler, who was nine at the time, had a great time.”
Schmelzer is a great example of someone who knows how to have a good time, and makes sure he gets out there and does it. “I just tell people that it’s never too late to learn how to pilot a boat, and it’s never too late to learn how to fish. The amount of fun that the club has given me (and my family) is incredible. It’s given me more enjoyment than anything else I can think of.”
Congratulations, Tom, on hitting 51 days on the water this year!