30 Fish
On board today, repeat angler, Dick Bowman for light tackle striped bass.
At first light, a near high tide and flat calm bay. And it stayed flat the whole morning. Gorgeous out there today, the summer solstice.
First stop of the morning, we had INDIVIDUAL striped bass chasing INDIVIDUAL minnows and hitting them on topwater. The bass numbers were few and one or two fish would pop up on the surface, slam a single baitfish it had chased up from the bottom, and then go back down. It was difficult to set drifts and try to guess where the one or two fish would pop up next. But we don’t give up easy. We worked at it and figured it out and started to hook up one by one.
Second stop of the morning, we fished structure with topwater lures “walking the dog.” Nobody home. So we ran across the bay and set up some drifts with a few other boats and picked up a few more singles. From there, we fished a deep channel and decided to troll it with a big rubber crank bait. No hits, no fish or bait seen.
We ran back across the bay and fished the structure we had fished earlier. This time, the bass were there! Why not on the higher tide you may ask? After 26 years of guiding I don’t have a clue. But there were there and we began to hook up on some nice topwater action. After many drifts, the structure was getting very low on the dropping tide and the fish moved out.
Last stop of the day was the rip line ( you all know which one). We set several drifts and hooked up on just about all of them. It was a great way to end the morning bouncing rubber crankbaits along the bottom. Total catch and release today was 30 fish, and we had to work for every one of them. They didn’t come easy and there are not a lot of fish in the bay today. Our two best bass were 28″ inches and 26″ inches. All had sea lice.
Another great day on a flat-calm bay and lovely summer weather!
Back at it. Stay Posted:
Capt. Dave
www.baymenlife.com
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