Thinking that after a couple of weeks the water in the lower Chesapeake Bay would have certainly warmed up, I headed back down to Cape Charles for another crack at Reds. Unfortunately, the unseasonably cool weather still kept water temps below the magical 70 degree line.
But ... since I was down there, might as well fish. On Wednesday I fished in the morning during the theoretical "magic period" on the outgoing tide. Air temp was in the upper 60s. Water temp in the upper 60s. Clear skies, with little wind. Comfortable wading conditions. Rig of choice was a popping cork with a "Electric Chicken" colored paddletail. But not a fish to be hooked. Didn't notice much in the way of batifish swimming around either.
Thursday was one of those days where I was simply in the right place at the right time. Hit the water a bit earlier on the falling tide. Weather was overcast, but air and water temps remained unchanged from the previous day. The water was moving, but still fairly deep. On the first cast my popping cork immediately went under. Took me a second to realize it, and after a pretty decent fight landed and released a 26-28 inch Red.
On the next cast the cork again vanished after it hit the water. This time, however, the fish cut the line on oysters or rocks. I quickly grabbed my second rod, armed with a Dyne XL suspended swim bait, and within a couple of cranks had my third fish in, another nice 26-28 incher.
After that ... nada. Like I said, right place at the right time.
Fortunately, the golf course pond Bass were more than willing to eat during the afternoon. A Strike King shad imitation did the trick. Color didn't seem to matter. Who would think a lime-green lure with black stripes would catch fish? But a few cranks to get the lure to dive, letting it wobble to the surface, and the bass smacked it.
Friday I was joined by Annapolis friends and fellow Navy football tailgaters Clare and Bery Edmonston. We fished the incoming tide that afternoon, but to no avail. On Saturday morning we made the required trek to Stingrays for breakfast ($9 for eggs, scrapple, grits, toast, and coffee), then hit the water right around 10:00 AM, just as the water was beginning to move.
We fished just about all of the outgoing tide. The day was a bit warmer, and I did see fish moving through the grass flats. But nothing really eating. Then about 2:00 pm, while I was hanging out talking with Clare, we noticed Bery, who was fishing near the mouth of Plantation Creek, walking backward. Splashes a few feet away from him gave away that he was on. So we "hustled" down to him in time to land a nice 20 inch fish.
Bery noted that the Red jumped on baitfish near the surface (a good sign!), and sight-casted his paddletail to the fish. A two-fer for Bery; his first Redfish, which also became is personal best.
And that was it for Cape Charles. After a great evening hitting the Cape Charles Distillery, AJs for apps, and HooK@Harvey for dinner, I closed up Cape Escape Sunday morning and headed to Bethany Beach to meet up with Capt. DiPaola. While the point was just to run the Mikey D through its paces, we did bring a couple of rods with us. We drifted on a fast incoming tide right off the seawall at the Coast Guard station on Indian River inlet. We weren't expecting anything to happen, but while jigging a bucktail tipped with a white/pink paddletail, we were surpised with two decent fish; a 12-inch Tautog and a 20-inch Striper.
The cool weather can't last for long, and the saltwater fishing should pick up. On the up side, the weather in PA has cooled considerably. There may be a West Branch fishing reprt looming....
Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing
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