Gone are the fair-weather boaters with their blaring radios and boats bristling with broomsticks.  No more planer-board trollers claiming 300 foot right-of- ways, or obnoxious broadcasters insulting everyone with a VHF radio within 50 miles.  Catch & release season is the time of year when the one-man-one-rod concept reigns supreme.  It’s when you can run on-plane for miles in the wide-open Bay and never see another fishing boat.  A time when there’s very little competition for prime fishing spots, and a small but tight fraternity of hard-core fishermen brave the elements to jig the cold-weather hotspots.  I anticipate the start of C&R season like a kid waits for Christmas.

My sons Jacob and Daniel are visiting from Tennessee this week.  We’ve been trying to work a fishing trip into our schedule, but we couldn’t get it all together until today.  Read More!

Perhaps not for me, but for some fishermen this has been one of the best Decembers on record.  The mid-Chesapeake Bay has been red hot, especially at some of the more challenging jigging locations such as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  Check out this hawg.  According to the report I got, it was jigged up at the bridge on November 29th.  The fish was weighed in at Anglers Bait Shop and officially checked in at 53 inches weighing 63 pounds.  That’s only 5 pounds short of the state record and easily the best fish caught on a jig I’ve heard of at the Bay Bridge.  Unfortunately, like most truly monumental fish, the details are sketchy.  No matter how it was caught, it’s obviously a fish of a lifetime for the angler who landed it. There have been some very nice fish caught on eels at the bridge recently, with some fishermen reporting 40 inch plus fish.  They are few and far between with most requiring hours of patience to turn up one or two trophy size stripers.  Due to a frantic work schedule, my fishing trips have been extremely limited, but I managed to get out Sunday afternoon for some light tackle fishing at the well-known location I frequently refer to as “light tackle university.”

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Big fish are rare in mid-September, so it’s somewhat surprising that we’re turning up a few.  I’ve had at least one fish over thirty inches long in each of my last six jigging trips to the Bay Bridge. As long as that’s happening, there’s no need to fish anywhere but right here at home.  I made it out to the bridge the past three evenings. The water has cooled to the mid-70s and the recent unsettled weather has the fish thinking about feeding up for the winter.  Tuesday, my friend Rich was nice enough to pick me up below the bridge on my way home from work.  The tide was slack when we started, but picked up to a strong flow just before dark. We broke the 30 inch mark on two fish, lost a couple more when they wrapped around the pilings and broke off,  and I hooked into something huge and slow. It might have been a skate, but it felt more like a fish, possibly a big drum. Read More!

I thought I’d never get on the water today. Even if tropical storm Danny wasn’t offshore, a rainy day in August is hard to come by. Chesapeake Bay fishing is always at its best when skies are gray and there are big storms nearby. I lost sleep last night thinking about it. I had to work, but thought I might make the D.C. turn-around in time to get a half-day at least on the water. For a zillion reasons, that didn’t happen.  Nevertheless, I managed to get three quality hours in the rain at the Bridge.

The Bay was deserted. I never saw another fishing boat all evening; not one. It looked like January out there. Even the Matapeake Pier was empty. Instead of the usual Latino girls calling out “boat ride, boat ride,” I had to put up with these ugly dudes. I think they’ve been following me since that buzzard feather thing. Still, you know it’s going to be good fishing when you can see working gulls from from the boat ramp. Read More!

I can’t remember when I first learned to make fishing lures, but it seems like I’ve always made them. Some of my earliest childhood memories include the times my brothers and I spent with our father in his garage workshop in the hills of Tennessee.  There were always lures lying around in various stages of creation.   Dad melted a lot of lead and made a lot of plastic worms.  I’ll never forget the terrible smell of that little shop.  Sometimes the smoke was so thick from burning plastic that you could barely see a foot in front of you.  I don’t know how any of us survived the noxious fumes.  My dad also poured his own jigs, tied his flies, carved cedar plugs and experimented with more fishing contraptions than you can shake a jig pole at. I still have some of his creations.  I usually don’t fish with them, but I keep them lying around my shop here in Maryland.  They fit right in with the dozens of half-made lures I hope to finish some day.
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Following up the previous article on basic vertical jigging techniques, I want to share what I know for kicking it into the next gear. Most of these methods are a natural progression from vertical jigging. Jigging is an extremely productive method for catching Chesapeake Bay rockfish, so it’s something you’ll want to practice and learn well.

Most of my techniques have been honed over time by bass & striper fishing in fresh water situations. Bay fishing is similar in many respects, but there some special considerations.

The Chesapeake Bay is very shallow compared to many striped bass environments. While suspended fish are occasionally encountered, it’s more likely that they are either feeding on the surface or holding near the bottom. Read More!