Father's Day Fishing Special - June 16 (Late Entry)

Accompanied by daughters Elizabeth and Sarah, Capt. DiPaola headed to Love Point north of the Bay Bridge where the striper action had been consistent.  Summer like weather in the upper 80s complimented the incoming tide with less than a 1' chop in 27' of water.   Fishing with Liz and Sarah brought back memories of all 5 children pulling bluegill from a local creek or a small dogfish from a head-boat with shrieks and screams as I ran from rod to rod releasing fish, taking pictures, and re-baiting hooks.

The girls have grown into fine young women, but as I watched Liz relax in the Captain's seat with her pup, Riley, and Sarah catch the last of the afternoon sun; I realized that time has not changed the way we fish together.   I found myself dashing from rod to rod checking the bait, ensuring lines remained untangled, and notifying the girls when it was time to reel in their catch.  Regardless of the level of engagement, seeing the reel begin to spool and feeling the striper on the business end of the rig can still elicit shouts of joy from all aboard the boat.

Then...

 

The action was almost instantaneous.  Soon after we dropped anchor, the first two rods were getting hits before the bait settled on the bottom.  Unlike the 32" and 28" fish Capt. Felker and Capt. DiPaola hooked into at the same spot just 24 hours earlier, these fish while ravenous, were in the 18-21" range.  Less than 45 minutes from the anchor set we had landed 3 fish including 2 keepers.

Now...

Fillets from 21 - 24 inch fish are in my opinion some of the best eating.  The two keepers in our creel were in this range.  After filleting and removing the skin, I cut the flesh into 2 inch chunks.  After padding with a paper towel and dipping in egg batter, I coated the strips with cracker meal and a dusting of Old Bay seasoning.  A few minutes in a frying basket and there were Rockfish bites for everyone to top off a memorable Father's Day!

Tight Lines to all Dads and to the time on the water with friends, family and our kids!

Mikey D Fishing

Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 15-16 June: Karma

I'm kind of a skeptic when it comes to cosmological goings on, but I may have to reconsider....

On Friday we were joined by Joe's long time friend and hunting buddy Paul Carmen, and soon to be Coast Guardsman Jonathan Edmonston, son of friends and fellow tailgaters Bery and Clare.  Friday was the last of the high fish days for the month, so we were optimistic that another limit was in the works.  We departed the dock around 1100 and headed to the western spans of the Bay Bridge. We marked fish so, decided to drop anchor and give it a shot.  For some reason, anchoring proved to be a chore, but we were able to get hold and get lines wet.  It didn't take long before Jonathan boated a nice 24 incher. Unfortunately, things slowed down from there.  That and the presence of Cow-Nosed Rays (seemed kind of early)  told us it was time to head north.

We cruised up to Podickery Point, on the western side of the bay, but didn't mark enough fish to merit stopping.  We took a gander further to the north and east and saw "the fleet" anchored up at Love Point, so we ziggied up and anchored up with the crowd. Conditions were better than the previous days; the 20 knot winds had abated to 5-10, seas were 1 to 1 1/2  foot chop, with water temps in the low 70s.  While we boated five more keepers over the next 3 hours, the fishing was kind of tough.  A lot of missed takes, which we could only attribute to the quality of the frozen alewife bait, which didn't hold on well to the hook.  We attached small rubber bands to secure the bait to the hooks, which seemed to improve our ability to hook fish.

Our plan for Saturday was to do a little crabbing, but our failure to limit out on Saturday inspired us to head out one more day for Stripers.  Fortunately, the bait shop had fresh alewife and soft crabs, so we felt pretty confident when we left the dock at 1030.  We headed to the bay bridge, but didn't see much going on, so we headed up to Podickery.  Marking some fish, we decided to anchor up, but after an hour of zero action we decided it was time to move north.  We spied a lot of boats up at Love Point, so pulled anchor and headed north.  But as we neared the point we saw a guy in a 23 foot Trophy waving his arms, and turned to see what was up.  Turned out the lower unit on his motor had failed, and he was stuck about 6 miles from his put in point.  We gave Sea Tow a shout, but as you might expect on a Saturday in the Chesapeake they were busy taking care of members, which the boat owner was not.  So we decided to tow the boat and its 4 occupants up to Rock Hall, which at about 4 knots took us about two and half hours to get to the marina.  On the up side, we marked a lot of fish, and figured we would head back out after we got them in safely and try to salvage the day.

We got into Rock Hall about 1230 and got the Trophy close enough to the boat ramp to allow the owner to kedge the rest of the way.  After topping off the gas tank, we decided to grab a bite and headed to the Harbor Shack, a restaurant in the harbor.  We dined on crab cake and soft crab sandwiches, washed down with cold Dogfishead IPAs, and were fortified enough to head back out and catch some fish.

So we figured our good deed for the day would be rewarded with a few fish in the cooler.  Not long after dropping anchor north of Love Point, however, we hit slack tide, which turned the fishing off (for us at least) completely.   We say there for over 2 hours, probably longer than we should have, with not even a nibble.  At that point it had been a long day, and we could have just pulled up and headed for the dock.  But there was still a lot of daylight left, so we decided to give it one more try and join the boats at Love Point.

We "anchored" up around 1745.  I say "anchored," because we just couldn't seem to get the damn thing to bite.  No matter.  There wasn't much wind, the tide was only starting to move again, we weren't drifting down on anybody, and our drift wasn't messing with our lines.  So we just kept fishing.  And that's when the magic happened.  Over the next 45 minutes we boated five keepers, and put our 4 in the box; a 32 incher, a 25 incher, and two that went 22.

