Mikey D Fishing: July 2020

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 17-21 July: Dog Days!

And that's an understatement. Air temps were in the low 90s, with water temps averaged around 89 degrees. Winds were less than 10 knots, dropping to less than 5 by Tuesday. We fished over several days with good friends Tom "Cos" Cosgrove, Bery Edmonston, John Hupp, and Mike Shina. The fishing reports noted that the Stripers were scattered from the Bay Bridge all the way up north to Tolchester, about a 45-50 minute ride from the bridge. The reports were accurate. Over the span of three days we fished from the bridge all the way up. Although we marked fish on the Simrad, we only caught "shorts," with Tom Cosgrove boating the only keeper for the trip. High point of the trips was on Tuesday afternoon. While we struck out at Tolchester, as we neared the Bay Bridge the gulls were everywhere, and schoolie Stripers were chasing Bay Anchovies to the surface. We had enough time to play, tossing metal jigs and surface plugs, which the schoolies were only too happy to crush. Not as much fun as boating keepers, but consistent action kind of took the sting off ... a bit.

We saw dolphins breaking the water at the bridge, and caught one Bluefish on Saturday, an indicator that the bay is pretty salty now. Hopefully the snapper blues will be moving in soon, providing some excellent action on the fly rod. Cooler weather is forecast for next week. If the water also cools off a bit the bite will turn back on.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Summertime Blues...or at least Stripers

Late Entry.... July 11, 2020....Summer in the Chesapeake. Heat, humidity, crabbing, and stripers. Well, stripers if you can find them. As the heat builds, the cownose rays tend to overwhelm the chunking. Jigging can be sporadic. The good news is that it is usually prime time to live-line with spot. A visit to Anglers is our preferred means of requisitioning our allotment of spot. However, I was headed out solo to scout for an oasis or two of stripers and along the way fill the live-well with spot as a passed hard bottom. I tossed a top and bottom rig with a 1/2 ounce weight that was tipped with bloodworms in about 6 feet of water in Whitehall Bay. As I drifted across the bottom, I immediately began to pick up perch, spot, and croaker. After 10 minutes or so, I headed over to the can buoy at the mouth of the Severn.

The pattern continued as I picked up baitfish on every pass. The spot, a member of the drum family, were almost too big to use as bait and would have made good table fare had I been so inclined. As mesmerizing as catching spot after perch after croaker was, I knew that I had to find the stripers. The Bay Bridge, sewer pipe, and Podickory Point were all dry holes. Eventually I realized that my best bet was to follow the charter fleet up to Tolchester Beach. That meant another 45 minute voyage north of the Bay Bridge.

Hard to miss Tolchester. A dozen or so charter boats were mixed with another 15 recreational fishermen in a 1,000 yard box defined by the shipping channel and the shoreline. I parked in about 17 feet of water and after casting the bait runner rods with soft crabs, the reels soon began to scream.

Nothing big mind you, but I picked up one rockfish after another between 16 - 18 inches. Problem is, the limit is 1 fish at 19 inches. So after multiple fish and no bait (soft crabs and spot). I headed back to homeport knowing that I found the fish and hoping that there were a few lunkers left behind.