Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 24-25 June: Find the Fleet, Find the Fish

A new moon and strong tidal coefficients pointed to great fishing this past weekend.  So on Saturday afternoon the Mikey D team headed out to put a few Stripers in the box.  Joining us was Captain DiPaola's daughter Rachel.  We got underway around 1130 and headed to our go to spot off Hacketts's Point.  Unfortunately, the forecast 10-15 knot winds were actually around 20 knots, which kicked up the Bay to a good 3 foot chop, making the fishing both uncomfortable and unproductive.  Adding to that was a definite lack of fish on the Lowrance, with the only hookup by Rachel on a Cow Nosed Ray.

On Sunday, however, the weather gods smiled, with the winds having died down considerably overnight.  The prognosis seemed good when we headed out for some morning crabbing with Joe's longtime friend Phil Weglein and his daughter Audrey.  Around 0730 we got underway and decided to first put the trot line in at Whitehall Bay, just  a few minutes from the dock.  The first run brought 5 large Blue Crabs to the basket.  At that pace we figured we'd have a bushel in short order.  Unfortunately, subsequent runs produced only a crab or two, or none at all.  So we made the command decision to pull the line and head to a productive spot in the Severn River close to the Naval Academy.  Again, though, we were frustrated by low numbers on the line.  Apparently, and for no known reason, there is a point in the season where the crabbing slows down.  That's the only reason we could come up with, as we were in the right place at the right depth. We only put a dozen or so crabs in the basket, although they were all larges, and would have fetched a good $100 at Cantler's.

While the morning charter was less than satisfactory, we picked up Mike "Gilligan" Shina around 1130 and headed back out for Stripers.  Figuring that Hacketts was dead, we decided to hit spots north of the Bay Bridge.  The winds had died to around 10 knots, temps were in the low 80s, with water temps hovering in the high 70s on an incoming tide, and the bay rolling but comfortable.  We drove up to the sewer pipe on the eastern shore, but the Lowrance showed no fish.  We then moved up to Podickery Point, on the western side, and picked up a small fish bottom bouncing soft crabs and Alewive, but again we just weren't marking enough fish to justify sticking around.  So we decided to head up to Love Point, about 4 miles or so north of the bridge on the eastern side of the bay.  As we neared Love Point we could see boats on the horizon, and as we continued to close it was obvious that "the fleet" was anchored at the point in about 30 feet of water.  So we maneuvered into a nice spot just up from a charter boat, anchored up, dropped the chum log, and put the lines in around 1445.
The Lowrance immediately lit up with fish, and it wasn't long until we had rods bending for about an hour and a half.  Five fish, ranging from 21 to 24 inches went into the cooler.  Only one more fish to make our limit, when Mike uttered a guarantee that we'd limit out, words that could only serve to tempt the fish gods.  Only having a banana in the boat could make the mojo any worse, and for the next 30 minutes or so we suffered through small fish, lost fish, and missed fish.

Having used all of the Alewive, we were literally down to a few soft crabs, and it was looking like the limit was not in the cards.  Or maybe Mike was just trying to channel the mojo his way.  In any event, Captain Joe and I turned to the stern where Mike had originally been sitting, to see him standing and reeling.  Normally having a fish on should elicit some excitement on the part of the angler.  In this case, though, "Cool Hand" Shina simply stood up and started reeling, prompting us to ask whether he had something on.  His nonchalant answer in the affirmative was followed by a 26 inch fish brought to the net and another limit for the Mikey D team!  Go figure....

Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing

Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10-11 June

The Mikey D fishing team finally got together for a superb weekend of bay fishing.  Conditions were about as good as it gets.  Sunny skies, water temps in the 70s, winds and seas manageable, the moon phase favoring good tidal flows.

On Saturday we fished with longtime friends and frequent "pro bono" clients Mike "Gilligan" Shina and John Hupp.  Started at the number 1 can off of Hackett's point, about a mile out of Whitehall Bay.  Off the dock at 0800; lines in the water by 0830.  Although we set up bottom fishing cut Alewife, the  first fish was the best of the day; a 25-26 incher by Mike bottom bouncing a soft crab.  For the next couple of hours the bite was solid, and by 1100 we had 4 keepers in the box, with several 19 inch throwbacks.  From there it was off to the Kentmorr over on the eastern bay for soft crab sandwiches.  Around 1300 we dropped Mike off so he could clean his bathrooms, and headed back out.  We made a command decision to head to the "sewer pipe," literally an old sewer pipe a couple of hundred yards north of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge.  We set up the anchor, and within an hour and a half had two more keepers in the boat.  After that, the bite slowed, but we were able to learn some valuable info from a boat that virtually pulled alongside us after we netted out 5th keeper.  Ordinarily, that would be a point of annoyance.  But in this case we watched as the captain had his clients tied into a dozen keeper Rocks within about an hour.  The secret was that, during slack water, the big fish sit on the bottom.  So this captain was simply bottom bouncing small pieces of Alewive tied behind a 1 ounce in line sinker.  A valuable lesson that would be put into play the next day.

On Sunday we were joined by former squadron mate and long time friend Tom Cosgrove, and Capt. Jeff Macris and his son Joseph.  Jeff was a colleague of mine in the History department at USNA.  Since we left in the afternoon, we opted to go straight to the sewer pipe.  Conditions were similar to Saturday.  We started bottom bouncing soft crabs and Alewife around 1330, with some decent hits but no fish.  At about 1500, we decided to anchor up and wait for the incoming tide.  Turned out to be the right decision.  The tide began to come in around 1515, and at 1545 it was lights out action for about 45 minutes, which was enough time to put six keepers in the boat.  We boated fish both dead drifting (Jeff's son Joseph got the ball rolling with a keeper bottom bouncing a soft crab.  By the time the bite tailed off, everyone had caught at least one keeper, five over 24 inches, and one at 27.

I decided to make this post short for a reason.  I'm going to let the photos and video do all the talking:

Day two:

Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing

The "Meg" is Back!

After a long hiatus, Mary has returned to the fly tying table.  To get the rust off, though, required some special corn-derived lubricant:

And the result:

Having tied her first clutch of eggs, after dinner we decided to put them to the test on the stream behind the property.  Five casts into the honey hole and I had a great hookup on a Palomino that has been hanging in the hole for a few weeks.  Unfortunately, poor technique led to a breakoff.  But the test was nevertheless a huge success.

The "Meg" is back.  Chamois Worms to follow,  The trout in Potter County do not know what's coming their way.

Tight lines,
Mikey D Fishing

Bookends to a Chesapeake Weekend

First the Crabs! 
Now that Chesapeake water temps in the middle Bay are approaching 70 degrees, a 12 degree increase in 4 weeks, Captain Joe decided to break out the trot line and rig for a day for crabbing.  With Captain C.C. occupied in the northern climes exercising his dry flies, Captain Joe's daughter Rachel ably assisted.  

The trot line was upgraded in the off-season with high visibility floats and additional cord between the weights and the float to prevent loss of the rig in deeper water.  Mikey D Fishing employs a 600' line with snoods baited with chicken necks.  Yes, clams are preferred and eel or bull lips can't be beat; but chicken necks still work!  We set up on one of our historically productive spots in the Severn River.  The line was set and stretched to ensure a clean run by 0715.  Not the early start I had hoped for, but it had little impact on the end result.   The line was set in about 8' of water under mostly cloudy skies.  Rachel proved to be a natural at guiding the boat during the run and at picking crabs off the line.  A couple of our more productive runs produced upwards of a dozen keeper crabs (5" spine to spine).   Within 2 hours, we had a soft bushel ready for the steam pot. 

Mikey D Fishing Crabbing Tips:
-- 6' to 10' of water work best for trot lining 
-- Work the line into the wind for better control of the boat (speed and maneuverability)
-- Try not to cast a shadow on the line as it will cause crabs to prematurely release
-- Dip the net under the target as crabs will attempt to dive down and away from the boat
-- Catch the crabs in a separate basket and cull through the catch after every run

Then the Stripers!

On Sunday, Captain Joe was accompanied by his middle daughter Sarah for midday striper fishing.  A warm sunny afternoon brought winds around 10 knots and the weekend warrior fleet to stir up a 3' chop in the Bay.  Undeterred, we proceeded directly to a drop off near the northern span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  Admittedly, my expectations were low.  High tide was scheduled for 1437, but a waxing gibbous moon meant a relatively low tidal coefficient of 60.  So while we might catch a nice outgoing tide, I didn't anticipate it to be sufficiently strong to entice an active bite.  On a positive note, reports indicated that stripers were in a feeding mood again with the end of the may worm hatch. 

Sarah and I anchored, and set up the chum bag in 28' of water.  I was hoping to grab some soft crabs from Anglers, but had to settle for the more mundane, bloodworms and fresh alewife.  Within minutes of getting the lines in the water, we caught our first fish.  A "Hupp" special, it measured a painful 19 3/4", just shy of the 20" minimum.  I figured we would be rewarded with a little fish karma later on so back to the Bay, the rockfish went.  The sun and wave action can be taxing on a fishing crew, so after a couple of hours with only one hit, we decided to take a break at Kentmorr marina over some appetizers and wait for the tide change.

We had a hard stop at 1815, so our break left only a short period to take advantage of whatever the outgoing tide would give us.  We situated the Mikey D in 30' of water off of Hacketts point.  Using a mix of alewife and bloodworms, it was a mere 10 minutes before the first tap on the rod and a run on the bait-runner reels.  The first short striper was soon followed by another.  Size was disappointing, but frequency was encouraging.  As Capt Joe waited to set the hook on another rod that was tapping like morse code --- It happened!  The middle rod tapped hard, bent over, and then the reel started peeling off line.  I told Sarah to grab the rod, gave her a tutorial on setting the hook, and watched her lift the tip as she cranked the handle.  The fish responded by turning and running.  I yelled to Sarah that she has, "A big fish, and for God's sake, don't lose it."  She worked it beautifully.  I assisted by adjusting the drag and after a few miscues, grabbed the beast with the net.  It was a 30" fatty!  Fish karma rewarded Mikey D Fishing with a battle won and 4lbs of striper filets in the cooler.  A great weekend with Rachel and Sarah on the Chesapeake!

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Upper Allegheny River Report 03 June

The weather this week put a bit of a damper on the fishing.  Intermittent heavy rains either muddied up the streams or made the lower Allegheny impossible to wade.  Fortunately the rains moved out by the end of the week.  We opted out of fishing Friday night, and instead hit the Crittenden Hotel with neighbors and fellow God's Country TU chapter members Bob Volkmar and Frank and Janie Weeks to listen to Blues guitarist Tas Cru and also enjoy some Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin IPA.  Yes Virginia, there is culture in Potter County.

Sunny skies and temps in the 70s on Saturday not only cleared the streams, but also brought the prospect of good hatches.  So Bob and I headed to the delayed harvest section of the upper Allegheny Saturday afternoon.  We arrived at the lot around 6:00 in the evening, geared up, and walked up to a section known as the Beaver Pond.  This section is only a few hundred yards long, but has all the classic types of trout water; a riffled area at the top of the section, followed by a decent stretch of slower and narrow moving water, and ending with a slow moving section brought on by nature's dam builders.

We were greeted with sporadic risers when we got to the section.  A dry/dropper rig brought a couple of decent Rainbows to hand, with several misses, which was to turn out to be a trend for the evening.

By the time we moved down to the beaver pond, Sulphurs were coming off and the fish started riding at a more frequent rate.  For the rest of the evening we fished a variety of dries, emergers, and wets, catching a few more Rainbows and a couple of wild Browns, and missing perhaps twice as many strikes as we caught fish.  To finish up the evening we moved back to the slower section, where March Browns were coming off.  A bunch of misses on a foam March Brown emerger proved to be the right fly but again stymied by failed hookups, probably due to the mesmerizing site of a trout coming up to take the fly about five feet in front of me.

All in all one of the better evenings so far.  With evening temps down in the 40s, and more rain on the way this week, the streams should remain in great shape, the hatches continuing, and the trout willing to take a dry.  All that's needed is a little more patience, but then again, I'll give the trout their day to enjoy watching the take.

Back to Annapolis this week, where both the Striper fishing and crabbing are starting to heat up.

Tight lines,
Mikey D Fishing