I guess persistence kind of paid off.  We stuck around until the water started moving and the bite turned back on.  But even if we hadn't caught fish today, that wouldn't have put a damper on what was 4 great days on the Chesapeake.  Overall we caught 37 Stripers, put 20 in the cooler, caught 3 over 30 inches, and three more 25 and over.  Best of all, we got to spend time on the water with great friends and got to send them home with a few tasty fillets.  If that's karma, call me a believer.

Tight lines,
MikeyDFishing

Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report - 13-14 June: Personal Best

The solunar calendar does not lie.

You don't get many days like this; reasonable weather, good tidal flows, and the bay filled with keeper Stripers.  It's a tough decision; sulphurs and green drakes hatches on our local waters in PA, or the chance to limit out on Stripers.  I decided to leave the trout be for a few days and lit off to Annapolis for my first outing on the bay this year.

The tidal flows were civil; no need to get up at the crack of dawn.  Wednesday Captain DiPaola and I headed out about 1130, planning to hit the incoming tide that was supposed to start about 1330 or so.  We spent the first hour or so cruising the bay looking for fish.  After hitting the can off of Hacketts Point, the western spans of the Bay Bridge, and north to Podickery Point, we decided that anchoring up between bridge pilings 15 and 16 offered the best opportunity.  The conditions were mixed; partly cloudy skies, but winds out of the south  at about 20 knots, which kicked up about 2-3 foot swells.  Not ideal, but fishable.  We dropped anchor, baited up cut Alewive and soft crab on bait runner rigs, and had lines in the water at 1245.  Within minutes of wetting the lines it was game on.  With the exception of one 45 minute lull, we boated 12 fish, 6 going into the cooler, within 3 hours.  Biggest fish was a 32 incher that Captain DiPaola brought to the net ... a personal best for the boat.  The rest were in the 21 inch range, although I took a 26 incher that we had to throw back because we had limited out.  Not a bad problem to have.

On Thursday we were joined by long time "pro bono" client John Hupp.  Weather was a bit better with clear skies and winds from the east at about 15 knots with a small chop on the water.  We intended to follow the previous day's plan, and cleared the dock at around 1130.  But on our way to the bridge we started marking a lot of fish a few hundred yards south.  The Lowrance doesn't lie, so we decided to forgo the bridge and anchored up at about 1200.  The tide was moving pretty swiftly, which was a good sign that the fish were going to be on the bite.  And the Stripers did not disappoint.  The action was fast for the next two and a half hours.  Another limit in the cooler; John took a nice 29 incher, I finally broke the 30 inch barrier, with the rest of the fish coming in between 21 and 24 inches.  By 1430 we were limited out and heading back to the dock.

June has got to be the best month to fish the bay.  The weather is still pretty nice, with air temps in the high 70s-low 80s, and water temps are in the low 70s, and although the big breeders have departed, there are still a lot of fish to be caught, with the chance of tying into some 25-plus inch fish.

The trout can wait....

Tight lines,
MikeyDFishing

Striper Fillets on the Fly 5/31 - 6/2

Though May has been wetter than normal in the Chesapeake region, reduced size limits (19" minimum, circle hooks only) was sufficient enticement to take advantage of a break in the weather and confirm reports that the striper action in the Mid-Chesapeake Bay was getting hot.  Since my fishing window was limited to about two hours on May 31, I left the dock and headed straight for the nearest fishing spot, Severn River Green Can #1 buoy.  I marked scattered fish on the Lowrance and other boats working the dropoff  from 20 - 32'.   Since there was little action, I decided to head north to Podickory Point, which is often a frequent location for fish to hold near the mouth of the Magothy.  Because I was solo, I decided to chunk instead of chum and set a spread of four rods using a combination of alewife (frozen, fresh not available) and bloodworms.  

Normally 20 minutes is not a long time to wait for the bite to start, but with the clock ticking and few marks on the fish finder, I decided to pick up and set anchor anew.  The question with limited time was where?  As I headed south under the Bay Bridge spans, I saw a couple of charter boats set up for chumming 1/4 mile south of the bridge in about 32' of water.  Since one of the boats, "Becky D", is a mainstay in these parts, I decided to anchor down current a respectable distance and like a remora take advantage of the charter's residual chum slick.

The hunch produced action almost immediately and within a few minutes rod tips were bouncing with stripers hitting baits.  After 30 minutes, I caught my limit of 2.  I managed to handle a double` by working one fish to the boat while allowing the bait-runner reel to peel off line until I could land the second.  Both rockfish were 21 - 22"--- perfect for the fillet knife and the plate.  First fillets of the season!

More rain in the forecast on Saturday also limited the fishing window.  Boosted by the results from the outing a couple of days prior, I cruised by the green can buoy and the deep water near the bridge without much evidence of schooling stripers.  Recalling that we had good success in early June working the "old sewer pipe" in 17' of water north of the Bay Bridge (see Blog post, "Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10-11 June 2017),  I set a course for the Eastern side of the Bay Bridge spans.

I started marking clouds of stripers almost immediately.  The bottom rigs stayed silent so I decided to deploy the 12 weight fly rod with a chartreuse clouser  minnow.  (Capt C.C. Felker and I talked about using fly rods for stripers when anchored or drifting in a manner similar to our recent Nicaraguan tarpon trip)  Once the current took the fly 75' past the stern and the intermediate sinking fly line descended the fly into the water column, I began stripping the line in short bursts back to the boat.  On my second retrieve, I was rewarded with a strong take, an impressive pull, and a 24" striper to the boat on the fly!

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing