Bay Blitz is On!

With the impending change to cooler temperatures, schools of fish emerge all over the middle Chesapeake Bay.  Combine ravenous Bluefish, Rockfish, light winds and flat water and you have the perfect ingredients for a day of constant action.  Mikey D Fishing left the dock at 0645 and turned the corner into the Bay as the sun was rising over the Eastern Shore.  Hacketts Point delivered our first Bluefish and Rockfish to the boat.  We decided to troll to the twin bridge spans but soon detected small flocks of birds to the north signaling rapacious schools of Blues and Stripers. 

We began catching snapper blues and small rock almost immediately.  Almost everything we used worked.  Plugs, Spoons, Flies (Clouser minnows and atom poppers), all delivered results.  In a few hours of fishing we boated 100+ fish.  The largest striper was 16".  Using heavier spoons or metal jigs that descended to deeper waters hooked the larger fish.  CC also had a couple of large Bluefish (18"+) slice right through his 25# braided line.  We're convinced that the keepers are lurking nearby and probably beneath the schools on the surface.  Either way, it is tough to pass on consistent top water action regardless of size. The two videos give a sense of the fishing frenzy.  What a day for Mikey D Fishing! 

A warm dry end of summer meant low water and fish holding in groups in the Yellow Breeches.  CC and I made good use of the last official weekend of summer to find tight lines in the Yellow Breeches near the Allenberry resort.  While water temps remained optimal, low water forced fish to find cover and food sources in deeper holes.  I continued where I left off in June by retrieving a bead head wooly bugger.  I worked to keep the streamer as close to the gravel bottom as possible.  Short twitches produced consistent results early. 

I quickly brought three to the net in one of my favorite spots.  Meanwhile CC worked downstream with a beetle and zebra midge dropper.  The beetle served as more of an indicator than a fly with only a few fish rising throughout the afternoon.  Again proving he is the master of the Breaches, he landed a dozen or so fish with 6 coming from the same general spot.  The weather was perfect with temperatures in the low to mid 80s and bright sun.  While we could have wet waded, I opted for waders to keep me in the water as long as possible.  The brief video below depicts the final phase of a tangle with a Yellow Breeches rainbow trout.  Tight Lines!  MikeyDFishing! 

Southwestern Pa Fly Fishing Outing, 29 August 2015

Captain C.C. of MikeyDFishing took a break from the salt life to celebrate Mary Felker's birthday with a resort weekend and half day outing on the Youghiogheny River.  We stayed at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa in Farmington, Pa., about 3 hours west of Annapolis.  While a bit on the high end, price wise, the accommodations, restaurants, casino, and the cigar bar (pouring Basil Hayden bourbon, no less) made it all worthwhile.

Saturday afternoon we drove out to the Field House to meet our guide Mike Steiner, who heads the Orvis-endorsed fly fishing operation for Nemacolin.  In addition to fly fishing, the resort also offers sporting clays and upland bird hunting trips.  After a quick lunch over a couple of Sierra Nevada Pale Ales, we joined up with Mike for the 20 minute drive to the Yough.

The Yough is a tailwater, and with the river on the low side there was a significant release flowing from the dam.  Mike noted that the water was moving at about 900 CFS, which was a bit on the high side.  Once we got there, though, we noticed that the current was moving, but not too fast to make wading too uncomfortable.  Water depth was knee to thigh high.  Air temps in the mid to upper 70s.  Water temps in the upper 60s.

Got on the water around 1330.  We fished about 400 yds downstream from the dam, and you could see the water churning out.  But where we were the conditions were not too challenging.  We fished on top (Adams/parachutes), and hoppers/droppers (scud patterns), and only covered about 200 yards or so of water.

Given we were only on the water for about 4 hours, and the water was higher and faster than normal (around 600 CFS), I'd give Mike and the river a 95% .  Mike put us on fish immediately.  In the end I brought 2 to the net, one a nice rainbow that took me to the backing.  Mary got a rainbow as well.  But we both lost nice fish, and missed several takes.  There were certainly a lot of fish in the river, and some big fish.  Chalk it up to shaking off the rust.

But a great day in all.  Mike was everything you'd want in a guide.  He obviously knew where the fish were and put us on them.  But he demonstrated a great personality, talked about all kinds of things in addition to fishing, and was just a pleasure to be with out on the water.  Many thanks Mike!

Enjoy the pics.  Looking forward to getting out to western  Pa in the spring.

