1. You have to adapt to changing conditions, and not the other way around.
2. Watch what other anglers are doing, and if you can, ask.
3. Fish with what your target species is eating
Follow the three and the chances of fishing turning into catching is increased dramatically. And the last week and a half gave us the opportunity to put those maxims in practice. With bay temps in the mid to high 80s, and oxygen levels dropping, the Stripers have only a few places to go; either to the northern bay, or under the shadows of the bay bridge pilings. Add to that the presence of Cow Nosed Rays on their annual spawning run, and chunking Alewive becomes less and less productive. Instead, bay anglers move to jigging around the bridge pilings, or live-lining Spot.
Both seem relatively east techniques. Jigging is just that; you toss a Gotcha metal jig or a weighted soft plastic at the piling, let it sink, then pop the rod hoping to entice a bite. Live lining is a bit more involved. A standard jigging rod with 20-30 lb flouro leader and a circle hook. You hook the Spot (part of the Drum family, and pretty good eating in its own right) behind its dorsal fin, chuck the fish close to the piling, allow it to swim down, and wait. The Spot swims down to find cover, but that puts it in the feeding lane of the Stripers. You know something's gonna happen when you feel the Spot swimming nervously, which is soon followed by a sharp and noticeable bend in the rod. That first take would normally elicit a rod set, but in this case you're probably going to lose the bait. That's because the Striper has an interesting way of eating a big baitfish. Rather than immediately swallowing its quarry, the Striper instead grabs the spot by the tail (the first pull), re-positions the bait fish to place it head first, then swallows (the second pull). Patience is key to successful line lining, but the rewards are a great fight and big fish.
Joining us for several outings over the previous week were friends Mike Shina, Tom Cosgrove, and for his first outing, Tom's son Thomas (who caught the only keeper, and his first Striper, on Sunday). While we were armed for both chunking and live lining, it became obvious that bottom fishing was not going to be productive. We caught a few small fish on Alewive, but all of our keepers (and we caught keepers on every trip) were on Spot. The one exception was Monday. Departing the dock at 0720 or so, and heading to the Bay bridge with a live well filled with baitfish, I sensed the boat turning abruptly away. My confusion was quickly gone when Captain DiPaola said "birds." Sure enough, birds were working behind us, from just below the bridge to Whitehall Bay, and about a half mile wide. It looked like fall conditions had arrived early; a huge school of Stripers working the surface, and even better, keepers. We limited out in about 30 minutes with fish measuring 20 inches. By 10:30 the action stopped, which was fine, since air temps were quickly approaching the 90s.
On Wednesday Capt. DiPaola and I headed back out, this time rigged for jigging and chunking, figuring that conditions would be once again ripe for jigging. When the schooling fish didn't materialize, we headed to the bridge pilings. Unfortunately, we had decided to not get baitfish, thinking it would be a waste of bait, and only had bait for chunking. That was a big mistake. While we had plenty of hits on the bottom, no fish came to the boat. It was looking kind of grim, when the Breezin' Thru, a charter boat operating out of Kent Island (http://www.breezinthrucharter.com/), which had been fishing close to us, pulled alongside before departing and asked if we could use some Spot. A class act by the captain, we were more than happy to accept his generous offer. Some adroit maneuvering by the captain made the underway replenishment successful, and we were rewarded not much later by a nice 24-incher.
Still, there seemed to be something missing, because the fish was the only keeper up that we boated. On Thursday we went out again, the chunking rods left behind. We headed back to Piling 41, which seemed to be the go to spot for the charter guys, and started fishing. Not much later another charter boat pulled up to fish the same piling, and we noticed once again that his clients were hooking up at a greater rate than us. A closer examination of his tackle provided a clue; teardrop weights on a swivel above the leader. Joe made some phone calls to other charter captains to confirm what was going on. You had to help the Spot get down in the feeding lanes, especially if the water was not moving fast.
Friday was our "practicum" for the week. Originally we had decided to crab that morning. But our limited success the previous day, along with a forecast for morning thunderstorms, led us to decide instead to hit the bridge one more time in the afternoon. The rain departed the area by noon, leaving air temps much cooler and water temps down in the low-80s. We decided to hit the next period of moving water at 1400. Joined by Mike Shina, and with plenty of Spot, we headed back to Piling 41. This time we added weight to the rods, and immediately started tying into fish. Mike's call sign quickly went from "Gilligan" to "Liveliner," as he boated five of the six fish that went into the cooler, with one fish going 28 inches. By far the best day of fishing this season!
By 1600 or so we were leisurely heading back to the dock, enjoying Striped Bass pale ales along the way. A great week of figuring things out. And a big shout out to Captain Tilghman Hemsley of the Breezin' Thru, and Ark Angel Charters, for keeping the skunk off!
Tight lines,
Mikey D. Fishing
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