On board today, I had regualars, Ken Hartshorn, Frank Harrington, and Frank’s sons Gregory and Brian for light tackle striped bass.

At first light, we had a rising tide, overcast skies, and a flat-calm bay. Temps at the dock – 77 degrees! Everything looked perfect for a great morning of fishing except the high water temps. That usually pushes fish out of the bay and into deeper, colder waters. The good news is, the incoming tides brought in COLD waters nudging 59 degrees and tons of bass…

We were rigged out with rubber crank baits in 4″ and 5″ inch pearl and also a chartreuse/light bunker color I was testing, that client Dick Bowman had given to me. That lure out fished everything we used today. One other top lure we fished was a custom jig tie that a friend of Frank’s had tied up just for this trip. It resembles a large fly pattern with a weighted head that casts beautifully on light tackle. It was our 2nd top producer today also BOTH our keepers were taken in this lure. Frank and Brian landed the two keepers that taped out to 31″ fat inches.

There was no topwater action to speak of today anywhere on the bay. All the fish were hugging the bottom due to water temps (?) or bait (crabs?) or a combination of the two. A few quick flare ups and a handful of birds, but mostly all on the bottom.

The trick today was to keep moving all around the bay until you found fish holding and then to set numerous drifts over and over until the fish thinned out or moved on. About mid-morning, the winds really kicked up, we had white-caps and even some rain. Fishing continued to be decent, but the best fishing was the first half of the rising tide.

Total catch and release today was a whopping 103 fish with two keepers. Not a bad morning in July! You may recall that this same crew set a new boat record with me on June 8, 2016, when they caught and released 201 fish! That was a crazy day and they enjoyed holding that record a little over a year.

Back at it. Stay posted: two solid months of fishing ahead for BAYMEN.

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