Fresh Chesapeake Ceviche

Captain Felker and Captain DiPaola returned from the Cobia trip with every intent to launch the "Mikey D Fishing" on Sunday July 30 before Captain Felker headed back to the Northern Outpost.  Threatening skies dictated a change of plans.  That left putting the boat in the water to Captain DiPaola as a solo operation.  The newly cleaned and waxed boat slipped back into the Bay without a hitch.  Given the beautiful weather with temperatures in the upper 70s, light winds and a waxing quarter moon, it would be a travesty not to at least wet a line for a few minutes before heading to home port.

We have had considerable success well into July fishing the mouths of rivers feeding the Chesapeake north of the Bay Bridge.  A quick left turn put Capt DiPaola among several boats anchored between the Sandy Point and Baltimore light houses.  He dropped the anchor in 30 feet of water with the lowrance showing fish covering the screen at all depths.  One rod was baited with alewife and other with halved soft crab.  Within 35 minutes,  the limit was reached with 2 keepers (21" and 23") in the box!  While the speed with which Captain DiPaola limited out was noteworthy, the fact that we could still chunk or chum for keeper stripers this far into the summer was exceptional.

Captain DiPaola decided on a twist of a Caribbean favorite for dinner using the fresh striper fillets. Captain DiPaola's daughter Elizabeth provided her seal of approval to the Chesapeake Ceviche.  Prep time is less than 20 minutes with another 1 - 2 hours in the fridge to let the lime juice do its magic to "cook" the fish.  Delicious.  Mikey D Fishing recommends this recipe with any fresh caught light white fish and as many vegetables below as you gather from the garden.  Bon Appetit!

1 pound of striper fillet cut into 1/2 - 1 inch cubes
1 cup lime juice
1/2 cup mango cubed
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 red onion sliced
1 small jalapeno sliced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 avocado cubed
1/4 cup cilantro
combine all ingredients except avocado and cilantro into bowl, cover and place in refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours.  Serve with tortilla chips

As a postscript, the Mikey D Fishing team with frequent client Mike Shina aboard went out in the same general vicinity on Sunday Aug 6.  Results were significantly different and more akin to typical August attempts to chum.  We fought and released 4 cow nosed rays and one channel catfish.  The crew did manage 1 undersized rockfish caught on alewife suspended below a float with 10' of fluorocarbon leader.  Time to start jigging, live lining, and plugging in earnest.  

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing