Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 23-27 May: Slow and Steady and Limiting Out

 While early May marks the beginning of Striper season, we're normally not in a rush to get the boat in the water.  First, the weather in early spring can be nasty.  More importantly, most of the fishing is done by trolling, which ranges from tedious to downright boring.

Last week of May presented not only the prospect of decent weather, but also the start of the "chunking" season.  We had a few days to get dialed in before our first major outing on Thursday, so we took our time getting the boat in the water and scouting for fish.

Sunday.  After one unsuccessful attempt to get into crowded Sandy Point State Park, we finally got into the park around 4:30 PM and got underway around 5.  We spent a couple of hours running the boat through its paces, and looking around for fish.  Marked large schools of fish on the eastern side of the bay north of the spans, a spot called the "sewer pipe," because there's an old sewer pipe on the bottom, and fish tend to hang there.  Tried some jigging but got no hits.

Tuesday.  Work got in the way on Monday, but we managed to get out for a couple of hours in the late afternoon.  Winds were out of the east-southeast and up a bit, making the western side of the bay pretty choppy.  So we went to the sewer pipe, figuring on calmer water and fish.  Well, the water was significantly calmer, but the fish were not there.  Went up north to Love Point, nada.  Decided to cross over to the western side, and in the vicinity of the mouth of the Magothy River we started marking fish in 20 feet of water.  Water was still choppy, but we managed to anchor up and give it a shot.  Had a couple of hits and one take that pulled off about 60 feet of line before he got off, but no fish to the net.

Wednesday.  A little calmer, so we decided to head back to the Magothy.  Got underway around 1130, and fought our way north against the fleet of knuckleheads all screaming down to the Severn to get a good spot to watch the Blue Angels show.  We successfully anchored up around 1200 or so, and within about 2 minutes of the first bait going in the water the baitkeeper went off and a few minutes later we had our first keeper of the year in the boat.  Got our second not long after that.  Both fish around 20 inches.   We kept fishing awhile longer, and boated a nice 23 incher (which had to go back, as the limit for recreational fishing is 1 fish/angler).  Soft crabs were the bait of choice.  Not a bad hour and a half on the water.

Thursday.  We were joined by long time "pro bono" client John Hupp and Joe's daughter Rachel.  Weather was perfect.  Winds less than 7 mph, calm water, partly cloudy skies, and only a few boats when we anchored up in the same area around 1230 or so.  Water depth was 20 feet.  Water temp around 74 degrees.  The day turned out to be a personal best for MikeyDFishing.  Limited out within three hours, which included a 33-incher, a 32 incher, and a 23 incher.  We included cut Alewive along with the soft crabs, and both worked well on the bottom rigs.

Chunking season is in full swing, and the fishing should remain solid throughout June.  A moratorium on Striper fishing goes into effect in July, so get out there and put some fish in the box!

Tight lines,

Mikey D Fishing

Potter County Fishing Report: Upper Allegheny River and Little Kettle Creek, 8-11 May

 John and Deb Hupp came up for a visit this past weekend to enjoy the respite offered at the WBT, but also some fishing.  Was hoping to hit Little Kettle.   But it was the first week of spring gobbler, and the Trout Whisperer reported a good number of anglers on the stream.  So on Saturday we lit out for the DHALO section of the upper Allegheny.

Got to the DHALO section around 1100.  We had the entire section to ourselves.  Water was in great condition; good flows and clarity.  Weather was less than ideal; intermittent rain showers, at one time small hail, and temps in the upper 40s.  But everyone caught fish.  Wooly Buggers, "Feggs," and Mopp Flies were the fare for the day.  Fish were 10-12 inch stocked Rainbows....

 

With one exception.  Deb fought what turned out to be a nice Brownie that took a "Fegg."  Things got a bit dicey as the fish neared my net.  It turned and went behind Mary, who was standing next to me.  I took the rod for a moment, thinking I'd untangle the fish and hand the rod back to Deb.  Unfortunately, the fish had other ideas, and shot like a rocket towards the fast water.  It was at that time that my focus went completely to the fish and away from my net, which I proceeded to drop, and before I could react was heading downstream.  The conundrum: break off the fish and chase the net, or land the fish and worry about the net later?  I might have broken off a stockie Rainbow.  But a big Brown ... say sayonara to the net.

I managed to get the Brown close enough to confirm that it was a good 18 inches.  But as I was leaning over to pick it up it broke off and took off.  Fortunately, the creek gods were smiling on us, as Deb located the net a bit downstream, and I was able to recover it.

On Tuesday the Trout Whisperer and I headed out to fish Little Kettle.  A stocked stream, it also holds wild Browns and native Brookies.  Not much to report.  On Sunday we had over an inch of rain and snow.  Even by Tuesday the water was still up and fast.  Saw a few mayflies but nothing resembling a hatch.  So we fished streamers, and I managed an 8-inch native Brookie in the only decent fishable stretch of the stream.

Temps are slowly starting to resemble spring, and the streams have plenty of water.   Hopefully we start seeing bugs coming off the water by the weekend.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing