It was a little late in coming, but Rock-tober is finally here! Less a function of the calendar than of water temperature, the fish have begun to school and feed in earnest. Early in the month, with water temperatures in the low 70's, it took some work and patience to find stripers feeding on the surface. Gulls acting as sirens were spotty and the schools they were working were short lived. However, there were still some quality keepers to be had with plenty of fish in the 18 -20" class to keep the Mikey D Fishing crew occupied. With Captain and Mary Felker
in town, we were able to bring several fish to the boat using topwater plugs including a nice keeper, signalling that we were on the
cusp of the best fishing of the year.
Following a brief shot of autumn temps on the backside of a cold front, the second week of October intensified the fishing. Mikey D Fishing launched again on the morning of October 13th. Turning the corner into Whitehall bay, Captain DiPaola and longtime friend Brett Schelenski saw several groups of birds working breaking stripers just minutes from homeport. Water temperatures were 66 degrees and the fish were wasting no time gorging themselves on bay anchovies, alewife, and our plugs.
The best fishing so far seems to be mid morning with birds indicating where bait and stripers congregate. Evening fishing is a little more fickle with small boils serving as the best indication of action below. Rachel DiPaola and friend Emily Taylor were able to take advantage of this setup to land their first keeper Rockfish on Oct 18th!
The Navy Tailgate crew including Bery and Clare Edmonston, and Dani Frac were able to get in on the act on October 22. Catching the last of the hot topwater action before the afternoon lull, we were able to land at least a dozen fish with a couple of keepers in the box. Most fish continue to be in the 17 - 23" range. As always, Mikey D Fishing recommends easing up to breaking schools, working upwind of the fish when possible to stay on the breaking schools longer, and casting just outside of the main action to target the biggest fish.
The fishing should only get better in the coming weeks! Looking forward to sharing more great fishing with great clients, friends, and family aboard Mikey D Fishing!
Tight Lines,
Mike D Fishing
