It's been a whacky fishing season. Maryland's governor decided that the risk of Corona Virus exposure was high on the bay, so he shut down recreational angling for most of the spring. With July came warmer water temps and spread out fish. The DNR shut down the bay again for the last two weeks of August to angler-induced Striper mortality. And on, and on, and on....
Even the fall fishing, which is typically when the bite really turns on again, was abysmally slow. Time was running out before we'd have to pull the Mikey D and be left with nothing but looking for to 2021.
Fortunately, the fishing gods intervened and provided some decent weather, and Stripers eager to hit a lure. We were supposed to take out a charity charter on Friday. But the clients bagged, leaving us with no other option but to fish. We got out on the water Friday afternoon. Air temps were in the 50s, water temps around 62, and the tide was slack. And when we turned the corner from Burley Creek we spied birds working Whitehall Bay and in the mouth of the Severn River. Not the typical level of activity that we've seen before. But if the birds are working, there are fish underneath. We fished for a couple of hours, racing between spots where the birds were working. The catching was a bit disappointing from one perspective, as we put no fish in the cooler. But we caught fish, including a chunky 18 incher.
A lot of factors go into a good bite. But perhaps the most important is moving water. Saturday weather was a bit cooler when we left the dock, but we left right before the tide was to change, which turned out to be the right call. Joining us on this foray was Mike "Chunks" Shina. Only a couple of days before, Mike had retired as a school teacher, so we recognized his decades of service by offering him a Mikey D special of a $1 dollar charter. Magnanimous chap that he is, Mike tipped the mate 100%, and we were off.
We got into Whitehall Bay around 10:00 am and immediately saw far more birds working than the previous day. And within the first twenty minutes we had limited out with 19 and 20-plus inch fish, a reminder of how great fall fishing on the bay can be. For the rest of the day the bite was consistent, with metal jigs being the ticket. We easily caught over a dozen or so fish, and even released three more keepers that were bigger than the fish in the cooler. Highlight of the day was watching a 36-plus inch Rockfish charge after a smaller fish that Mike was bringing to the boat.
It was a great feeling to have the filet knife in hand once again. Our plans for a third outing on Sunday were stymied by 20 knot winds and 4 foot waves in Whitehall Bay. But, using the rule of thumb of scheduling three days of fishing to get one good day of catching, it worked out well.
Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing
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