Tight lines.  MikeyDFishing.

Cow Nose Rays, A Flock of Sea Gulls, and More Crabs!

August chumming looked promising with nice takes but the end result produced great fighting but equally annoying cow nose rays.  The rays are prevalent this time of year in the middle bay.  Their frequency all but eliminates chumming as an effective way of claiming keeper stripers. 

So now Mikey D Fishing is shifting to live lining, trolling, jigging, sight fishing and waiting for the magic time----- top water with plugs and flies.

Crabs, Crabs, and more crabs..... the trot line continues to deliver.  Watch Mikey D Fishing work the trot line in the video below.   Once set (and this can involve some adjustments and redeployment), the trot line is an efficient way to provide your own crab feast!

Beautiful Blue Crab Bounty on the Bay for Mikey D Fishing!

Despite utilizing bankers hours for crabbing, Peter Gargano and the Mikey D Fishing team brought a bushel of crabs to the box by 10:30 AM.  We used a 600' trot line baited with fresh chicken neck on snoods. 

Pete Gargano displays the future crab feast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plowing in a light morning breeze in about 8 - 10' of water Mikey D Fishing consistently netted #1s and Extra Large Jimmies on each run. 

A #1 Jimmy destined for the steamer

Crabbing Tip:  One of the keys using the trot line is to smoothly dip the net outboard of the line to avoid spooking the crabs from the baits and shaking other crabs off the line.  Place the net below and outboard of the crabs lifting up in a single stroke as the crabs attempt to escape by diving away and down -- Mikey D Fishing

Thursday 17 July - Late Post

A late post since we just returned from a trip to Albany, where we participated in squadron mate Capt. Jamie Pierce's retirement.  Took Thursday afternoon off to take advantage of the low temps and light winds to try the Bay Bridge.  Hit the water about 3:00 PM and headed to the eastern side of the bridge.  Set up at piling 51A on the northern span, dropped the anchor, the chum bucket, and baited up with cut Alewife.

The down side of the day was that fishing was a bit slow.  We only picked up four Stripers, three of which were around 20-21 inches.  The fourth was around 18.  On the up side, we were the only ones catching.  Easy to tell that when you pick your head up from watching your rods to see about a dozen boats have magically appeared around you.

Finished the day by trying some top water plugs off Hacketts.  The low winds made conditions perfect for some action, but the fish weren't there yet.  According to LT. Salt Life and the experts at Anglers, the Stripers are spread out awaiting the arrival of the summer Spot run.  When that happens it'll be time to do some live lining, with late summer and fall top water fly fishing just around the corner.

Tight lines.  MikeDFishing.

A One - Two Punch for Mikey D Fishing.  2nd Lt Salt Life was graciously granted his OOD underway qualification and departed Burley Creek at 0700 with two other young salts, Marshal and Jamie, both fellow employees at Anglers.  They proceeded directly to the pilings at the Bay Bridge to jig for keeper Stripers.  The fishing was steady and good with clear skies and a breeze that slowly dissipated over the course of the morning.  The highlight of the half day of fishing was landing a 50 pound black drum that first presented itself like a snag.  After a 20 minute fight, solid teamwork landed the beast.

The second punch came in the afternoon when 2nd Lt Salt Life and company turned over the helm to CC and Joe.  We followed suit by jigging Bay Bridge pilings on the Eastern Shore side of the bridge.  Joe landed an undersized striper on a chartreuse bass assassin.  Not satisfied with the frequency of the bite we anchored a few hundred yards north of the bridge spans to chum.  After an hour without so much as a nibble, a change was in order.  We decided to ease back toward the northern bridge span to enable us to jig and chum.  With the anchor holding our position, we restarted the chum slick and dropped alewife strips astern of the boat.  Almost immediately we had fish on!  The action continued throughout the remainder of the trip.  Infrequent lulls in the chumming action did allow for CC to get a hook up while jigging on what must have been a 30+ inch fish before breaking off.  Joe lost another in the pilings.  The rest was all success.  Eight fish over 20 inches to the boat including a nice 30 inch hog.  We tossed several back with lesions and scrapes but still kept a beautiful 27 incher and two others that provided thick fillets for the table.  CC boated one keeper when the tackle it was carrying from a previous melee with a fisherman snagged his line.  A perfect metaphor for the day was that we landed alewife that became ensnared in our lines just as we exhausted our supply of bait.  Excellent timing on a day when all the elements came together.  Classic Mikey D Fishing!