Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board today, Kevin Lee and his son, Leo for light tackle striped bass. Kevin and his son have been fishing with me for three years and they started when Leo was just 5 years old! I have said this before, I have never seen such a young man that fishes like a pro. Seriously. You would have to see it to believe it. He is a fishing machine and handles a 7′-6″ rod like a seasoned angler. I am always so impressed!

Well, at first light a farily strong NW wind with a whipping flag. NOAA called for two footers most of the morning and they were pretty much dead on. Skies were overcast and water temps were 64-68. Tide was one-half hour until low. Air temps were chilly. My only regret is I left my coat in the truck. It truly felt like an early fall morning.

We pulled into the first stop of the morning and had a triple hook-up on the first drift! I had thrown a lure along with Kevin and Leo, We set another drift and all rods bent over again. We set a third drift and boated our NINTH fish in three drifts! A great start to the morning.

As the tide bottomed out and the full moon set, the bite shut down as typical of a dead-low tide. We worked a piece of water in Plymouth I call “T-Time” and it was void of fish except for one hit and spit.

Third spot of the morning on the incoming tide is typically a dead-ringer and we have been hammering fish there on this tide all season long. ZIP! No fish home… Then, I glassed up bay and saw a handful of birds that looked to be working fish. We ran up and it was indeed a school of selective, finicky fish on bait. We worked them non-stop, figured out the pattern, and it was game on! More and more fish joined the smaller school and then broke into two schools and we fished them all on the incoming tide with colder waters.

At one point, I ran to Browns Bank to have a look around. There were fish and bait up on the flats in skinny, skinny water. Even my skiff could not get to those fish and we left in search of striped bass in more. than six inches of water in other parts of the bay.

I looked across the bay once again and saw a big school of bass working under birds. We made the four minute run and found what we were looking for. These bass were also selective but with work we landed several, and Kevin hooked into a nice 34″ incher on the light tackle. That fish was our last bass of the morning and what a way to end some great fishing on the bay!

Total catch and release today was 27 striped bass, 5 keepers, the biggest 34″ inches. All fish were landed on light tackle rubber crankbaits with the exception of one bass Leo landed on a topwater Spook. A great morning, lots of fish, and two great anglers.

Back at it. Stay Posted:

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com 31 Years Guiding The Bay. Still In Love.

Soli Deo Gloria!

POSTSCRIPT: I saw my third shark of the season inside the bay this morning. I was WAY far away, but I saw it come up to the surface chasing something at a high rate of speed, make a massive splash of white-water, flip it’s tail and then it was gone. Never saw it again. We did see many seals inside the bay so I wondered if it was a Great White chasing a seal??? It was too far away to confirm what kind of shark it was.