34 Fish on LT
On board today, Tom Burgoyne & Sons for light tackle striped bass.
At first light, hot, humid, sunny high pressure, and a half-tide dropping. The bay was dead-calm and remained flat all morning. It was gorgeous out there!
I started RECON and went to yesterday’s spots that had tons of fish and today there were no fish there. However, as I scanned the bay, I saw fish starting to get active in some of my usual spots. As the morning progressed, bass, bait and birds began to explode around the bay.
The fish were on topwater all morning and also on the bottom in deeper waters of 24+ feet. They would chase the bait off the bottom and drive it to the surface for some spectacular, classic Fall Blitz action. There were multiple types of bait in the bay today. 2″ peanut bunkers, silver/pearl with gray backs, a 1-2″ skinny minnow I could not ID, large adult menhaden (pogies), small green crabs, and schools of 4-5″ squid. The bass were really dialed in on the SIZE of the baits today. I had to cut down many of my rubber crankbaits to get the fish to take. Also, the retrieve needed to be very slow with a pop and pause to allow the baits to drop. That is when they hit.
Total catch and release today was 34 striped bass with a really nice fish just under 35″ inches. We had many huge schoolies in the 25-27 9/16″ inch size that fought incredibly hard on the light tackle gear.
It was a spectacular Fall Blitz morning with the bass putting on quite a show chasing and destroying bait right beside the boat. We saw many peanut bunker tail flipped high into the air before being eaten.
I still can’t post pics here in my Baymen Reports, some kind of issue with the server/software. But I did post a pic of today’s best fish on my BAYMEN facebook page. You can find and follow BAYMEN on FB at Baymen Guide Service, Inc. Baymen Charters.
I have a few days off the bay and then September fishing starts non-stop for a solid month. Lucky me!
Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com 29 Years Guiding The Bay
***BOOKING 2022 & 2023 STRIPED BASS ON FLY OR LT GEAR. BOOK EARLY, DATES GO A YEAR IN ADVANCE OR MORE***