mikedoubleJust when I thought the western shore was going to turn into the Summer striped bass hotspot, the fish showed up back over on the east side last night.  Tim & Mike joined me on Crockett’s Reel for a 5:30 PM launch from Shipping Creek on Kent Island.  We buzzed the Eastern Bay stopping only once when a flock of diving least terns alerted us to bait, then continued through Poplar Narrows south to an area that occasionally holds fish this time of year.  My original plan was to cruise on across to the oyster flats off Chesapeake Beach, but it was soon apparent we had traveled far enough.

A few seagulls over a steep drop-off put us on a some small bluefish.  As we were playing around with them and watching the fishfinder, bigger marks showed up.  Stacked fish near the bottom is usually a sign of rockfish.  We all three hooked up about the same time with some respectable summer fish.  The birds moved on but our drift kept us over fish so there was no need to refire the engine.  Our first drift lasted a quarter mile or more with a fish on almost every cast.  timsingle

Here’s a summer rockfish tip:  Always kill your engine right away when drifting though actively feeding fish.  Since stripers are sensitive to light, in high sun situations they’ll often stay right beneath you using the shade and cover of the boat to ambush bait.  A running engine scatters the fish, keeps the bigger/wiser fish on guard, and dramatically slows down your catching.  Talk and step lightly while you’re fishing.  A little stealth will result in many more fish on the line.

After our drift took us into shallow water the fish scattered and we repositioned, this time in 25 feet over a sandy bottom.  We were rewarded with more catching, still nice fish.  This time we maintained our drift almost a half mile.

timdouble2As the current waned, the bite slowed down and we went for about 45 minutes with only a few little bluefish to show for our efforts.  I decided to point the boat back north hoping to find where those big schools were hiding.  After a run of only a mile and a half, birds and breakers showed up right where I was hoping they’d be, and we finished our evening with another flurry of steady catching.  As the sun set, Mike suprised us by pulling a nice croaker from under the feeding frenzy.

Water temperature was in the low 80s. We had a strong incoming most of the evening and our hot baits were 6 inch soft plastics or 1 ounce metal jigs with single hooks.  It’s good to see fish back on this side of the Bay.  How long they stay is another story entirely!

mikecroaker

Posted Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Filed Under Category: Fishing Reports
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Responses to “Hopskotch Across The Bay”

  1. Timbo says:

    It was a great time. Nice report!

  2. Shawn says:

    The pleasure was all mine, Tim. Let’s do it again soon.

  3. Daniel says:

    site looks awesome. lets plan on celebrating after the opry saturday night

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