On board today, I had new client, Jeffrey Ryan from NYC for fly fishing striped bass.

We had high hopes at first light with dead-calm conditions. We found a handful of fish chasing a tiny school of bait and chased them until we hooked up on the first fish of the morning. It was tough trying to set drifts on very few fish that were trying to chase very few baitfish. That one fish came on a topwater popper which made it all the sweater.

A short time later, the winds kicked up out of the NE and the bite shut down COLD! I mean dead stopped. Not a single fish on any of my spots we worked. Not even a bump or follow. The bay turned into a ghost town. Towards the end of our trip, a tiny school of bait came into the bay with a handful of ringbilled gulls working them. We picked up one solo fish near The Bug along the eel grass flats.

Total catch and release today was 2 fish. The NE wind was just enough to shut the bay down. But we still had fun and Jeff fished floating, intermediate and sinking lines. We also saw one seal swimming by us.

Back at it. Stay Posted:

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com