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
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