Bay Blitz is On!

With the impending change to cooler temperatures, schools of fish emerge all over the middle Chesapeake Bay.  Combine ravenous Bluefish, Rockfish, light winds and flat water and you have the perfect ingredients for a day of constant action.  Mikey D Fishing left the dock at 0645 and turned the corner into the Bay as the sun was rising over the Eastern Shore.  Hacketts Point delivered our first Bluefish and Rockfish to the boat.  We decided to troll to the twin bridge spans but soon detected small flocks of birds to the north signaling rapacious schools of Blues and Stripers. 

We began catching snapper blues and small rock almost immediately.  Almost everything we used worked.  Plugs, Spoons, Flies (Clouser minnows and atom poppers), all delivered results.  In a few hours of fishing we boated 100+ fish.  The largest striper was 16".  Using heavier spoons or metal jigs that descended to deeper waters hooked the larger fish.  CC also had a couple of large Bluefish (18"+) slice right through his 25# braided line.  We're convinced that the keepers are lurking nearby and probably beneath the schools on the surface.  Either way, it is tough to pass on consistent top water action regardless of size. The two videos give a sense of the fishing frenzy.  What a day for Mikey D Fishing! 

A warm dry end of summer meant low water and fish holding in groups in the Yellow Breeches.  CC and I made good use of the last official weekend of summer to find tight lines in the Yellow Breeches near the Allenberry resort.  While water temps remained optimal, low water forced fish to find cover and food sources in deeper holes.  I continued where I left off in June by retrieving a bead head wooly bugger.  I worked to keep the streamer as close to the gravel bottom as possible.  Short twitches produced consistent results early. 

I quickly brought three to the net in one of my favorite spots.  Meanwhile CC worked downstream with a beetle and zebra midge dropper.  The beetle served as more of an indicator than a fly with only a few fish rising throughout the afternoon.  Again proving he is the master of the Breaches, he landed a dozen or so fish with 6 coming from the same general spot.  The weather was perfect with temperatures in the low to mid 80s and bright sun.  While we could have wet waded, I opted for waders to keep me in the water as long as possible.  The brief video below depicts the final phase of a tangle with a Yellow Breeches rainbow trout.  Tight Lines!  MikeyDFishing!