132 Fish, 1 Keeper
On board today, I had regular, Billy Tedeschi, for light tackle striped bass. At first light, the bay was flat calm, light W/SW wind, high tide, and overcast skies. A light rain for a few minutes and then it stopped.
We found bait and fish with some birds working over the fish. Many fish had no birds at all working over them, but they were there chasing a micro minnow 1/2 inches to 1 inch long. When I was dropping in the boat today, I also saw a longer minnow of several inches around the docks. And a few pogies were feeding on topwater. Out front, the macks are still thick. So, lots of bait in the bay right now. Let’s hope it stays!
Billy fished his favorite lure, a Yo-zuri popper in mackerel color, in the skinny water. He fished two sizes and when the hits on the larger one slowed down, he switched to the smaller popper and that got smashed on almost every cast! We lost one lure to a bluefish, but that was the only blue we found today. The majority of our fish caught and released were in 3-4 feet of water. At times, we were in about two feet of water on the dropping tide.
The topwater hits and chase-downs were exciting. Lots of hits and misses and lots of boils behind the poppers before the hook-ups. Our total catch and release today was a whopping 132 striped bass for one rod! This is a new BAYMEN boat record for a one-person charter. It just goes to show, if you match the tackle to the fish, you can have an absolute blast on small fish in skinny waters!
Back it. Stay posted:
Capt. Dave
www.baymenlife.com