18 Fish
NOAA called for “patchy” fog this am. Well, let me tell you – it was so dense and so thick we didn’t see the bow of the boat for three and a half hours!
On board today, I had repeat clients Howard Soep, Jim Crosta, and Mike for light tackle stripers and blues. This crew has been fishing with me for four years and they have had some stellar days on the bay!
At first light, the fog began rolling in and it socked us in the bay for most of the morning. But we picked our way through and started looking for fish. First spot of the morning gave up two short bass in three feet of water. We attempted to get out of the fog thinking it was localized, but it was not. The entire bay was fogged in. So, we had to try and find fish by sound, listening for them breaking on the surface and for gulls working overhead.
Unlike trips every day this past week, almost none of my spots around the bay held fish. But three of them did. In one spot, big bunches of bass were finning over a sand bar. Many of them were small keepers and none of them would hit any of our tackle. In fact, most bass today were as finicky as I have ever seen them. We tried everything and almost nothing worked. One school of bass was a solid acre and I think we only boated a couple of those fish!
As we moved around the bay, I decided we needed to go search for blues to liven things up. We made the run through the dense fog and found none. But I did see what looked like two porpoise rolling through the fog…? Back inside the bay, lots of small schools of bass were continuing to slam fifty cent sized peanut bunker. Massive schools of peanut bunker. We picked up a few more bass and continued to roam the bay in search of big bass.
After landing 8 bass for the morning, I decided to make another run in search of blues. I knew they just had to be out there somewhere. We finally found them moving in small schools over some flats, feeding on the peanut bunker. But unlike the bass, they slammed our red and white Rangers! The hits, runs and fights were intense on the light tackle. A handful of birds were moving with them and helped us follow the fish around in dense fog. Some of the blues were 34″ inches and topped 13 pounds.
We ended the morning with 18 fish total, a mix of stripers and blues. On our way back into the bay, the fog began to break up and I counted THIRTY-FIVE boats around Bug Light! When we were driving through the fog, I never would of guessed there were that many boats out there! Caution is always the rule in heavy fog.
The week ahead looks like NE winds for several days. That will shut the bite down in our bay for sure. Mid to end of the week we should see schools of fish moving through again as they head south. A friend of mine in Maine reports plenty of bass still up there today. The fall run should continue for at least another few weeks before it starts to slow down.
Tight Lines & Stay Posted!
Capt. Davve
www.baymenlife.com
*Watch the East End of the canal this week. Could be thick with bass in the NE!